WWW Wednesday at coffee and ink #18

Sam at Taking on a World of Words is the host of WWW Wednesday.  To participate, all you have to do is answer the three W questions and post in the comments section at Sam’s blog:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I think I’m in an in-between place or maybe I just need to let some of what I’ve read settle a bit, as I need to write reviews. I started this one and it pulled me right in:

Good Reads: “Gabriel Carver, the convict hangman of Sydney Prison, knows that none of his kind may depart Australia’s penal colony without the system’s leave. Then three people are murdered, seemingly to protect the “Rats’ Line,” an illicit path to freedom that exists only in the fevered imaginations of transported felons. But why kill to protect something that doesn’t exist?

When an innocent woman from Carver’s past is charged with one of the murders and faces execution at his hands, she threatens to reveal an incriminating secret of his own unless he helps her. So Carver must try to unmask the killer among the convicts, soldiers, sailors, and fallen women roaming 1829 Sydney. If he can find the murderer, he may discover who is defying the system under its very nose. His search will take him back to the scene of his ruin—to London and a past he can never remake nor ever escape, not even at the edge of the world.”

I’m reading this one for the Historical Fiction Virtual Blog.

and this one also pulled me right in…

Good Reads:

**From the winner of the 2017 CWA Historical Dagger Award**
India, 1921. Haunted by his memories of the Great War, Captain Sam Wyndham is battling a serious addiction to opium that he must keep secret from his superiors in the Calcutta police force.

When Sam is summoned to investigate a grisly murder, he is stunned at the sight of the body: he’s seen this before. Last night, in a drug addled haze, he stumbled across a corpse with the same ritualistic injuries. It seems like there’s a deranged killer on the loose. Unfortunately for Sam, the corpse was in an opium den and revealing his presence there could cost him his career.
With the aid of his quick-witted Indian Sergeant, Surrender-not Banerjee, Sam must try to solve the two murders, all the while keeping his personal demons secret, before somebody else turns up dead.

Set against the backdrop of the fervent fight for Indian independence, and rich with the atmosphere of 1920s Calcutta, Smoke and Ashes is the brilliant new historical mystery in this award-winning series.

This one I picked up from Net Galley. I’ll be looking at the previous books in the series, but so far it reads like a standalone for me 🙂

What did you recently finish reading?

GoodReads

“A terrifying novel set in Czechoslovakia in 1935, in which a brilliant young psychiatrist takes his new post at an asylum for the criminally insane that houses only six inmates–the country’s most depraved murderers–while, in Prague, a detective struggles to understand a brutal serial killer who has spread fear through the city, and who may have ties to the asylum.”

Yep, hard to put down! Excellent writing 😀

edit: Awesome! Review to Come!

Also, I love KJ Charles and this was a fun read…Gay Romance for English Majors, lol

“Sir Philip Rookwood is the disgrace of the county. He’s a rake and an atheist, and the rumours about his hellfire club, the Murder, can only be spoken in whispers. (Orgies. It’s orgies.)

Guy Frisby and his sister Amanda live in rural seclusion after a family scandal. But when Amanda breaks her leg in a riding accident, she’s forced to recuperate at Rookwood Hall, where Sir Philip is hosting the Murder.

Guy rushes to protect her, but the Murder aren’t what he expects. They’re educated, fascinating people, and the notorious Sir Philip turns out to be charming, kind—and dangerously attractive.

In this private space where anything goes, the longings Guy has stifled all his life are impossible to resist…and so is Philip. But all too soon the rural rumour mill threatens both Guy and Amanda. The innocent country gentleman has lost his heart to the bastard baronet—but does he dare lose his reputation too?”

GoodReads

What do you think you’ll read next?

Your guess is as good as mine 😉

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Nova Praetorian by NR Walker

Publication Date: October 24, 2018
BlueHeart Press
Paperback & eBook; 394 Pages

Genre: Historical Romance/LGBT

 

 

Quintus Furius Varus is one of the best lanistas in Rome. Tall and strong in build, fearsome in manner, and sharp of wit, he trains the best gladiators bound for the arenas of Rome. When Senator Servius Augendus seeks personal guards, he attends the Ludus Varus for purchase of the very best. He puts to Quintus an offer he cannot refuse, and Quintus finds himself in Neapolis, contracted as a trainer of guards instead of gladiators.

Kaeso Agorix was taken from his homelands of Iberia and delivered to Rome as a slave. Bought by a senator to be trained as a guard, his fate is handed to the man who would train him. Absent free will, Kaeso knows his life is no longer his own, though he soon realises the gods have favoured him when he learns his new master has a kind heart.

Quintus and Kaeso forge a bond that far exceeds the collar at Kaeso’s neck, and together they discover the senator’s move for promotion has an ulterior motive. Thrown into a world of politics and conspiracy, of keeping enemies close, they move against time to save Rome before traitors and the gods themselves see to their end.

And in doing so, see the dawn of the nova praetorian–the new guard–rise.

“Highest marks for bringing to life a time and place not often tackled these days, the tale told with such authenticity it draws you in and holds you in thrall. Add to that mix a devious plot of traitorous political machinations and characters who will not only warm your heart but command your respect. Nova Praetorian is yet another well-crafted, engrossing tale that kept me up half the night, sighing with pleasure even while chewing my fingernails with anxiety. I highly recommend this read.” – Beach Bum Books

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

About the Author

N.R. Walker is an Australian author, who loves her genre of gay romance. She loves writing and spends far too much time doing it, but wouldn’t have it any other way.

She is many things; a mother, a wife, a sister, a writer. She has pretty, pretty boys who she gives them life with words.

She likes it when they do dirty, dirty things…but likes it even more when they fall in love. She used to think having people in her head talking to her was weird, until one day she happened across other writers who told her it was normal.

She’s been writing ever since…

For more information, please visit N.R. Walker’s website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Book Blast Schedule

Monday, November 26
Passages to the Past

Wednesday, November 28
Pursuing Stacie

Thursday, November 29
Coffee and Ink

Friday, November 30
Hoover Book Reviews

Monday, December 3
CelticLady’s Reviews

Tuesday, December 4
Let Them Read Books

Wednesday, December 5
Donna’s Book Blog

Friday, December 7
Velvet Panic

Monday, December 10
Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Wednesday, December 12
T’s Stuff

Friday, December 14
What Is That Book About

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– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

Nova Praetorian

WWW Wednesday at coffee and ink #17

Sam at Taking on a World of Words is the host of WWW Wednesday.  To participate, all you have to do is answer the three W questions and post in the comments section at Sam’s blog:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

GoodReads

“A terrifying novel set in Czechoslovakia in 1935, in which a brilliant young psychiatrist takes his new post at an asylum for the criminally insane that houses only six inmates–the country’s most depraved murderers–while, in Prague, a detective struggles to understand a brutal serial killer who has spread fear through the city, and who may have ties to the asylum.”

Yep, hard to put down! Excellent writing 😀

and the other from the Historical Book promo folks hfvirtualbooktours

Can two books be more opposite? lol…and I’m loving Cadenza so much I got the first book in the series. Gorgeous covers!

GoodReads

“Julian Langham was poised on the brink of a dazzling career when the lawyers lured him into making a catastrophic mistake. Now, instead of the concert platform, he has a title he doesn’t want, an estate verging on bankruptcy … and bewildering responsibilities for which he is totally unfitted.
And yet the wreckage of Julian’s life is not a completely ill wind. For Tom, Rob and Ellie it brings something that is almost a miracle … if they dare believe in it.
Meanwhile, first-cousins Arabella Brandon and Elizabeth Marsden embark on a daring escapade which will provide each of them with a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The adventure will last only a few weeks, after which everything will be the way it was before. Or so they think. What neither of them expects is for it to change a number of lives … most notably, their own.
And there is an additional complication of which they are wholly unaware.
The famed omniscience of the Duke of Rockliffe.”

What did you recently finish reading?

It’s good, but nothing to rave about yet. Edit: Review To Come

Description

For fans of Charles Todd and Deanna Raybourn comes Christine Trent’s second Florence Nightingale mystery.

Cholera has broken out in London, but Florence Nightingale has bigger problems when people begin dying of a far more intentional cause—murder.

The London summer of 1854 is drawing to a close when a deadly outbreak of cholera grips the city. Florence Nightingale is back on the scene marshaling her nurses to help treat countless suffering patients at Middlesex Hospital as the disease tears through the Soho slums. But beyond the dangers of the disease, something even more evil is seeping through the ailing streets of London.

It begins with an attack on the carriage of Florence’s friend, Elizabeth Herbert, wife to Secretary at War Sidney Herbert. Florence survives, but her coachman does not. Within hours, Sidney’s valet stumbles into the hospital, mutters a few cryptic words about the attack, and promptly dies from cholera. Frantic that an assassin is stalking his wife, Sidney enlists Florence’s help, who accepts but has little to go on save for the valet’s last words and a curious set of dice in his jacket pocket. Soon, the suspects are piling up faster than cholera victims, as there seems to be no end to the number of people who bear a grudge against the Herbert household.

Now, Florence is in a race against time—not only to save the victims of a lethal disease, but to foil a murderer with a disturbingly sinister goal—in A Murderous Malady.

 

What do you think you’ll read next?

Edit: The best laid plans, eh? I started Perdido Street Station, but it didn’t quite catch me, but I’ll give it another try at a later date. I’ll likely renew Whiskey When We’re Dry and make sure to get to it! And I’m dying to start A Hangman for Ghosts…

I have a list of books to review for both the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and NetGalley, and I’m not sure where I’m going to start. I just received a hard copy of A Hangman for Ghosts for the HFVBT and that’s the one I’ve really been looking forward to the most, so maybe I’ll start there.

From Good Reads:

“Gabriel Carver, the convict hangman of Sydney Prison, knows that none of his kind may depart Australia’s penal colony without the system’s leave. Then three people are murdered, seemingly to protect the “Rats’ Line,” an illicit path to freedom that exists only in the fevered imaginations of transported felons. But why kill to protect something that doesn’t exist?

When an innocent woman from Carver’s past is charged with one of the murders and faces execution at his hands, she threatens to reveal an incriminating secret of his own unless he helps her. So Carver must try to unmask the killer among the convicts, soldiers, sailors, and fallen women roaming 1829 Sydney. If he can find the murderer, he may discover who is defying the system under its very nose. His search will take him back to the scene of his ruin—to London and a past he can never remake nor ever escape, not even at the edge of the world.”

I’ve also got two library books that need to go back by the 30th, so I’d best get on those, as they are quite hefty looking. I hope your week is going well and happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

WWW Wednesday at coffee and ink #16

 

Sam at Taking on a World of Words is the host of WWW Wednesday.  To participate, all you have to do is answer the three W questions and post in the comments section at Sam’s blog:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I am reading “A Murderous Malady” which I received from NetGalley.

It’s good, but nothing to rave about yet.

Description

For fans of Charles Todd and Deanna Raybourn comes Christine Trent’s second Florence Nightingale mystery.

Cholera has broken out in London, but Florence Nightingale has bigger problems when people begin dying of a far more intentional cause—murder.

The London summer of 1854 is drawing to a close when a deadly outbreak of cholera grips the city. Florence Nightingale is back on the scene marshaling her nurses to help treat countless suffering patients at Middlesex Hospital as the disease tears through the Soho slums. But beyond the dangers of the disease, something even more evil is seeping through the ailing streets of London.

It begins with an attack on the carriage of Florence’s friend, Elizabeth Herbert, wife to Secretary at War Sidney Herbert. Florence survives, but her coachman does not. Within hours, Sidney’s valet stumbles into the hospital, mutters a few cryptic words about the attack, and promptly dies from cholera. Frantic that an assassin is stalking his wife, Sidney enlists Florence’s help, who accepts but has little to go on save for the valet’s last words and a curious set of dice in his jacket pocket. Soon, the suspects are piling up faster than cholera victims, as there seems to be no end to the number of people who bear a grudge against the Herbert household.

Now, Florence is in a race against time—not only to save the victims of a lethal disease, but to foil a murderer with a disturbingly sinister goal—in A Murderous Malady.

What did you recently finish reading?

GoodReads

From GoodReads: “At the age of twelve, an orphan named Will Cooper is given a horse, a key, and a map and is sent on a journey through the uncharted wilderness of the Cherokee Nation. Will is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. As he fulfills his lonesome duty, Will finds a father in Bear, a Cherokee chief, and is adopted by him and his people, developing relationships that ultimately forge Will’s character. All the while, his love of Claire, the enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful Featherstone, will forever rule Will’s heart. In a voice filled with both humor and yearning, Will tells of a lifelong search for home, the hunger for fortune and adventure, the rebuilding of a trampled culture, and above all an enduring pursuit of passion.”

I’m in love with this man’s writing–whole paragraphs I just want to put into frames and gaze at again and again. I’m a third of the way through and returning to both the story and the writing each time is pure joy. The book is a fictional memoir so the narrative runs a little ahead, drops back to the present, runs ahead again–truly masterfully done.

edit: So sad when it ended, so I’m going to finally move Cold Mountain a little closer to the top of the TBR list 🙂

and also…

From GoodReads “The year is 1722. Ruffian for hire, ex-boxer, and master of disguise, Weaver finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, pitted against Jerome Cobb, a wealthy and mysterious schemer who needs Weaver’s strength and guile for his own treacherous plans.

Weaver is blackmailed into stealing documents from England’s most heavily guarded estate, the headquarters of the ruthless British East India Company, but the theft of corporate secrets is only the first move in a daring conspiracy within the eighteenth century’s most powerful corporation. To save his friends and family from Cobb’s reach, Weaver must infiltrate the Company, navigate its warring factions, and uncover a secret plot of corporate rivals, foreign spies, and government operatives. With millions of pounds and the security of the nation at stake, Weaver will find himself in a labyrinth of hidden agendas, daring enemies, and unexpected allies.

With the explosive action and scrupulous period research that are David Liss’s trademarks, The Devil’s Company, depicting the birth of the modern corporation, is the most impressive achievement yet from an author who continues to set ever higher standards for historical suspense.”

GoodReads

You know how it is, so many books, so little time–Book Bub, Good Reads deals, NetGalley, library books and groaning bookshelves, all competing for my precious reading time. This is the third book in this historical mystery series set in 18th century London and what I was reading when Thirteen Moons came along. David Liss’s writing and research is top-notch, and I’m near the end. It’s a great, twisty plot, and I’m looking forward to finishing it when the Frazier book is done…

edit: I am so close to finishing this book, about 10 more pages, so I’ll likely finish before this posts. So far I love how Weaver is wrapping everything up and getting himself and his friends out of the hands of the evil East India Company and its minions. Very well done–I’ve got the first in the series, A Conspiracy of Paper, so that’s moved up on my TBR list.

What do you think you’ll read next?

I have a list of books to review for both the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and NetGalley, and I’m not sure where I’m going to start. I just received a hard copy of A Hangman for Ghosts for the HFVBT and that’s the one I’ve really been looking forward to the most, so maybe I’ll start there.

th

From Good Reads:

“Gabriel Carver, the convict hangman of Sydney Prison, knows that none of his kind may depart Australia’s penal colony without the system’s leave. Then three people are murdered, seemingly to protect the “Rats’ Line,” an illicit path to freedom that exists only in the fevered imaginations of transported felons. But why kill to protect something that doesn’t exist?

When an innocent woman from Carver’s past is charged with one of the murders and faces execution at his hands, she threatens to reveal an incriminating secret of his own unless he helps her. So Carver must try to unmask the killer among the convicts, soldiers, sailors, and fallen women roaming 1829 Sydney. If he can find the murderer, he may discover who is defying the system under its very nose. His search will take him back to the scene of his ruin—to London and a past he can never remake nor ever escape, not even at the edge of the world.”

I’ve also got two library books that need to go back by the 30th, so I’d best get on those, as they are quite hefty looking. I hope your week is going well and happy Thanksgiving to everyone. My Thanksgiving wish is that all the kids on the border trying to survive without their parents in a strange country, held against their will by our stupid administration, will be able to find a little hope and relief soon.

 

 

WWW Wednesday at coffee and ink #15

It’s been a while. I’m trying to get back on the book reading and reviewing bandwagon–or rather to hang on by my fingernails to keep from falling off…;)

You’ll be seeing a little more activity here as I’ve signed up with a Historical Fiction promo site. I’ve got some NetGalley books lined up and hope to do more reviewing for this book promo group.

Sam at Taking on a World of Words is the host of WWW Wednesday.  To participate, all you have to do is answer the three W questions and post in the comments section at Sam’s blog:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

GoodReads

From GoodReads: “At the age of twelve, an orphan named Will Cooper is given a horse, a key, and a map and is sent on a journey through the uncharted wilderness of the Cherokee Nation. Will is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. As he fulfills his lonesome duty, Will finds a father in Bear, a Cherokee chief, and is adopted by him and his people, developing relationships that ultimately forge Will’s character. All the while, his love of Claire, the enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful Featherstone, will forever rule Will’s heart. In a voice filled with both humor and yearning, Will tells of a lifelong search for home, the hunger for fortune and adventure, the rebuilding of a trampled culture, and above all an enduring pursuit of passion.”

I’m in love with this man’s writing–whole paragraphs I just want to put into frames and gaze at again and again. I’m a third of the way through and returning to both the story and the writing each time is pure joy. The book is a fictional memoir so the narrative runs a little ahead, drops back to the present, runs ahead again–truly masterfully done.

and also…

From GoodReads “The year is 1722. Ruffian for hire, ex-boxer, and master of disguise, Weaver finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, pitted against Jerome Cobb, a wealthy and mysterious schemer who needs Weaver’s strength and guile for his own treacherous plans.

Weaver is blackmailed into stealing documents from England’s most heavily guarded estate, the headquarters of the ruthless British East India Company, but the theft of corporate secrets is only the first move in a daring conspiracy within the eighteenth century’s most powerful corporation. To save his friends and family from Cobb’s reach, Weaver must infiltrate the Company, navigate its warring factions, and uncover a secret plot of corporate rivals, foreign spies, and government operatives. With millions of pounds and the security of the nation at stake, Weaver will find himself in a labyrinth of hidden agendas, daring enemies, and unexpected allies.

With the explosive action and scrupulous period research that are David Liss’s trademarks, The Devil’s Company, depicting the birth of the modern corporation, is the most impressive achievement yet from an author who continues to set ever higher standards for historical suspense.”

GoodReads

You know how it is, so many books, so little time–Book Bub, Good Reads deals, NetGalley, library books and groaning bookshelves, all competing for my precious reading time. This is the second book in this historical mystery series set in 18th century London and what I was reading when Thirteen Moons came along. David Liss’s writing and research is top-notch, and I’m near the end. It’s a great, twisty plot, and I’m looking forward to finishing it when the Frazier book is done…

What did you recently finish reading?

Quite an interesting, well written extrapolation of Lizzie Borden’s hidden inner and outer life, her sexuality and the possible experiences she might have had abroad. Very good historical crime novel, all and all, though the courtroom scenes got rather dreary. Evan Hunter is the adopted legal name of crime writer Ed McBain…I picked it up because I loved “The Moment She Was Gone.”

GoodReads

GoodReads

Awesome! Another series I lost track of when the author was between publishers. I missed you, Ursula Blanchard!

What do you think you’ll read next?

I can’t honestly say right now. I’ve got some requests out at NetGalley and will be doing, I hope, some reviewing for the historical book promotion site. If you are looking for a promotional site or looking to become a host, they are here:hfvirtualbooktours

#DeepestGrave,the#NetGalley

GoodReads

It’s been a long time since I last read a Crispin Guest novel—I think it was the fourth, Troubled Bones. When The Deepest Grave (the eleventh in the series) came up on NetGalley, it was like seeing a long lost friend. I re-read the first, Veil of Lies, to get reacquainted. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to slip back into the world of Crispin Guest—you can start the series out of order and not be lost. 

Crispin and apprentice Jack Tucker are drawn into investigating the walking dead in the St Modwen’s churchyard. To complicate Crispin’s already complicated life, someone from his first-ever case needs his help again. Fatherhood appears to be the theme, as young Jack is about to become a father and Crispin is…well, no spoilers here, but there is a very intriguing development for Crispin.

 Crispin is as full of angst and regret as the first book but it’s his curiosity and cynicism that fuel him to solve the mysteries. The medieval setting is well balanced against the mystery plot, and the solution to the puzzle is very satisfying. 😀

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House Publishers

Jeri Westerson’s blog: CrispinGuest

#ThePrinceofMirrors#NetGalley

 

GoodReads

This is a brilliantly written historical extrapolation of the rather mysterious and yet notorious Prince Albert Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria, second in line to the throne. Clark dives deeply into the episodes that appear to define the prince’s life—the poor student, the dullard, the naval cadet, the good brother, the voluptuary. The prince was also named in the Cleveland Street Scandal, a male brothel, and suspected of being Jack the Ripper (“The Final Solution” by Stephen Knight and movie by the same name). 

At the heart of the novel is his relationship with his tutor and lifelong friend James Kenneth Stephen. Their relationship shapes and helps to define both young men, “Jem” and “Eddy.”  Clark deftly pulls  together the disparate elements that are only a glimmer of who the real Albert Victor might have been, giving his story emotional depth and deeper context.

I found the novel emotionally satisfying, and it gave me a better picture of an era I don’t know much about. Beautiful cover, gorgeous writing. 

“The young man’s suit is a poem to tailoring; his proud valet can recite every pocket, pleat and tuck of it…”

Thank you NetGalley and Fairlight Books!