Showcase: Firevein: The Awakening (Firevein Saga #1) by Hanna Park
I went to Røros for a wedding—not to fall for a man who looked at me like he had already mourned me once.
From the moment Rurik touches me, something beneath my skin ignites. Every kiss feels inevitable. Every glance pulls at something I can’t remember—but can’t ignore. He says I’ve lived before. That I’ve died before. That he has loved me through it all.
Archaeolibrarian
6 days ago
Review: Lady of Lincoln (The Nicola de la Haye Series #1) by Rachel Elwiss Joyce
12th-century England. Nicola de la Haye wants to do her duty. But though she’s taught a female cannot lead alone, the young noblewoman bristles at the marriage her father has arranged to secure her inheritance. And when an unexpected death leaves her unguided, the impetuous girl shuns the king’s blessing and weds a handsome-but-landless knight.
Merissa
May 8
Spotlight: That Catskill Summer (Lived-In Love #1) by Bart A. Charlow
Author Aaron Ben-Ami’s steamy novel, based on a failed youthful love affair in the "Summer of Love" Borscht Belt, is a sensation. Love was easy to come by in the resort culture of the early sexual revolution, but not so easy to keep. Now, as his story is being made into a movie starring Isobel “Izzy” Sandler, the past and present are about to collide.
Archaeolibrarian
May 7
Review: Rescued by the Rakish Lord by Sarah Mallory
When Lord Deveril Blackbourne meets Selina Wynter, he is intrigued. For she has all the accomplishments of a lady, but the fiery temper and spirit of a tavern maid! Then she is abducted by a dastardly suitor, and Deveril—for all his roguish reputation—can't stand idly by…
Debbie
May 6
Spotlight: Infidel: The Daughters of Aragon (Six Tudor Queens) by Nicola Harris
Born in the glittering courts of Castile and Aragon and forged in the shadow of war, Catalina de Aragón grows up surrounded by queens, rebels, and ghosts. She is her mother’s last daughter, the final jewel of a dynasty built on conquest and faith, and the one child Isabella of Castile cannot bear to lose.
Archaeolibrarian
Apr 28
Excerpt: The Enemy's Wife (Survivors of War) by Deborah Swift
1941. When Zofia’s beloved husband Haru is conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, she is left to navigate Japanese-occupied Shanghai alone.
Far from home and surrounded by a country at war, Zofia finds unexpected comfort in a bond with Hilly, a spirited young refugee escaping Nazi-occupied Austria.
Archaeolibrarian
Apr 24
Excerpt: Lucie Dumas by Katherine Mezzacappa
London, 1871: Lucie Dumas of Lyon has accepted a stipend from her former lover and his wife, on condition that she never returns to France; she will never see her young son again. As the money proves inadequate, Lucie turns to prostitution to live, joining the ranks of countless girls from continental Europe who'd come to London in the hope of work in domestic service.
Archaeolibrarian
Apr 23
Spotlight: Another Soul Saved: A Story of the Holocaust by John Anthony Miller
Monika Graf, the wife of a wealthy Austrian military commander, steals two Jewish girls from the Nazis—a crime often punishable by death. With soldiers in rapid pursuit, a homeless Jew named Janik, a mysterious man who lurks in the shadows, helps her escape.
Archaeolibrarian
Apr 21
Review: A Plethora of Phantoms (Spirited Encounters #2) by Penny Hampson
He is heir to the earldom of Batheaston and lives in an elegant, stately home, but handsome twenty-something Freddie Lanyon is not a happy man. Not only is he gay and dreading coming out to his family, but he’s also troubled by ghosts that nobody else can see.
Debbie
Apr 15
Excerpt: A Taste of Evil (Hani's Daughter Mysteries #5) by N. L. Holmes
In Tutankhamen's Egypt, the vizier's head cook dies suspiciously, and it looks like murder to Neferet and Bener-ib. Only, who would want to kill a cook, a man admired by all?
Archaeolibrarian
Apr 9
Spotlight: The Scald Crow (Beyond the Faerie Rath #1) by Hanna Park
Calla left her life behind, haunted by a curse she cannot control. She seeks refuge in the land of a thousand hellos, Ireland, for a fresh start—a place where no one knows who or what she is.
Archaeolibrarian
Apr 1
Spotlight: The Queen’s Maid: Anne Boleyn in France (The Anne Boleyn Chronicles, #2) by Rozsa Gaston
After an enlightening period of training as a lady’s maid at Margaret of Austria’s court, Anne Boleyn has been sent to France.
She arrives at the Palace of Tournelles, home of ageing King Louis and his new English wife, Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII. As Anne speaks French, her main role is to serve as translator for Queen Mary.
Archaeolibrarian
Mar 27
Excerpt: The Lost Seigneur (A Chateau Laux Odyssey #2) by David Loux
It is the story of Jean-Pierre du Laux, a nobleman in southern France, who was wrongly imprisoned during a time of religious intolerance and subsequently endeavors to return to his family. Many years have passed since he saw them, and his long incarceration has broken his health.
Archaeolibrarian
Mar 26
Excerpt: Code of Honour (Soldier Spy #3) by Rosemary Hayes
Will Fraser and Duncan Armstrong have served their country well as spies, exposing traitors and rescuing betrayed royalists.
Now they are asked to support military operations in the Peninsular War. The French are using a new code which is proving impossible to decipher. Will and Armstrong must work with Spanish guerrillas to intercept messages between French Commanders and pass them to Wellington’s codebreakers.
Archaeolibrarian
Mar 24
Excerpt: Rogues & Kings (Tales of Robin Hood #2) by Charlene Newcomb
The year is 1216 and civil war rages in England. King John ravages the countryside against rebellious barons and a French invasion. Unbeknownst to him, his newest squire, Richard, is in fact the son of a man the king would hang without a second thought. A man the common folk call Robin Hood.
Archaeolibrarian
Mar 13
Spotlight: The Green Baize Door (A Marie Chevalier Mystery, #1) by Eleanor Birney
In the fashionable mansions on Chestnut Hill, a simple green baize door separates the masters’ world from the servants’. That door is thrown wide when an elderly housekeeper is found brutally murdered on the first day of the new century. Marie Chevalier, the housekeeper’s poor but ambitious granddaughter, and James Lett, the mansion owner’s kind but indolent son, suspect the killer is connected to one of their families—but which one?
Archaeolibrarian
Mar 10
Review: A Theory in Vienna by Heidi Gallacher
‘I bring to light a truth, which was unknown for many centuries with direful results for the human race.’ – Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis.
Imagine you’d discovered something. Something that could save hundreds of thousands of lives. But they wouldn’t let you tell anyone. Wouldn’t it drive you mad?
Merissa
Mar 5
Excerpt: One Fine Voice by Rebecca Langston-George
All her life, Esther Hopkins has been told she has a mighty fine voice.
Still, she can't believe her luck when just days after moving to town, she's invited to sing a solo at the 1923 Independence Day picnic. But the group sponsoring the picnic is not the benevolent fraternal order they claim to be. Worse, they've recruited her father, the town's freshly ordained Baptist minister, to become their chaplain.
Archaeolibrarian
Feb 27
Excerpt: Circus Bim Bom: A Cold War Adventure by Cliff Lovette
When the first privately owned Soviet circus arrived in America in 1990, as the Soviet Empire unraveled, its elite performers hoped to build cultural bridges through spectacular shows. Instead, this prestigious troupe faced a perilous journey through Cold War America.
Archaeolibrarian
Feb 24
Guest Post: The Deserter: A Tale of the Foreign Legion by Wayne Turmel
Gil Vincente is a Boer War veteran, broken and adrift on the rough streets of Marseille. Desperate, he seeks discipline and renewed purpose in the unforgiving ranks of the French Foreign Legion. At first, he finds it, but not for long. When a treacherous soldier frames him for murder, it forces the new legionnaire to run for his life.
Archaeolibrarian
Feb 20