Barely a Lady Review & 5 Book Giveaway

Olivia Grace has secrets that could destroy her. One of the greatest of these is the Earl of Gracechurch, who married and divorced her five years earlier. Abandoned and disgraced, Grace has survived those years at the edge of respectability. Then she stumbles over Jack on the battlefield of Waterloo, and he becomes an even more dangerous secret. For not only is he unconscious, he is clad in an enemy uniform.

But worse, when Jack finally wakes in Olivia's care, he can't remember how he came to be on a battlefield in Belgium. In fact, he can remember nothing of the last five years. He thinks he and Olivia are still blissfully together. To keep him from being hanged for a traitor, Olivia must pretend she and Jack are still married.

To unearth the real traitors, Olivia and Jack must unravel the truth hidden within his faulty memory. To save themselves and the friends who have given them sanctuary, they must stand against their enemies, even as they both keep their secrets.

In the end, can they risk everything to help Jack recover his lost memories, even though the truth may destroy them both?

My thoughts - This was a very interesting story. Talk about forgiveness! Jack divorces a PREGNANT Olivia due to a misunderstanding and listening to his cousin instead of her. Then 5 yrs later she stumbles over him and realizes he's lost his memory. This really was a great historical romance with great characters.

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Anna from Hatchett book group is allowing me to give away 5 copies to my readers. 

Mandatory Entry - Tell me what the last historical fiction you read was

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Giveaway will end July 28th at 11:59pm. The winners will be chosen by random.org and emailed. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway open to U.S and Canada 18+

Disclaimer - I received this book for my honest opinion, no other compensation was received.

BLOG TOUR: The Art of Devotion by Samantha Bruce-Benjamin

THE ART OF DEVOTION by Samantha Bruce-Benjamin is a haunting debut novel in the tradition of Rebecca and Atonement. Filled with secrets, love, betrayal, obsession, and deceit, THE ART OF DEVOTION is a beautifully rendered window into one family’s dark and complex history. Told from the shifting points of view of four women, the story explores the psychological effects and emotional damage within a family led by a matriarch who was tragically widowed too soon; the fragile, almost inappropriately close relationship between her son and daughter; and the reckless deceit of an outsider. In a recent review, the Romantic Times called the writing “lyrical, reminscent of old gothic romances

In the tradition of bestselling authors Ian McEwan and Anne Enright, Samantha Bruce-Benjamin’s brilliant and timeless debut unveils the dark side of human nature as four women share the poignant tale of love, obsession, and ultimate betrayal that binds them forever.

Have we all not wished to keep forever the one person we love the most?

The secluded beaches of a sun-drenched Mediterranean island are the perfect playground for young Sebastian and Adora. Emotionally adrift from their mother, Adora shelters her sensitive older brother from the cruelties of the world. Sophie does not question her children’s intense need for one another until it’s too late. Her beloved son’s affections belong to Adora, and when he drowns in the sea, she has no one else to blame.

Still heartbroken years later, Adora fills her emptiness with Genevieve, the precocious young daughter of her husband’s business associate and his jealous wife, Miranda. Thrilled to be invited into the beautiful and enigmatic Adora’s world, the child idolizes her during their summers together. Yet, as the years progress, Genevieve begins to suspect their charmed existence is nothing more than a carefully crafted illusion. Soon, she too is ensnared in a web of lies.

Stunningly told in the tragic voices of four women whose lives are fatefully entangled, The Art of Devotion is evocative and haunting, a story of deceit, jealousy, and the heartbreaking reality of love’s true power.

Book Club Guide
My Thoughts - My poor book club, I come across so many great books  I bombard them with suggestions, adding this one to my list too. If you love historical fiction I promise you will adore this book. It is beautifully written and you follow the lives of four narrators who all have their own secrets. I loved, despised, and felt sorry for the characters. Once I started I couldn't put the book down, I don't think you'll be able to either!!



Disclaimer - I received this book for my honest opinion, no other compensation was received.

Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips Blog Tour and Review

From the bestselling author of The Rossetti Letter comes a “thrilling” (Library Journal) novel of intrigue, passion, and royal secrets that shifts tantalizingly between Restoration-era London and present-day Cambridge, England.

London, 1672. A vicious killer stalks the court of Charles II, inscribing the victims’ bodies with mysterious markings.Are the murders the random acts of a madman?Or the violent effects of a deeply hidden conspiracy?

Cambridge, 2008. Teaching history at Trinity College is Claire Donovan’s dream come true—until one of her colleagues is found dead on the banks of the River Cam. The only key to the professor’s unsolved murder is the seventeenth-century diary kept by his last research subject, Hannah Devlin, physician to the king’s mistress. Through the arcane collections of Cambridge’s most eminent libraries, Claire and fellow historian Andrew Kent follow the clues Hannah left behind, uncovering secrets of London’s dark past and Cambridge’s murky present and discovering that the events of three hundred years ago still have consequences today. . . .    READING GUIDE
My Thoughts - I hadn't read her first book The Rossetti Letter but the Devlin Diary is a great stand alone book. I love historical fiction and this didn't disappoint. Fans of Philippa Gregory will love this book! It had 2 intriguing dual time story lines. After reading this I can't wait to go back and read The Rossetti Letter.A MUST READ, especially for a Book Club. So much to talk about!


Disclaimer - I received this book for my honest opinion, no other compensation was received.

Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden Review

From the Publisher's Website:

Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights era. Blending fact and fiction, Glorious is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and ultimately revival offers a candid and true portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty.
It is a novel informed by the question that is the title of Langston Hughes's famous poem: What happens to a dream deferred? Based on years of research, this heart-wrenching fictional account is given added resonance by factual events coupled with real and imagined larger-than-life characters. Glorious is an audacious exploration into the nature of self-hatred, love, possession, ego, betrayal, and, finally, redemption.

About the Author:

BERNICE L. McFADDEN is the author of six critically acclaimed novels including the classic Sugar and Nowhere Is a Place, which was a Washington Post Best Fiction title for 2006. She is a two time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist for fiction, as well as the recipient of two fiction honor awards from the BCALA. Her sophomore novel, The Warmest December, was praised by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison as "searing and expertly imagined." McFadden lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she is working on her next novel.
My Thoughts - This is a very raw book dealing with issues people usually sweep under the rug. While I'mnot a black woman, the author shows me the pain of the discrimination her main character Easter felt. I did get a little aggravated at Easter because every time things got tough she ran but I loved this book. This was truly an amazing story and I highly recommend it.
Disclosure - This product was given for review for my honest opinion, no other compensation.

Here Burns My Candle Review and Giveaway!

A mother who cannot face her future.
A daughter who cannot escape her past.

Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she honors the auld ways, even as doubts and fears stir deep within her.
Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips.
His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjory’s many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her.
One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown.
A timeless story of love and betrayal, loss and redemption, flickering against the vivid backdrop of eighteenth-century Scotland, Here Burns My Candle illumines the dark side of human nature, even as hope, the brightest of tapers, lights the way home.

Author Bio:

LIZ CURTIS HIGGS is the author of twenty-seven books with three million copies in print, including: her best-selling historical novels, Thorn in My Heart, Fair Is the Rose, Christy Award-winner Whence Came a Prince, and Grace in Thine Eyes, a Christy Award finalist; My Heart’s in the Lowlands: Ten Days in Bonny Scotland, an armchair travel guide to Galloway; and her contemporary novels, Mixed Signals, a Rita Award finalist, and Bookends, a Christy Award finalist. Visit the author’s extensive website at www.lizcurtishiggs.com.

My Review - I love historical fictions, especially anything Scottish. Although this book is written by a Christian writer and the undertone is Christian I believe if you are a lover of Historical Fiction, you will enjoy this book. I certainly did.

The characters are written very well, very round. I wanted to dislike a character but I just couldn't. I love the fact that her characters are modeled after people in the Bible. It adds more layers. I admit it's been awhile since I read one of Liz Curtis Higgs books but I will certainly pick up more. I really enjoyed this and will be recommending this for my local book club.

Buy It Here

Lucky you,
Win It - Liz Curtis Higgs is giving 1 lucky reader of Mommy Reads too Much a copy of Here Burns My Candle. Mandatory entry!!You must be a google friend follower of this blog.Good Luck!

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Giveaway will end on April 11th at 11:59pm. The winners will be chosen by random.org and emailed. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway open to U.S. & Canadian residents 18+ only.
Disclosure - A product was given for review for my honest opinion, no other compensation

The Moon Looked Down 5 book Giveaway!

The new Americana romance from bestselling author Dorothy Garlock, this time set against the backdrop of WWII./ / Sophie Heller's family immigrated from Germany to Victory, a small town in Illinois, before WWII began. Now that the war has affected the town, the townspeople discriminate against Sophie and her family. When a train derails, it is an accident but the Heller family is blamed. Coming to Sophie's rescue is a teacher from the high school, and despite their cultural differences, a romance starts to bloom.

Dorothy Garlock is the author of over 50 novels that have sold over 15 million copies and are published in 15 languages. She lives in Iowa

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Win It - Hachette Book Group is giving 5 lucky readers of Mommy Reads too Much a copy of The Undervalued Self. Mandatory entry!!Just tell me you want it, it's that easy. Good Luck!

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Giveaway will end on March 28th at 11:59pm. The winners will be chosen by random.org and announced here as well as emailed. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway open to U.S. & Canadian residents 18+ only. No Po Boxes

Disclosure - This product was given for review for my honest opinion, no other compensation