Category: giveaway

Blog Tour/Book Review: The Cornish Lady by Nicola Pryce

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The Cornish Lady

I’m delighted to be kicking off the blog tour for Nicola Pryce’s latest book in her Cornish Saga, The Cornish Lady.  You can read my review below but do also check out the posts by my tour buddies Joules at Northern Reader and Cassandra at MADEUP Book Reviews.

Thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to participate in the tour.

Giveaway PrizeI’m pleased to say there’s also a giveaway (open internationally) with a chance for one lucky person to win a signed copy of The Cornish Lady, a box of Cornish Fudge and some bookmarks.

Please enter using the Rafflecopter link here.

Giveaway Terms and Conditions:

  • Worldwide entries welcome.
  • Open to entrants aged 18 or over.
  • The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner.
  • Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.
  • I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

The Cornish LadyAbout the Book

Cornwall, 1796. Educated, beautiful and the daughter of a prosperous merchant, Angelica Lilly has been invited to spend the summer in high society. Her father’s wealth is opening doors, and attracting marriage proposals, but Angelica still feels like an imposter among the aristocrats of Cornwall.

When her brother returns home, ill and under the influence of a dangerous man, Angelica’s loyalties are tested to the limit. Her one hope lies with coachman Henry Trevelyan, a softly spoken, educated man with kind eyes. But when Henry seemingly betrays Angelica, she has no one to turn to. Who is Henry, and what does he want? And can Angelica save her brother from a terrible plot that threatens to ruin her entire family?

Format: Paperback, ebook (464 pp.)    Publisher: Corvus Books
Published: 7th March 2019 Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Cornish Lady on Goodreads

My Review

Angelica Lilly is an independent-minded, strong-willed young woman with the prospect of an advantageous marriage to a wealthy aristocrat but who nevertheless finds herself longing for the freedom to make use of the commercial instincts gained from exposure to her father’s business in the same way a son would.  Instead she finds herself in the position of being expected to marry for the approval of society and to fulfil the wishes and ambitions of others.  It’s not that there aren’t a range of potential suitors including the wealthy aristocrat previous mentioned, a childhood companion and a more unexpected candidate.

However, as Jane Austen taught us in Pride and Prejudice, first impressions can be deceptive and Angelica’s childhood experiences have left her mistrustful of others’ motives – especially men –  even when it transpires they don’t deserve that mistrust.  Having said that, Angelica’s not averse to using a little artifice herself when the occasions demands, utilising the skills inherited from her actress mother.

Structured like a three act play, Angelica’s mission to find someone with whom she can be ‘her true self’ runs alongside storylines involving political events of the day: riots caused by grain shortages due to naval blockades, fears of invasion and the treatment of French prisoners of war confined within the walls of Pendennis Castle.    The last act brings everything together in a satisfactory way with villainy revealed and the reputations of others vindicated.

I particularly loved the setting of the book, around Truro and Falmouth, an area I know well from holidays spent there.  So I got an extra thrill from mentions of places I’ve visited like Pendennis Castle, Custom House Quay and The Quayside Inn in Falmouth, Flushing and Malpas (the location of The Heron Inn – a great deal more respectable these days than in the book!).

The Cornish Lady, with its spirited heroine, wonderful setting and fascinating period detail, is an engaging historical romance sure to find favour with fans of the genre and readers of the previous books in the series.

To find more books set in Cornwall, in various genres, follow these links – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

I received an advance review copy courtesy of publishers, Corvus, and Rachel’s Random Resources.

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In three words: Engaging, lively, romantic

Try something similar…Ross Poldark by Winston Graham

2 Author PhotoAbout the Author

Nicola Pryce came to writing after a career in nursing. She has an Open University degree in Humanities and is a qualified adult literacy support volunteer. She lives in the Blackdown Hills in Somerset and when she isn’t writing she’s probably gardening or scrubbing the decks. She and her husband love sailing and for the last twenty years they have sailed in and out of the romantic harbours of the south coast of Cornwall in search of adventure: it is there where she sets her books.

The Cornish Lady is her fourth book. The others are Pengelly’s Daughter, The Captain’s Girl, and The Cornish Dressmaker. Nicola is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and The Historical Writers Association.

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Blog Tour/Book Review: A Light of Her Own by Carrie Callaghan

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I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for A Light of Her Own by Carrie Callaghan.  My grateful thanks to Amy at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for inviting me to participate in the tour.

Visit the tour page to see the other great book bloggers taking part in the tour and links to their reviews and Q&As with the author. For residents of the US, there’s a giveaway with a chance to win one of two signed hardcover copies of A Light of Her Own.  Enter via the tour page where you can also find the terms and conditions of the giveaway.

A Light of Her OwnAbout the Book

In Holland 1633, a woman’s ambition has no place.

Judith is a painter, dodging the law and whispers of murder to try to become the first woman admitted to the Haarlem painters guild. Maria is a Catholic in a country where the faith is banned, hoping to absolve her sins by recovering a lost saint’s relic.

Both women’s destinies will be shaped by their ambitions, running counter to the city’s most powerful men, whose own plans spell disaster. A vivid portrait of a remarkable artist, A Light of Her Own is a richly-woven story of grit against the backdrop of Rembrandt and an uncompromising religion.

Format: Hardcover (320 pp.)    Publisher: Amberjack Publishing
Published: 13th November 2018   Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  | Indiebound
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find A Light of Her Own on Goodreads

My Review

I came to this book expecting it to focus mainly on the story of Judith and her struggle to be accepted by the male-dominated Guilds who governed the art world of the time.   I certainly got this and found her quest for independence and her determination to make the most of her artistic talent quite inspiring.  The book also gave me a fascinating insight into the operation of the art market at the time: the power of the Guilds to control the activities of artists, such as setting up a workshop, employing apprentices and even selling completed works.

The reader is left in no doubt how central the act of creating art is to Judith’s existence: ‘Every time she painted, she fell a little in love with her subject, snared by the crevices and shadows and twitches that made the person. Painting meant focusing on the details, much like love.  So each of her paintings became, in a way, an act of adoration.’  I really liked the way the author managed to convey Judith’s painterly eye for detail and composition, even as she goes about her daily tasks.  To Judith, everything and everyone is a potential subject. ‘Judith looked over at Freija Woutersooz. […] As she spoke, her mouth was tremendously expressive, twitching and curling, but the rest of her expression was calm.  There was something about the dichotomy that made Judith shiver.  She had no idea how she would paint that woman.’   Judith even manages to diffuse a potentially hostile situation at one point through artistic means!

Alongside Judith’s story, the reader witnesses the experiences of her friend, Maria (although it’s speculation on the author’s part that they ever met in real life).  Maria is also a talented painter but she is consumed by a sense of guilt about what she feels is her own sinful nature.  It is this, rather than prejudice, that prevents Maria from making the most of her talent and in fact leads her to take a course of action which will endanger herself and, ultimately, present her friend Judith with a difficult moral choice.   In addition, the author chooses to introduce a mystery element to the narrative, involving a sinister character and suggestions of corruption in high places…and maybe something worse.

Personally, I found Judith’s story sufficiently interesting without the need for the other story lines.    I also believe a glossary (there wasn’t one in my advance reading copy) would be a useful addition to the book in order to explain some of the Dutch words used such as references to currency and measurements.

A Light of Her Own is an engaging story based on the life of a remarkable woman, Judith Leyster, who sought to challenge the social norms and prejudices of the time in order to fulfil her talent for painting.  As the author admits in the Historical Notes section, there is limited contemporary documentation about Judith’s life so much of the book is necessarily a work of  imagination on her part.  I’ll admit that I had never heard of Judith Leyster before reading this book however, thanks to the author, I now know of Judith’s existence and her achievements. A Light of Her Own helps ensure that Judith’s life is no longer hidden in the darkness.

I received a advance reading copy courtesy of publishers, Amberjack Publishing, NetGalley and Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.

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In three words: Fascinating, detailed, illuminating

Try something similar…The Optickal Illusion by Rachel Halliburton (read my review here)

03_Carrie CallaghanAbout the Author

Carrie Callaghan is a writer living in Maryland with her spouse, two young children, and two ridiculous cats. Her short fiction has appeared in Weave Magazine, The MacGuffin, Silk Road, Floodwall, and elsewhere. Carrie is also an editor and contributor with the Washington Independent Review of Books. She has a Master’s of Arts in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Connect with Carrie

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