Tag: historical fiction

Book Blitz/Giveaway: Breaker and the Sun by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

whatcathyreadnext

BreakerAndTheSunBlitzBanner-1

I’m delighted to be taking part in the book blitz for Breaker and the Sun by Lauren Nicolle Taylor. It’s the second book in Lauren’s Paper Stars series, a follow-up to the best-selling Nora & Kettle.

WinWe’re spoiling you today because, as well as a guest post from Lauren to read below, there’s a giveaway with a chance to win a Clean Teen Publishing Mystery Box (ebook for INTL winner). Make sure you enter by 18th May 2017.

To enter the giveaway, click here

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

BreakerandtheSunAbout the Book

Times means nothing. It’s just the sun and moon changing places.

Breaker Van Winkle is a recently returned Vietnam vet, struggling with PTSD and the difficulties of readjusting to civilian life with his mother. Sunny is a high-achieving eighteen-year-old Chinese-French immigrant who fled Vietnam during the war. Sunny is usually as cheerful as her name implies, but she has her struggles too. Haunted by violent memories of the bombing that killed her parents, and chafing under the rule of her eccentric grandmother, she finds solace deep in the Catskills, at a place she calls the Ugly Tree.

When Breaker stumbles upon Sunny and the Ugly Tree, things start to change. They are drawn to each other, and feel called to the tree. As they spend more time together and their relationship deepens, they notice that their time at the tree is becoming twisted somehow. Sunny’s mind yawns and her ambitions begin to slip away. Breaker feels safe and carefree, his memories finally burying themselves in the distant past. They are being lulled toward a tempting, peaceful sleep—but there is a cost to this magical serenity, and it may be more than either of them can bear…

Breaker and the Sun promoBook Facts

  • Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing
  • Publication date: 8th May 2017
  • Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Purchase links*

Amazon.com
B&N
iBooks
Kobo
* links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Breaker and the Sun on Goodreads

Guest Post by Lauren Nicolle Taylor: ‘How is Breaker and the Sun a sequel to Nora & Kettle?’

The short answer is; it’s not. It’s about different characters and it’s set in a different time. The long answer is; but it is… Both stories are explorations of those years just following the end of a war. The wounds left behind on the survivors, civilian and non-civilian.

The books centre around two young people struggling to overcome adversity, seemingly pelted with outside attacks and huddling against the internal scars they carry. What softens these confronting issues of racism, violence and PTSD is the fairytales woven through both novels. My hope is they provide relief and beauty against the harsh realities the characters are facing.

And finally, love. They are both about star-crossed love: Interracial relationships in an intolerant environment. The kind of prejudice bred by war. Differences in class and education. But they find solace in each other. They begin to heal.

The characters are certainly independent of each other and have their own personalities but their stories follow common threads, similar journeys. I would say if you loved Nora & Kettle, you will find Breaker and the Sun very enjoyable.

BreakerandtheSunTeaser

SONY DSCAbout the Author

Lauren Nicolle Taylor lives in the lush Adelaide Hills. The daughter of a Malaysian nuclear physicist and an Australian scientist, she was expected to follow a science career path, attending Adelaide University and completing a Health Science degree with Honours in obstetrics and gynaecology.

She then worked in health research for a short time before having her first child. Due to their extensive health issues, Lauren spent her twenties as a full-time mother/carer to her three children. When her family life settled down, she turned to writing.

She is a 2014 Kindle Book Awards Semi-finalist and a USA Best Book Awards Finalist.

Connect with Lauren

Website http://www.laurennicolletaylor.com/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7201181.Lauren_Nicolle_Taylor
Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/TheWoodlandSeries
Twitter https://twitter.com/LaurenNicolleT

buttonxbt

Book Review – The King’s Jew: In the Shadow of the King by Darius Stransky

whatcathyreadnext6 Comments

Gripping tale of war, intrigue and revenge

KingsJewAbout the Book

1307 – As Cristian Gilleson keeps vigil for his dead king (Edward the First) in Westminster Abbey, his enemies, Edward Secundus and Piers Gaveston, still plot his downfall.

1266 – In the aftermath of The Baron’s War and the Battle of Evesham in 1265, Lord Cristian Gilleson and his companion Lord Edward (the future king, Edward the First) have some pockets of resistance to clear up. Cristian’s lady, Dulcea, wonders if they will ever marry but can a Jew marry a Christian? The unfaithful Earl of Gloucester (Gilbert de Clare) occupies London and must be ousted. Earl Gilbert seeks Cristian’s death and their long running feud continues. Lord Edward takes the cross and leaves for Outremer to wage war on the Sultan Baybars. Will this Ninth Crusade be successful? All the while the agents of Gilbert de Clare plot the perfect murder in a foreign land

Book Facts

  • Format: ebook
  • Publisher: Pronoun
  • No. of pages: 320
  • Publication date: 20th December 2016
  • Genre: Historical Fiction

To purchase The King’s Jew: In the Shadow of the King from Amazon.co.uk, click here (link provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme)

Find The King’s Jew on Goodreads

My Review

The book, the second in a planned four book series, opens in 1307 with our hero, Sir Cristian Gilleson, mourning his long time companion and liege lord, Edward the First. There follows an extended flashback as the reader is taken back forty years to follow the progress of Cristian and the then Lord Edward as they attempt to deal with knights still resisting King Henry’s reign. For Cristian, the enemy is concentrated in the person of Gilbert de Clare, who holds a personal grudge against him and has vowed to bring about Cristian’s death. De Clare has at his disposal a number of henchmen willing to carry out the task (for the right price) and much of the story involves their attempts to do so. In such treacherous times, danger can be close at hand.

Having not read the first book in the series, I did feel launched straight into the thick of things, not really knowing who everyone was and the different political factions. However, it only took me a few chapters before I felt on top of things thanks to the author’s clear prose.  The sounds and smells of the time were convincingly evoked.

Cristian is a likeable and resourceful hero, an accomplished warrior who inspires loyalty from those around him. His parentage allows the author to explore the position of the Jews and attitudes towards them at that time in history. On the other side, the author has created some really nasty, cold-blooded villains, one of whom you sense will have a further significant role to play in the story.

This is a well-written story and the author keeps the pace moving along, striking a balance between the personal and the political. Historical fiction can feel rather too much like a history lesson at times, but this one doesn’t. Given the times, the story is naturally male-dominated; women exist to be used, abused or treated as an asset. However, it might have been nice to have more focus on the few female characters there are in the book, such as Cristian’s lady, Dulcea.

Although Edward II and Piers Gaveston are mentioned briefly in the opening chapter, they play no part in this book. However, the story is set up nicely to continue in a third book.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author in return for an honest review.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

In three words: Well-researched, engaging, action

Try something similar…Master of War: The Blooding by David Gilman

DariusStranskyAbout the Author

Darius says: I have always been interested – nay fascinated – by medieval life. Not just the Kings and the rulers but the vast majority of people who inhabited that medieval world. People like me – people like you. Books have been written about the Normans and the Tudors but one segment of time always seemed to be overlooked – the thirteenth Century when Henry III’s son, Edward the First, carved his name in the annals of history. This was a time of upheaval and, believe me, dear reader, I have studied this period extensively in order to stay true to the times. The result has been a labour of love as the three books that make up “The King’s Jew” grew slowly on the page. If nothing else comes of this then know that I feel honoured to tell the tale and I hope you enjoy the journey with the characters who live within my books – many of them were real people with loves, worries and pain just like ours.

Connect with Darius

Website https://pronoun.com/darius-stransky/
Twitter https://twitter.com/dariusstransky
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/darius.stransky