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Blog Tour: The Quest for the Crown of Thorns by Cynthia Ripley Miller

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The Quest for the Crown of Thorns_Blog Tour Banner_October_FINAL

I’m delighted to host today’s stop on the blog tour for The Quest for the Crown of Thorns by Cynthia Ripley Miller and to bring you my review of this lively historical mystery. Set in the 5th Century against the backdrop of the decline of the once mighty Roman Empire, The Quest for the Crown of Thorns is the second book in The Long-Hair Saga, a follow-up to the thrilling On the Edge of Sunrise which I shall be reviewing at a later date.  

WinPlus, there’s a chance to win 1 paperback copy (US only) & 2 eBook copies (INTL) of The Quest for the Crown of Thorns. Click here to enter the giveaway via the tour page (scroll down to the bottom) and to view the terms & conditions. Entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on October 16th 2017.

 

TheQuestfortheCrownofThornsAbout the Book

AD 454. Three years after the Roman victory over Attila the Hun at Catalaunum, Arria Felix and Garic the Frank are married and enjoying life on Garic’s farm in northern Gaul (France). Their happy life is interrupted, when a cryptic message arrives from Rome, calling Arria home to her father, the esteemed Senator Felix. At Arria’s insistence, but against Garic’s better judgment, they leave at once. Upon their arrival at Villa Solis, they are confronted with a brutal murder and the dangerous mission that awaits them. The fate of a profound and sacred object – Christ’s Crown of Thorns – rests in their hands. They must carry the holy relic to the safety of Constantinople, away from a corrupt emperor and old enemies determined to steal it for their own gain. But an even greater force arises to derail their quest – a secret cult willing to commit any atrocity to capture the Crown of Thorns. And all the while, the gruesome murder and the conspiracy behind it haunt Arria’s thoughts. Arria and Garic’s marital bonds are tested but forged as they partner together to fulfil one of history’s most challenging missions, The Quest for the Crown of Thorns.

Praise for The Quest for the Crown of Thorns:

“Ripley Miller astutely brings to life a Rome teetering precariously on the brink of collapse …the combination of political and romantic drama –spiritual as well –is rousing. The reader should be glad to have read this volume and eager for a third. Intelligent and artfully crafted historical fiction…” (Kirkus Reviews)

“From cover to cover a gripping read – in all senses of the word! Grips your interest and imagination, your held breath and your pounding heart! A thumping good novel!” (Helen Hollick, USA Today bestselling author of the Sea Witch Voyages)

“Forbidden love, a turbulent time period, and world-changing events combine to produce a real page-turner.” (India Edghill, author of Queenmaker, Wisdom’s Daughter, and Delilah)

“A passionate and intriguing take on the often overlooked clash of three brutal and powerful empires: the Romans, Franks, and Huns. A compelling read!” (Stephanie Thornton, author of The Secret History and The Tiger Queens)

“Readers will be absorbed by a setting of barbarian Gaul and the constancy of Arria’s and Garic’s destined love amid the strife of a dying Roman Empire.” (Albert Noyer, author of The Getorius and Arcadia Mysteries)

“The Quest for the Crown of Thorns is an elegant masterpiece of historical fiction. This book totally ensnared me in its clasps, and it did not release me until I had read it all. The attention to detail was exquisite The characterisation was sublime, and the romance was breathtakingly beautiful. I adored the world that Miller has created, as well as the characters in it. This is a sit-down and finish book and is one I would highly recommend.” (Mary Anne Yarde author of the Du Lac Chronicles)

Format: eBook, Paperback (308 pp.)            Publisher: Knox Robinson Publishing Published: 12 June 2017                                 Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

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

 

Find The Quest for the Crown of Thorns on Goodreads

My Review

Having read and enjoyed the first book in The Long Hair Saga, I can reassure potential readers that The Quest for the Crown of Thorns can be read perfectly well as a standalone (although you’d miss a great story). In fact, it has a slightly different tone to On the Edge of Sunrise, with the mystery element much more prominent in this second book.

Readers of On the Edge of Sunrise will welcome the return of familiar characters whilst new readers will quickly make their acquaintance thanks to the author’s deft recaps of important events from the first book. There’s Arria – accomplished, resourceful, shrewd – determined to fulfil her mission and safeguard her future. There’s Garic – handsome, passionate, brave – devoted to Arria and to ensuring her safety. There’s Vodamir, Garic’s cousin – cocky, impetuous, loyal – whose daredevil instincts may just have been tamed by the love of a good woman. There’s Marcella – beautiful, seductive, manipulative – who is seeking a means to secure a wealthy and powerful patron and who will use all her charms (and we mean all) to get it.

However, there are also new characters to get to know as the focus shifts from the battlefields of Gaul in the previous book, to Rome and Constantinople. As the very existence of the Roman Empire is threatened, the struggle for power and influence reaches new heights and there are powerful individuals and groups who will stop at nothing to achieve their ambitions. As Arria and her companion set out to fulfil their mission, many dangers lie ahead on the road. Old rivalries are rekindled, plots are made, alliances are formed and broken and double crosses abound. Death and betrayal potentially wait around every corner.

As in the first book, passions run high, including in the bedroom. Readers who crave plenty of spice with their historical romance will be well served (forgive the pun). If anything, there’s more spicy bedroom action in this book than the last!

The author keeps the action moving along apace with plenty of twists and turns and ‘what just happened there?’ moments. Whilst many of the characters are imagined, the story makes reference to actual events and there is fascinating detail of daily Roman life – dining and bathing customs, clothing and travel – that give the story an air of authenticity and credibility. It all adds up to a very enjoyable read for lovers of historical mystery/romance.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author and HF Virtual Book Tours in return for an honest review.

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In three words: Suspenseful, action-packed, passionate

Try something similar…Roman Blood by Steven Saylor

Cynthia Ripley MillerAbout the Author

Cynthia Ripley Miller is a first generation Italian-American writer with a love for history, languages and books. She has lived, worked, and travelled in Europe, Africa, North America and the Caribbean. As a girl, she often wondered what it would be like to journey through time (she still does), yet knew it could only be through the imagination and words of writers and their stories. Today, she writes to bring the past to life.

She holds two degrees and has taught history and teaches English. Her short fiction has appeared in the anthology Summer Tapestry, at Orchard Press Mysteries.com and The Scriptor. A Chanticleer International Chatelaine Award finalist for her novel, On the Edge of Sunrise, she has reviewed for UNRV Roman History, and blogs at Historical Happenings and Oddities: A Distant Focus.

Cynthia has four children and lives with her husband, twin cats, Romulus and Remus, and Jessie, a German Shepherd, in a suburb of Chicago.

Connect with Cynthia

Website ǀ Facebook ǀ Twitter ǀ Goodreads

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WWW Wednesdays – 11th Oct ’17

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WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too? Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

TheQuestfortheCrownofThornsThe Quest for the Crown of Thorns (The Long-Hair Saga #2) by Cynthia Ripley Miller (ebook, review copy courtesy of HF Virtual Book Tours)

AD 454. Three years after the Roman victory over Attila the Hun at Catalaunum, Arria Felix and Garic the Frank are married and enjoying life on Garic’s farm in northern Gaul (France). Their happy life is interrupted, when a cryptic message arrives from Rome, calling Arria home to her father, the esteemed Senator Felix. At Arria’s insistence, but against Garic’s better judgment, they leave at once.  Upon their arrival at Villa Solis, they are confronted with a brutal murder and the dangerous mission that awaits them. The fate of a profound and sacred object – Christ’s Crown of Thorns – rests in their hands. They must carry the holy relic to the safety of Constantinople, away from a corrupt emperor and old enemies determined to steal it for their own gain. But an even greater force arises to derail their quest–a secret cult willing to commit any atrocity to capture the Crown of Thorns. And all the while, the gruesome murder and the conspiracy behind it haunt Arria’s thoughts.

NewBoyNew Boy by Tracy Chevalier (ebook, NetGalley)

Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, a diplomat’s son, Osei Kokote, knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day so he’s lucky to hit it off with Dee, the most popular girl in school. But one student can’t stand to witness this budding relationship: Ian decides to destroy the friendship between the black boy and the golden girl. By the end of the day, the school and its key players – teachers and pupils alike – will never be the same again. The tragedy of Othello is transposed to a 1970’s suburban Washington schoolyard, where kids fall in and out of love with each other before lunchtime, and practice a casual racism picked up from their parents and teachers. Peeking over the shoulders of four 11 year olds Osei, Dee, Ian, and his reluctant girlfriend Mimi, Tracy Chevalier’s powerful drama of friends torn apart by jealousy, bullying and betrayal will leave you reeling.

Recently finished (click on title for review, where available)

TremarnockSummerTremarnock Summer by Emma Burstall (ebook, review copy courtesy of Head of Zeus)

Bramble Challoner has had a very normal upbringing. She lives in a semi in the suburbs of London with her parents and works at the call centre down the road. She still goes out with the boy she met at school. At weekends they stay in and watch films on the telly and sometimes hold hands. Bramble is dying for an adventure. So when her very grand grandfather, Lord Penrose, dies, leaving his huge, rambling house in Cornwall to her, Bramble packs her bags immediately, dragging along her best friend Katie. The sleepy village of Tremarnock had better be ready for its newest residents…

TheCrowsofBearaThe Crows of Beara by Julie Christine Johnson (ebook, review copy courtesy of Sage’s Blog Tours)

When Annie Crowe travels from Seattle to a small Irish village to promote a new copper mine, her public relations career is hanging in the balance. Struggling to overcome her troubled past and a failing marriage, Annie is eager for a chance to rebuild her life. Yet when she arrives on the remote Beara Peninsula, Annie learns that the mine would encroach on the nesting ground of an endangered bird, the Red-billed Chough, and many in the community are fiercely protective of this wild place. Among them is Daniel Savage, a local artist battling demons of his own, who has been recruited to help block the mine. Despite their differences, Annie and Daniel find themselves drawn toward each other, and, inexplicably, they begin to hear the same voice – a strange, distant whisper of Gaelic, like sorrow blowing in the wind. Guided by ancient mythology and challenged by modern problems, Annie must confront the half-truths she has been sent to spread and the lies she has been telling herself. Most of all, she must open her heart to the healing power of this rugged land and its people.

OntheEdgeofSunriseOn the Edge of Sunrise (The Long-Hair Saga #1) by Cynthia Ripley Miller (ebook, review copy courtesy of HF Virtual Book Tours)

Ad 450. The Roman Empire wanes as the Medieval Age awakens. Attila the Hun and his horde conquer their way across Europe into Gaul. Caught between Rome’s tottering empire and Attila’s threat are the Frankish tribes and their ‘Long-Hair’ chiefs, northern pagans in a Roman Christian world, and a people history will call the Merovingians. A young widow, Arria longs for a purpose and a challenge. She is as well versed in politics and diplomacy as any man but with special skills of her own. The Emperor Valentinian, determined to gain allies to help stop the Huns, sends a remarkable envoy, a woman, to the Assembly of Warriors in Gaul. Arria will persuade the Franks to stand with Rome against Attila!  When barbarian raiders abduct Arria, the Frank blue-eyed warrior, Garic, rescues her. Alarmed by the instant and passionate attraction she feels, Arria is torn between duty and desire. Her arranged betrothal to the ambitious tribune, Drusus, her secret enlistment by Valentinian as a courier to Attila the Hun, and a mysterious riddle – threaten their love and propel them into adventure, intrigue, and Attila’s camp. Rebels in a falling empire, Arria and Garic must find the strength to defy tradition and possess the love prophesied as their destiny!

TheBookofForgottenAuthorsThe Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler (ARC courtesy of riverrun books)

Absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder. It makes people think you’re dead. So begins Christopher Fowler’s foray into the back catalogues and back stories of 99 authors who, once hugely popular, have all but disappeared from shelves. We are fondly introduced to each potential rediscovery: from lost Victorian voices to the twentieth century writers who could well become the next John Williams, Hans Fallada or Lionel Davidson. Whether male or female, flash-in-the-pan or prolific, mega-seller or prize-winner, no author, it seems, can ever be fully immune from the fate of being forgotten. These 99 journeys are punctuated by 12 short essays about faded once-favourites: including the now-vanished novels Walt Disney brought to the screen, the contemporary rivals of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie who did not stand the test of time, and the women who introduced psychological suspense many decades before it conquered the world. This is a book about books and their authors. It is for book lovers, and is written by one who could not be a more enthusiastic, enlightening and entertaining guide.

What Cathy (will) Read Next

Monsoon RisingMonsoon Rising (The Nomad #1) by David Lee Corley (ebook, review copy courtesy of Sage’s Blog Tours)

The Nomad slaughtered his girlfriend and framed him for murder. Now, Billy Gamble, a drifter turned fugitive, will stop at nothing to find and exact his revenge on the sadistic serial killer travelling the world and sowing chaos wherever he goes. His search for the nomad will take Billy to the exotic islands of Thailand, the old colonial towns of Malaysia and into the darkest jungles of Borneo. But the real question is… who is hunting whom and why? To find the answers, Billy must delve into the mind of a madman and question his own sanity.

HomeisNearby1Home is Nearby by Magdalena McGuire (advance proof copy courtesy of Impress Books)

1980: The beginning of the Polish crisis. Brought up in a small village, country-girl Ania arrives in the university city of Wroclaw to pursue her career as a sculptor. Here she falls in love with Dominik, an enigmatic writer at the centre of a group of Bohemians and avant-garde artists who throw wild parties. When martial law is declared, their lives change overnight: military tanks appear on the street, curfews are introduced and the artists are driven underground. Together, Ania and Dominik fight back, pushing against the boundaries imposed by the authoritarian communist government. But at what cost?