Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 48

A New Addition to the Book Babes

Book Babe is growing. I know, I know, you can't tell by the comments, but trust me. I'm getting more and more emails, doing more interviews, and it's getting to be a bit much. And I can't read them all and that makes me feel bad.

I've been getting a lot of romance requests, especially contemporary, and for the last few months I've been going through a phase in which I'm not really into romance. Rather than turn you all away because of my personal issue, I've brought another babe on board. She's been on Book Babe before. She's an author in Georgia, the mother of two adorable children, a dog and cat mom, and one of the sweetest gals I've ever had the pleasure of knowing online. She loves contemporary romance and second-chance stories. Oh--and some erotica.

Please welcome the lovely Lacey Wolfe and check out our updated review guidelines to find out her poisons. :)

Lacey Wolfe has always had a passion for words, whether it’s getting lost in a book or writing her own. Her goal as an author is to have a romance for everyone, whether it’s sweet, sensual, or spicy. She’s had several books on the Amazon best seller lists. When she isn’t writing, she can be found running, talking to her pets, spending time with her family, or lost in some sort of craft. Oh, and she takes kindly to anyone who feeds her cookies.

Lacey lives in Georgia with her husband, son and daughter, their herd cats and one black lab who rules the house.

You can find Lacey at the following places:
Facebook / Facebook Page / Twitter

The Band Played On...in Auschwitz

I really liked the historical story in this. The daughter of a prominent member of the Third Reich, an Austrian violinist—so good that the orchestra, which doesn’t allow females, invites her to play with them—is caught smuggling Jews out of the city and as a result is thrown into a camp: Auschwitz. In there, the key to her survival is to play music for the Nazis, at their functions, while they send people to the crematoriums, where and whenever they will it. Can’t play? You die. Get sick. You die.

She’s also been torn from her partner in “crime” and the man she loves. Is he dead? Is he in a camp?

And every day as she plays for the enemy, as others go to their deaths, as the atrocities against Jews around her worse or continue, Adele dies a little more inside.

In the present day, an art collector wants a painting of Adele. A rich man holds the key, but if they find the owner of the painting, he means to sue… There’s supposed to be a romance here, but I didn’t find it as passionate or interesting as the historical one. I didn’t care either way. This heroine didn’t hold much interest for me either. She disappointed me, didn’t even find the painting or seem to do much in that respect. The man did it all.

To be honest, while this was a decent read, I must confess I didn’t garner anything from it. I’ve read about all the atrocities and life in Auschwitz before. I also knew they had the prisoners play music. The only thing new to me was the revolt. I think what saved this book for me is Omara. She’s a strong character and shows great bravery. She somewhat steals the show. I kept reading for her and to find out what happened to Adele, while I began skimming the present-day story, which was too predictable and mundane for my tastes. For some reason I never became engrossed or invested in the present-day heroine.

Conclusion: I recommend this if you love double time-zone stories and perhaps haven’t already read 50 books about Auschwitz. It’s very well written, just not very unique. The romance between the modern hero and heroine carries over into book two--I read the blurb. I think I'll pass on it for it that very reason. I would have loved this book better if it cut out the modern story altogether and was solely about Adele and her cellist.

Ten Questions from Tara: Interview with Glen Craney

Tara: Welcome. You’re here to promote The Spider and the Stone, a historical novel set during the 14th-century Scottish wars for independence. Tell me, please, what was the inspiration behind this story? How did it come to you?

Readers, here's the blurb: As the 14th century dawns, Scotland’s survival hangs by a spider’s thread. While the Scot clans scrap over their empty throne, the brutal Edward Longshanks of England invades the weakened northern kingdom, scheming to annex it to his realm.

But one frail, dark-skinned lad stands in the Plantagenet monarch’s path.

The beleaguered Scots cherish him as their "Good Sir James." In England, his slashing raids deep into Yorkshire and Northumbria wreak such terror that he is branded the Black Douglas with a reward placed on his head.

As a boy, James falls in love with the ravishing Isabelle MacDuff, whose clan for centuries has inaugurated Scottish monarchs on the hallowed Stone of Destiny. But his world is upturned when he befriends
Robert Bruce, a bitter enemy of the MacDuffs. Forced to choose between love and clan loyalty, James and Isabelle make fateful decisions that will draw the opposing armies to the bloody field of Bannockburn.

Isabelle will crown a king. James will carry a king's heart. Both now take their rightful places with Robert Bruce, Rob Roy, and William Wallace in the pantheon of Scot heroes.

Here is the story of Scotland’s War of Independence and the remarkable events that followed the execution of Wallace, whose legend was portrayed in the movie Braveheart. This thrilling epic leads us to the miraculous Stone of Destiny, to the famous Spider in the Cave, to the excommunicated Knights Templar, to the suppressed Culdee Church, and to the unprecedented Declaration of Arbroath, the stirring oath document that inspired the American Declaration of Independence four hundred years later.

The Spider and the Stone is the unforgettable saga of the star-crossed love, religious intrigue, and heroic sacrifice that saved Scotland during its time of greatest peril.

Glen: I often receive inspiration for my books in dreams. About ten years ago, I awoke from a vivid dream in which I was a mounted knight fighting a duel near a stream with a black-robed hag armed with a sickle. The scene then shifted to a photograph of me standing with six other knights around a seated monarch in celebration. A caption read: "Americans aid the King at Bannockburn."

The next morning, I launched my quest to decipher the meaning of this strange dream. Soon I was in Scotland, walking the fields below Stirling and following the famous burn of Bannock. Two weeks later, I boarded the plane for home accompanied by two main characters: Sir James Douglas, King Robert Bruce’s comrade in arms, and Isabelle MacDuff, the Countess of Buchan, who turned against her clan to crown the Bruce.


Isabelle MacDuff crowns Robert Bruce
(Exhibit at Edinburgh Castle,
Wiki Commons license)Tara: We focus a lot on heroines here on Book Babe. Tell me what makes your heroine strong.

Glen: Isabelle MacDuff paid a terrible price for helping Bruce gain the throne. England's King Edward I ordered her captured and hung for years in a cage atop Berwick Castle. It remains a mystery why she risked so much for the Bruce. English chroniclers at the time suspected she was one of his secret mistresses, but I found a clue for another possible motive. History has given short shrift to the role that Scot women played in the Bruce's success. I hope Spider helps corrects that injustice.


Tara: Did any particular woman in your family or life help inspire some of her traits?

Glen: None among family or friends, but the heroine in my first novel, The Fire and the Light, was very much like Isabelle. In the 13th century, Esclarmonde de Foix, a Cathar viscountess, challenged Pope Innocent III and his legates during the Albigensian Crusade. Isabelle and Esclarmonde were both prominent noblewomen who defied powerful men and paid dearly for their convictions.

Tara: I'm going to have to look that book up!

Was there any particular part of this story that was the hardest for you to write? Tell me why.

Glen: With novels set during war, there's always the treacherous line between maintaining authenticity and not lingering in describing the bloodlust and carnage of those times. Execution and assassination scenes are particularly tricky, too. I try to portray these in a way that leaves the reader emotionally moved, but not revolted.

Tara: That's a good answer. I've never thought of that being a writing challenge, but now that you mention it, you are right. When reading war stories, sometimes I've noticed it goes a bit too far for me.

What kind of research did you do when you penned this novel? Did anything surprising come up in your search?

Glen: I pore over the histories and biographies, but what I really enjoy is traveling to the sites. The gnomes and kelpies accompanied me on my research trips to Scotland, playing a trick or two along the way. At the ruins of Castle Douglas, I was welcomed with a bouquet of roses left on the ground in the shape of a crown. On Arran isle, I whimsically asked for a sign to confirm the location where, legend has it, Robert Bruce saw his famous dangling spider. When I reached the grotto known as the King's Cave, a spider sat ensconced in the web spun across the gate. Days later, I downloaded my photo of the cave's entrance, and the spider was missing. The veil separating the realms is very thin in the lands of the Celts.


St. Duthac's sanctuary at Tain,
where Isabelle MacDuff was captured. 
(Author photo)
Tara: What would you like readers to gain from reading your book? Is there a strong moral? Do you hope they will laugh, learn something about a particular subject/person, ponder a point?

Glen: The moral may have been embedded in that triggering dream I had years ago. The caption "Americans Aid the King at Bannockburn" at first seemed nonsensical to me. But I learned that, after their victory against the English, Robert Bruce and his nobles affixed seals to the Declaration of Arbroath, affirming their independence and warning the pope to cease meddling in their affairs. Nearly five hundred years later, the founding fathers of the United States--many of Scot heritage--signed a similar declaration. I came to understand that an unbroken thread runs from Bannockburn to Yorktown. Scotland and the United States are sister nations whose destinies have long been spiritually conjoined.

Tara: If I were a tourist, what would you recommend I see in Scotland?

Glen: There are so many haunting sites from the Bruce era. Stirling Castle still stands, but unfortunately the nearby battlefield of Bannockburn has been significantly altered over the centuries. One can still stand atop Moot Hill at Scone, where Isabelle crowned the Bruce, and climb the ruins of Berwick Castle overlooking the River Tweed, where she suffered imprisonment. If I had to choose one place that captures the true spirit of Scotland, it would be Iona, the holy isle in the Hebrides where many of the ancient kings are buried.

Tara: Moving on to personal things...if you could time travel to any time and place in history, where and when would you go and what is it that draws you to this time period? What would you do whilst there?

Glen: I'm not much of a romantic when it comes to historical eras. Life was so brutal and disease so rampant that I don't know why anyone would want to trade our existence with that of another time period. But if I could be dropped in for a quick interview, I'd opt for a 60 Minutes exclusive with Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalen on the night of the Last Supper.

Tara: What’s the one thing you hope to accomplish before you die? Your main goal?

Glen: I'll be satisfied if my books encourage readers to approach traditional historical accounts with a questioning eye. Rep. Michelle Bauchmann has said she went into politics after being outraged by the "snotty" attitude that Gore Vidal showed to the founding fathers in his novel, Burr. Surely Vidal greeted that revelation with one of his wry grins and a champagne toast. If a historical novelist can irk the powers-that-be, give voice to those wrongly silenced in the past, and rattle a few rusty cages in the process, then I'm confident the angels will be served.

Tara: I’m a dog mom, so I always ask this. Do you have pets? If so, tell me about them and do provide pictures.

Glen: Growing up on a farm, I had several dogs as a boy. But I travel so much now that it's not practical to keep one. My favorite, appropriately, was a Scottish terrier who would spin in circles until he made himself dizzy. He was just another crazy Scot, I guess.


About the author: Glen Craney is a novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and lawyer. A three-time finalist for Foreword Reviews Book-of-the-Year Award, his historical fiction has taken readers to Occitania during the Albigensian Crusade, to the Scotland of Robert Bruce, to Portugal during the Age of Discovery, to the trenches of France during World War I, and to the American Hoovervilles of the Great Depression. More about his writing can be found atwww.glencraney.com.


Excerpt download link for The Spider and the Stone.

Paperback and ebook editions: 406 pages
Publisher: Brigid's Fire Press (2014)
Distribution: Ingram, Baker & Taylor
ISBN-10: 0981648428
ISBN-13: 978-0981648422
Purchase links:PaperbackiBooks Nook Kobo Smashwords

Be A Good John (or Jane) Doe

"You're supposed to be smart. If it was raining one-hundred dollar bills, you'd be looking for a dime you lost."

I have author Delynn Royer and her recent blog post to thank for me having watched this movie at all. Though a long-time fan of classic movies on TCM, my time is limited and if the little sentence next to the movie in the TCM Classic Movie Guide doesn't grab me, I don't record it. And frankly, "A reporter's fraudulent story turns a tramp into a national hero and makes him a pawn of big business" doesn't sound like much of a story.

But this movie was an absolute gem! That sentence sums it up nice and quick, but there is so much more, mainly an important message within this movie.

Your neighbor....he or she may not be a bad guy or gal. Don't forget she or she is a just a regular John or Jane Doe. We can't all be lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses, rich, movie stars, business tycoons, or even the president. Some of us have to be John or Jane Does, just regular Joes. But without us laying the train tracks, there'd be no trains going anywhere. Without us fixing the planes, there'd be no flying. Without us serving or selling the food, we'd go hungry.

Us John and Jane Does make this world keep going.

First of all, it stars the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck. Co-starring is Gary Cooper. She's the reporter and that quote I shared up there about the raining of bills, that's what comes out of her sassy mouth when she's told to go home and have babies. (I lurve her!) She's got the idea of the century: sell more newspapers by printing fake letters that rant and rave about the government and society in general, penned by John Doe.

But it becomes so much more and she has to find a man to be John Doe. (That's where Cooper comes in.) And it leads to a movement. It leads to people getting to know their neighbors after years. There's one little side story in particular that had me nodding my head, when a man who always thought his neighbor was a mean old grump learns that in fact, the reason the man slams his door and plays his music loud and never responds to a hello is that he's not rude...wait for it...he's deaf!

Heck, John Doe's speeches had me nodding my head and thinking about how I need to be kinder to my neighbors too, or at least not judge them or think the worst so quickly.

But as usual, rich politicians step into the picture and try to turn it all into their favor...meaning money in their pockets! And there's romance, though it's very very subtle. Blink and you'll miss it until the closing scene.

Acting: superb. Picture: clear. Story line: unique and worth your time. Heroine: Awesome. She has a great idea. Gets swayed to the wrong side for a bit, but in the end, she's a good cookie who knows right from wrong and sticks to her guns.

Though made in 1941, the message within the lines should still be remembered and followed today.

I watched this on TCM.

Is it Really True Love and Will Whatever it is Overcome All in Patricia O'Sullivan's A Notable Occupation?

It occurred to me that God was cruel to create women with the ability to think and then to forbid it as sinful. Perhaps, in truth, God had made women for play acting. We could not help but think, but piety demanded we pretend not to.

"Rebel or loyalist, no woman should suffer because she is forgotten by men, or because she is imprisoned by them."

Looking at this story based solely on its contents, I should have loved it. It's extremely detailed about what happened in  Newport during the Revolutionary war. This was interesting to me, as was the Jewish customs/ways/beliefs that were mentioned.

It has a strong heroine, strong in the sense that she overcomes a lot. The tragedies that befall her are never-ending to the point it's rather depressing. The loss of her mother, her father's abandoning her into the arms of a brutal man. Three miscarriages. Beatings. Lack of respect from her own husband, slaves (I normally take the side of slaves, but I didn't like these characters). Lack of respect from her own Jewish community. Separation from her spouse. Being held up on a ship and spoken to as if she's dirt just because she's Jewish... And she survives all this.

But I must confess, for a reason I find hard to pinpoint, I didn't like her.

I liked the hero even less. A British doctor who finds himself in America during the revolutionary war, he seems like a good fellow. But his attitude toward his wife stank. I persistently found myself doubting that he truly loved the heroine. I think he just wanted to marry a Jewish woman to tick off his father. When she is accused of being a spy, he jumps into bed with another woman and declares the heroine a dirty, greed Jewess. Is that how it's going to be every time she makes you mad? In the heat of anger...isn't that when our true feelings come out?

And this: She was unbelievably competent for a woman.

Seriously? Screw you, dude.

Another thing I hated about this book was the instant love. They were immediately in lurve with each other. Not even ten minutes went by, it seems. This was so eye-rolling.

Long review short: I abandoned this at 75%. I know, I know, to invest all that time reading...but I seriously wasn't enjoying this tale and didn't care at that point if the couple never saw each other again. It also has enough typos to make me frown.

I borrowed this on Prime.

The President's Lunch by Jenny Bond Takes Readers Behind the Scenes of the "New Deal" White House

She was a symbol for the new administration, a representation of what every American trapped in gloom could expect to become. One by one people would be lifted from the doldrums, just as she had been.

Though fraught with fictional characters, real-life people come alive in this novel that takes us behind the scenes of the New Deal White House. It shows us President Roosevelt's ups and downs, his cockiness, his insecurities, his losses, his arguments with his wife, the larger-than-life Eleanor. Within the pages of this novel, we learn things we may not have heard before. Most everyone who has read about the Roosevelts knows of their affairs: FDR's Lucy and Missy and Eleanor's Hicks, but who knew that Eleanor purposely hired a crappy housekeeper and quite possibly "punished" her husband in this manner, ensuring he had tasteless meals his entire term.

And they, FDR and his wife, often disagreed on political issues. FDR was intent on America being isolationist--there's a reason for this too, a political campaign one--while Eleanor believed early on that Germany was getting out of hand and action should be taken...

Eleanor, Wiki Commons
In the book, the heroine comes
up with Fala's nameI've always been a fan of Eleanor, so for me, she stole the show. I couldn't be happier with her characterization in this novel. As always, Eleanor is for the "little" people.

We also meet, briefly, a sickly Louis Howe. And I learned so much about the New Deal that I didn't know before. Sure, I could go read about it all on Wiki or something, but nothing beats learning about all this in a entertaining manner. It will stay in my mind this way. Example: Roosevelt is responsible for not only many of our bridges and roads, but also for electrifying the south.

FDR and Louis Howe,
Wiki CommonsBut the heart and soul of the story is Iris, who guides us through the turmoil of the Great Depression as she struggles to feed and clothe herself and resorts to sleeping outside diners and begging for food and traveling the country via train, at each stop looking for opportunity where there is none. A former teacher, Iris isn't dumb. As Eleanor points out in the story, during an argument with FDR, the New Deal provides jobs for MEN, but not women.

A stroke of luck lands Iris in the White House, where she becomes engrossed in the lives of the Roosevelts, finds love and excitement with two different men, embroils herself in politics, and goes to law school, and becomes a member of the president's advisory crew.

I liked her*, but there was one thing I didn't like about her/the book. She cannot be alone. As she became more successful, she needed a "crutch" at all times, which was odd to me after she'd overcome so very much alone. She won't dump one man until another is lined up. I lost a lot of respect for her between the Monty and Sam thing. While I loved this book, I got so tired of Iris's back and forth and how she treated the men who adored her.

*I especially liked her when she stood up to a politician who mistook her for a secretary.

"I'm here to advise on constitutional matters. But I do know the housekeeper's extension if you would like to ogranise the fans."

I confess it jarred me at first every time it switched to the housekeeper's POV. I couldn't figure out why that was there, until I realized how the housekeeper was keeping us up to date and summarizing things that would have otherwise made the novel way too long. I also just plain liked her tone and came to look forward to these bits of narrative. The Author's Note in the end clarifies why this was there and made me appreciate it all the more.

Conclusion: I loved this book and truly felt I was in the White House watching not only Eleanor and FDR but also witnessing a rebirth of America as they brought her out of depression and reluctantly faced a new challenge: war.

I received this from the author in exchange for an honest review.


The President's Lunch can be purchased on Amazon.

Dear Authors, Please Write a Historical Novel about Frances Glessner Lee

I have another episode of Mysteries at the Museum to thank for bringing this woman to my attention. Someone could have some seriously awesome fun with this...
Photo from Glessner House Museum
website.
Who she was: a Chicago heiress who was not allowed to pursue to her dreams due to her sex. It wasn't until she was in her fifties, in the 1930s that she was finally able to pursue her interests in forensics. Until then she was the creator of finely detailed miniatures. She could recreate the entire Chicago Symphony in a box.

Because she was a fan of mysteries and crime stories, a family friend, a chief medical examiner, began taking her to visit different crime scenes and often complained to her about the lack of education in America's police force. Detectives weren't properly maintaining crime scenes and crucial evidence was getting away or being compromised or missed.

So, how in the world did this lady's love of making miniatures come into forensics? Frances began making mini dioramas of different crime scenes, detailed immaculately with lights, moving windows, and covering all kinds of different scenarios. According to the show, she spent at least a year making these.

She then went on to fund with her own money week-long conferences in which her boxes were used to educate and test detectives from all over the U.S.

The boxes were called Nutshells Studies of Unexplained Death and are still used to this day at Harvard, where she founded its department of legal medicine. There are 18 of them. You can view them for yourself here. Can you figure out who dunnit?

In 1943 she was honored with a title of caption with the New Hampshire State Police. No other women had held a position such as this until then.

Think of the potential here. A woman fascinated with death--or least finding the answers, not the least intimidated by crime scenes and gruesome murder details. There's a failed marriage that produced three children (there really was) and lots of frustration with a society that looks down on her sex and denies her dreams. Perhaps, one could even contrive a romance with a medical examiner...or at least a frustrating attraction to a doubtful detective who comes to her seminar...

Regardless, if anyone ever decides to write a novel based on her, you can be certain I'll read it.

If you live in the Chicago area, you can take a tour of her family home. It's the oldest still standing. See the first link below.

Sources:
http://www.glessnerhouse.org/Glessner... (photo is from and completely belongs to this site)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_...
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/...

She's in the Oval Office; He's Absolutely Lost, in Kisses for My President, 1964

A movie about a woman president. How can I resist that? It's 1964 and 40 million women have voted for the first ever woman president. (Wouldn't that have been nice?)

She takes over the oval office and her husband is just lost. He (Fred MacMurray) gets the canopied bedroom and the office full of pictures of former first ladies and nobody knows how to address him. First man doesn't have a nice ring to it, does it? I'm interested to see how this is handled when it really happens.

A comedy, the movie has many LOL moments as the "first man" locks himself out of the living quarters in his pajamas, ends up in a bit of a brawl in a strip club, and just has one unfortunate event after another. My favorite scene is when he attempts to give a tour of the White House, on camera, after having a few too many....errr..pills and drinks to calm his nerves. Priceless! Hilarious!

Meanwhile, the president's children are using their new status to get away with things, like the little boy threatening everyone at school and then using his Secret Service agents to protect him.

I laughed quite a few times, but the best part of the movie was watching a lady president, a no-nonsense woman, handle all the men who came her way, from a belligerent and threatening senator, to a somewhat amorous dictator. And of course, I loved the clothes. I love the sixties' clothes. And the actress (Polly Bergen) just did a superb job. She carried herself with grace and looked and acted the part superbly.

I enjoyed this movie, laughed often, got a kick out of it, but the ending...everything just came crashing down into a HUGE disappointment for me. I'm not going to give it away, but it's awful. Worst ending they could have come up with. What a way to disappoint and let down 40 million women. You'd think she'd have been more careful...

If you don't mind a crappy ending, the movie is worth the time just for the laughs and the woman president theme. Feminists will find themselves happy until the last five minutes. I'd also like to note that the picture was amazingly good. I've watched some not-so-great quality classic flicks and had some trouble with the picture, not so this time.

I rented this on Amazon.

The Reading Radar 8/9/2014

Spotted on Goodreads Giveaways and on my wishlist: The Dragonfly Saga, Book 1: Empress of Canton
by Juliann Troi.

China, 1923: An ancient land, once gloriously majestic, is now a nation torn and bleeding, slowly being blown to pieces by revolution. Ruthless warlords have overthrown the divine Imperial system and claimed dominion, carving the country up to satisfy their own selfish designs. Political intrigue and betrayal are the only rulers now. Caught between two warring factions during an invasion of Canton and taken prisoner, Kathryn Hopewell's life hangs in the balance. Witness to the proceedings, Ty Wang must make an impossible choice: to save Kathryn will cost him his life, to let her die could mean the death of his beloved homeland. Bound together by a love as strong as it is forbidden, Ty and Kathryn must overcome impossible odds and boldly embrace a great and terrible purpose that could ultimately change the fate of a nation ... and destroy them both.
*** Spotted on NG, All Good Women by Valerie Miner.As World War II rages abroad, a group of women forge the bonds of sisterhood in AmericaIn 1938, while tensions in Europe are reaching a boiling point, four young women with big ambitions enter secretarial school in San Francisco. Motivated to attain the financial stability that eluded their parents, they go to battle for their futures. Moira, of Scottish descent, dreams of being an actress. Ann yearns for the education her Jewish immigrant parents provided for her brother, but not for her. Japanese American Wanda experiences firsthand the racial injustices running rampant in the United States. And Teddy, who left the Dust Bowl for sunny California, comes to startling realizations about herself as the war progresses. These women will be both buoyed and challenged by their dreams, experiencing love, loss, and everything in between. Against the backdrop of a nation gripped by fear and paranoia, Miner eloquently captures the spirit of wartime on the home front.

***
Another GR Giveaway and on my wishlist: The Crescent: Victory Over Adversity by Cynthia Vespia.
In a violent time where respect was taken at the tip of a sword, and gladiators were the rockstars of their era, two women will stake their claim in a sport of death dominated by men to fulfill their respective destinies. Nadja the slave girl, as sensuous as she is savage, captured and forced into training to become a gladiator. She fights hard and well, intent on attaining a long sought freedom. Liza, the Queen, as passionate as she is powerful, married into royalty but her adventurous spirit leads her down the path of the gladiator. Mindful of her husband, the King she shields her identity and fights in secrecy. Two goals, one victor. They are a parallel of ability and a paradox of style...who shall succeed?

***
Very, VERY excited about these two, as I've read these authors before and enjoyed their books very much:

Mademoiselle Chanel by C.W. Gortner.

For readers of The Paris Wife and Z comes a vivid novel full of drama, passion, tragedy, and beauty that stunningly imagines the life of iconic fashion designer Coco Chanel—the ambitious, gifted laundrywoman’s daughter who revolutionized fashion, built an international empire, and become one of the most influential and controversial figures of the twentieth century

Born into rural poverty, Gabrielle Chanel and her siblings are sent to orphanage after their mother’s death. The sisters nurture Gabrielle’s exceptional sewing skills, a talent that will propel the willful young woman into a life far removed from the drudgery of her childhood.

Transforming herself into Coco—a seamstress and sometime torch singer—the petite brunette burns with ambition, an incandescence that draws a wealthy gentleman who will become the love of her life. She immerses herself in his world of money and luxury, discovering a freedom that sparks her creativity. But it is only when her lover takes her to Paris that Coco discovers her destiny.

Rejecting the frilly, corseted silhouette of the past, her sleek, minimalist styles reflect the youthful ease and confidence of the 1920s modern woman. As Coco’s reputation spreads, her couturier business explodes, taking her into rarefied society circles and bohemian salons. But her fame and fortune cannot save her from heartbreak as the years pass. And when Paris falls to the Nazis, Coco is forced to make choices that will haunt her.

An enthralling novel of an extraordinary woman who created the life she desired, Mademoiselle Chanel explores the inner world of a woman of staggering ambition whose strength, passion and artistic vision would become her trademark.

*** After the War is Over by Jennifer Robson.

The USA Today and #1 Toronto Globe & Mail bestselling author of Somewhere in France returns with her sweeping second novel—a tale of class, love, and freedom reminiscent of Downton Abbey—in which a young woman must choose between her independence and the aristocrat she loves

With the Great War finally at an end, life must go on for those who have survived. Charlotte Brown witnessed the devastation war wrought as a nurse, but after the war she decides to resume her career as a social worker in Liverpool. There she helps others to better their lives, even as she struggles to forge a future of her own. Charlotte is fortunate to have friends old and new to guide her, including the women at her boarding house, her colleagues, and a radical young newspaper editor with romantic hopes.

But a chance encounter with Edward, her dearest friend’s brother, pulls Charlotte back into the past. Once charming and infuriatingly arrogant, the new Earl of Cumberland has become another casualty of the war. Still, Charlotte sees the specter of the captivating man he once was, and she knows he could offer her a life far different from the one she has now. But being the wife of aristocrat comes with a price the independent young woman can’t bear to pay.

As the country seethes with unrest, and post-war euphoria flattens into bitter disappointment, Charlotte must make an impossible choice: keep her freedom, or turn her back on the only man she has ever loved?

***
And oh, I have to read this!! It's not only about a highway woman and I love those...but narrated by a DEAF heroine! Must aquire. Stat! So on my wishlist.

Shadow on the Highway by Deborah Swift.

Abigail Chaplin has always been unable to find a position as a maidservant like other girls, because she is deaf. So why do the rich Fanshawes of Markyate Manor seem so anxious to employ her? And where exactly does her mistress, Lady Katherine, ride out to at night?

SHADOW ON THE HIGHWAY is based on the life and legend of Lady Katherine Fanshawe, the highwaywoman, sometimes known as The Wicked Lady. A tale of adventure and budding romance set in the turbulent English Civil War, this is a novel to delight teens and adults alike.

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln: The Alternate History of an American Icon

I decided to read and review The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen L. Carter some time ago, but it's a bit of a tome for someone in graduate school, so I put it off for when I'd have more time available.

I wanted to read it even though I'm the only person I know who isn't hugely impressed by Abraham Lincoln.  You see, I discovered that he had to be pressured into the Emancipation Proclamation.  Who was the man who forced Lincoln to free the slaves?  His name was John Charles Fremont. Today he is mainly known as an explorer, but he was also the first Republican candidate for President of the United States.  He ran on an abolitionist platform. Fremont had a chance to act on his principles as a General in the Civil War.  He issued an emancipation proclamation that freed the slaves in the military district for which he was responsible.  Lincoln's response? He relieved Fremont of his command.  Why?  Fremont had embarrassed him politically. The members of Lincoln's own party wondered why Lincoln hadn't taken action on the slavery issue himself. Lincoln actually wasn't a very popular President in his day.

Carter had researched Lincoln's era before writing this novel, and was aware of how unpopular Lincoln had been.  That's why he imagined that if Lincoln had survived being shot by John Wilkes Booth, he might very well have been impeached.  When I saw that title for the first time, I also recognized it as a realistic possibility.

                                               


The central character of this speculative fiction actually wasn't Lincoln.  It was the fictional free African American  clerk  at the law firm in charge of Lincoln's defense.  Her name was Abigail Canner, and Lincoln was her hero.   She considered him the Great Emancipator.  As far as Abigail was concerned, Lincoln was the one who had brought about a new world for the members of her race.  And in that new world, Abigail could dream of becoming a lawyer.

Abigail is a courageous and determined idealist.  This is shown when one of the lawyers at the firm is murdered along with an African American woman named Rebecca.  Both the police and the remaining partner at the firm tell Abigail not to investigate these killings, but Abigail refuses to leave this case alone.   She wants justice for the victims, and she wants to discover the truth behind the murders.    She learned that truth and justice aren't very high priorities in the pragmatic realm of politicians.   Someone else might have become cynical and disillusioned, but Abigail maintained her values.  

So this has good characterization, a suspenseful mystery sub-plot and politics that will remind readers of current events on Capitol Hill.   The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln is truly a thought provoking alternate history that I recommend.