Rachel's Random Resources Book Tours: The Maiden of Florence by Katherine Mezzacapp

Rachel's Random Resources
Book Tours

Welcome to my Blog!
Wander through worlds
real and fictional,
meet interesting people,
visit exciting places
and find good books
to enjoy along the way!

About the Book

The Maiden of Florence

'My defloration was talked about in all the courts of Europe. The Prince boasted of his prowess, even as preparations were being made for his wedding, as boldly as if he had ridden across that causeway with bloodstained sheet tied to his lance.'

1584, Italy: Twenty-year-old Giulia expects she will live and die incarcerated as a silk weaver within the walls of her Florentine orphanage, where she has never so much as glimpsed her own face. This all changes with the visit of the Medici family's most trusted advisor, promising her a generous dowry and a husband if she agrees to a small sacrifice that will bring honour and glory to her native city.

Vincenzo Gonzaga, libertine heir to the dukedom of Mantua, wants to marry the Grand-Duke of Tuscany's eldest daughter, but the rumours around his unconsummated first marriage must be silenced first. Eager for a dynastic alliance that will be a bulwark against the threat of Protestant heresy beyond the Alps, the Pope and his cardinals turn a blind eye to a mortal sin.

A powerful #MeToo story of the Renaissance, based on true events.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maiden-Florence-Katherine-Mezzacappa/dp/1914148509/

https://www.amazon.com/Maiden-Florence-Katherine-Mezzacappa/dp/1914148509/

About the Author

Katherine Mezzacappa is an Irish writer of mainly historical fiction, currently living in Italy. She has published several novels under pen names with publishers Bonnier Zaffre and eXtasy. She works as a manuscript assessor for The Literary Consultancy. Katherine reviews for Historical Novel Society’s quarterly journal and is one of the organisers of the Society’s 2022 UK conference. In her spare time she volunteers with a used book charity of which she is a founder member.

Social Media Links – 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/katmezzacappa

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/katherinemezzacappafiction/

https://katherinemezzacappa.ie/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway to Win a vintage postcard, early 1900s, of the babies from the façade of the Innocenti orphanage. (Open INT)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.

Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.

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.

Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. 

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.

https://www.rachelsrandomresources.com/
@rararesources
#RachelsRandomResources

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Coffee Pot Book Club Tours: A Splendid Defiance by Stella Riley

Welcome to my Blog!
Wander through worlds
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meet interesting people,
visit exciting places
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About the Book

Book Title:  A Splendid Defiance

Series:  Roundheads & Cavaliers

Author:  Stella Riley

Publication Date: 6th December 2012

Publisher:  Stella Riley

Page Length:  371 pages

Genre:  Historical Fiction / Historical Romance

Special Tour Price: Ebook £1.95 / US $1.95 (and equivalent) for the duration of the tour!

For two years England has been in the grip of Civil War.  In Banbury, Oxfordshire, the Cavaliers hold the Castle, the Roundheads want it back and the town is full of zealous Puritans.

Consequently, the gulf between Captain Justin Ambrose and Abigail Radford, the sister of a fanatically religious shopkeeper, ought to be unbridgeable.

The key to both the fate of the Castle and that of Justin and Abigail lies in defiance.  But will it be enough?

A Splendid Defiance is a dramatic and enchanting story of forbidden love, set against the turmoil and anguish of the English Civil War.

Buy Link: 

Universal Buy Link:  https://books2read.com/u/bPzVNd

About the Author

Winner of four gold medals for historical romance and sixteen Book Readers’ Appreciation Medallions, Stella Riley lives in the beautiful medieval town of Sandwich in Kent.

 

She is fascinated by the English Civil Wars and has written six books set in that period. These, like the 7 book Rockliffe series, the Brandon Brothers trilogy and, most recently The Shadow Earl, are all available in audio, performed by Alex Wyndham.

Stella enjoys travel, reading, theatre, Baroque music and playing the harpsichord.  She also has a fondness for men with long hair - hence her 17th and 18th century heroes.

Website: https://stellarileybooks.co.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RileyStella

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stellariley.books

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stellarileybooks/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/riley9631/stella-riley-books/

Book Bub:  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/stella-riley

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stella-Riley/e/B0034PB7UU/ 

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40487661-a-splendid-defiance

Read An Excerpt

The Great Assault

The rebel drums proclaimed the march.  Stentorian voices from five points around the Castle bawled their commands and, slowly, the Parliamentarian host began its advance.  Tension on the battlements reached its peak … and outside the walls, Colonel Fiennes’ troopers began chanting a psalm.

This proved too much for the Cavaliers.  A growl rumbled through the ranks of Lord Northampton’s green-jackets and one burly trooper shouted, ‘Bugger me, lads – we can do better than that!’ And the tension dissolved into a rollicking, popular parody.

Fight on brave soldiers for the Cause, fear not the Cavaliers

Their threat’nings are as senseless as our jealousies and fears.

How often we Prince Rupert killed  and bravely won the day

The wicked Cavaliers did run  –

‘They’re coming,’ snapped Justin, killing the song mid-verse. And to his abruptly attentive men, ‘This is it, boys – but no one fires till I give the word.  Clear?’

Having halted briefly well out of range, the rebels came on at the run clutching bundles of furze and scaling ladders.  For those moving in from the north and east, there was little useful cover and this made the work of Captains Vaughan and Ambrose relatively straightforward. But to the south and west, Sir William and Colonel Greene faced approaches sheltered to within twenty yards of the moat by low stone walls and the blackened ruins of houses.  The ruined west wall could naturally expect to bear the brunt of the attack.

The Royalist artillery fired its opening volley, bringing forth screams and confused shouting and veiling the enemy advance in a swirling, acrid haze.

‘Steady, my lads,’ yelled Justin, peering through the smoke.  ‘Steady … give them time … now!’

The harsh crackle of musket-fire ripped the air; more screams, blue scarves crumpling earthwards; others taking their place and running on.

‘At will!’ Justin levelled his own pistol and picked off a tall, helmeted officer. 

Answering volleys of cannon-shot and grenadoes were now raining on the upper part of the Castle from the Parliamentarian artillery in the church tower.  A musket-ball took Hugh Vaughan in the shoulder and he was carried inside semi-conscious.  Meanwhile, on the north side, the first men had gained the moat and were throwing their bundles of furze into the mud to form a crossing.  Behind them, rows of musketeers formed up to give them covering fire – greatly needed since the garrison’s shot was falling about them like hail and taking a heavy toll.

‘Justin?’  Dirty and already hoarse from the smoke and bellowing his orders, Ned Frost paused briefly in his labours. ‘What’s that their file-leaders are shouting?’

‘Encouragement,’ replied Captain Ambrose, swiftly reloading his pistol, ‘in the form of prize-money. Three hundred pounds, to be precise.’

Ned stared at him.  ‘Hell.  Fiennes is a bastard.’

The day wore on in fits and starts.  Attacks were fierce when they came but the murderous fire of the garrison prevented them being pressed home and, by late afternoon, the pace began to abate as fatigue and hopelessness grew like weeds in the Parliamentarian ranks.  The ground edging the moat was strewn with some three hundred forlornly twisted corpses and littered with unused scaling ladders, firearms and even a couple of muddy, tattered colours.

The garrison, when the tally was complete, found they had lost only nine men.

Follow the Tour

Twitter Handle: @RileyStella @cathiedunn

Instagram Handle:  @stellarileybooks @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalRomance #EnglishCivilWar #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub 

Tour Schedule Page: 

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2024/03/blog-tour-a-splendid-defiance-by-stella-riley.html 

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Rachel's Random Resources Tours: My guest - The Duke Wins A Bride by Nina Jarrett

Rachel's Random Resources
Book Tours

Welcome to my Blog!
Wander through worlds
real and fictional,
meet interesting people,
visit exciting places
and find good books
to enjoy along the way!

About the Book

The Duke Wins a Bride

Her betrothed cheated on her. The duke offers to save her. Can a marriage of convenience turn into true love?

In this steamy historical romance, a sheltered baron’s daughter and a celebrated duke agree on a marriage of convenience, but he has a secret that may ruin it all.

She is desperate to escape …

When Miss Annabel Ridley learns her betrothed has been unfaithful, she knows she must cancel the wedding. The problem is no one else seems to agree with her, least of all her father. With her wedding day approaching, she must find a way to escape her doomed marriage. She seeks out the Duke of Halmesbury to request he intercede with her rakish betrothed to break it off before the wedding day.

He is ready to try again …

Widower Philip Markham has decided it is time to search for a new wife. He hopes to find a bold bride to avoid the mistakes of his past. Fate seems to be favoring him when he finds a captivating young woman in his study begging for his help to disengage from a despised figure from his past. He astonishes her with a proposal of his own—a marriage of convenience to suit them both. If she accepts, he resolves to never reveal the truth of his past lest it ruin their chances of possibly finding love.

The Duke Wins a Bride is the delightful first book in the Inconvenient Brides series of steamy Regency romance books. If you like worthy heroes, strong heroines, fast-paced plots, and enduring connections, then you’ll adore Nina Jarrett’s charming novel. Can be read as a standalone book.

Purchase Links

https://ninajarrett.com/products/the-duke-wins-a-bride-ebook 

Amazon - https://amzn.to/3HLDyWP

B&N

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-duke-wins-a-bride-nina-jarrett/1141457900?ean=2940167337572 

About the Author 

Regency writer, retired Inc. 500 sales coach, former director of a drug rehabilitation center, and Amazon bestselling author of the Inconvenient Brides series.

Nina started writing her own stories in elementary school but quickly grew distracted when she finished school and moved on to non-profit work with recovering drug addicts. There she worked with people from every walk of life, from privileged neighborhoods to the shantytowns of urban and rural South Africa.

One day, she met a real-life romantic hero. She instantly married her fellow bibliophile and moved to the USA, where she enjoyed a career as a sales coaching executive at an Inc 500 company. She currently lives with her husband on the Florida Gulf Coast.

Nina believes in kindness and the indomitable power of the human spirit. She is fascinated by the amazing, funny people she has met across the world who dared to change their lives. She likes to tell mischievous tales of life-changing decisions and character transformations while drinking excellent coffee and avoiding cookies.

Social Media Links

https://twitter.com/regencyscribe 

https://www.instagram.com/ninajarrettwrites/

https://www.facebook.com/ninajarrettwrites

https://www.tiktok.com/@regencywriter

https://www.youtube.com/@Regencyromancewriter https://www.pinterest.co.uk/regencyromancewriter/

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< PREVIOUS POST

*** *** 

You might also like 

books written by Helen Hollick 

Website: https://helenhollick.net/

Amazon Author Page: https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick 

*

The Jan Christopher Cosy Mysteries

set in the 1970s

*

The SEA WITCH VOYAGES

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you'll love the Sea Witch Voyages

Coffee Pot Book Club
Bronze Award2022

*

THE SAXON SERIES

The story of the events that led to
The Battle of Hastings in 1066
Harold the King (UK edition)
I Am The Chosen King (US edition)
1066 Turned Upside Down
an anthology of 'What If'' tales

*

The Forever Queen (US edition)
a USA TODAY BESTSELLER
A Hollow Crown (UK edition)

*

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 The Boy Who became a Man:

Who became a King:

Who became a Legend... 

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US editions

*

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https://mybook.to/StoriesOfExile

Cryssa Bazos, Anna Belfrage, Elizabeth Chadwick, Cathie Dunn, 

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*

Amazon: FREE ebook!

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*

Amazon Author Page: https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick 

website: www.helenhollick.net

*

SUBSCRIBE to Helen's

Thoughts from a Devonshire Farmhouse newsletter

to receive an email reminder of each new post

(1st of every month)

subscribe@helenhollick.co.uk

*