MORE to BROWSE - Pages that might be of Interest

Wednesday, 30 April 2025

I'm recovering from a hip replacement op... so Meanwhile... curl up with a good book...








Order an e-book online - and read it instantly!

*** ***
*
 available now
from Amazon




*
The Jan Christopher Cosy Mysteries
set in the 1970s

*
The SEA WITCH VOYAGES
nautical adventures set during the Golden Age of Piracy


*
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)
AND
1066 Turned Upside Down

an anthology of 'What If'' tales

*
KING ARTHUR
The Pendragon's Banner Trilogy
 The Boy Who became a Man:
Who became a King:
Who became a Legend... 

PLUS MORE!
anthologies (which include award-winning authors)
and non-fiction



Find More Information:

*
my monthly ' essay' on an interesting topic
(plus a short newsletter)

*




Tuesday, 29 April 2025

Rachel's Random Resources Book Tours: Shadows In The Spring by Christina Courtenay

apologies for any inadvertent errors below - I'm away from my desk recovering from a hip replacement op


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
Shadows In The Spring
Two souls bound together but lost in time. Until now.
AD 80 
Duro of the Iceni tribe escaped life as an enslaved gladiator and is now finally home in Britannia with one thing on his mind: vengeance. For 20 years he has sought the Roman legionary who destroyed his family. What he didn’t expect was Gisel: a fierce Germanic woman with long white-blonde hair, forced into slavery by the Romans. Hypnotised by her spirit and her beauty, Duro frees Gisel and slowly tries to win her trust as they work together to complete his quest.

Present Day
Mackenna Jackson returns to Bath with a broken heart, thanks to rockstar Blue Daniels. Luckily she can still count on Blue’s former bandmate Jonah Miller as a listening ear. But Jonah has secretly been fighting stronger feelings, drawn to Mac’s quiet confidence and gorgeous white-blonde hair. As they explore the area, memories they can’t quite explain flood them both.

Is the spark between Mac and Jonah in fact a sign of something much deeper – a love enduring through millennia – or can it all be an illusion?

Purchase Link - https://geni.us/SITS


read an excerpt

[The hero returning home to Britannia in AD 80 after nineteen years as a Roman slave]

Iceni lands (north-east Norfolk), late May AD 80
Duro couldn’t believe he was actually riding across the flat landscape of his ancestral tribe, the Iceni, at last. It seemed unreal that he was finally here. He had dreamed about it for so long, he didn’t trust his senses when they told him he wasn’t asleep. He shivered in the bracing wind, but he didn’t mind the cold. After so many years living under the hot Campanian sun in Pompeii, he relished the cool air caressing his face. Had longed for it during unbearable, stifling nights in the gladiator barracks room he’d shared with his friend Raedwald. Even the drizzle of fine raindrops couldn’t dampen his spirits.
He was almost home.
Soon, the settlement came into view. Lazy drifts of smoke rose into the air, trickling through the tall, conical thatched roofs of the collection of roundhouses. He headed along a rough track towards the enclosure. A ditch and a wattle fence encircled the cluster of buildings, vegetable plots and animal pens. There were sounds of activity, and familiar cooking scents wafted on the breeze towards him. He took a deep breath and smiled when he recognised it for what it was – the smell of home.
The main gate stood open, and a couple of dogs came running, barking to alert the inhabitants to his presence. Someone had already spotted him and he wasn’t surprised to find a group of people waiting for him outside the largest of the roundhouses. As he dismounted, he scanned the men standing before him, their expressions ranging from wary to outright hostile. Dressed in baggy woollen trousers and colourful long-sleeved tunics, there were about a dozen of them, from callow youths to middle-aged men. The one standing in the centre looked familiar, and Duro fixed his gaze on him and smiled.
‘Commios?’ he guessed, seeing some of his own features reflected in the face before him.
He received only a scowl in return until a woman gasped and rushed out from behind the men. Her multicoloured tunic flapped around her spare frame, and long grey plaits whirled as she threw herself at him. ‘Durobelinos, by all the gods! Is it really you?’
‘Maerica!’ He caught her around the waist and swung her in a circle, laughing. She was older, and somehow faded and frail, but he’d recognise her anywhere. She’d been his mother’s best friend and had often helped to look after Duro and his siblings. She had always been kind.
‘Durobelinos? My . . . brother?’ Commios had taken a tentative step forward and was peering at him as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. ‘I . . . We thought you long dead.’
Duro put the old lady down gently and turned back to the others, who had now been joined by several more women and a few curious children. ‘No, as you can see, I am alive and well. I’ve spent many years as a Roman slave, but I am a freedman at last. I have come to see how you all fare.’
‘And to take over as chieftain?’
Duro raised his brows at his brother’s belligerent question. It would seem his homecoming wasn’t welcomed by everyone, but then he hadn’t expected it to be easy. ‘Not necessarily,’ he said, keeping his tone even. ‘But I do now own the land you are farming and inhabiting.’
He had paid the relatively cheap sum of three thousand silver denarii for the large tract of land just a few weeks ago. Following the unsuccessful Boudican revolt some twenty years ago, much of the Iceni territory was now under Roman control. It was supremely satisfying to have bought back even a fraction.
‘What do you mean?’ One of the other men moved forward to stand next to Commios. ‘This is our land. We pay rent to the Romans fair and square.’
As punishment for taking part in Queen Boudica’s rebellion, Iceni tribesmen had had ownership of their ancestral lands taken away from them by the Roman conquerors. They had been allowed to go back and live there, on condition that they pay rent and taxes to their overlords.
‘You did, but now they have sold it to me outright, so apart from the taxes we are all burdened with, you won’t be paying them in future,’ he told them.
His statement was greeted with a glare of downright mistrust from his brother, and silence from everyone else. Commios appeared to be the designated chieftain of this settlement. His resentment of someone barging in was understandable, especially since Duro, being the eldest, had the right to demand to take over. Never mind the fact that the land was his by purchase. That was not his intention, though. At least, not immediately. He’d come prepared to tread softly.
He held up his hands in a peace gesture. ‘Look, I am not here to take charge. I only sought to relieve you all of the burden of the Roman yoke. Wouldn’t you rather the land was owned by one of us than by the usurpers? I’m not expecting anyone to pay me rent, but I would be grateful for a place to stay and a portion of the produce. I will, of course, do my fair share of the work while I’m here.’
‘What do you mean, while you’re here? You’re not staying then?’ Was that relief in Commios’s voice? It saddened Duro that his little brother wasn’t as happy to see him alive as he himself was to find at least one relative intact.
‘Not immediately, no,’ he replied. ‘I have had many years to think about the fate that befell our family. I seek revenge. I was forced to watch when a Roman cur disrespected our mother and sister, and I remember him well.’ Disrespect was an understatement, but the others all knew what he meant and there was no point spelling it out. ‘I heard his name and know which legion he was part of. I have sworn an oath to the gods that if he is still alive, I will find him and make him pay for his misdeeds.’ He paused to take a deep breath, tamping down the emotions swirling inside him as they always did when he thought about what had happened.
He turned to Maerica and resolutely changed the subject. ‘Would you happen to have any of your famous stew in the pot? I’m fair famished.’
‘Of course! What am I thinking?’ Maerica tugged on his sleeve. ‘Come inside, do, and I’ll serve you in a trice.’
‘Thank you.’ He smiled at her. It was nice that someone was happy to see him. Hopefully he’d win the others over gradually, and Commios would simmer down once he realised Duro wasn’t here to oust him from his position as chief. He just had to persuade him that was the truth.



Author Bio – 
Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip/dual time and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a Vice President and former Chair and of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. SHADOWS IN THE SPRING (dual time historical romance published by Headline Review 24th April 2025) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

Social Media Links – 
Website:  
Facebook:  
Twitter/X:  
Instagram:  
Bluesky: 



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

(note: Helen might not have read the featured title yet)


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Follow Helen On:

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Bluesky: @HelenHollick - http://helenhollick.bsky.social/

(and I'm on Twitter @HelenHollick but for marketing only)

*
*

You might also like 
books written by Helen Hollick 


*
The Jan Christopher Cosy Mysteries
set in the 1970s

*
The SEA WITCH VOYAGES
nautical adventures set during the Golden Age of Piracy


*
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)
AND
1066 Turned Upside Down

an anthology of 'What If'' tales

*
KING ARTHUR
The Pendragon's Banner Trilogy
 The Boy Who became a Man:
Who became a King:
Who became a Legend... 

PLUS MORE!
anthologies (which include award-winning authors)
and non-fiction


Find More Information:

*
my monthly ' essay' on an interesting topic
(plus a short newsletter)

*


Sunday, 27 April 2025

Rachel's Random Resources Book Tours: Fields of Glory by Michael Jecks

apologies for any inadvertent errors below - I'm away from my desk recovering from a hip replacement op



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
Fields of Glory
1346. France. King Edward III is restless. Despite earlier victories the French crown remains intact. Determined to bring France under his own rule, Edward has devised a new plan of attack – one which he believes will finally bring the French army to its knees: a final, cataclysmic battle ...

Berenger Fripper, Vintener of a pox-ridden mob of sixteen who make up the Vintaine of Sir John de Sully, storms the beaches of Normandy to bring victory to their king. But the French are nowhere to be seen… And so Berenger leads his Vintaine through France and onward to battle - the Battle of Crécy – one which will both bond and break his men and be a decisive turning point in the Hundred Years’ War.



Author Bio – 
Studied actuarial science, then became a computer salesman for 13 years- after the 13th company folded, he turned to writing.

He’s the author of 50 novels, 6 novellas, 4 collaborative books and short stories. His tales are inspired by history and legends, but are all grounded in real life and real people, what motivates them, and why they turn to violence. 

Founder of Medieval Murderers, he has served on the committees of: Historical Writers’ Association, CWA and Detection Club. He has judged the Debut Dagger, Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and other prizes, as well as serving as Dagger liaison officer and CWA Chair. He has taught writing at Swanwick and Evesham, and tutored for the Royal Literary Fund. He now runs South West Writers in Devon. 

His work has been celebrated by Visconti and Conway Stewart pens; 2014 he was International Guest of Honour at the Bloody Words festival in Toronto, and Grand Master of the first parade in the New Orleans Mardi Gras.


Social Media Links –  
Facebook: @Michael.Jecks.author
Twitter: @MichaelJecks
Instagram: @michaeljecks
Newsletter Sign Up: 
Bookbub profile: @michaeljecks


My Thoughts

I don't really like appraising historical novels as a 'man's read' or a 'woman's read' as that tends to put books into outdated stereotypical genres - even now when I say I'm an author I get, 'Oh what do you write? Romances?' (I guess the chaps get, 'What do you write? Thrillers?') But for Fields of Glory I do wonder if this is a 'man's read' because it's basically about men on the battlefield - and it's very gritty (as battlefields were - are!). Having said that, if you're a lover of well-researched, detailed - as near as we can get to what really happened historical fiction - regardless of being suitable for male or female readers, then I'd recommend Mr Jeck's novel as an exciting and entertaining read.

I know nothing about this period apart from there were battles during a lot of rain at Crécy  and Agincourt, and something about a certain play based around 'We few, we happy few...' by a chap called 'Bill', so it was a pleasure to read a novel where the facts of what went on were apparently reliable. Although there were a couple of minor quibbles which, if I was reading purely for reading, not for writing a review, I would probably not have noticed.

One was at the very opening: gunwale. The word (and an actual gunwale) first came into use soon after 1325ish, this opening chapter is 1346 so the dates are only just right, but I'm assuming this was a transport ship not a warship ... so I'm being very picky, but 'gunwale' doesn't quite sound right for this context. Personally, I'd have used 'bulwark' or plain 'rail'.
But I do emphasise I'm being really pedantic here - mostly because I so enjoyed the rest of the book but this one little thing niggled. 

Also, men seemed to recover from wounds pretty quickly - but then, for both observations, this is fiction so does it matter? 

I did have to concentrate on getting my head around all the different characters with their unfamiliar names and unfamiliar job descriptions etc, but that's my failing as a reader, not the author's writing ability or style. (At 72 I'm finding remembering even close friends' names not as easy as it used to be - and reading on a Kindle makes the task harder as it isn't as practical to flip back through pages as a reminder.)

All that said, for readers who enjoy a good historical novel that is well written about historical events and the people involved in them, and readers who don't mind the blood, violence, guts and gore of the battlefield ... don't miss this one, it's a good read!

(ARC copy provided by Rachel's Random Resources in exchange for a review)

**** 4 stars



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


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scroll down to leave a comment

thank you!

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Follow Helen On:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.hollick

Bluesky: @HelenHollick - http://helenhollick.bsky.social/

(and I'm on Twitter @HelenHollick but for marketing only)

*
*

You might also like 
books written by Helen Hollick 


*
The Jan Christopher Cosy Mysteries
set in the 1970s

*
The SEA WITCH VOYAGES
nautical adventures set during the Golden Age of Piracy


*
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)
AND
1066 Turned Upside Down

an anthology of 'What If'' tales

*
KING ARTHUR
The Pendragon's Banner Trilogy
 The Boy Who became a Man:
Who became a King:
Who became a Legend... 

PLUS MORE!
anthologies (which include award-winning authors)
and non-fiction


Find More Information:

*
my monthly ' essay' on an interesting topic
(plus a short newsletter)

*


Thursday, 24 April 2025

Taking a bit of a break for a short while...

Meanwhile, why not...



Order an e-book online - and read it instantly!

*** ***
*
 available now
from Amazon




*
The Jan Christopher Cosy Mysteries
set in the 1970s

*
The SEA WITCH VOYAGES
nautical adventures set during the Golden Age of Piracy


*
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)
AND
1066 Turned Upside Down

an anthology of 'What If'' tales

*
KING ARTHUR
The Pendragon's Banner Trilogy
 The Boy Who became a Man:
Who became a King:
Who became a Legend... 

PLUS MORE!
anthologies (which include award-winning authors)
and non-fiction



Find More Information:

*
my monthly ' essay' on an interesting topic
(plus a short newsletter)

*



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