Monday, 5 October 2026

The Coffee Pot Book Club The Roll of the Dice by J.A. Quarles





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About the Book
Book Title: The Roll Of the Dice
Series: We Who Endure
Author Name: J. A. Quarles
Publication Date: June 30th, 2026
Publisher: Historium Press
Pages: 330
Genre: Historical Fiction / Alternate History

Any Triggers: The American Civil War…and all of that entails 

As the fires of war spread across a divided nation, three brothers from Louisiana are swept into the storm that will decide the fate of the Confederacy-and perhaps the future of America itself.

In the bloody aftermath of Fredericksburg, young Confederate officer Johan Lutze escapes Union captivity through courage, cunning, and sheer determination. Returning to General Robert E. Lee's army just in time for the Battle of Chancellorsville, Johan performs an act of heroism that saves the life of the legendary General Stonewall Jackson and thrusts him into the inner circle of Confederate power.

Now, with Vicksburg under siege and the Confederacy teetering between survival and collapse, Johan's bold strategic ideas begin to influence President Jefferson Davis himself. But in Richmond, ambition and politics can be as deadly as bullets, and not everyone welcomes the rise of the young officer from Louisiana.

While Johan helps shape daring military campaigns alongside Generals Lee, Beauregard, and Johnston, his brothers wage battles of their own. Paul Lutze Jr., maimed at Shiloh and fitted with a prosthetic leg, enters the shadowy world of Confederate espionage, where secrets and sabotage may alter the course of the war. Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old Jacques Lutze marches north with the ferocious Louisiana Tigers, consumed by grief, vengeance, and a burning desire to kill Yankees before they kill him.

From the fields of Pennsylvania to the banks of the Mississippi, from the halls of Richmond to the courts of Europe and the rising empire in Mexico, the war expands into a conflict of global consequence. Armies maneuver. Governments scheme. Brothers bleed.

And as the summer of 1863 approaches its reckoning, the Lutze brothers will stand at the center of history-where triumph and tragedy walk hand in hand.



Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/3yBj1L 



Author Bio:

Born and raised in New Orleans, Justin has always had a passion for storytelling. This writing process has always been important to Justin, a lifelong history nerd, who received a Bachelor’s in History from the University of New Orleans.

After he is done with his day job, Justin loves to come home and play with his two wonderful kiddos and watch movies with his wife.

Author Links:

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Excerpt 1:

Chapter 3 May 10, 1863, 10:00 AM, City of Washington, White House

“It’s a catastrophe,” said President Lincoln somberly.

Edward Stanton, Secretary of War, cut in, “Our losses were high, Mr. President.  But we inflicted heavy losses on the rebels as well.”

“We suffered over 30,000 casualties, Mr. Stanton.  The rebels suffered under 10,000, probably closer to 8 or 9,000.  Going by that math, I would have handily beaten Douglas for the Senate back in ‘58 if a win was for me, only to have a third as many votes as him.”

General Halleck, General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States, tried to restore peace to the conference. “It was a defeat—a bad one.  However, Hooker did manage to recover whatever brains he had left after his concussion and extracted the Army of the Potomac from Lee’s little trap.  Our forces are now back on the north sides of the Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers.” 

Secretary of State Seward asked, “What are we doing to replenish our forces and ensure Lee cannot move on Washington?”

Halleck was ready for the question, “The garrison for the city has been strengthened with a combination of Marines and 5,000 regulars.  We are also mobilizing the state militias in Pennsylvania and New York.  We are hoping to convert 7,500 from each state into regulars. So that is an immediate 15,000.   We are also pulling forces from the Atlantic Seaboard.   We will have to scale back our operations in the Carolinas, especially around Charleston.  However, winding down those operations won't significantly impact our overall war effort.  We can redeploy 10,000 to 15,000 troops immediately, with more available later if needed.  So, more or less, we have immediate replacements for Hooker’s losses at Chancellorsville without affecting any other theater of operations.”




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Friday, 2 October 2026

The V.I.P. Reader: Travel Back In Time - Venture Into a Portal where the past becomes the present


There is more to a book than a cover,
 pages and words.
They are portals to different worlds
and exciting adventures.

#VIPReader
Grab a book and enjoy a good read! 
where time merges the past to the present...

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Anna Belfrage

The Graham Saga (9 book series)

From Book 1- A Rip In The Veil: On a muggy August day in 2002 Alex Lind disappears without a trace. On an equally stifling August day in 1658, Matthew Graham finds her on an empty Scottish moor. Life will never be the same for Alex – or for Matthew.

Matthew doesn’t know what to make of this strange woman who has seemingly fallen from the skies—what is she, a witch? Alex is convinced the tall, gaunt man is some sort of hermit, an oddball, but she quickly realises the odd one out is she, not he.

Catapulted from a life of modern comfort, Alex grapples with her new existence, further complicated by the dawning realization that someone from her time has followed her here—and not exactly to extend a helping hand.

Potential compensation for this brutal shift in fate comes in the shape of Matthew, a man she should never have met, not when she was born three centuries after him. But Matthew comes with baggage of his own and on occasion his past threatens them both. At times Alex finds it all excessively exciting, longing for the structured life she used to have.

How will she ever get back? And more importantly,
does she really want to?

Buy Link The Graham Saga: https://mybook.to/TGSnew

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Loretta Livingstone

Book 1 of 3

1191: Giles de Soutenay has never liked or trusted John, Count of Mortain, but when John is taken seriously ill, it falls to Giles to ensure his survival.

2006: Marion Hart, visiting the ruined Abbey of Sparnstow, could never have imagined she would be called upon to help save one of the most dangerous men of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Falling through a gap in time, she finds herself administering first aid to John, inadvertently endangering both herself and Giles.

amazon author page: https://mybook.to/u4nuJO

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Christina Courtenay

Book 1 of 4

The Silent Touch of Shadows: A completely unforgettable and emotional historical timeslip romance 

Lose yourself in the spellbinding tale of two women from the same family, separated by 600 years, but their fates no less intertwined.

A love that echoes through the ages... After genealogist Melissa Grantham’s marriage falls apart, she escapes to her family’s ancestral home in Kent. But from the moment she arrives at Ashleigh Manor, vivid dreams of a young couple in love from the fourteenth century haunt her. Before she can dismiss them as nothing more than her imagination, Melissa meets a handsome stranger who lives in a nearby cottage. The same man from her dreams.

Melissa feels a burning attraction to Jake, but can she really trust her feelings, or are they merely caused by a love so strong it has echoed through generations. And how are they tied to the 600-year-old tragedy locked away within the looming shadow of Ashleigh Manor?

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk  Amazon.com

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Mary Ann Bernal

travel to a moment that refuses to be forgotten.

A Dark Secret. A Fierce Battle. A Shrouded Destiny.

When a medieval portrait draws historian Gwyneth Franger into a forgotten fortress, her research uncovers more than a mystery, it becomes a gateway. Catapulted into the final days before the Norman invasion, she finds herself in the arms of a man history says must die. Trapped in the eleventh century, she navigates shifting allegiances, ancient tunnels, and a fate that’s already been written. But destiny is not fixed. And some secrets can echo across bloodlines. She knows the truth. She holds the key. But every word she speaks could destroy the future.

buy links: https://books2read.com/u/b5o8p6

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available from 15th October or pre-order the e-book

A stolen crown jewel and an enigmatic portrait force two women to confront the devastating choices they made for love—and summon the courage to live with the truth.

1619: Barbara, Lady Villiers, at the bidding of her brother-in-law, the Duke of Buckingham, has stolen the dying Queen Anna’s jewels—and kept the greatest prize for herself. The Queen’s Tears, a brooch of impossible value, torments her: too dangerous to sell, too priceless to discard, and possibly her only means of securing her children’s future. When the family fortunes are shattered, Barbara faces an impossible choice: remain loyal to Buckingham—or betray him by confessing the theft to King Charles.

Present Day: Julia Darke opens her Cotswolds bookshop to start life over peacefully. Instead, she stumbles across a Van Dyck portrait of Barbara’s daughter, with tantalising signs of the missing Queen’s Tears hidden in plain sight. The discovery also brings her face-to-face with the last person she wants to see again. Oliver Villiers, the Oxford art conservator she once loved and walked away from, holds the cipher to the painting—and to Julia’s own unresolved history.Reluctantly drawn together by a shared obsession to uncover Barbara’s secret, Julia and Oliver follow the trail of the Queen’s Tears—and the closer Julia comes to Barbara’s truth, the harder it becomes to hide from her own.

Inspired by the true stories of Queen Anna of Denmark’s stolen jewels and a missing Van Dyck painting, The Queen’s Tears weaves history, fiction, and family research across the centuries. Readers of The Lady of the Tower will find old favourites—and a new heroine.

BUY: https://geni.us/TheQueensTears (e-book pre-order)

*
Cathie Dunn

Love Lost in Time: A compelling dual-timeline tale of discovery and redemption

A reluctant daughter. A dutiful wife. A mystery of the ages.

Languedoc, France, 2018 Historian Madeleine Winters would rather research her next project than rehash the strained relationship she had with her late mother. However, to claim her inheritance, she reluctantly agrees to stay the one year required in her late mother’s French home and begins renovations. But when she’s haunted by a female voice inside the house and tremors emanating from beneath her kitchen floorboards, she’s shocked to discover ancient human bones.

The Mediterranean coast, AD 777 Seventeen-year-old Nanthild is wise enough to know her place. Hiding her Pagan wisdom and dutifully accepting her political marriage, she’s surprised when she falls for her Christian husband, the Count of Carcassonne. But she struggles to keep her forbidden religious beliefs and her healing skills secret while her spouse goes off to fight in a terrible, bloody war.

As Maddie settles into her rustic village life, she becomes obsessed with unraveling the mysterious history buried in her new home. And when Nanthild is caught in the snare of an envious man, she’s terrified she’ll never embrace her beloved again.

Can two women torn apart by centuries help each other finally find peace?

buy the book mybook.to/LoveLostTime 

 

 Next V.I.P. Reads  -17th October 

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Wednesday, 30 September 2026

The Coffee Pot Book Club & Yarde Book Promotions: Melissa Alfredson Beneath David’s Throne: Michal’s Story






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About the Book
Book Title: Beneath David’s Throne: Michal’s Story
Series: Beneath David’s Throne – Book One
Author Name: Melissa Alfredson
Publication Date: September 3, 2026
Publisher: ScarletWhite Press
Pages: 339
Genre: Literary Historical Fiction / Historical Biblical Fiction 

Any Triggers: 
Sexual assault that occurs off-page; the novel explores its aftermath.
Abuse of power within a royal family.

THEY CALL JERUSALEM DAVID’S TRIUMPH.

Michal calls it her cage.

Once a princess of Israel and the woman who helped secure King David’s crown, Michal now lives as a discarded queen in the palace her husband built upon the ruins of her father’s dynasty. Childless and increasingly sidelined as new wives and their sons rise around her, she clings to the fragile power her name still commands.

But when the house of David fractures under rival claims and hidden betrayals, Michal is drawn into the deadly politics of succession as she fights to protect the young princess Tamar, the one soul in the palace she cannot abandon.

As prophecy closes in around David’s throne and old wounds refuse to stay buried, Michal must confront the legacy of her father, the silence of the husband she once loved, and the God whose purposes she cannot escape.

Darkly lyrical and psychologically charged, Beneath David’s Throne is a work of literary historical fiction steeped in the court intrigue and dynastic politics of ancient Israel. For readers of The Red Tent and The Marriage Portrait, this first novel in the Beneath David’s Throne saga reclaims Michal, daughter of Saul—the forgotten woman who stood closest to David’s throne.

History remembered her as barren. This is the story it left out.





Author Bio:

Melissa Alfredson is an award-winning screenwriter and novelist with a passion for uncovering the stories history left untold. Her fiction explores the lives of women caught in the shadow of great events, bringing overlooked voices to life through richly imagined, character-driven prose. 

Beneath David’s Throne is her debut novel.

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cosy mysteries : historical fiction
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Tuesday, 29 September 2026

The Coffee Pot Book Club: Janet Wertman What Love E’er Meant





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About the Book
Book Title:  What Love E’er Meant
Series: Regina (Book #2)
Author Name: Janet Wertman
Publication Date: September 7, 2026
Publisher: Janet Wertman
Pages: 432
Genre: Historical Biographical Fiction

A new queen must prove she deserves the throne God gave her, while the path everyone insists will secure it might cost her everything

Against all odds, Elizabeth Tudor has become Queen of England. Determined to fulfill what she sees as a divine responsibility, she sets out to heal a country ravaged by religious discord, war, and debt – and vindicate the legacy of Anne Boleyn, the mother who did not deserve her fate.

But Elizabeth’s crown is not fully secure: to the Catholic world, her cousin Mary Stuart is the rightful Queen of England and there are rumblings to put her there. Shoring up defenses requires that Elizabeth challenge France’s control of Scotland and Spain’s dominance on the seas, as well as calm internal strife. Above the din of menace, one question dominates all others: who will she marry?

William Cecil, her trusted Secretary of State, urges her to secure an alliance through a strategic match. Robert Dudley, the love of her life, pressures her to choose him. And Mary herself presents a cautionary tale. In the end, Elizabeth chooses not as a woman but as a queen, and learns the sobering truth of sovereignty: to rule is to stand alone.

What Love E’er Meant, the searing second volume in the Regina Trilogy, captures a young queen’s struggle to balance love and power, duty and desire…and the profound cost of choosing crown over heart.

Buy Links:

Amazon & Apple Ebook Buy Link: 

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Author Bio:

Janet Wertman’s critically acclaimed, character-driven historical novels reflect a passion for the Tudor era she had harbored since she stayed up late at age eight to watch The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R. 

Her Seymour Saga trilogy (Jane the Quene, The Path to Somerset, The Boy King) took her deep into one of the era’s central families – and now her follow-up Regina series (Nothing Proved and What Love E’er Meant out now, Forever Gloriana to come) explores Elizabeth’s journey from bastard to icon.

She shares interesting takes on the Tudors at www.janetwertman.com  and her YouTube channel @TooMuchTudor.

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read an excerpt

Excerpt 4:

August 8, 1561

Exhilarated after a successful hunt that presaged more successes, Elizabeth was happy to let a small amount of business interrupt her Summer Progress. She had agreed to receive the Scottish Ambassador, William Maitland of Lethington, at Henham Hall. With the hunting lodge limiting her company to two hundred, an invitation showed clear royal favor.

She smiled as she gave him her hand to kiss. Although a bit dour, Maitland was a decent wit. A good choice on the part of the Scottish Lords.

“Greetings, Your Majesty,” he said as he bowed. “I bring you the goodwill of all Scotland.”

“Which is returned by English friends,” she said as she waved a hand to indicate the people crowded around her chair of estate, “in a good mood from our leisure.”

“The rarest moments of all,” Maitland said. “Again, thank you.”

“You are always welcome,” she said. “Especially if you come to tell me your Queen has finally ratified the Treaty of Edinburgh.” Surely that was why he rushed to join the progress.

Maitland bowed again. “Alas, Your Majesty, my queen requires some clarifications before she does so.”

The air thickened. Elizabeth clenched her fists, ready to quash this conversation before it ruined the day. “The terms were agreed more than a year ago. And they are quite simple.”

He raised his hands. “My mistress is quite happy to give up her claim to the English throne during Your Majesty’s lifetime. But she wishes to make it clear that she will inherit it afterwards.”

Mary wanted to be named successor. The one thing Elizabeth was not willing to do for anyone, and certainly not for Mary Stuart.

“The treaty has no bearing on the English succession. Again, I must insist she ratify the terms that were negotiated for her.”

“The treaty forbids my queen from ever asserting her claim. Your Majesty’s youth makes it too easy to forget that my queen is nine years younger than you and—”

“And so you would put me in a winding cloth before my time?” Elizabeth’s eyes flashed a warning. “If I had known that was the purpose of your visit today, I would have refused to see you. You forget I know what it is like to live as heir apparent. I know what danger my very existence presented to my sister during her reign. When the time is right, we may have this discussion, but I am not prepared to have it now. Nor do I need to. She is legally obligated to ratify the treaty.”

Maitland’s face did not lose its shifty smile. “Before she does, she wishes to confer with her Lords in Scotland. This is what I came to tell—”

“The Scottish Lords are the ones who negotiated the treaty in the first place. Their counsel has already been given.”

 “Ah, but not yet to her. As I started to say, she will be back in Scotland quite soon, and they will be able to reassure her on all the points. It is but a small delay.”

She will be back in Scotland. Elizabeth could not suppress a glance at Cecil. Neither of them had believed Mary Stuart would return to a land she could not remember and would not enjoy. “She plans to leave France? Abandon the Continent?”

“Yes, within the month.”

“I thought there were marriage proposals being negotiated,” Elizabeth said.

“There are. But my queen is eager to see the land of her birth, the land of her blood. It is important for rulers to know their people.”

Elizabeth felt crowded by the idea of the Scottish Queen sharing England’s island. For the first time Elizabeth understood England’s northerners, always fearful of a Scottish invasion. “As long as she keeps herself to her side of our border, we will get along well,” she said.

“With one small exception,” Maitland said. “She hopes you will allow her to pass through England for her journey home. It will be much easier for her to go by land as much as possible.”

“While she still claims this land as her own, my answer is no,” Elizabeth said. She heard snorts, and knew it was people covering up sharp intakes of breath. Yes, yes, a refusal was petty, but it was well deserved. Elizabeth would be foolish to give any quarter to a usurper.

Maitland recovered quickly and adopted a sarcastic tone. “Does Your Majesty intend to use duress to keep a widow away from her home? Must she worry about being intercepted en route by English ships?”

Elizabeth could not bring herself to relent. Mary refused to renounce her claim. No matter that the treaty’s provisions had been negotiated by men who did not represent her interests – they had represented the interests of Scotland, and that should have been enough to bind Mary.

Would you let it bind you? Elizabeth’s inner voice asked. She ignored it. She was angry and resentful, and if she sounded like a child, so be it. She could do as she chose, even if her choice had few teeth. Elizabeth would never actually interfere with Mary’s voyage, but she had no need to make it pleasant. Let Mary take the sea route directly to Leith, where the rough waters would cause her to vomit over the rails. Let that hint at her new life.

“Will you insult France as well?” Maitland continued. “The Scottish Queen will be escorted by the Grand Prior and the Constable of France. Your refusal also runs to them.”

Maitland’s raised nose and triumphant smile made it clear he thought to have bested Elizabeth, but the foolish man had only opened a door. The Constable, Anne de Montmorency, hated the Guises as much as Catherine de Medici did. This was Elizabeth’s chance to court the new power in France, and the insight resurrected all the pleasures of the hunt. “France has signed the treaty renouncing any claim to my land,” she said with a smile. “Their representatives are welcome to return through England. We would love to receive them at Greenwich.” At Maitland’s shocked look, she patted his arm. “But we will tender the invitation ourselves.”



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(Helen has not yet read this title)

scroll down to leave a comment...

"Amazing stories written by highly skilled writers" Smorgasbord Book Magazine

https://mybook.to/COURAGE-Anthology

You might also like books written by Helen Hollick 


cosy mysteries : historical fiction
nautical supernatural adventure 
1066 : King Arthur
ghosts : non-fiction
 anthologies 

2025 annual award winner

THANK YOU!