Wild, Wild Rake
by Janna MacGregor

Publication Date: February 25, 2020
St. Martin’s Press
eBook & Paperback; 368 Pages

Series: The Cavensham Heiresses, Book #6
Genre: Historical Romance

 

 

Her first marriage was an epic fail.

Lady Avalon Warwyk never did love her husband. Arrogant, selfish, and cruel, it’s a blessing when she’s widowed and left to raise her son all by herself. Finally, Avalon can live freely and do the work she loves: helping fallen women become businesswomen. She’s lived these past ten years with no desire to remarry―that is, until Mr. Devan Farris comes to town.

Can he convince her to take another chance at happily ever after?

Devan Farris―charming vicar, reputed rake, and the brother of Avalon’s son’s guardian―is reluctantly sent to town to keep tabs on Avalon and her son. Devan wishes he didn’t have to meddle in her affairs; he’s not one to trod on a woman’s independent nature and keen sense of convictions. But she’ll have nothing to do with vicar with a wild reputation―even though he’s never given his heart and body to another. If only he could find a way to show Avalon who he really is on the inside―a good, true soul looking for its other half. But how can prove that he wants to love and care for her…until death do they part?

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound

Praise for the Cavensham Heiresses Series

“Full-bodied romance…with intelligence and heart.”―New York Times bestselling author Cathy Maxwell

“Sparkling…MacGregor brings England’s Regency era to life.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Beautifully defined, exceptionally appealing.” ―Booklist (starred review) on The Bad Luck Bride

About the Author

Janna MacGregor was born and raised in the bootheel of Missouri. She credits her darling mom for introducing her to the happily-ever-after world of romance novels. Janna writes stories where compelling and powerful heroines meet and fall in love with their equally matched heroes. She is the mother of triplets and lives in Kansas City with her very own dashing rogue, and two smug, but not surprisingly, perfect pugs.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | BookBub | Instagram | Goodreads

Dreamland
by Nancy Bilyeau

Publication Date: January 16, 2020
Endeavor Quill
eBook & Paperback; 386 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

 

 

The year is 1911 when twenty-year-old heiress Peggy Batternberg is invited to spend the summer in America’s Playground.

But the invitation to Coney Island is unwelcome. Despite hailing from one of America’s richest families, Peggy would much rather spend the summer at the Moonrise Bookstore where she works voluntarily, than keeping up appearances with Brooklyn socialites and her snobbish, controlling family.

But soon it transpires that the hedonism of Coney Island affords Peggy more of the freedom she has been longing for. For one, she finds herself in love with a troubled pier-side artist of humble means, whom the Batternberg patriarchs would surely disapprove of.

Disapprove they may, but hidden behind their pomposity lurks a web of deceit, betrayal and deadly secrets. And as bodies begin to mount up amidst the sweltering clamour of Coney Island, it seems the powerful Batternbergs can get away with anything…even murder.s

It is up to Peggy to overcome the oppression of her family and clear the name of her vulnerable lover, before she or her beloved sister become the next victims of Dreamland.

Extravagant, intoxicating and thumping with suspense, bestselling Nancy Bilyeau’s magnificent Dreamland is a story of corruption, class and dangerous obsession.

Praise for Dreamland

‘Achingly believable’ – Publishers Weekly

‘Beautifully written and impeccably researched, Dreamland is a rollicking ride.’ – Fiona Davis, bestselling author of The Chelsea Girls

‘A marvelous book!’ – Ellen Marie Wiseman, bestselling author of What she Left Behind and The Life she was Given

‘Bilyeau’s thrilling novel plunges deep into Dreamland’s maze of pleasure and menace’ – Marlowe Benn, bestselling author of Relative Fortunes

‘Nancy Bilyeau’s passion for history infuses her books’ – Alison Weir

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound

About the Author

“Dreamland” is Nancy Bilyeau’s fifth novel of historical suspense. She is the author of the best-selling historical thriller “The Blue” and the Tudor mystery series “The Crown,” “The Chalice,” and “The Tapestry,” on sale in nine countries.

Nancy is a magazine editor who has lived in the United States and Canada. She studied History and English Literature at the University of Michigan. After moving to New York City, she worked on the staffs of “InStyle,” “Good Housekeeping,” and “Rolling Stone.” She is currently the deputy editor of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at the Research Foundation of CUNY and a regular contributing writer to “Town & Country” and “Mystery Scene Magazine.”

Nancy’s mind is always in past centuries but she currently lives with her husband and two children in Forest Hills in the borough of Queens. “Dreamland” is her first novel set in her adopted hometown of New York City.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | BookBub

Written in their Stars
by Elizabeth St. John

Publication Date: November 19, 2019

Series: The Lydiard Chronicles, Book 3
Genre: Historical Fiction

London, 1649. Horrified eyewitnesses to King Charles’s bloody execution, Royalists Nan Wilmot and Frances Apsley plot to return the king’s exiled son to England’s throne, while their radical cousin Luce, the wife of king-killer John Hutchinson, rejoices in the new republic’s triumph. Nan exploits her high-ranking position as Countess of Rochester to manipulate England’s great divide, flouting Cromwell and establishing a Royalist spy network; while Frances and her husband Allen join the destitute prince in Paris’s Louvre Palace to support his restoration. As the women work from the shadows to topple Cromwell’s regime, their husbands fight openly for the throne on England’s bloody battlefields.

But will the return of the king be a victory, or destroy them all? Separated by loyalty and bound by love, Luce, Nan and Frances hold the fate of England—and their family—in their hands.

A true story based on surviving memoirs of Elizabeth St.John’s family, Written in their Stars is the third novel in the Lydiard Chronicles series.

About the Author

Elizabeth St.John was brought up in England and lives in California. To inform her writing, she has tracked down family papers and residences from Nottingham Castle, Lydiard Park, and Castle Fonmon to the Tower of London. Although the family sold a few castles and country homes along the way (it’s hard to keep a good castle going these days), Elizabeth’s family still occupy them – in the form of portraits, memoirs, and gardens that carry their imprint. And the occasional ghost. But that’s a different story…

By Love Divided, Elizabeth’s sequel to The Lady of the Tower, follows the fortunes of the St.John family during the English Civil War, and is out now.

For more information, please visit Elizabeth St. John’s website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, December 9
Review at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, December 10
Review at Jackie & Angela’s Book Reviews

Wednesday, December 11
Review at Books and Zebras

Friday, December 13
Review at @ya.its.lit

Saturday, December 14
Review at Liberty’s Literary Loves

Monday, December 16
Review at Red Headed Book Lady

Tuesday, December 17
Review at Impressions In Ink

Wednesday, December 18
Review at @bookishbellee

Saturday, December 21
Review at Tales from the Book Dragon

Monday, December 23
Review at Gwendalyn’s Books

Friday, December 27
Review at Historical Romance Lover

Sunday, December 29
Review at 100 Pages a Day

Friday, January 3
Review at Hoover Book Reviews

Monday, January 6
Review at Reading the Past

Tuesday, January 7
Interview at Let Them Read Books

Wednesday, January 8
Review at Donna’s Book Blog
Review at I’m All About Books

Thursday, January 9
Review at Historical Fiction with Spirit

Friday, January 10
Review at Broken Teepee
Review at A Darn Good Read

Far Away Bird
by Douglas A. Burton

Publication Date: February 6, 2020
Silent Music Press LLC
Paperback; 394 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

 

 

Inspired by true events, Far Away Bird delves into the complex mind of Byzantine Empress Theodora. This intimate account deftly follows her rise from actress-prostitute in Constantinople’s red-light district to the throne of the Byzantine Empire.

Her salacious past has left historians blushing and uncomfortable. Tales of her shamelessness have survived for centuries, and yet her accomplishments as an empress are unparalleled. Theodora goes on to influence sweeping reforms that result in some of the first ever Western laws granting women freedom and protection. More than a millennium before the women’s rights movement, Theodora, alone, took on the world’s greatest superpower and succeeded. Far Away Bird goes where history classrooms fear to tread in hopes that Theodora can finally take her seat among the greatest women in history.

Theodora seems impossible–yet her transcendence teaches us that society can’t tell us who we are deep down. Before there was a legendary empress, there was a conflicted young woman from the lower classes.

And her name was Theodora.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound

About the Author

Douglas Alan Burton is a speaker, author, and expert storyteller whose work depicts heroic figures and their deeper connection to the human experience. Doug blogs about heroes, heroines, and villains in pop culture with some unexpected and refreshing perspective. He grew up in what he describes as “the heroic boyhood culture of late Generation X” that has gone mainstream around the world. He also shares strategies with fellow writers for writing compelling heroic characters in fiction.

Douglas recently began outlining a breakthrough storytelling model that reveals a fascinating “heroine-centric” model for story structure he calls The Heroine’s Labyrinth. He believes a powerful new archetype is emerging for women in fiction. His forthcoming novel, Far Away Bird, which centers on the early life of Byzantine Empress Theodora, won the 2019 Manuscript Content for Historical Fiction from the Writers’ League of Texas and will be published in February of 2020.

Follow Doug on Facebook and Twitter and stay in the conversation, and follow his blog at www.douglasaburton.com.

Shattered Pearl: A Taming the Twisted Novella

by Jodie Toohey

Publication Date: August 26, 2019
Wordsy Woman Press
eBook & Paperback; 127 Pages

Series: Taming the Twisted (Book 3)
Genre: Historical Fiction

 

 

Pearl should be happy. She just married the love of her life, Lester Sinkey, and is ready to assume the role of wife and mother she’d dreamed about since she was a little girl. There’s just one thing standing in her way. Every time she and Lester try to consummate, Pearl feels a searing pain like she’s being sliced open with the clamming knives her family uses camping along the Mississippi River every summer. Disturbing memories of her great uncle, Mason, a veteran of the war between the states, soon resurface, and she fears something more sinister her mind is preventing her from recalling happened to her. Deciding it’s the only way, Pearl gets herself committed to the insane asylum where Mason had also been a patient, a dire mistake.

Available for Pre-Order on Amazon

About the Author

Jodie Toohey earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Iowa State University with Honors and Distinction with the focus of her honors program being creative writing. She has written as a hobby for over thirty years including poetry, essays, fiction, humor, and non-fiction. In February 2012, Toohey won first place in the Bettendorf Public Library’s Love Poem Contest for her poem “Out of the Blue.” “The Other Side of Crazy,” a poetry collection including this poem was released by the 918Studio publishing company in September 2013. One of her other poetry books, “Crush and Other Love Poems for Girls,” was published in 2008 with a second edition published in 2015. She published “Versed in Nature: Hiking Northwest Illinois and East Iowa State Parks” in 2017. Jodie also has four novels: “Missing Emily: Croatian Life Letters” released in 2012 (2nd edition, 2015), “Melody Madson – May It Please the Court?” released in 2014, “Taming the Twisted” released in 2015 (2nd edition, 2018), and “Taming the Twisted 2 Reconstructing Rain” released in 2018. Her next novel, “Shattered Pearl,” will be published in late 2019. When she is not writing poetry or fiction, Jodie helps authors, soon-to-be-authors, and want-to-be authors from pre-idea through the reader with craft advice, editing/proofreading services, and book marketing planning services through her Wordsy Woman Author Services company. She lives in Iowa near the Mississippi River with her family.

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads

Beyond the Moon
by Catherine Taylor

Publication Date: June 25, 2019
The Cameo Press Ltd
eBook & Paperback; 496 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction/Time Travel

 

 

Outlander meets Birdsong is this haunting debut timeslip novel, where a strange twist of fate connects a British soldier fighting in the First World War and a young woman living in modern-day England a century later.

*Shortlisted for the Eharmony/Orion Write Your Own Love Story Prize 2018/19

In 1916 1st Lieutenant Robert Lovett is a patient at Coldbrook Hall military hospital in Sussex, England. A gifted artist, he’s been wounded fighting in the Great War. Shell shocked and suffering from hysterical blindness he can no longer see his own face, let alone paint, and life seems increasingly hopeless.

A century later in 2017, medical student Louisa Casson has just lost her beloved grandmother – her only family. Heartbroken, she drowns her sorrows in alcohol on the South Downs cliffs – only to fall accidentally part-way down. Doctors fear she may have attempted suicide, and Louisa finds herself involuntarily admitted to Coldbrook Hall – now a psychiatric hospital, an unfriendly and chaotic place.

Then one day, while secretly exploring the old Victorian hospital’s ruined, abandoned wing, Louisa hears a voice calling for help, and stumbles across a dark, old-fashioned hospital room. Inside, lying on the floor, is a mysterious, sightless young man, who tells her he was hurt at the Battle of the Somme, a WW1 battle a century ago. And that his name is Lieutenant Robert Lovett…

Two people, two battles: one against the invading Germans on the battlefields of 1916 France, the other against a substandard, uncaring mental health facility in modern-day England. Two journeys begun a century apart, but somehow destined to coincide – and become one desperate struggle to be together.

Part WW1 historical fiction, part timeslip love story – and at the same time a meditation on the themes of war, mental illness, identity and art – Beyond The Moon sweeps the reader on an unforgettable journey through time. An intelligent read, perfect for book clubs.

For fans of Diana Gabaldon, Amy Harmon, Beatriz Williams, Kate Quinn, Kristin Hannah, Kate Morton, Susanna Kearsley and Paullina Simons.

“A poignant and stirring love story… Taylor’s accomplished, genre-bending book succeeds as a WW1 historical novel and a beguiling, time travel romance… The sharply written narrative deftly moves back and forth between the past and present.” — Kirkus Reviews

“A time travel romance, yet so much more than that. It is also an unflinching portrait of the horrors of war, and a look at the torturous extremes a human soul can endure. It is a sonnet to the transformative power of love, even as it is also a criticism of the futility and pointless destructiveness of war.” — Shaylin Gandhi, author of By The Light of Embers

Amazon | IndieBound

About the Author

Catherine Taylor was born and grew up on the island of Guernsey in the British Channel Islands. She is a former journalist, most recently for Dow Jones News and The Wall Street Journal in London. Beyond The Moon is her first novel. She lives in Ealing, London with her husband and two children.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, December 9
Review at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, December 10
Review at @bookishbellee
Review at Gwendalyn’s Books
Feature at I’m All About Books
Feature at Books In Their Natural Habitat
Review & Guest Post at Jackie & Angela’s Book Reviews

Wednesday, December 11
Review at 100 Pages a Day
Instagram Feature at Just a Girl and Her Books

Thursday, December 12
Review at @thisbibliolife
Interview at Jathan & Heather

Friday, December 13
Review at Reading is My Remedy

Saturday, December 14
Review at Books and Zebras
Feature at What Is That Book About

Sunday, December 15
Review at Rose is Reading

Monday, December 16
Review at @ya.its.lit
Interview at Liberty’s Literary Loves

Tuesday, December 17
Excerpt at Let Them Read Books
Review & Guest Post at Tales from the Book Dragon

Wednesday, December 18
Review at A Chick Who Reads
Review & Excerpt at The Book Junkie Reads

Thursday, December 19
Review at Pencils & Pages
Review at Impressions In Ink

Friday, December 20
Review at A Darn Good Read
Review at Red Headed Book Lady
Excerpt at Historical Fiction with Spirit

Josephine: Singer Soldier Dancer Spy
by Eilidh McGinness

Publication Date: December 1, 2019
eBook & Paperback

Genre: Historical Fiction

 

 

Josephine Baker is born into poverty in racially segregated America. Desperate to escape she flees to France where she embraces the hedonistic lifestyle on offer for those who dare, in the Paris of the Roaring Twenties.

Hitler’s rise to power in Germany forces her to face her true self. Determined to protect the Liberty Equality and Fraternity she has found in France, she becomes an ‘honorable correspondent’ for the French Secret Service. So, beginning a journey which will take her from the Red Cross Shelters in Paris to the cruel deserts of North Africa. She will find love and enduring friendship but she must also face dangers which will threaten not only her life but all she holds dear…..Can she find the courage to fight for what she believes in….no matter what the cost?

Available for Pre-Order on Amazon

About the Author

Eilidh was born and brought up in the Highlands of Scotland. She studied law at Aberdeen University. She practiced as a lawyer for twelve years, latterly specializing in criminal defense. Eilidh then moved to South West France with her then husband and four children. She established an independent estate agency business which she ran for twelve years before concentrating on writing- a long held dream. Eilidh has always been fascinated by history and ordinary people who achieve extraordinary things.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

The Road to Delano
by John DeSimone

Publication Date: March 10, 2020
Rare Bird Books
Hardcover; 320 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

 

 

Jack Duncan is a high school senior whose dream is to play baseball in college and beyond―as far away from Delano as possible. He longs to escape the political turmoil surrounding the labor struggles of the striking fieldworkers that infests his small ag town. Ever since his father, a grape grower, died under suspicious circumstances ten years earlier, he’s had to be the sole emotional support of his mother, who has kept secrets from him about his father’s involvement in the ongoing labor strife.

With their property on the verge of a tax sale, Jack drives an old combine into town to sell it so he and his mother don’t become homeless. On the road, an old friend of his father’s shows up and hands him the police report indicating Jack’s father was murdered. Jack is compelled to dig deep to discover the entire truth, which throws him into the heart of the corruption endemic in the Central Valley. Everything he has dreamed of is at stake if he can’t control his impulse for revenge.

While Jack’s girlfriend, the intelligent and articulate Ella, warns him not to so anything to jeopardize their plans of moving to L.A., after graduation, Jack turns to his best friend, Adrian, a star player on the team, to help to save his mother’s land. When Jack’s efforts to rescue a stolen piece of farm equipment leaves Adrian―the son of a boycotting fieldworker who works closely with Cesar Chavez―in a catastrophic situation, Jack must bail his friend out of his dilemma before it ruins his future prospects. Jack uses his wits, his acumen at card playing, and his boldness to raise the money to spring his friend, who has been transformed by his jail experience.

The Road to Delano is the path Jack, Ella, and Adrian must take to find their strength, their duty, their destiny.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound

About the Author

John DeSimone is a published writer, novelist, and teacher. He’s been an adjunct professor and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. His recent co-authored books include Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan (Little A Publishers), and Courage to Say No by Dr. Raana Mahmood, about her struggles against sexual exploitation as a female physician in Karachi. His published novel Leonardo’s Chair published in 2005.

In 2012, he won a prestigious Norman Mailer Fellowship to complete his most recent historical novel, Road to Delano. His novels Leonardo’s Chair and No Ordinary Man have received critical recognition.

He works with select clients to write stories of inspiration and determination and with those who have a vital message to bring to the marketplace of ideas in well-written books.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Diamond in the Rogue
by Wendy LaCapra

Publication Date: November 11, 2019
Entangled: Scandalous
eBook; 289 Pages

Series: Lords of Chance, Book 3
Genre: Historical Romance/Regency

 

 

In an act of revenge, Lord Rayne kissed Lady Julia and was sent packing to America. But now he’s back to settle his affairs and give away his sister in marriage, until he meets up with the alluring yet innocent Lady Julia again. He doesn’t regret their first kiss, but he was never good enough for her.

Lady Julia had two years to forget the moody and mercurial Earl of Rayne. But one look, and she knows they’re meant to be together. Be damned with his and her brother’s objections, she’ll just jump on the back of Rayne’s departing carriage and compromise them both thoroughly.

Only, Julia never expected her forbidding Lord to be so good at resisting temptation…

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Google Play | iBooks | Kobo

About the Author

Wendy writes Historical Romance with a touch of intrigue & suspense. Her debut series, a trilogy about three Ladies who refuse to play by society’s rules, was released by Entangled Scandalous in 2015. Her first indie, Her Duke at Daybreak, finaled in Romance Writers of America®’s RITA® contest.

Wendy was born a Jersey Girl, though most of her extended family lives in Maine. Trekking up and down the Northeast coast in the backseat of a car gave her plenty of opportunity not only to fight with her sister, but to read, to listen to her dad tell stories from history, and to dream up stories of her own.

She lives in NYC with her husband. Things she loves besides writing and reading and being an aunt to seven nieces and nephews include travel (50 states and all 7 continents), old things, pine trees, wine and pasta.

If you’d like to join her infrequent, never-shared mailing list for freebies and new-release information, sign up here: http://bit.ly/GetWendyNews.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, November 11
Review at Gwendalyn’s Books

Tuesday, November 12
Review at Historical Romance Lover

Wednesday, November 13
Feature at What Is That Book About

Thursday, November 14
Review at The Book Junkie Reads

Friday, November 15
Excerpt at Passages to the Past

Sunday, November 17
Review at Liberty’s Literary Loves

Monday, November 18
Review at Rose is Reading

Tuesday, November 19
Feature at @ya.its.lit

Wednesday, November 20
Review at Historical Fiction with Spirit

Friday, November 22
Review at A Chick Who Reads

Monday, November 25
Feature at The Lit Bitch
Excerpt at Coffee and Ink
Review at The Romance Dish
Excerpt at Jorie Loves A Story

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour, we are giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.

Giveaway Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on November 25th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Paperback giveaway is open to the US only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud will be decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner is chosen.

Diamond in the Rogue

You’re invited to celebrate the release of Diamond in the Rogue by Wendy LaCapra!

Join Wendy on Thursday, November 14th starting at 6pm EST to learn more about her new historical romance and win some great prizes!

The event will take place on Facebook and you can RSVP here:

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/572931636579912

 

Diamond in the Rogue
by Wendy LaCapra

Lords of Chance, Book 3, Stand Alone

Publication Date: November 11, 2019
Entangled: Scandalous
eBook; 289 Pages

Genre: Historical Romance/Regency

 

 

In an act of revenge, Lord Rayne kissed Lady Julia and was sent packing to America. But now he’s back to settle his affairs and give away his sister in marriage, until he meets up with the alluring yet innocent Lady Julia again. He doesn’t regret their first kiss, but he was never good enough for her.

Lady Julia had two years to forget the moody and mercurial Earl of Rayne. But one look, and she knows they’re meant to be together. Be damned with his and her brother’s objections, she’ll just jump on the back of Rayne’s departing carriage and compromise them both thoroughly.

Only, Julia never expected her forbidding Lord to be so good at resisting temptation…

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Google Play | iBooks | Kobo

About the Author

Wendy LaCapra is a RITA® award-finalist whose heart-pounding historical romances bristle with temptations, secrets, and scandal. Though she loves wandering, she lives in NYC where she indulges her life-long, unquenchable passion for books, history, and happily-ever-afters. For new release information, join Wendy’s newsletter at http://bit.ly/GetWendyNews.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon