HFVBT: Review of Anvil of God by J. Boyce Gleason with Giveaway!

Anvil of God

by J. Boyce Gleason

 Synopsis:

It is 741. After subduing the pagan religions in the east, halting the march of Islam in the west, and conquering the continent for the Merovingian kings, mayor of the palace Charles the Hammer has one final ambition-the throne. Only one thing stands in his way-he is dying.

Charles cobbles together a plan to divide the kingdom among his three sons, betroth his daughter to a Lombard prince to secure his southern border, and keep the Church unified behind them through his friend Bishop Boniface. Despite his best efforts, the only thing to reign after Charles's death is chaos. His daughter has no intention of marrying anyone, let alone a Lombard prince. His two eldest sons question the rights of their younger pagan stepbrother, and the Church demands a steep price for their support. Son battles son, Christianity battles paganism, and Charles's daughter flees his court for an enemy's love.

Based on a true story, Anvil of God is a whirlwind of love, honor, sacrifice, and betrayal that follows a bereaved family's relentless quest for power and destiny.

About ANVIL OF GOD

Publication Date: July 26, 2013

iUniverse

Paperback; 440p

ISBN-10: 1475990197

About the Author:

After a 25-year career in crisis management and public affairs, J. Boyce Gleason began writing historical fiction and is publishing his first novel ANVIL OF GOD, Book One of the Carolingian Chronicles.  With an AB in history from Dartmouth College, Gleason brings a strong understanding of the past to his historical fiction.  He is married, has three sons and lives in Virginia.

For more information please visit www.jboycegleason.com.

My thoughts:

I am always a reader for a series and so I was immediately drawn to Anvil of God as it was first with more to come.  I know very little about the history of this time period but just to give the book a frame of reference the father of Anvil of God, Charles "The Hammer" Martel, was the grandfather of Charlemagne. 

In many ways, Anvil of God, is the story of a family.  The older son who overcompensates to immolate his father, the youngest son who is directionless, careless and a bit of a brat, a spoiled only daughter who finds her strength and the middle son who seems to be the voice of reason.

The trouble starts when Charles dies willing his vast empire to his three sons, in thirds.  Never a good idea and really it begs the question of what he was thinking.  Was it the power of his wife, Sunni, trying to protect the youngest son, her own?  Was he trying to be fair?  Charles Martel, surely not.  Perhaps, he was curious as to what would happen; that follows his personality more aptly.

There is a lot of war and battle descriptions in Anvil of God which I thought would bore me to tears, but it is the strength of the characters that make the story.  Each and every one has a story and Gleason is able to give you a glimpse into their character without over describing them.  This expert character development is the strength of the novel; it is one of those that you can't put down until you discover what has happened.  

Anvil of God is packed with history but also intrigue, love and hate, sacrifice and selfishness, death and rebirth, war and peace.  It is guaranteed to hold you in its grip to the last sentence and then have you waiting for book two.

Twitter Hashtag: #AnvilOfGodTour

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HFVBT: A Divided Inheritance by Deborah Swift

A Divided Inheritance

by Deborah Swift

Summary:

A family divided by fortune. A country divided by faith.  London 1609...

Elspet Leviston’s greatest ambition is to continue the success of her father Nathaniel’s lace business. But her dreams are thrown into turmoil with the arrival of her mysterious cousin Zachary Deane – who has his own designs on Leviston’s Lace.

Zachary is a dedicated swordsman with a secret past that seems to invite trouble. So Nathaniel sends him on a Grand Tour, away from the distractions of Jacobean London. Elspet believes herself to be free of her hot-headed relative but when Nathaniel dies her fortunes change dramatically. She is forced to leave her beloved home and go in search of Zachary - determined to claim back from him the inheritance that is rightfully hers.

Under the searing Spanish sun, Elspet and Zachary become locked in a battle of wills. But these are dangerous times and they are soon embroiled in the roar and sweep of something far more threatening, sending them both on an unexpected journey of discovery which finally unlocks the true meaning of family.

A Divided Inheritance is a breathtaking adventure set in London just after the Gunpowder Plot and in the bustling courtyards of Golden Age Seville.

Published by:  PAN Books/Macmillan

Pages:  520

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Author:  Deborah Swift

About the Author:

Deborah Swift used to work in the theatre and at the BBC as a set and costume designer, before studying for an MA in Creative Writing in 2007. She lives in a beautiful area of Lancashire near the Lake District National Park.  She is the author of The Lady’s Slipper and is a member of the Historical Writers Association, the Historical Novel Society, and the Romantic Novelists Association.

For more information, please visit Deborah's website. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

My thoughts:

This is my first encounter with Deborah Swift’s work, which is nice for me as a reader, no expectations one-way or the other. A Divided Inheritance was a breath of fresh air dealing with the everyday people and not just those touched by royalty.  Swift begins her novel in 1609 England and introduces us to Elspet who lives and works with her father in his successful lace business.  Elspet reveals in her time with her father and she relishes being included in his discussions of business and trade.  Elspet dreams of running the lace business herself in time and her dreams and aspirations for the future seem incomplete without the business as part of her life.  In Elspet Swift crafts a wonderfully human character.  She is full of emotion, pride and stubbornness, but Elspet remains approachable because Elspet is simply a young woman denied a long held dream.

Never is this more apparent than when her father arrives home with Zachary.  A cousin who very quickly begins to monopolize her father’s time and who it seems is the heir apparent for the lace business.  Zachary however is not up to the task at present and he is sent on a “Grand Tour” of sorts to mature.  Elspet hopes that life will soon return to normal, but her father suddenly passes away and leaves behind a will that shocks his only daughter to her soul taking away all of her dreams for herself and the business and resigning her to a life chasing after that which she believes is rightfully hers.

Deborah Swift gives her reader an intricately woven story in a rich and accurate historical setting.  She fills her narrative with rich multi layered characters that are timeless in their appeal and the problems and issues they encounter instantly relatable to the modern reader.  A Divided Inheritance has an air of timelessness that should appeal to all readers.  Needless to say I would recommend A Divided Inheritance without hesitation.

HFVBT: Colossus: The Four Emperors by David Blixt

Colossus:  The Four Emperors

by David Blixt

About COLOSSUS: THE FOUR EMPERORS

Publication Date: April 7, 2013

Sordelet Ink

Paperback; 406p

ISBN-10: 061578318X

Rome under Nero is a dangerous place. His cruel artistic whims border on madness, and any man who dares rise too high has his wings clipped, with fatal results.

For one family, Nero means either promotion or destruction. While his uncle Vespasian goes off to put down a rebellion in Judea, Titus Flavius Sabinus struggles to walk the perilous line between success and notoriety as he climbs Rome's ladder. Nero is ultimately impaled on his own artistry and the whole world is thrown into chaos. Sabinus finds that he must navigate both shifting and murderous alliances in his attempt to save his family during the year of the Four Emperors.

Colossus: The Four Emperors is the second novel in the Colossus series.

About the Author

Author and playwright David Blixt's work is consistently described as "intricate," "taut," and"breathtaking." A writer of Historical Fiction, his novels span the early Roman Empire (the COLOSSUS series, his play EVE OF IDES) to early Renaissance Italy (the STAR-CROSS'D series, including THE MASTER OF VERONA, VOICE OF THE FALCONER, and FORTUNE'S FOOL) up through the Elizabethan era (his delightful espionage comedy HER MAJESTY'S WILL, starring Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe as inept spies). His novels combine a love of the theatre with a deep respect for the quirks and passions of history. As the Historical Novel Society said, "Be prepared to burn the midnight oil. It's well worth it." Living in Chicago with his wife and two children, David describes himself as "actor, author, father, husband. In reverse order."

For more about David and his novels, visit www.davidblixt.com.

My thoughts:

I truly enjoyed this novel.  I did not feel that it was necessary to have begun the series with the first installment, I did not and never felt that I was at any disadvantage because I had begun the series with the second installment.  Colossus begins as Nero is wielding his particular type of ruthlessness amongst the citizens of Rome and David does a splendid job weaving not only the well to do Romans within his narrative, but he also includes the Israelites, currently held as slaves within the Roman empire.  I suppose in the end I took away from my reading the idea that somehow, someway life carries on.  Citizen's, whether free or not, forge a life for themselves, hold onto their own religious or personal beliefs, find love for others and carve out a life for themselves.  To this reader it was this that was the moral of the story.  No matter how strange, debased, violent, oppressive and corrupt the rule of Rome and the Caesar's became the citizens, all of them, persevered. Of course, the details of the excesses of Nero, the politics which brought about four emperors in a year were rivetingly interesting, nearly nail biting in each's melodramatic crescendo, but in the end still it was a novel which emphasized that the fabric holding society together was the bond of family, as prone to intransigence and imperfect as it is - it is nevertheless the building block of all civilization.

Twitter Hashtag: #FourEmperorsTour

 the most happy reader

HFVBT: Review of Illuminations: A novel of Hildegard von Bingen by Mary Sharrat

Illuminations:  A Novel of Hildegard von Bingden

by Mary Sharratt

About ILLUMINATIONS 

Publication Date: October 15, 2013

Mariner Books

Paperback; 288p

ISBN-10: 0544106539

Skillfully weaving historical fact with psychological insight and vivid imagination, Illuminations brings to life one of the most extraordinary women of the Middle Ages: Hildegard von Bingen, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath.

Offered to the Church at the age of eight, Hildegard was expected to live in silent submission as the handmaiden of a renowned, disturbed young nun, Jutta von Sponheim. But Hildegard rejected Jutta's masochistic piety, rejoicing in her own secret visions of the divine. When Jutta died, Hildegard broke out of her prison, answering the heavenly call to speak and write about her visions and to liberate her sisters. Riveting and utterly unforgettable, Illuminations is a deeply moving portrayal of a woman willing to risk everything for what she believed.

Praise for Illuminations

"An enchanting beginning to the story of the perennially fascinating 12th-century mystic, Hildegard of Bingen. It is easy to paint a picture of a saint from the outside but much more difficult to show them from the inside. Mary Sharratt has undertaken this with sensitivity and grace."

—Margaret George, author of Mary, Called Magdalene

"I loved Mary Sharratt’s The Daughters of Witching Hill, but she has outdone herself with Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard Von Bingen. She brings one of the most famous and enigmatic women of the Middle Ages to vibrant life in this tour de force, which will captivate the reader from the very first page."

—Sharon Kay Penman, author of the New York Times bestseller Time and Chance

"I love Mary Sharratt. The grace of her writing and the grace of her subject combine seamlessly in this wonderful novel about the amazing, too-little-known saint, Hildegard of Bingen, a mystic and visionary. Sharratt captures both the pain and the beauty such gifts bring, as well as bringing to life a time of vast sins and vast redemptions."

—Karleen Koen, author of Before Versailles and the best-selling Through a Glass Darkly

Buy Links

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books a Million

Indiebound

About the Author

The author of four critically acclaimed historical novels, Mary Sharratt is an American who lives in the Pendle region of Lancashire, England, the setting for her acclaimed Daughters of the Witching Hill, which recasts the Pendle Witches of 1612 in their historical context as cunning folk and healers. She also lived for twelve years in Germany, which, along with her interest in sacred music and herbal medicine, inspired her to write Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen. Illuminations won the Nautilus Gold Award for Better Books for a Better World and was selected as a Kirkus Book of the Year.

For more information please visit Mary's website and blog.  You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Synopsis:

Skillfully weaving historical fact with psychological insight and vivid imagination, Illuminations brings to life one of the most extraordinary women of the Middle Ages: Hildegard von Bingen, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath.

Offered to the Church at the age of eight, Hildegard was expected to live in silent submission as the handmaiden of a renowned, disturbed young nun, Jutta von Sponheim. But Hildegard rejected Jutta's masochistic piety, rejoicing in her own secret visions of the divine. When Jutta died, Hildegard broke out of her prison, answering the heavenly call to speak and write about her visions and to liberate her sisters. Riveting and utterly unforgettable, Illuminations is a deeply moving portrayal of a woman willing to risk everything for what she believed.

My thoughts:

Mary Sharratt masterfully creates an insight into a young woman of the 12th century and truly breathes life into her depiction.  All concepts of time, place and circumstance seem to fade away as we each find a way to relate to Hildegard.  For this reader, Illuminations reminded me that none of us is immune to suffering and sin and at the same time we are all endowed with the strength to overcome.  Having been raised Catholic I was shocked that I have never heard of the practice of anchorites and I can only believe that the Church of the 21st century would rather forget such tortuous rituals in the name of religion.  Sharratt gives us a protagonist that is truly equipped to face every challenge of the changing world and rise to every one.  Hildegard was modern before her time and I will henceforth remember her as one of the many women who stone by stone built the future I know enjoy.

I would recommend Illumination without hesitation.

Twitter hashtag: #Illuminations Tour

Link to Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz6DAIX6Szk