Monday, May 5, 2014

The Queen’s Handmaid


Author: Tracy L. Higley

Genre: Life, adventure

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Type: Historical fiction

Number of pages: 386

Time period: Bible times (technically, about 37 b.c.)

Publisher and price: Thomas Nelson, $15.99

My overall opinion: When I stumbled across this book at the library, I recognized it as Tracy’s newest and was super happy – how often are new publications actually IN at the library? I was thrilled. So I checked it out and made time to read it over Easter. It was enthralling. It concentrates on Lydia, a fictional character who was first a servant to Cleopatra and then to the wife who Herod the Great actually loved, Mariamme. This book was a fascinating take on those historical characters (especially Cleopatra and Herod!). Lydia is absolutely delightful and I would love to meet her. I was amazed by the all the research that Tracy put into this book – the result is stunningly historically accurate book. I’m so excited for Tracy’s upcoming book (don’t know a title yet, but I hear it’ll be about the wise-men??!?!!?) and I’m definitely really enjoying each of her books.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Silenced


Author: Dani Pettrey

Genre: Suspense, romance, adventure

Series: Alaskan Courage

Number in series: 4th

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 327

Time period: Present

Publisher and price: Bethany House, $14.99

My overall opinion: Once again, Dani delivers breath-taking suspense woven perfectly with mesmerizing action and a delightful romance, all wrapping up in a satisfying conclusion. (I feel really professional after that sentence – and this sentence just took all professionalism.) But seriously. It’s all true. I love the McKenna family and all their stories, and meeting up with my favorite characters from previous books is delightful. Love especially Bailey and Darcy! :) Anyway. Back to my review. I could NOT put this book down – almost literally. I read it all in one day and was tied to it the whole time. Dani is an amazing author and one of my favorite authors hands-down. I can’t wait for book 5!

**Dani actually sent me a copy of this book, but I wasn’t required to review it, much less positively. I wasn’t paid for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.**

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Bethany House Blog Tour: For Such a Time


Author: Kate Breslin

Genre: Life, historical fiction, adventure

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9

Type: Historical fiction

Number of pages: 430

Time period: 1940s, World War II

Publisher and price: Bethany House, $14.99

My overall opinion: Wow. This book blew me away. It is set perfectly in World War II, excellently accurate and very realistic. I should know, I’ve read a lot of World War II books, both fiction and non-fiction. But this book isn’t just a World War II story. It’s also the Biblical story of Esther, brought forward and retold in a Biblically accurate way in the newer time period. The amount of work that Kate clearly put into this is stunning. She pays an amazing amount of attention to the little details. I also love how she uses a lot of adjectives, and even a few words that made me pull up my dictionary app – hey, gotta love learning new words to throw at people! ;) I was so wow-ed by how the author brought the Biblical story to life (realistically) in World War II. She has great skill. And I really loved the main characters, Aric and Hadassah/Stella. This is a book that I will keep and re-read! I’m really excited to see more books by this author.

**Bethany House sent me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I wasn’t required to review it positively, and all opinions etc are my own. I wasn’t paid for this review.**