Dreyton Abbey, Shropshire, England, 1876 According to Cecelia Teague’s calculations, she approached the close of her second day in captivity. She couldn’t remember the last time her father had locked her in the cellar’s green room for so long. Perhaps he’d finally gone mad. Would he ever unlock that door again? Would the world forget she ever existed? The questions pecked at her in the gathering dark like carrion birds at a fresh corpse. She’d done nothing wicked or wanton. Nothing to merit her schoolmates’ violent cruelty nor her father’s pious fury.
A Most Romantic Cat And Mouse Masquerades The Name Of The Game In "All Scot And Bothered"
HFVBT Presents: Mario Escobar's Remember Me And A Giveaway
CIVIL WAR NOVEL
BY MARIO ESCOBAR
Publication Date: September 15, 2020
Thomas Nelson
Paperback & eBook; 384 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Amid the shadows of war, one family faces an impossible choice that will change their lives forever.
Madrid, 1934. Though the Spanish Civil War has not yet begun, the streets of Madrid have become dangerous for thirteen-year-old Marco Alcalde and his younger sisters, Isabel and Ana. When Marco’s parents align themselves against General Franco and his fascist regime, they have no inkling that their ideals will endanger them and everyone they love—nor do they predict the violence that is to come.
When the Mexican government promises protection to the imperiled children of Spain, the Alcaldes do what they believe is best: send their children, unaccompanied, across the ocean to the city of Morelia—a place they’ve never seen or imagined. Marco promises to look after his sisters in Mexico until their family can be reunited in Spain, but what ensues is a harrowing journey and a series of heartbreaking events. As the growing children work to care for themselves and each other, they feel their sense of home, family, and identity slipping further and further away. And as their memories of Spain fade and the news from abroad grows more grim, they begin to wonder if they will ever see their parents again or the glittering streets of the home they once loved.
Based upon the true stories of the Children of Morelia, Mario Escobar’s Remember Me—now available for the first time in English—explores the agony of war and paints a poignant portrait of one family’s sacrificial love and endurance.
AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE | INDIEBOUND
Bombs All Around. Chapter1 The Search Madrid November 14, 1934 , For children, war feels like a game at first. They have no idea that behind the gunshots and uniforms, the marches and rallying songs, death clings like mud to shoes and leaves footprints of blood and flesh, forever marking the lives of whoever falls into its infernal clutch. The Spanish Civil War began long before soldiers took up arms on July17, 1936. At least it had begun for us, the children of poverty and misery.
Mario Escobar Golderos has a degree in History, with an advanced studies diploma in Modern History. He has written numerous books and articles about the Inquisition, the Protestant Reformation, and religious sects. He is the executive director of an NGO and directs the magazine Nueva historia para el debate, in addition to being a contributing columnist in various publications. Passionate about history and its mysteries, Escobar has delved into the depths of church history, the different sectarian groups that have struggled therein, and the discovery and colonization of the Americas. He specializes in the lives of unorthodox Spaniards and Americans.WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS
Blog Tour Schedule
Tuesday, September 15
Review at Nursebookie
Review at WTF Are You Reading?
Wednesday, September 16
Review at Amy’s Booket List
Feature at Let Them Read Books
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Review at 100 Pages a Day
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Feature at The Green Mockingbird
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Feature at The Lit Bitch
Feature at I’m All About Books
Wednesday, September 23
Review at Passages to the Past
Friday, September 25
Review at View from the Birdhouse
Saturday, September 26
Feature at Bookworlder
Sunday, September 27
Review at Reading is My Remedy
Monday, September 28
Review at Hallie Reads
Tuesday, September 29
Feature at What Is That Book About
Giveaway
Star-crossed Love Lost Makes For a Hard Pill To Swallow In "Chance Of A Lifetime"
Now Liam finds himself reunited with his beloved Cora in Providence Falls, North Carolina. The angels have given Liam a task. He must make sure Cora falls in love with another man—the one she was supposed to marry before Liam interfered. But this Cora is very different from the innocent girl who fell for Liam in the past. She’s a cop and has a confidence and independence he wasn’t expecting. She doesn’t remember Liam or their past lives, nor is she impressed with his attempts to guide her in any way.
Liam wants Cora for himself, but with his soul hanging in the balance, he must choose between a stolen moment in time or an eternity of damnation.
PROLOGUE For an angel as old as Agon, there was nothing new under the sun, or above. After thousands of years studying the human condition, he’d pretty much seen it all. Time didn’t lie. It proved over and over again that human beings were f lawed. They led messy lives. They didn’t always learn from their mistakes. And yet, as he swooped into the Department of Destiny and prepared for another day of judging souls, he remained ever the optimist. Because time also had a way of proving that even in the face of all odds, love would prevail. He landed silently in the misty chamber and slapped his associate on the back. “What’s up, Samael?”The shorter angel jerked, fumbling for the clipboard in his hands. He gave Agon a scathing look of disapproval. “How many times must I tell you not to sneak up on me like that?”“Oh, yes. Sorry,”Agon said breezily. “Who’s up next?”Samael checked the clipboard with a heavy sigh. Pale curls framed his round face. Next to Agon’s imposing figure and dark hair, Samael looked almost boyish. But he’d been in charge of the Department of Destiny for over three hundred years, and he ran it with a stoic sense of justice that made him seem much older. “A grave disappointment, to be sure. The soul of Liam O’Connor stands judgment today.”“Ah.”Agon shook his head sadly. “Poor Irish ruffian. Such a tragic love story, Liam and the fair Cora.”“Those two should never have fallen in love,”Samael said with a scowl. “It shattered all of our plans. For over a century! So many destinies were ruined because of it.”He tucked his wings neatly behind his back, then glanced at Agon. “Are you ready to call him in?”“Yes.”Agon turned toward the wall of mist and pasted an encouraging smile on his face. “I told you not to do that,”Samael said. “This is serious business. We must ref lect the gravity of the situation through our appearance and mannerisms.”“But humans like smiles,”Agon said. “I thought perhaps it would make him feel more comfortable.”“His soul hangs in the balance between heaven and hell, and we’re about to judge it,”Samael said f latly. “Who could possibly be comfortable with that?”“Right.”Agon arranged his features to appear as bleak and unyielding as the surrounding chamber. “Much better,”Samael said with a nod. Then he raised his hand and called into the void. “I summon the soul of Liam O’Connor.”Like a cannonball hurled through a cloud, a man shot out of the mist, tumbling head over heels to land before the angels in a tangle of curses and grunts. Unlike other souls who were called to the Department of Destiny, Liam did not rise on unsteady feet, shaking with fear, terrified to stand judgment for his past life’s choices. Instead, he jumped up, slapping at wisps of fog still clinging to his hair and clothing, dark eyes casually scanning the room. Samael regarded him coolly. “Do you know why you’ve been summoned to the Chamber of Judgment?”Liam raised a dark brow. “Judgment day, I’d imagine?”For someone who stood on the brink of eternal damnation, he was far too nonchalant. But the angels knew this was part of his act. Liam O’Connor was no stranger to deception. “We have reviewed your past life and found you wanting,”Samael said. He f licked his hand, and moving images suddenly appeared in the misty wall. Liam picking pockets. Breaking into houses. Liam running through the forest carrying a bag of stolen jewels. A stagecoach in the background with victims shouting after him. A musket ball shattering the branch of a tree near his head. Liam laughing in the face of danger. “You were a thief,”Samael said. “And you stole from innocent people. Often.”“Well…”Liam crossed his arms and leaned against the wall of mist. “Crops were failing. I only stole to help put food on the table. Simple as that.”“Do not attempt to lie to us,”Samael said coldly. “We can see into your soul, Liam O’Connor, and we know the truth. You enjoyed stealing. You reveled in your life as a thief.”“Fine.”Liam pushed off the wall and began to pace, dragging the tips of his fingers through the roiling fog. “I did enjoy thieving, and I was good at it, too. I was never any good at farming. But I kept my brother’s family from starving, didn’t I? That has to count for something.”Samael gazed at him sternly. “You didn’t only steal objects.”He f licked his hand and another image appeared, a sweet, innocent young woman with glossy blond curls and rosy cheeks. She had a round, pretty face with a nose just a little too prominent, and a smile just a little too trusting. She was holding out a rose. “Cora,”Liam breathed. He stepped closer, but the image of the young woman vanished. “Bring her back!”He grasped at the fog with both hands. “Let me see her again.”“She wasn’t meant for you, ruffian,”Samael said. “You stole her from her fiancé.”“But I loved her,”Liam shot back. “And she—”“You interfered with her destiny,”Samael interrupted. “She was supposed to marry that man, and together they were going to raise a child who would someday help the world.”Liam scowled. “Her fiancé didn’t deserve her. She wanted me. It was me she loved in the end.”“Ah, yes,”Samael said icily. “The end.”Liam glanced away. “Things ended very badly for her, as you well know,”Samael continued. “For both of you. And now, because of you, Cora’s soul has never found peace. In every new life we’ve given her, she’s afraid to fall in love. She never lives long enough to fulfill her destiny.”He f licked his hand again. This time, terrible images appeared. Cora as a young nurse, caring for soldiers during an outbreak of scarlet fever…dying in a hospital bed. Cora as a nanny, rushing to save a young child from the path of a runaway horse…dying in the street. Cora working in a factory during WWII…dying in an explosion. The angels knew Liam wouldn’t understand some of the things he was seeing, but the message was very clear. Cora’s life always ended in tragedy. “Enough!”Liam f lung his hands up, scrubbing his face. “Just tell me my fate. Is it to be hell, then?”The angels exchanged glances. “It is true you’ve done much wrong in your life,”Samael said. “But you’ve also done some good. For this reason, we’re going to give you a chance at redemption.”Liam’s head shot up. He glanced back and forth between the two angels.
She began writing in 1976, and published her first book, The Enchanted Land (1977) under the name Jude Deveraux. Following the publication of her first novel, she resigned her teaching position. Now, she is the author of 31 New York Times bestsellers.
Jude won readers' hearts with the epic Velvet series, which revolves around the lives of the Montgomery family's irresistible men. Jude's early books are set largely in 15th- and 16th-century England; in them her fierce, impassioned protagonists find themselves in the midst of blood feuds and wars. Her heroines are equally scrappy -- medieval Scarlett O'Haras who often have a low regard for the men who eventually win them over. They're fighters, certainly, but they're also beauties who are preoccupied with survival and family preservation.
Jude has also stepped outside her milieu, with mixed results. Her James River trilogy (River Lady, Lost Lady, and Counterfeit Lady) is set mostly in post-Revolution America; the popular, softer-edged Twin of Fire/Twin of Ice moves to 19th-century Colorado and introduces another hunky-man clan, the Taggerts.
Deveraux manages to evoke a strong and convincing atmosphere for each of her books, but her dialogue and characters are as familiar as a modern-day soap opera's. "Historicals seem to be all I'm capable of," Jude once said in an interview, referring to a now out-of-print attempt at contemporary fiction, 1982's Casa Grande. "I don't want to write family sagas or occult books, and I have no intention of again trying to ruin the contemporary market." Still, Jude did later attempt modern-day romances, such as the lighthearted High Tide (her first murder caper), the contemporary female friendship story The Summerhouse, and the time-traveling Knight in Shining Armor. In fact, with 2002's The Mulberry Tree, Deveraux seems to be getting more comfortable setting stories in the present, which is a good thing, since the fans she won with her historical books are eager to follow her into the future.
Jude married Claude White, who she later divorced in 1993. Around the same time she met Mohammed Montassir with whom she had a son, Sam Alexander Montassir, in 1997. On Oct. 6th, 2005, Sam died at the age of eight in a motorcycle accident.
Jude has lived in several countries and all over the United States. She currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and has an additional home in the medieval city of Badolato, Italy.
HFVBT Presents: Karen Odden's "A Trace Of Deceit" And Giveaway
A TRACE OF DECEIT BY KAREN ODDEN
Publication Date: December 17, 2019
William Morrow
Paperback & eBook; 416 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery/Victorian
From the author of A Dangerous Duet comes the next book in her Victorian mystery series, this time following a daring female painter and the Scotland Yard detective who is investigating her brother’s suspicious death.
A young painter digs beneath the veneer of Victorian London’s art world to learn the truth behind her brother’s murder…
Edwin is dead. That’s what Inspector Matthew Hallam of Scotland Yard tells Annabel Rowe when she discovers him searching her brother’s flat for clues. While the news is shocking, Annabel can’t say it’s wholly unexpected, given Edwin’s past as a dissolute risk-taker and art forger, although he swore he’d reformed. After years spent blaming his reckless behavior for their parents’ deaths, Annabel is now faced with the question of who murdered him—because Edwin’s death was both violent and deliberate. A valuable French painting he’d been restoring for an auction house is missing from his studio: find the painting, find the murderer. But the owner of the artwork claims it was destroyed in a warehouse fire years ago.
As a painter at the prestigious Slade School of Art and as Edwin’s closest relative, Annabel makes the case that she is crucial to Matthew’s investigation. But in their search for the painting, Matthew and Annabel trace a path of deceit and viciousness that reaches far beyond the elegant rooms of the auction house, into an underworld of politics, corruption, and secrets someone will kill to keep.
AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE | BOOKS-A-MILLION | INDI EBOUND
Praise for A Trace of Deceit
“Odden’s third effort injects a refreshing level of complexity, both in character development and plotting, into what one typically expects to find in historical cozies. This will appeal to fans of Victorian mysteries, as well as those interested in art history.” -Booklist (starred review)
“Odden keenly evokes the physical as well as cultural milieu of Victorian England, and peoples her setting with fully realized and intriguing characters. This book will delight readers who like their mysteries cloaked in well-researched history.” -Publishers Weekly
“…this thrilling, action-packed story [is] an absolute delight to read.” -Historical Novel Society
“Odden’s literary brushstrokes vividly portray the misogyny and gender bias experienced by women in Victorian society, especially a woman battling to exercise her artistic talent. ” -Washington Independent Review of Books
“Fans of Anne Perry, Deanna Rayborn, and Tasha Alexander will root for Karen Odden’s newest heroine, Annabel Rowe—aspiring painter and now amateur sleuth—investigating the murder of her art forger brother. The novel’s a delightful mix of mystery, history, and romance, served with a delicious helping of lush period detail, while chemistry between Annabel and the investigating Scotland Yard detective add spice to the adventure.” -Susan Elia MacNeal, New York Times bestselling author of the Maggie Hope series
“A darkly thrilling story filled with suspense and secrets, a courageous heroine, an edgy climax, and an atmospheric setting that perfectly captures the underbelly of London’s art world in the Victorian era. A Trace of Deceit is an absolute winner!” -Stefanie Pintoff, Edgar Award winning author
About the Author
Karen Odden received her Ph.D. in English literature from New York University and taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has contributed essays and chapters to books and journals, including Studies in the Novel, the Journal of Victorian Culture, and Victorian Crime, Madness, and Sensation; she has written introductions for Barnes and Noble editions of books by Dickens and Trollope; and she edited for the academic journal Victorian Literature and Culture. She freely admits she might be more at home in nineteenth-century London than today, especially when she tries to do anything complicated on her iPhone. Her first novel, A Lady in the Smoke, was a USA Today bestseller and won the New Mexico-Arizona 2016 Book Award for e-Book Fiction. Her second novel, A Dangerous Duet, about a young pianist who stumbles on a notorious crime ring while playing in a Soho music hall in 1870s London, won the New Mexico-Arizona 2019 Book Award for Best Historical Fiction. A Trace of Deceit is her third novel. She resides in Arizona with her family and a ridiculously cute beagle named Rosy.
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Blog Tour Schedule
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Giveaway
During the Blog Tour, we are giving away one paperback copy of A Trace of Deceit! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.
The giveaway is open to US residents only and ends on October 2nd. You must be 18 or older to enter.