Blog Tour Review: The Queen's Vow

Title The Queen's Vow By C.W Gortner Genre Adult Historical Fiction Pages 370 Recommended by: Blog Tour

First Sentence "Hold the reigns, Isabella."

Synopsis
A historical fiction based on the life of Queen Isabella of Spain.

 What it has going for it
Obviously I haven't been around for awhile. There are reason for that and I'll tell you about them soon but for now; a review. I couldn't pass down reading this book despite the fact that I haven't read a book the entire way through since March. I love historical fiction IF it's about a part of history that I love...and this one was. I've always been interested in Isabella of Spain and it was interesting to learn more about her. I learned things I had no idea about and isn't it great to read and enjoy a book AND learn something? Until, a few moments ago I had no idea that the author was a guy. Wow! That kind of shocked me...and explained a few things. The writing was good. It evoked emotions in me. The yell-at-the-characters-like they're-real-people kind. All in all it was a good read.

What's lacking
I sometimes found my eyes glazing over when it got too historical. I like my historical fiction to be enough about the characters that I hardly notice the history. This one sometimes felt a bit too much like a history book. Other than that, I enjoyed it.

Favorite moment
I loved when Isabella talked to Colon (Christopher Columbus). It was just too fun to see that moment take place.   

Yea or Nay?
If you like historical fiction then, yes, give this one a shot.

Review: The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton (Blog Tour)

Title The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton (book 1: Crash Landing on Ooleeoo)
By Angela Shelton
Genre Scifi, fantasy,
Pages 272
Recommended by Teddy

First sentence Umberto Uranoscopy looked up at the stars, staring into the night.

Synopsis
Somewhere out in the Sombrero Galaxy, Tilda Pinkerton–mystical maker of mysterious, magnificent, magical hats–is being hunted by the Keeper of Darkness. Yet Tilda simply does not recall, at all, after taking a tremendous fall. No one on Ooleeoo, where Tilda crash-landed, knows she is from another planet. Only Star Jumper Randy can tell her—but he’s light years away, frantically searching for his missing love, desperate that without her, the entire galaxy soon may be lost. Even in the middle of cosmic danger, Tilda loves to create hats, for which she has a rare and uncanny knack. All who receive them sparkle, in fact—and spark their innermost talent. With a Tilda hat, people can suddenly do whatever they dream of, causing brilliant ideas to grow madly.With Gladys the toad, who thinks she’s a cat, and Frank the fish, who lives in her hat, Tilda must discover who she is and what her enemy wants from her so badly. (From Goodreads)

What it has going for it

When Teddy of Virtual Author Book Tours contacted me and invited me to participate in this book tour I decided I definitely wanted to. This book sounded unusual and crazy and just plain fun. Lucky for me it was just that. Even in my current reading slump it was easy to get lost in the wacky world of Ooleeoo. Who wouldn't want to visit a world with chocolate, strawberry and vanilla flavored grass that results in like flavored milk from the cows who eat it? I thoroughly enjoyed the sophisticated language you'll find in these pages; the "big" words. I'm not positive what age group the book is geared towards if any, but I could definitely imagine reading it out loud to preteens. I think they'd love the imaginative adventures within these pages and I'll be hanging on to this one for the day I have my own kids to read it to.

What's lacking

Sometimes the story felt slightly more like a strange dream than a coherent plot but that might have been my easily distracted mood. 

Favorite moment

The idea of that flavored grass, of course! 

Yea or Nay?

Yes, I'd say give it a go...particularly if you have kids to read it to. I think they'll like it and you'll both enjoy the experience. 

author photo: Laura Burke

About Angela Shelton:

Angela Shelton is an author, actor, blogger and public speaker. She has been writing since she was eight years old. Her first novel was adapted into the movie Tumbleweeds. Angela won a regional Emmy award for her portrayal of Safe Side Superchick in The Safe Side video series created by Baby Einstein’s Julie Clark and America’s Most Wanted’s John Walsh. After living in Los Angeles for over a decade, Angela left the big city for a one-light country town to marry her first love and fulfill her dream of writing books in a barn house.

Find out how Angela has incorporated the character of Tilda Pinkerton into an entire line of book projects, each geared towards a different age group at  www.MagicHatShop.com

My thanks to both Teddy and Angela for a copy of this book to review.

Review: Spartacus The Gladiator (Blog Tour)

Title Spartacus The Gladiator
By Ben Kan
Genre Historical Fiction
Pages 448
Recommended by Me

First sentence When the village came into sight at the top of a distant hill, a surging joy filled him.

Synopsis
Spartacus has returned, after escaping from life as an auxiliary in the Roman army. But he quickly falls foul of his overlord, the Thracian king, who has set his heart on Dionysian priestess, Ariadne -- later to become wife of Spartacus. Betrayed again to the Romans by his jealous king, Spartacus -- and with him Ariadne -- are taken in captivity to the school of gladiators at Capua. It is here -- against the unbelievable brutality of gladiatorial life -- that Spartacus and Crixus the Gaul plan the audacious overthrow of their Roman masters, escaping to Vesuvius, where they recruit and train a huge slave army -- an army which will keep the might of Rome at bay for two years and create one of the most extraordinary legends in history.  (From Goodreads) 

What it has going for it
I read and enjoyed Ben Kane's Forgotten Legion Chronicles  during the past few years so when I was offered a chance to participate in the blog tour of his new book, Spartacus, I was excited. I don't, or didn't, know squat about Spartacus. I haven't even seen the famous Kubrick film, so this was my first foray into getting to know him. I have to give a shout out to the author for writing historical fiction that gets you invested in the characters. I love learning history without realizing I'm actually learning something. ;) The fighting scenes, whilst very violent, are always my favorite. Kane gets you invested enough in a character's well being that when said character is thrown into a battle you're left gripping the book a little too firmly hoping that character survives. My favorite character was, no, not Spartacus, but Carbo. He was, as far as I could tell, not based on a real person but I loved him. I'm very interested to see where the author takes this character. See, we already know what happens to Spartacus, or least you will after reading this book, but the author could do anything with Carbo and I'm dying to know what?! All in all, a fun read with great battle scenes and characters worth caring about.

What's lacking
Since this book was about Spartacus I wanted to like him better. His story felt a little too check list of historical events. Make sense? Till halfway through I didn't know there was a going to be a second book, or, for that matter, that Spartacus doesn't make it. I still don't know whether he's killed or just captured but I can guess. (I repeat, I know squat about Spartacus) Needless to say finding out both those things in the middle of a book can be a bit of a let down but, I digress, that's not really a reflection on the book.

Favorite moment
When Carbo gets the girl!

Yea or Nay?
This book, and all of Kane's books, are very violent. They aren't for the faint of heart. But if you can handle the violence and learning while enjoying a good read then, yes, I'd recommend it.

 Ben Kane was born in Kenya and raised there and in Ireland. He studied veterinary medicine at University College Dublin but after that he travelled the world extensively, indulging his passion for ancient history. Now he lives in North Somerset, where he researches, writes and practises as a small animal vet. The Forgotten Legion, born of a lifelong fascination with military history in general, and Roman history in particular, is his first novel. (From Goodreads) 


 My thanks to St Martin's Press for a review copy of this book.

Virtual Author Book Tour

David meets Goliath in the law courts of England in the 1990's. The advent of the Internet is leveling the playing field as a multinational corporation tries to silence two young political activists in a riveting court case that captivates the political and business world's attention. (From Goodreads)

I knew I'd be interested to read this one but when was another matter entirely. So...I had my mom read it for me and she will be my guest reviewer. Thanks mom!

Jenny asked me to read this book as a guest reviewer.  I have never reviewed a book before so I really have no idea as to format or anything else for a review so I'll just start at the beginning and say what I thought as I read it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the court scenes and arguments presented. (one gets a quite a bit of practive "lawyering" with eleven children) I also enjoyed the sense of humor for handling "awkward" situations. I agreed with a statement in the book that, "just because it's legal doesn't mean it's moral.", but there was too much explicit, graphical sex.  I am not a " prude". ( I have eleven children, for goodness sake, and enjoyed getting them here.)  I simply believe that intimacy should be intimate and within marriage not splashed all over the pages of a book.  Others are entitled to their opinions but I would not want this book in my library where my children could read it.

This is a political book and it could be propaganda for environmentalism.  I agree with the author that multinational big business, big government, the legal system, etc., are corrupt and that we as individuals should work to clean them up.   I also believe that environmentalism, unions, etc., are also corrupt and should be exposed and cleaned up by we the people. There are two sides to every coin that should be explored in all political situations.

So I enjoyed the humor and court scenes and thought it was a well written entertaining read, but it's hard to like a book when you don't agree with the politics.  I'll be interested to see what others thought, though.

Thanks again, mom!

Next stop on the tour tomorrow...Lori from She Treads Softly.