Tag: #BlogTour

The Warrior’s Bride Prize by Jenni Fletcher #BlogBlitz

On By TracyIn Blog Tour, Roman Britain (Britannia), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The Warrior's Bride Prize

The Warrior’s Bride Prize

Daughter of a slave…wedded to the warrior!
Livia Valeria is furious when she’s ruthlessly gambled away by her intended bridegroom. Luckily, it’s tall, muscled and darkly handsome Roman centurion Marius Varro who wins her as his bride! Livia must hide her Caledonian roots, but when Marius faces a barbarian rebellion at Hadrian’s Wall she must make a choice: her heritage or the husband she’s falling for…

Purchase Links: Amazon UK * Amazon * iBooks * WHSmith * B&N

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Author Bio:

Jenni Fletcher was born on the north coast of Scotland and now lives in Yorkshire, where she writes Medieval, Roman and Victorian romance novels.
She studied English at Cambridge University before doing an MA on Women and Literature in English and a PhD on Victorian & Edwardian literature at Hull. After realising that she was better at writing than teaching, she worked in a number of administrative jobs whilst trying to finish her first book, which was rejected. Thinking there must have been some mistake, she then wrote another, which was fortunately accepted by Harlequin Mills & Boon.
Her favourite Jane Austen novel is Persuasion and her favourite Brontë is Anne. If she had to choose a romantic hero it would be John Thornton, but maybe that’s just because she’s Northern.

Social Media Links:  Facebook  *  Twitter

Giveaway:

Win 1 x Signed US Copy of The Warrior’s Bride Prize (Open Internationally)
*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organizer and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for dispatch or delivery of the prize.
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http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494142/?

Tracy’s Review:

4 out of 5 stars

Livia Valeria is heading north with her daughter to marry the man her half brother Tarquinius has selected for her. Livia has no choice but to comply, her late husband disinherited her and their daughter, leaving her at her cruel half brother’s mercy. As angry as she is at the injustice, she also has hope – she will finally get to see Hadrian’s wall and the land of her mother’s birth, Caledonia.

She meets Marius Varro on the road north – at first she thinks he is her intended and is attracted to him, but soon learns her mistake. Marius is stunned by her wild beauty and feels oddly protective of her and her daughter. When she finally meets her groom, she is dismayed, Lucius Scaevola is hateful and insults her. Lucius didn’t want to marry her, him amassed a huge debt which Tarquinius acquired and used to force him to marry. Marius wishes he could help her, but he is but a soldier and Lucius is his superior.

When Lucius offers Livia as the prize for a wager, Marius doesn’t hesitate and wins her. They marry, they travel to the border and Livia finally gets to see Caledonia, things seem to be progressing between them, but they both have secrets that will threaten their HEA.

I thought this was a fascinating journey into Ancient Britainna, Marius and Livia are both wonderful albeit misguided characters, they both have secrets and will have to learn to trust one another before they can find their HEA. The heat level is low, but very well done, there is a bit of action, a bit of heartache and very subtle, yet extremely interesting historical tidbits throughout the book. Personally, I would have liked the ending to be drawn out a little more or at least an epilogue as I felt the book ended a little abruptly and tied everything up too easily. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story and would be happy to recommend it!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by the publisher*

Mistress Spy by Pamela Mingle #BlogTour, #Giveaway

On By TracyIn Blog Tour, Contests/Giveaways, Elizabethan Era (1558-1603), Tracy's Reviews2 Comments

Meet the Author:

Pamela Mingle is a former teacher and librarian who was fortunate enough to choose writing as a third career. Or maybe it chose her. 🙂 She loves to create romantic tales that play out against historical events and always includes some humor in her books.

Pam and her husband enjoy walking in the UK–even though she’s done her share of whining on those fifteen-mile days. The walking trips have been an ideal way to discover new settings for her books.

Pam loves to hear from readers. Go to her website, http://www.pammingle.com/ to sign up for her newsletter. Subscribers learn first about giveaways and exclusive-to-subscriber content. You can also contact her via her website.

Connect: Site | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

About the Book:

A determined sister . . .
Madeleine Vernon’s dreams should be filled with elegant gowns and marriageable men. Instead, she dreams of avenging her brother’s death. But when she’s captured by the queen’s men, she’s forced to become a spy by her mysterious yet undeniably attractive captor.
A rakish spy . . .
After years of working for his father in Queen Elizabeth’s service, Nicholas Ryder is close to going his own way. But now he’s got a feisty beauty he must protect or risk her execution as a traitor to the crown. She’s a distraction he can’t afford, but he also can’t stop thinking about her.
A dangerous lie . . .
It is Nicholas’s job to foil plots against Elizabeth, and he sends Maddy into a household of suspected traitors to garner what information she can. As the line between captor and prisoner blurs, deceit, betrayal, and desire become a perilous mix. Ultimately, Nicholas must decide whether duty to the queen is more important than winning Maddy’s heart.
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo

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Giveaway:

  • $15 Amazon Gift Card!

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Tracy’s Review:

Mistress SpyMistress Spy by Pamela Mingle

Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Madeleine “Maddy” Vernon is taken prisoner during a failed rebellion attempt. Maddy joined the rebellion to avenge her brother Robert’s death, he had been part of the previous uprising and was hanged as a traitor. While imprisoned, Maddy is brought before Nicholas Ryder.

Nicholas needs a spy, he offers Maddy a full pardon in exchange for her cooperation. She will be placed in service to Lady Jane Darce, a suspected sympathizer to Queen Mary of Scotland. Nicholas wants Maddy to find out if Lady Darce or her step-son have any plans on aiding Queen Mary.

Maddy has no desire to be a spy, but she has even less desire to hang. She agrees to work with Nicholas, but reminds herself that despite her attraction to him, Nicholas is not her friend.

The intrigue starts almost as soon as she arrives, a man from her past is there using a false name, but she doesn’t have a chance to tell Nicholas. Later she decides to keep that information to herself. She settles into a routine with Lady Darce and is able to glean a little information.

When she sees Nicholas again, she meets his ward/nephew Daniel. She is taken with the boy and admires Nicholas for his care of his nephew, who stopped speaking after his father’s death. She wonders if she misjudged Nicholas. She passes on some of what she has learned, but doesn’t tell him everything. Nicholas is fighting his attraction to her and when he learns that her brother is not dead and the Queen has pardoned her, he keeps that to himself – afraid she will leave if she learns the truth.

With danger, secrets, murder and intrigue dogging their every step, is it possible for them to find love?

I thought this book was well written, but I found it to be mediocre and I didn’t care for Maddy. I never understood her motivation for keeping information from Nicholas and thought the story lagged a bit in the middle. The love scenes where warm, but I honestly never “felt” the love between them, it was almost as if the author was writing a spy novel and halfway through remembered that it was supposed to be a romance and threw in the required elements. I had a hard time deciding how to rate this book and settled for 3 stars because as an intrigue novel, I would rate this 4 stars, but I would be hard pressed to give it more than 2 stars as a romance.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher*