I interpreted this month’s prompt –“What a Wonderful World” – by reading a book set somewhere I absolutely adore, hence my jumping back into the wonderful alt-ancient Mediterranean world created by A.J. Demas. Honey & Pepper (from 2022) is billed as book one in the When in Pheme series (book two has yet to make…
Now, THIS is how you do a ‘vibes over plot’ book. A.J. Demas returns readers to the alternate ancient Mediterranean world of her Sword Dance novels for The House of the Red Balconies, a quiet and sweet slice-of-life romance about finding one’s place in the world and making a life. Unlike Sword Dance and Honey…
Lilith is many things in a single overstuffed package. It’s an overly-modernized take on the tale of the Bible’s first rebellious wife; it’s a cry for goddess worship that works and ought to be heard. As a Catholic schoolgirl who grew up on Tori Amos’ Mary Magdalene worship and ‘we both know it was a…
Sebastian Nothwell’s Fiorenzo is a standalone tale of love and triumph over adversity set in a world inspired by the Venetian Republic in what feels like the late seventeenth/early eighteenth century. The author calls it a “fantasy of manners” – which brings to mind the comedies of manners of that period, with their secret identities,…
A.J. Demas’ Sword Dance is the first book in a trilogy set in an imaginary/alternate ancient world that reads rather like Ancient Greece, so I thought it would be a good fit for this month’s “unusual historical” prompt. There’s mystery and a slow-burn romance, lots of wry humour and a superbly realised setting to enjoy,…
Shades of Milk and Honey is billed as “the fantasy novel you’ve always wished Jane Austen had written,” and for once, the marketing is right on the money. Jane Ellsworth is the plain sister, but also the talented one. Whereas younger sister Melody has genuine beauty, Jane has the gift of glamour, the ability to…
When it comes right down to it, sequels are hit or miss. When the author does a fantastic job of setting up an alternate history in book one, as Beth Cato does in Breath of Earth, it’s a really hard act to follow. In the end, Call of Fire is a good follow up, but…
I admit that although I found this book to be reasonably enjoyable, I found it difficult to rate and review. It’s certainly a historical novel, but it’s neither straight Historical Romance nor Historical Fiction. In fact, in her foreword, the author states that “Although some of the characters were inspired by the lives of real…
I adore stories with dragons in them. I grew up with Anne MacCaffrey’s Pern books, and Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series of historical fantasies is among my favorites. So I jumped at the opportunity to review Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent, the first installment in a series of fantasy…
While I’m not a complete stickler for historical accuracy, I prefer that real historical figures, when present in a novel, are presented in an historically accurate fashion. For example, I wouldn’t expect Queen Elizabeth I to get married if her character were included in a story. After the death of King Henry VII in 1509,…
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