Call Up The Morning by Clyde M. Brundy

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Idaho

Nebraska, 1889, where things are getting a bit heated between the sheepherders and the cattlemen – and Deborah Dexter and her mother find themselves smack in the middle of it when they give aid to a Basque sheepherder. They head west with friends and finally settle at Bonanza City, a remote mining town in Idaho. Deborah’s mother eventually accepts a marriage offer from a senior LDS bishop (she’s not wife #1), and with the support her new stepfather, Deborah obtains a business degree from the University of Utah and returns to Idaho set on righting the world’s wrongs and catching the baddies who are cheating the Basque sheepherders with the support of the dirty politicians in the state capital.

That’s pretty much the main gist of the storyline, and a pretty solid read for me. The author did a nice job throwing in real historical events and people, and lots of new-to-me factoids (always a plus). Along with the Basque sheepherders (who I understand are still a strong presence in Idaho today), Brundy also tossed in the mining influence, the LDS (don’t worry, it’s not preachy), and last but not least – all that timber. 4/5 stars, recommended for those with an interest in Idaho history.

 

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Daughters of the Storm by Elizabeth Buchan

It was too much,’ she murmured. “Too much of everything. Blood. Death. Fear. Wasted hope…

Paris, 1789. Sophie Lutrell leaves her comfortable life in the English countryside behind for an extended visit with her cousin Héloïse de Guinot. The two cousins are more like sisters, and they’re soon swept up in the romance and glamour of the Parisian court – and Sophie might forget her almost-fiance from home and let herself be swept off her feet by the dashing American William Jones (a secret spy for the American government). Héloïse is unhappily married off to the Comte de Choissy, but she soon finds love in the arms of a French soldier, Louis d’Epinon. The third female in this story is that of Héloïse’s maid, Marie-Victoire Bonnard, who finds love in the arms of a revolutionary – but that love comes at a great personal cost.

They threw their hats into the air, screamed their joy and fought to dip their handkerchiefs into the blood.

Sophie is so caught up in the glitz and glamour of her life in Paris that she hides her head in the sand ignores the warnings to leave France while she still can, and when madness takes over and The Terror begins, it just might be too late…

You have heard what they say about the Conciergerie? The hell from which there is no route save by the little window of the guillotine.

Let me tell you, that was some pretty intense stuff at the end. I did have a pretty rocky start with this one, the early chapters were very short and there was a lot of head hopping (third person, but still annoying), and I admit to thinking about bailing out of this, and glad I hung on. The different POVs give the reader a bird’s-eye view from multiple perspectives, from the glitz of Versailles to the underbelly of Paris. I’ll just add one word of caution – this is not a fluffy, feel good, romantic HEA kind of book, so if that’s your cuppa tea I suggest you move along. One word of caution for cover geeks, my copy ISBN #0-553-28448-7 has the cover posted above, but when you search swap/seller sites by this number it pulls up the so-ugly-I-won’t-even-post-it-here cover. I have no idea which cover you’ll get, so don’t blame me if you get that other one.

One odd thing is the author’s Afterward. She writes as if some of the characters in the novel were real historical people, yet I’ve not had a hit on any of them on Google. Any one out there have an answer for me?

The Shadow Queen by Rebecca Dean

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Wallis Simpson

This review will freely discuss events that are known historical fact. In the event that there might be someone who hasn’t heard about Wallis Simpson and her history, consider this a spoiler warning.

“A novel of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor” says the cover, so you’d think this book would be about Wallis when she is the Duchess of Windsor, wouldn’t you? Well guess what, there’s a second book planned, so this one only covers Wallis during her school years, her disastrous first marriage to Win Spencer with a tiny bit at the end for marriage #2 and her first meeting with the Prince of Wales. If you know your history you’ve got a fair idea what this novel entails, and if you don’t – then I’m not going to spoil it with things you don’t want to know prior to reading it. I’ll save every one’s time and just talk about the reading experience.

*YAWN*

Unfortunately, I don’t think there is enough story potential in Wallis’ school years and first marriage to fill a 400+ page book, I’d have preferred a quick recap of these *early years* and then get to the meat of the story. Perhaps it’s just me, but I don’t find endless tea and cocktail parties all that exciting, YMMV. This book had far too much foreshadowing with predictions for Wallis’ future, along with her endless fascination with the Prince of Wales. I’m not sure if the trip to China actually happened, but boy that trip sure ended fast once the author got in what she wanted – a meeting with an ancient Chinese fortuneteller just to tell us readers of What. Is. To. Come. Lastly, while I understand this is a fictional imagining of Wallis’ life, this reader felt there was far too much imagining going on with too many fictional characters. Library only, then buy it if you love it, although it appears I’m very much in the minority on this one. 2/5 stars.

Reviewed for Amazon Vine.

Deepwater by Pamela Jekel

But what you’ll have instead will be burnished and hardened and battle-proven as this land. And that, to me, is a richer love. It’s a real marriage.

Deepwater is a very chunky book (with tiny font!) set in the Cape Fear region of North Carolina. The story spans several generations, from 1711 through the end of the Civil War and Restoration period. The prologue begins with the lost settlement of Roanoke (including the author’s spin on what happened to those who went missing), and is then broken into three parts. In the first, sisters Tess and Glory Hannock aren’t willing to let something like a marriage separate them when Tess marries a dashing privateer. It isn’t true love forever, but Tess isn’t one to let that stop her and through her experiences we watch the colony grow and prosper until those little disputes with the King over taxation without representation get started…

The second section is centered around Tess’s niece Della (younger sister Glory’s daughter). Della’s been spoiled and travelled abroad, and when she comes home she hones in on wealthy plantation owner Phillip Gage and she’s determined to marry him and become mistress of Deepwater. Phillip is loyal to King George, so you can imagine things get a bit complicated when just about everyone else is on the rebel side, including his wife. The last third of the book begins in 1850 and is centered around Phillips heir, Laurel Gage. Laurel marries a Quaker and owning slaves is not the *done thing* for him, but paying for labor takes its toll on Deepwater and slowly eats away at the acreage and profits.

That’s about all you need to know. This is one of those books that is too difficult to recap without writing a book report, and I’m not of a mind to do it. I liked this a lot, especially as the story focused on the people and the land, there really wasn’t a lot of interaction with real historical characters. Better still, despite the two wars involved in the story, there are no real battle scenes, nor are they touched upon in any great detail – no endless info dumps telling the reader about every major battle in excruciating detail. How refreshing. The only downside that might be a deal breaker is that these aren’t a set of characters you’re going to get emotionally involved with; nor do any of the three women have a great *love story*. If you’re looking for romance, I suggest you keep on looking.

Last quibble, and nothing to do with the book itself, but part of the publisher’s blurb:

Seleta…The wife of a Quaker abolitionist, she saw her beloved land fall to the Yankees. Yet is wasn’t the horror of war that became her greatest challenge…it was her battle to save her young son.

Ummmm, Seleta was Laurel’s daughter and wasn’t a grown woman with children until well towards the end of the book and she was pretty much out of the picture by then.

It’s a good thing you-know-who hasn’t reviewed it. Then we’d finally know whether or not she reads the books 🙂

Her Highness, the Traitor

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Edward VI of England, Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day queen – was she a victim of her ruthless, scheming parents, or was she a victim of circumstance, being born much too close to the throne? How do you decide between the wishes of the dead king, or the one now dying?

After the unexpected death of Edward VI, England’s crown was to have gone first to elder sister Mary, and then to Elizabeth. Simple, right? Not. Problem was, not very many folks wanted Catholic Mary on England’s throne, plus Edward changed the order of succession before his death, naming the Lady Jane Grey as his heir.

OK, I think most historical fiction buffs have read enough about the Tudors to know the basics, as well as the myths, but if you don’t I am not going to spoil it for you by going into greater story detail. Higginbotham tells the story via alternating first person point of views of Jane Dudley (mother of Guildford Dudley) and Francis Grey (Jane’s mother). I’m generally not fond of alternating POVs and admit to struggling with this at first until I got a handle on the different voices, but in the end I thought it worked very well.

Higginbotham has done an excellent job of wading through those myths and half-truths, presenting a balanced, well-rounded case for what might really have happened, all lightly seasoned here and there with Higginbotham’s sense of humor (watch out for her April Fools’ Day blog posts). 4.5/5 stars.

Thanks to Sourcebooks and Net Galley for the opportunity to read an early copy.

The Glitter and the Gold by Michael Dyne

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Maria Fitzherbert, Mary Anne Clarke

The Glitter and the Gold tells the story of George IV of England and his relationship with Maria Fitzherbert. I am not going into great details of the storyline, as a lot of it might be spoilerish for those not familiar with George’s history. When the reader first meets George he is still the Prince of Wales, and he’s had enough of his parsimonious parents and their rigid lifestyle, so when he’s nineteen and allowed to cut loose on the world – watch out. There’s some serious high living going on there, along with the immense debt that continued to pile up behind it. But then one day George (Prinney) meets the twice widowed and very Catholic Maria Fitzherbert and he determines to have her no matter the price. And since Maria won’t be a mistress that price is very high indeed.

No one quite knew how the rumor had started. It spread across the Channel and titillated Paris salons. It crossed the Alps and caused a raising of eyebrow in Roman palaces. The Pope knew of it. There was a buzzing of beretta. Had the heir to the throne of England married a Catholic?

This was a seriously fun read, and I am very sad to let these characters go. While this isn’t the greatest novel ever written, I thought the author did a good job with the characters he had, particularly with George – warts and all. I really appreciated the way the author managed to show us George’s ever-increasing waistline by showing instead of telling, as opposed to that lazy method I’ve seen a lot lately in Tudor novels (no beady eyes or gravy drooling down one’s chin to be found here). I have no idea how close this book sticks to known historical facts, but the few times I did go for additional reading I didn’t find anything different from what was portrayed in the book. Dyne even threw in a couple of references to his younger brother’s somewhat notorious relationship to Mary Anne Clarke (trivia: can you name her famous great-great-granddaughter?). I am curious to know if Caroline of Brunswick was really like that starting at age fourteen. Oh my.

All in all jolly good fun and I heartily recommend it. Just don’t take too long dithering about whether to pick up a copy or not. From looking around the book seller sites there aren’t that many copies to be had. I did find a brief bio on the author at the back of the book, it seems that Dyne primarily wrote plays and movie scripts, including The Right Honorable Gentlemen, which was nominated for a Tony award. The Glitter and the Gold was inspired by his love of Regency furniture. I was torn between a 3.5 or a four star rating, but I just had too much fun. 4/5 stars.

Little Century by Anna Keesey

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Central Oregon

Upon the death of her mother, Esther Chambers moves West to Central Oregon at the invitation of distant cousin Ferris Pickett (Pick). Pick is a cattle rancher, and he wants Esther to homestead a recently abandoned piece of land adjacent to his own ranch. Esther settles in to her new home and the community, but things are getting a bit heated – those cattle ranchers do not like the men raising the sheep. Not. One. Bit. Life gets even more complicated for Esther when Pick asks for her hand, yet she’s developed a certain attraction to Ben Cruff, one of those sheepherders Pick and his men loathe so much.

I’ve been really struggling trying to rate this book, and please note that my rating is based more on how much I enjoyed reading this, and not directed to the writing itself, which was lovely. I love Western history and I adore Central Oregon, so I should have been all over this like a cat with cream – but I wasn’t. I could always put this down, walk away and not feel the rush to come back, and frankly ended up reading this at the gym 40 minutes a day whilst doing my cardio. This book was written in the present tense (3rd person), and I found it very distracting – especially with such a large cast of secondary characters. I think I would have done better if there had been a character listing to refer back to, and I’m hoping they put one in the final editions. As for the story itself, I struggled as much following it as I did with the characters and felt quite lost at times. Things really didn’t seem to happen until the very last 50 or so pages.

There was lots of gorgeous writing, but not much substance underneath it – at least not for me. YMMV. I am beginning to suspect that literary fiction and I are not fated to be constant companions. Four stars for the writing, three stars for a so-so story making this a 3.5/5 star rating.

Reviewed for Amazon Vine.

Chinaberry by William Lavender

In the glory days before the War Between the States, Chinaberry was one of the grandest plantations along the Mississippi, and Julia was the apple of her doting father’s eye. Growing up alone with no playmates close at hand, young slave Darby became her fast friend and he was eventually *given* to Julia, and the two remained devoted friends until the actions of an evil man force Darby to flee Chinaberry.

No, I’m not spoiling, because as the book opens it is told in alternating periods of Before and After, and right at the first chapter you are seeing Darby returning 20+ years later with his partner/friend Travis. You know he ran away, the question is why did he run away? In After, Darby and Travis have purchased a large ranch in California, but before they set down roots Darby feels the need to return to Chinaberry and close the ties he left behind. The Before section is set in 1848 and recounts the events leading up to Darby’s escape, and then the story switches to what the men find when they arrive at Chinaberry – has it survived the ravages of war? Is Julia really the mad witch the locals think she is?

This really is one of those too hard to try to explain what happens without giving it all away kind of books, and I’m not going there (I have better things to do today). What I will tell you is that despite the very lurid description on the back cover, this is not a smutty book at all. There was very little sex, and what there was pretty much over with in a page or two – so if you’re looking for smut keep on looking. This is a hard book to rate, since it did keep me turning the pages, but in the end I really didn’t feel a strong connection for any of the characters. I would recommend this for those interested in a closer look at the underside of plantation life, but do be warned – this book was written in 1976 and long before we became so terribly politically correct. There are no punches pulled in this book and that includes liberal use of the “n” word, and this book is not going to suit every reader. Plantation buffs will likely enjoy this, but if you like your books on the fluffy side I suggest you give it a miss. 3.5/5 stars.

The Longest Winter by Daphne Wright

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russian revolution

Neither side in this struggle has a monopoly on cruelty-or on justification.

Petrograd, 1916. The Great War continues on and revolution is in the air. Grieving over the presumed deaths of both her fiancé and brother, Evelyn Markham has come to stay with her uncle and cousins, the Suvarovs. I think everyone knows what happens next, and as much as Evelyn would like to get back to England and safety, there’s no way out at the moment and she joins the Suvarovs when they head to the relative safety in the far north. Safety being a relative term, mind you, because things are seething up there as well with the White movement in full swing and the Western allies set on helping them.

The jacket blurb at Goodreads pretty much recaps it all nicely, and I’ve just wasted an hour trying to say it differently so I give up trying. I have better things to do today 😉

This was a good solid read, and focused on a bit of Russian history we don’t find often in historical novels. While I wouldn’t call Evelyn a self-centered miss, she did have a lot of growing up to do in this novel, especially when she and the younger Suvarovs retreat to Archangel (Arkhangelsk) to wait out the winter in hopes of catching a ship to England. I also liked watching the developing relationship between Evelyn and American reporter Bob Adamson, who she loathed from the start (he was somewhat supportive of the early revolutionaries). Loved it when the blinders finally fell off and her eyes were opened to the important things in life. My only real complaint is the somewhat abrupt ending – an epilogue would have rounded things out nicely.

And what did I end up taking away with me upon finishing? No matter what side of the *party* you are on, War. Is. Hell.

Somethings just never change, do they?

Pride’s Castle by Frank Yerby

And none of them could know how many were the tears of shame, and how few the tears of grief.

New York, 1870. Pride Dawson and longtime friend and companion Tim McCarthy land in the big city with their grubstake read to hit the big money like everyone else – but then Pride manages to lose it all. Down on their luck, they meet seamstress Sharon O’Neal who gives them what little support she can provide (and it’s not much). Pride loves Sharon about as much as his shallow soul is capable of love, and Sharon loves him back forever but love is not enough for Pride. He connives gets himself a job as bodyguard of wealthy tycoon Thomas Stillworth, who just happens to have a young daughter named Esther who is tired of her wealthy suitors and decides to hitch up with up and coming Pride, and that leaves faithful Sharon in the dust. Now you would think Pride would let Sharon go and move on with her life, but no, he’ll have his cake and eat it too.

Esther can’t understand that-how a man can love two women at the same time. I know that if I had Sharon all the time, I wouldn’t want Esther. But if there weren’t any Sharon I’d love Esther with all my heart…God, it was a mess!

What follows is quite a ride of ups and downs, fortunes won and fortunes lost, dirty dealings and plenty of heartache as Esther patiently bides her time waiting for the right moment to get her revenge for all the times Pride done her wrong. All in all I liked this a lot, despite a slower moment here and there. Definitely recommended for those interested in New York in the days of those filthy rich railroad barons. 4/5 stars.

This old gem has had plenty of fun covers over the years. Click on any thumbnail to enlarge.