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If Adrian came to visit me in my sleep, I could tell him what had happened. True, I’d told him to stay away last time, but he’d never listened to me before.  Why should this time be any different?

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead pg. 298

The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell (bought)

In a clash of heroes, the kingdom is born.

At the end of the ninth century, King Alfred of Wessex is in ill health; his heir, an untested youth. His enemy, the Danes, having failed to conquer Wessex, now see their chance for victory. Led by the sword of savage warrior Harald Bloodhair, the Viking hordes attack. But Uhtred, Alfred’s reluctant warlord, proves his worth, outwitting Harald and handing the Vikings one of their greatest defeats.

For Uhtred, the sweetness of victory is soon overshadowed by tragedy. Breaking with Alfred, he joins the Vikings, swearing never again to serve the Saxon king. Instead, he will reclaim his ancestral fortress on the Northumbrian coast. Allied with his old friend Ragnar—and his old foe Haesten—he aims to invade and conquer Wessex itself.

Yet fate has different plans. The Danes of East Anglia and the Vikings of Northumbria are plotting the conquest of all Britain. When Alfred’s daughter pleads with Uhtred for help, he cannot refuse her request. In a desperate gamble, he takes command of a demoralized Mercian army, leading them in an unforgettable battle on a blood-soaked field beside the Thames.

The Queen’s Husband by Jean Plaidy (from bookmooch)

From the time they were in their cradles, Victoria and Albert were destined for each other. However, the passive Albert is well aware that marriage to a quick-tempered, demonstrative young woman like Victoria could result in unnecessary scenes and stormy court feuds. And he is right. The young Queen, as well has having to endure her constant pregnancies, is in perpetual revolt against any encroachment on her position – and Albert is doing just that. Despite attempts on her life and crises like the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, her family – Albert and their nine children – is her prime concern. The Victorian age is truly under way – but the real power behind the throne was the queen’s husband

My Enemy, The Queen by Victoria Holt (from bookmooch)

It was Lettice who married the Earl of Leicester, whom Elizabeth I loved. And it was Lettice who was the mother of the Queen’s beloved Earl of Essex. That young earl would one day break the Queen’s heart.

It was always Lettice, the constant spoiler in the triangle of love surrounding Elizabeth. . . .

From library

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt

Bess Southerns, an impoverished widow living in Pendle Forest, is haunted by visions and gains a reputation as a cunning woman. Drawing on the Catholic folk magic of her youth, Bess heals the sick and foretells the future. As she ages, she instructs her granddaughter, Alizon, in her craft, as well as her best friend, who ultimately turns to dark magic.

When a peddler suffers a stroke after exchanging harsh words with Alizon, a local magistrate, eager to make his name as a witch finder, plays neighbors and family members against one another until suspicion and paranoia reach frenzied heights. (book jacket)

The book is told through the eyes of two persons: Bess (first half) and Alizon (second half). While I liked it told from first person narrative but the characters didn’t come alive to me. You can see that the autohor has done her research but it also slows done the book with going on , and on, and on about their daily lives. I’ve never heard of the Pendle witches before and I’d like to hear more about the actual trials.

I don’t know much about that time period and it was interesting to read about common people of that time but I also think that it slowed down the book a little particularly in the beginning.

But I did enjoy the book towards the end and I’m curious to read more of her books.

3.5/5

New-to-me author: yes

Would I recommend this book: yes

Would I read more from this author: yes

Won at a giveaway, thank you for the author for the book!

*Grab your current read
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When the storm was at its wildest, there came such a bang upon the door, loud enough to rouse Father from his stupor. I ran headlong to Mam, burying my face in her apron, whilst she cradled my head with trempbling hands.

Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt pg. 147

The Illuminator by Brenda Rickman Vantrease (from bookmooch)

It is England, in the late fourteenth century, a time when the whim of a lord or the pleasure of a bishop can seal nearly anyone’s fate. The printing press has yet to be invented. Books, written only in Latin or Norman French, are rare and costly, painstakingly lettered and illuminated with exquisite paintings—far beyond the reach of ordinary people.

But there are cracks in the old feudal order—and in the absolute power of the Church. Finn is a master illuminator who works not only for the Church but also, in secret, for the heretical Oxford cleric John Wycliffe. Under the nose of the powerful Abbot of Broomholm, Finn illuminates pages for Wycliffe—an English translation of the Bible, meant to bring the word of God to the masses. And Finn has another secret, one that will lead both himself and his beloved daughter into ever-increasing peril.

Lady Kathryn, the mistress of Blackingham Manor, is a widow who finds herself caught between the King’s taxes and the Church’s tithes. To protect her sons’ inheritance, she strikes a bargain with the abbot—Kathryn will take in the illuminator and his daughter, and gain the monastery’s protection. What begins as a hesitant friendship between Finn and Lady Kathryn grows into a passionate alliance that touches off a chain of betrayals, tragedies, and unexpected acts of heroism.

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Flint by Margaret Redfern (from bookmooch)

Will and his brother Ned are commandeered into the army of ditch-diggers whose task it is to build the foundations for Edward I new castle at Flint. But the lads are nervous – and not just because they’re far from home. Ned is a mute whose affinity with horses and skills as a herbalist make him suspicious in the eyes of their English overseers. In addition, Ned has been tutored by the exiled Welsh bard Ieuan ap y Gof.

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Pride of Kings by Judith Tarr (from bookmooch)

At his corronation as the new king of England, Richard the Lionheart, lured by dreams of glory and driven by faith, makes a fateful choice between a mortal crown and a magical one and embarks on a Crusade to free Jerusalem from the infidels, leaving behind a kingdom threatened by beings wielding the powers of dark magic.

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A Pride of Kings by Juliet Dymoke (different cover!) (from bookmooch)

Landless and penniless, William Marshal became the most celebrated knight in all of Europe, his powers on the tourney fields enabling him to rise to power and serve five kings in England. Throghout their reigns, through both fortune and disfavor, William Marshal never swerved in his loyalty to the quarrelsome,  unpredictable, autocratic brood of Henry II, founder of the great Plantagenet dynasty.

*Grab your current read
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The possibility of a pardon still remained, however, and Mary let it be known once more that she did not want Jane to die. In yet another effort to  apprease the imperial ambassadors and convince them Jane was no longer a danger, it was said that the Grey sisters were illegitimate since their father had been betrothed to the Earl of Arundel’s sister before he married Frances.

The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: The Tragedy of Mary, Katherine and Lady Jane Grey by Leanda De Lisle pg. 136

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (bought)

The year is 1771, and war is coming. Jamie Fraser’s wife tells him so. Little as he wishes to, he must believe it, for hers is a gift of dreadful prophecy — a time-traveler’s certain knowledge.

Born in the year of Our Lord 1918, Claire Randall served England as a nurse on the battlefields of World War II, and in the aftermath of peace found fresh conflicts when she walked through a cleftstone on the Scottish Highlands and found herself an outlander, an English lady in a place where no lady should be, in a time — 1743 — when the only English in Scotland were the officers and men of King George’s army.

Now wife, mother, and surgeon, Claire is still an outlander, out of place, and out of time, but now, by choice, linked by love to her only anchor — Jamie Fraser. Her unique view of the future has brought him both danger and deliverance in the past; her knowledge of the oncoming revolution is a flickering torch that may light his way through the perilous years ahead — or ignite a conflagration that will leave their lives in ashes….

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Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt (won at Violet Crush, thank you for the author for the book!)

Set in Lancashire, England, during the infamous witch trials of 1612, Daughters of the Witching Hill reveals the true story of Bess Southerns, aka Old Demdike, cunning woman, healer and the most notorious of the Pendle Witches, and of Alizon Device, her granddaughter, struggling to come to terms with her family’s troubling legacy. Though the name of the Pendle Witches lives on, few know the hard-hitting details of the witch-hunt which tore apart a community. Set in an era of religious intolerance, political strife, suspicion and social inequality, this haunting story of strong women and family love and betrayal is more relevant than ever.

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Claiming the Courtesan by Anna Campbell (from bookmooch)
The Duke of Kylemore knows her as Soraya, London’s most celebrated courtesan. Men fight duels to spend an hour in her company. And only he comes close to taming her. Flying in the face of society, he decides to make her his bride; then, she vanishes, seemingly into thin air.

Dire circumstances have forced Verity Ashton to barter her innocence and change her name for the sake of her family. But Kylemore destroys her plans for a respectable life when he discovers her safe haven. He kidnaps her, sweeping her away to his hunting lodge in Scotland, where he vows to bend her to his will.

There he seduces her anew. Verity spends night after night with him in his bed . . . and though she still dreams of escape and independence, she knows she can never flee the unexpected, unwelcome love for the proud, powerful lover who claims her both body and soul.

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Untouched by Anna Campbell (from bookmooch)

Beautiful Grace Paget has no reason not to believe these words. After all, she was kidnapped, spirited away to a remote country manor, and told she is to grant this man his every desire . . . or lose her life. But Grace is no common trollop. So she risks everything to save her virtue by planning a daring escape, even though she finds herself tempted by this handsome man. There is something in his eyes that makes her wonder if he is as dangerous as he would have her believe.

Sheene knew nothing of the plan to bring him this woman. Locked up as a prisoner, called “mad” by all of the world, he will do anything to reclaim his life, and Grace’s sensuous beauty has distracted him from his goals. And although he finds her irresistible, he is horrified to hold her against her will. Now, together, they must both revolt against the strange set of circumstances that have forced them together—for only then will Grace truly surrender to him . . . forever.

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The Last Templar by Michael Jecks (from bookmooch)

The Knights Templar

They had all joined taking three vows: poverty, chastity, and obedience…for they were monks: warrior monks, dedicated to the protection of pilgrims in the Holy Land — until stories spread by anavaricious king who wanted their wealth for his own destroyed the order.

There was one knight, however, who escaped the stake, vowing justiceas he watched his innocent brothers die.

In the Service of the Lord

Simon Puttock has not been bailiff of Lydford Castle long in this year of 1316, when he is called to a nearby village to examine a burned-out cottage and the dead body within. But it is the newly arrived knight, Sir Baldwin Furnshill, who discerns the deceased was no victim of a tragic mishap; he was, in fact, murdered prior to the blaze. Simon would be well-served by accepting further assistance from this astute, though haunted and secretive stranger. For a second fatal burning indicates that some harsh evil has invaded this once-peaceful place, and its hunger has yet to be sated.

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The Legend of Huma by Richard A. Knaak (from bookmooch)

For the first time in the best-selling DRAGONLANCE Saga, here is The Legend of Huma, fabled Hero of the Lance: his mysterious origins and his Oath to the Measure; treachery among the Knights of Solamnia; his love for the Silver Dragon; the fated showdown between the Queen of Darkness and [close]
the forces of Paladine.

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Life in a Medieval Castle by Joseph & Frances Gies (from bookmooch)

The authors allow medieval man and woman to speak for themselves through selections from past journals, songs, even account books.

I have to mention that I can’t believe that I don’t have to see Poets of the Fall this summer! My luck is that they’re at Ruisrock today.  Okay, usually we’we went to like 4-5 festivals on summer but this year it’s just Ruisrock. And usually Poets are on every one of them on the day we’re there and my friends likes them. Can’t stand them!

Anyway, we were already on the buss when Crista realised that she doesn’t have her ticket. She went back home to get it and I went alone to Ruissalo. It sucks that when the buss drops you off you still have to walk, maybe 2-3 km to the festival area. It wen’t suprisingly quick considering I was alone. If you don’t count one guy who wanted to walk with me and speak half of the time…

The first band was Herra Ylppö ja Ihmiset. Never heard really their music but I like Herra Ylppö’s main band Maj Karma. It’s just too slow for my taste.  Crista came just when they finished and it was the only band she wanted to see…

Arch Enemy was the next band on that stage and since there was only 1,5 hours left I stayed there and listened Tarot on the next stage. Crista went to see around and to see Tarot. I really wanted to see Tarot but didn’t wanna lose my spot in Arch Enemy because I was on the first on in the middle. But I’ve seen them before so it didn’t matter so much. And I heared them anyway and saw from the screen.

Arch Enemy was awesome! This was the first time I saw them. I love Angela’s voice! And there isn’t many women who growls… None of my friends doesn’t like them so I’ve never went to other city by myself.  Can’t remeber the setlist but atleast they played My Apocalypse, Nemesis, We Will Rise, Ravenous and Dead Bury Their Dead. Gah, didn’t get any pictures from Daniel (the drummer).

After that watched Amorphis. It was good show but nothing special. But then again, I’ve seen them somany times… I love Tomi Joutsen’s voice and they have good songs but they sound little a like, the same with the albums. But it’s nice to see them on festivals and just sit and listen.

The day’s  main band was Ozzy Osbourne. Had to see just for curiosity. I’m not a huge fan but he has some good songs. Couldn’t make what he said in speeches or much in the songs either but let’s not go to the minor points  Didn’t listen the whole set because wanted to leave before all people leaves.

And I bought Arch Enemy t-shirt  Okay, Crista bought it because I was lining for Arch Enemy but anyway :D More pics can be found on my flickr account.

*Grab your current read
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His involvement in smuggling was like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that wouldn’t quite fit. Morgan had never been able to tolerate half-finished puzzles.

Mysterious by Nora Roberts pg. 430

Fallen by Lauren Kate (bought)

Seventeen-Year-Old Luce is a new student at Sword & Cross, an unwelcoming boarding/reform school in Savannah, Georgia. Luce’s boyfriend died under suspicious circumstances, and now she carries the guilt over his death with her as she navigates the unfriendly halls at Sword & Cross, WHERE every student seems to have an unpleasant—even evil—history.

It’s only when she sees Daniel, a gorgeous fellow student, that Luce feels there’s a reason to be here—though she doesn’t know what it is. And Daniel’s frosty cold demeanor toward her? It’s really a protective device that he’s used again . . . and again. For Daniel is a fallen angel, doomed to fall in love with the same girl every 17 years . . . and watch her die. And Luce is a fellow immortal, cursed to be reincarnated again and again as a mortal girl who has no idea of who she really is.

The Reckoning´by Kelley Armstrong (bought)

Chloe Saunders is fifteen and would love to be normal. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. First of all, she happens to be a genetically engineered necromancer who can raise the dead without even trying. She and her equally gifted (or should that be ‘cursed’?) friends are on the run from the evil corporation who created them. To top it all, Chloe is struggling with her feelings for Simon, a sweet-tempered sorcerer, and his brother Derek, a not so sweet-tempered werewolf. And she has a horrible feeling she’s leaning towards the werewolf. Definitely not normal…

Bitten by Kelley Armstong (bought)

Elena Michaels is a self-described “mutt,” a werewolf who left her secretive pack in upstate New York for a life among humans. In the year since she relocated to Toronto, she’s embarked on a career as a journalist and begun a pleasingly mundane relationship with a decent man. All this is jeopardized when she agrees to help her old packmates hunt some troublesome mutts who are converting common criminals to werewolves and leaving a trail of conspicuous carnage. Reunited with her former lycanthrope lover and forced into brutally predatory confrontations, Elena finds the call of the wild subtly reasserting itself. Armstrong prepares readers for her tale’s twists with several key revisions of werewolf lore the werewolf taint is mostly hereditary, and werewolves can be killed as easily as any human or wolf. Her true achievement, though, is her depiction of werewolf nature in believably human context. Elena’s feral sensibility, like her psychological vulnerabilities, seems a natural outgrowth of her abusive childhood, and her relationship with the pack is that of any prodigal child to a close-knit family. The sensuality of Elena’s transformations and the viciousness of her kills mesh perfectly with her tough personality.

Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose (bought)

As grippingly as any novelist, preeminent World War II historian Stephen Ambrose tells the horrifying, hallucinatory saga of Easy Company, whose 147 members he calls the nonpareil combat paratroopers on earth circa 1941-45. Ambrose takes us along on Easy Company’s trip from grueling basic training to Utah Beach on D-day, where a dozen of them turned German cannons into dynamited ruins resembling “half-peeled bananas,” on to the Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of part of the Dachau concentration camp, and a large party at Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest,” where they drank the madman’s (surprisingly inferior) champagne. Of Ambrose’s main sources, three soldiers became rich civilians; at least eight became teachers; one became Albert Speer’s jailer; one prosecuted Bobby Kennedy’s assassin; another became a mountain recluse; the despised, sadistic C.O. who first trained Easy Company (and to whose strictness many soldiers attributed their survival of the war) wound up a suicidal loner whose own sons skipped his funeral.

A Gambling Man: Charles II and the Restoration by Jenny Uglow (bought)

The Restoration was a decade of experimentation: from the founding of the Royal Society for investigating the sciences to the startling role of credit and risk; from the shocking licentiousness of the court to failed attempts at religious tolerance. Negotiating all these, Charles II, the “slippery sovereign,” laid odds and took chances, dissembling and manipulating his followers. The theaters may have been restored, but the king himself was the supreme actor. Yet while his grandeur, his court, and his colorful sex life were on display, his true intentions lay hidden.

Charles II was thirty when he crossed the English Channel in fine May weather in 1660. His Restoration was greeted with maypoles and bonfires, as spring after the long years of Cromwell’s rule. But there was no way to turn back, no way he could “restore” the old dispensation. Certainty had vanished. The divinity of kingship had ended with his father’s beheading. “Honor” was now a word tossed around in duels. “Providence” could no longer be trusted. As the country was rocked by plague, fire, and war, people searched for new ideas by which to live. And exactly ten years after he arrived, Charles would again stand on the shore at Dover, this time placing the greatest bet of his life in a secret deal with his cousin, Louis XIV of France.

The French Executioner by C.C. Humphreys (from bookmooch)

It is 1536 and the expert swordsman Jean Rombaud has been brought over from France by Henry VIII to behead his wife, Anne Boleyn. But on the eve of her execution Rombaud swears a vow to the ill-fated queen – to bury her six-fingered hand, symbol of her rumoured witchery, at a sacred crossroads. Yet in a Europe ravaged by religious war, the hand of this infamous Protestant icon is so powerful a relic that many will kill for it…From a battle between slave galleys to a Black Mass in a dungeon, through the hallucinations of St Anthony’s Fire to the fortress of an apocalyptic Messiah, Jean seeks to honour his vow.

The Queen of Lightning by Kathleen Herbert (from bookmooch)

It is AD 641. Britain is a land of warring tribes, of small kingdoms that firecely guard their sovereignty. A brave and mighty line of warriors had dwindled to one last princess, heiress to the crown: Riemmelth, Queen of the Lightning. Before he dies, the old king knows he must safeguard Cumbria. And the only way to do that is to marry Riemmelth, his granddaughter, to one of the hated English.

From library

Josephine: The Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart

Mysterious by Nora Roberts