Blog Tour: Seeds of the Pomegranate by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels

Posted on December 12, 2025 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, historical fiction

Seeds of the Pomegranate

by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels

Publication Date: September 2nd, 2025

Publisher: Sibylline Press

Pages: 409

Genre: Historical Fiction / Women’s Crime Fiction

A gritty story of a woman learning to survive in 20th century Gangland New York

In early 20th-century Sicily, noblewoman Mimi Inglese, a talented painter, dreams of escaping the rigid expectations of her class by gaining admission to the Palermo Art Academy. But when she contracts tuberculosis, her ambitions are shattered. With the Sicilian nobility in decline, she and her family leave for New York City in search of a fresh start.

Instead of opportunity, Mimi is pulled into the dark underbelly of city life and her father’s money laundering scheme. When he is sent to prison, desperation forces her to put her artistic talent to a new use—counterfeiting $5 bills to keep her family from starvation and, perhaps, to one day reclaim her dream of painting. But as Gangland violence escalates and tragedy strikes, Mimi must summon the courage to flee before she is trapped forever in a life she never wanted.

From Sicily’s sun-bleached shores to the crowded streets of immigrant New York, Seeds of the Pomegranate is a story of courage, art, and the women who refused to disappear.

Praise for Seeds of the Pomegranate:

“A riveting and intelligent novel with a powerful message.“

~ Kirkus Reviews

“Samuels has created a thoroughly engrossing historical novel from aspects of her own family heritage, weaving complications and danger into the narrative with admirable skill and effective writing. A gripping story, from the first page to the last, and very highly recommended.“

~ Margaret Porter, bestselling author

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link

Suzanne Uttaro Samuels

Suzanne Uttaro Samuels is an award-winning legal scholar, lawyer, and college professor turned novelist and essayist. Her debut historical novel, Seeds of the Pomegranate (Sibylline Press, 2025), follows Mimi Inglese, a young Sicilian noblewoman whose dream of a new life in America collides with an elaborate counterfeiting scheme.

Samuels writes stories of resilience, family secrets, and hidden histories of immigration, illness, and resistance. Born and raised on Staten Island, she spent most of her life in and around New York City and now lives in a cottage in the Adirondack Mountains with her husband, dog, and two cats.

Author Links:

Website • Facebook • Bluesky • Threads • TikTok • Instagram

Amazon Author Page • BookBub • Goodreads

Seeds of the Pomegranate

by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels

Publication Date: September 2nd, 2025

Publisher: Sibylline Press

Pages: 409

Genre: Historical Fiction / Women’s Crime Fiction

A gritty story of a woman learning to survive in 20th century Gangland New York

From Sicily’s sun-bleached shores to the crowded streets of immigrant New York, Seeds of the Pomegranate is a story of courage, art, and the women who refused to disappear.

Praise for Seeds of the Pomegranate:

“A riveting and intelligent novel with a powerful message.“

~ Kirkus Reviews

~ Margaret Porter, bestselling author

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link

Suzanne Uttaro Samuels

Author Links:

Website • Facebook • Bluesky • Threads • TikTok • Instagram

Amazon Author Page • BookBub • Goodreads

Blog Tour: Nero and Sporus by S.P. Somtow

Posted on June 16, 2025 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, Coffee Pot Book Club, historical fiction

Title: Nero and Sporus

Author: S.P. Somtow

Blurb: Finally available in one volume! The decadence of Imperial Rome comes to life in S.P. Somtow’s Literary Titan Award-winning novel about one of ancient history’s wildest characters.

The historian Suetonius tells us that the Emperor Nero emasculated and married his slave Sporus, the spitting image of murdered Empress Poppaea. But history has more tidbits about Sporus, who went from “puer delicatus” to Empress to one Emperor and concubine to another, and ended up being sentenced to play the Earth-Goddess in the arena.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/ba90Qx

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Excerpt:

“You’d never lie to me,” he said.

“No,” I lied.

A lyre appeared in his hands. He motioned for me to sit, and I did so on a stone bench in front of the herm. And then he sang.

Not in the Greek of immortal poets, but in plain Latin, the language of the mob, the language you speak when you’re among close friends, the language you speak to slaves.

I strive with the winds

but soon I will go

where everyone else has gone

wisdom and beauty are never found together

but in you, youth, they are;

seek other shores; seek adventures;

but as for me, love pinches

like an old crab

There were no fanciful apostrophes to mythical beings. No protests against the Fates. No plaints to the Nine Muses. And to go with the words, Nero had found a melody that was almost like a folksong. Since moving to the palace I had walled off my heart and mind, but I felt my reserve crumbling. Hadn’t I once fallen stupidly in love with him, when he was distant and impossible to get close to, when I was nobody? Then again, how long had those feelings lasted?

Tears were welling up when it slowly dawned on me that Nero had stolen these words. No wonder they sounded familiar. They were lines lifted wholesale from Petronius’s Satyricon, scrambled and served up together like a dish of eggs and honey.

The Master of the World was a thief. He stole words. He stole Divinity itself. He had stolen my dreams. And, as he looked deeply into my eyes, I knew that he knew this.

Now I was really weeping. I was mourning my patronus as I never had before. I poured out all my pent-up sorrow.

Nero know I did not weep for him.

He did know me, you see.

There was a boy named Lucius Domitius who had been banished from court together with his ambitious, stiflingly protective mother. He had grown up among slaves. He had spoken Latin all day long, like ordinary people. He had loved Actë. He had known, as humans understand the word, happiness.

One day, he had been summoned back to Rome, and Rome had devoured him and left him without a heart.

Lucius Domitius had become Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Pater Patriae, Pontifex Maximus, the Living God.

Lucius Domitius was dead.

Yet, long after Nero had buried him, it was Lucius Domitius who truly saw me.

About the Author:

Once referred to by the International Herald Tribune as ‘the most well-known expatriate Thai in the world,’ Somtow Sucharitkul is no longer an expatriate, since he has returned to Thailand after five decades of wandering the world. He is best known as an award-winning novelist and a composer of operas.

Born in Bangkok, Somtow grew up in Europe and was educated at Eton and Cambridge. His first career was in music and in the 1970s, his first return to Asia, he acquired a reputation as a revolutionary composer, the first to combine Thai and Western instruments in radical new sonorities. Conditions in the arts in the region at the time proved so traumatic for the young composer that he suffered a major burnout, emigrated to the United States, and reinvented himself as a novelist.

His earliest novels were in the science fiction field and he soon won the John W. Campbell for Best New Writer as well as being nominated for and winning numerous other awards in the field. But science fiction was not able to contain him and he began to cross into other genres. In his 1984 novel Vampire Junction, he injected a new literary inventiveness into the horror genre, in the words of Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, ‘skillfully combining the styles of Stephen King, William Burroughs, and the author of the Revelation to John.’ Vampire Junction was voted one of the forty all-time greatest horror books by the Horror Writers’ Association, joining established classics like Frankenstein and Dracula. He has also published children’s books, a historical novel, and about a hundred works of short fiction.

In the 1990s Somtow became increasingly identified as a uniquely Asian writer with novels such as the semi-autobiographical Jasmine Nights and a series of stories noted for a peculiarly Asian brand of magic realism, such as Dragon’s Fin Soup, which is currently being made into a film directed by Takashi Miike. He recently won the World Fantasy Award, the highest accolade given in the world of fantastic literature, for his novella The Bird Catcher. His seventy-plus books have sold about two million copies world-wide. He has been nominated for or won over forty awards in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

After becoming a Buddhist monk for a period in 2001, Somtow decided to refocus his attention on the country of his birth, founding Bangkok’s first international opera company and returning to music, where he again reinvented himself, this time as a neo-Asian neo-Romantic composer. The Norwegian government commissioned his song cycle Songs Before Dawn for the 100th Anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, and he composed at the request of the government of Thailand his Requiem: In Memoriam 9/11 which was dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 tragedy.

According to London’s Opera magazine, ‘in just five years, Somtow has made Bangkok into the operatic hub of Southeast Asia.’ His operas on Thai themes, Madana and Mae Naak, have been well received by international critics.

Somtow has recently been awarded the 2017 Europa Cultural Achievement Award for his work in bridging eastern and western cultures. In 2020 he returned to science fiction after a twenty-year absence with “Homeworld of the Heart”, a fifth novel in the Inquestor series. Currently he has just finished Nero and Sporus, a massive historical novel set in Imperial Rome.

To support S.P. Somtow’s work, visit his patreon account at patreon.com/spsomtow. His website is at www.somtow.com.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.somtow.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/spsomtow

Twitter / X: https://x.com/somtow

Facebook: http://facebook.com/somtow

Instagram: http://instagram.com/somtow

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/s-p-somtow

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B000APBJXC/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/81037.S_P_Somtow

Blog Tour: The Ballad of Mary Kearney by Katherine Mezzacappa

Posted on April 25, 2025 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, Coffee Pot Book Club, historical fiction

Title: The Ballad of Mary Kearney

Author: Katherine Mezzacappa

Blurb:

‘I am dead, my Mary; the man who loved you body and soul lies in some dishonorable grave.’ In County Down, Ireland, in 1767, a nobleman secretly marries his servant, in defiance of law, class, and religion. Can their love survive tumultuous times?

‘Honest and intriguing, this gripping saga will transport and inspire you, and it just might break your heart. Highly recommended.’ Historical Novel Society

‘Mezzacappa brings nuance and a great depth of historical knowledge to the cross-class romance between a servant and a nobleman.’ Publishers Weekly.

The Ballad of Mary Kearney is a compelling must-read for anyone interested in Irish history, told through the means of an enduring but ultimately tragic love.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/3yxPpJ

Excerpt:

Neighbours

“A letter for me?”

“Yes, Mary, open it and read it.”

“Tis an invitation to us to visit Mountlyon. It is signed Lady Lyon. Why does she write to me? I do not know this lady.”

“I do, and now she wants to make your acquaintance, too. That is the form, lady to lady. Her husband is a decent fellow, abominably rich, and Mountlyon has been much improved as a result. We will be taken around it and must say we admire it whether we do or not, and afterwards we will be rewarded with a good dinner when we will be lively in our reminiscences of the London season. And after a short interval has elapsed, you must invite them here.”

“Here?”

“Yes, here to Goward Hall. Mary, you look like a rabbit transfixed by a stoat. There is nothing to fear except possibly boredom. You have joined the Quality and now the Quality wishes to know you.”

One splendid room opened into another. Mary was exhorted by Lady Lyon, a thin, querulous woman in her fifties with a habit of peering down her nose, to admire the Zuccarelli landscapes. “So like the view across our demesne, don’t you agree?”

“They are fine views all, both the painter’s and yours, Lady Lyon. But yours have no pretty peasants, and his do not behave like peasants. They seem to have no work to do,” replied Mary.

“Impertinent,” thought Lady Lyon.

“Certainly I would not permit our tenants to pass across my view. For what use is a ha-ha otherwise? I do not imagine that you allow it either, Lady Goward, but perhaps I am mistaken. Are your ideas more democratic perhaps?”

Mary scented a coming insult, and chose her words carefully.

“Our tenantry approach the house by means of the Offices, Madam,” she said truthfully. What she did not add was that the house servants now crossed before the house whenever it made sense to do so, and Mary did not believe that they spoilt the aspect. She would not tell her own brother and sister to stay out of her field of vision, and so would not instruct the other servants to do so.

“I am in any case usually too occupied to be looking out the windows,” Mary added, and it was Lady Lyon’s turn to be offended, though no offence had been intended. That lady simply stared, then drew Mary’s attention to other acquisitions.

“This is Mr. Gainsborough’s work.” She pointed at a portrait of Lord Lyon looking like what he was, a genial middle-aged country gentleman, his spaniel at his feet and the plans of the new Mountlyon unfurled in his hands.

“And this is Mr. Reynolds’s of myself, in his best Grand Manner. I am of course Hebe.”

“Why did he show you as Hebe, Lady Lyon? Could you not just have been yourself?” blurted out Mary, mystified by the portrait’s swirling draperies, sandalled feet and bare arms. “And why do you carry the pitcher, or is the big bird wanting to drink from it?”

“Oh my dear, you are so droll,” tittered Lady Lyon. “Those of course are the attributes of the goddess of eternal youth, and I am cup-bearer to the gods.”

“But Madam, you are so much younger than this goddess. Mr. Reynolds has not done full justice to the original,” interjected James, dextrously guiding a mortified Mary towards Lord Lyon, who took Mary’s hand and patted it.

“I shall take you to meet Skip, if you like? I think Mr. Gainsborough got a very good likeness, though the poor beast found the sitting—which was all about standing— as tedious as I did.”

“Our son has a dog just like him,” said Mary, looking up at him with tears of gratitude in her eyes.

At dinner, Mary’s first mistake in Lady Lyon’s eyes was when she glided round the

table and cut up her husband’s food.

“We have servants for that!” exclaimed the hostess, adding maliciously, “But of course it is a servant’s work.”

“We have simpler ways at Goward Hall,” said James gallantly. “Mary knows without my saying what I have difficulty with and what I can manage with my left hand, for what I can still do, I prefer to do.” This little exchange was repeated downstairs in the servants’ hall, to universal approval.

Mary gradually brought out her little store of London observations: their visit to the newly-built Adelphi, and to Lord Burlington’s villa at Chiswick. “Mountlyon is so much of their style,” she added, eager to please. This earned a begrudging smile from Lady Lyon, who had been looking forward to further displays of Mary’s ignorance, and who steered the talk towards painting, in the hope of seeing her blunder again.

But Mary was now on her guard. “James took me to the Academy at Somerset House, and to the gallery of the Foundling Hospital. This I liked more, and to think that the painters gave of their time and effort to raise funds for those poor children. At the Academy I thought Mr. Reynolds’s picture of Mrs. Pelham with her hens enchanting, though I must confess he is not so good at the painting of the fowls. They were all so little. But Mrs. Pelham was so pretty and charming in her muslin.”

“Yes, I expect you did find such a subject appealing—farmyard hens rather than eagles. You see, my dear,” continued Lady Lyon, “people of Quality do not really go to look at the paintings. I believe that only the painters themselves do that. I know you are new to this world, Lady Goward, but you must understand that people of fashion go to these places to observe each other, and to be observed—”

“Damn’d tedious it is too,” muttered her husband.

“Or at most, to decide which of these daubers is to have the honour of one’s patronage with a portrait. You do not say that you have been painted, my dear? Mr. Gainsborough of course has done such charming pictures of simple country folk. I think he must prefer them to his fine ladies.”

There was utter silence in the room. Mary looked down at her plate, crimson with humiliation, and pulled her lower lip under her teeth to hide its trembling. She breathed in hard, fearful that her nose was going to run. Instead, a fat tear splashed onto the remains of her dinner. She could not look up. Lyon spoke first, in a voice fractured with anger.

“I think, that is to say that it is my considered opinion, that whoever has the honour to paint Lady Goward will have the most difficult task to do her justice: the most limpid of complexions, the softest curling dark hair and most expressive liquid eyes, woodland pools in which a man might bathe and feel truly refreshed. Harrumph! I get too poetical in my advancing years and I do not wish to embarrass you, my Lady, but Goward, you are a lucky dog.”

Image: Mount Panther:

The ruins of Mount Panther, County Down (the original of Mount Lyon)

Image: Bixentro. Wikimedia Commons

About the Author:

Katherine Mezzacappa is Irish but currently lives in Carrara, between the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea. She wrote The Ballad of Mary Kearney (Histria) and The Maiden of Florence (Fairlight) under her own name, as well as four historical novels (2020-2023) with Zaffre, writing as Katie Hutton. She also has three contemporary novels with Romaunce Books, under the pen name Kate Zarrelli.

Katherine’s short fiction has been published in journals worldwide. She has in addition published academically in the field of 19th century ephemeral illustrated fiction, and in management theory. She has been awarded competitive residencies by the Irish Writers Centre, the Danish Centre for Writers and Translators and (to come) the Latvian Writers House.

Katherine also works as a manuscript assessor and as a reader and judge for an international short story competition. She has in the past been a management consultant, translator, museum curator, library assistant, lecturer in History of Art, sewing machinist and geriatric care assistant. In her spare time she volunteers with a second-hand book charity of which she is a founder member. She is a member of the Society of Authors, the Historical Novel Society, the Irish Writers Centre, the Irish Writers Union, Irish PEN / PEN na hÉireann and the Romantic Novelists Association, and reviews for the Historical Novel Review. She has a first degree in History of Art from UEA, an M.Litt. in Eng. Lit. from Durham and a Masters in Creative Writing from Canterbury Christ Church. She is represented by Annette Green Authors’ Agency.

Author Links:

Website: https://katherinemezzacappa.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katherinemezzacappafiction

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-mezzacappa-09407815/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katmezzacappa/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/katmezzacappa.bsky.social

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/katherinemezzacappa

Blog Tour: Death of a Princess by R.N. Morris

Posted on March 7, 2025 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, historical fiction, review

Title: Death of a Princess

Author: R.N. Morris

Blurb:

Summer 1880.

Lipetsk, a spa town in Russia.

The elderly and cantankerous Princess Belskaya suffers a violent reaction while taking a mud bath at the famous Lipetsk Sanatorium. Soon after, she dies.

Dr Roldugin, the medical director of the sanatorium, is at a loss to explain the sudden and shocking death.

He points the finger at Anna Zhdanova, a medical assistant who was supervising the princess’s treatment.

Suspicion also falls on the princess’s nephew Belsky, who appears far from grief-stricken at his aunt’s death.

Meanwhile, investigating magistrate Pavel Pavlovich Virginsky arrives in Lipetsk from St Petersburg, seeking treatment after a nervous breakdown.

Against his better judgement, Virginsky is drawn in to the investigation. But is he getting closer to the truth or walking straight into a deadly trap?

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mvOpq8

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Review:

An intriguing and cleverly written novel, Death of a Princess captivated my attention from the beginning. The setting, characters, and plot all kept me hooked until the last page. I’ll definitely have to go back and read the first two books of this series!

About the Author:

Roger (R.N) Morris is the author of 18 books, including a quartet of historical crime novels set in St Petersburg featuring Porfiry Petrovich, the investigating magistrate from Dostoevsky’s great novel Crime and Punishment. These were followed by the Silas Quinn series set in London in 1914. He has been shortlisted for the CWA Duncan Lawrie Gold Dagger and the CWA Historical Dagger.

A former advertising copywriter, Roger has written the libretto for an opera, modern retellings of Frankenstein and Macbeth for French school children. He’s also a scriptwriter for an award winning audio producer, working on true crime and history podcasts including The Curious History of your Home.

His work has been published in 16 countries.

Married with two grown-up children, Roger lives in Chichester where he keeps an eye out for seagulls.

Author Links:

Website: www.rogernmorris.co.uk

Twitter: https://x.com/rnmorris

Facebook: www.facebook.com/roger.morris.7547

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/roger-morris-41679518

Instagram: www.instagram.com/rogermorris7988

Threads: www.threads.net/@rogermorris7988

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rnmorris.bsky.social

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/rogernmorris1

Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B001JP9XXA

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/608784.R_N_Morris

Blog Tour: The Witch of Breton Woods by Jennifer Ivy Walker

Posted on August 25, 2024 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, Goddess Fish Promotions, historical romance, review

Title: The Witch of Breton Woods

Author: Jennifer Ivy Walker

Genre: Historical Romance

Blurb:

Traumatized by horrors witnessed during the Nazi invasion of France, a young woman retreats to the dense Breton woods where she becomes a member of the clandestine French Resistance. When she finds a critically injured American paratrooper whose plane was shot down, she shelters the wounded soldier in her secluded cottage, determined to heal him despite the enormous risk. Ostracized by villagers who have labeled her a witch, she is betrayed by an informant who reports to the Butcher-the monstrous leader of the local paramilitary organization that collaborates with the Germans. As the enemy closes in, she must elude the Gestapo while helping the Resistance reunite the American with his regiment and join the Allied Forces in the Battle of Brittany. Can true love triumph against all odds under the oppressive Third Reich?

Review:

Having read Jennifer Ivy Walker’s medieval French fantasy series, I was very excited to see her publish a historical romance set during one of my favorite time periods, and on my favorite subject, the French resistance. I thoroughly enjoyed Yvette and Beau’s story, and I definitely look forward to future novels by this author.

Excerpt:

Beau would leave her in a few short weeks. To rejoin his regiment and return to battle. Neither of them knew if they’d even survive this damned war. Tomorrow might never come. But they did have today. And Yvette vowed that she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

He’d leave her, yes.

But with fond memories instead of bitter regret.

Life was ephemeral. Fragile. Fleeting. Love was a rare, precious gift. This time, she would grab the chance for happiness and seize the day.

Carpe diem.

About the Author:

Enthralled with legends of medieval knights and ladies, dark fairy tales and fantasies about Druids, wizards and magic, Jennifer Ivy Walker always dreamed of becoming a writer. She fell in love with French in junior high school, continuing her study of the language throughout college, eventually becoming a high school teacher and college professor of French.

As a high school teacher, she took her students every year to the annual French competition, where they performed a play she had written, “Yseult la Belle et Tristan la Bête”–an imaginative blend of the medieval French legend of “Tristan et Yseult” and the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast”, enhanced with fantasy elements of a Celtic fairy and a wicked witch.

Her debut novel, “The Wild Rose and the Sea Raven”–the first of a trilogy– is a blend of her love for medieval legends, the romantic French language, and paranormal fantasy. It is a retelling of the medieval French romance of “Tristan et Yseult”, interwoven with Arthurian myth, dark fairy tales from the enchanted Forest of Brocéliande, and otherworldly elements such as Avalonian Elves, Druids, forest fairies and magic.

Explore her realm of Medieval French Fantasy. She hopes her novels will enchant you.

Website: https://jenniferivywalker.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferIvyWalker

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferivywalkerauthor/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jenniferivywalker

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/bohemienneivy/amour-in-avignon/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bohemienneivy

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Witch-Breton-Woods-Jennifer-Walker/dp/B0D3MDHMJ2/ref=sr_1_1

GIVEAWAY:

Jennifer Ivy Walker will award a randomly drawn winner a $25 Amazon/BN gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Blog Tour: Venator by A.M. Swink

Posted on August 23, 2024 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, Coffee Pot Book Club, historical fiction

Title: Roman Equestrian I: Venator

Author: A. M. Swink

Blurb:

Britannia, AD 59. Decimus is a long-serving senior centurion who dreams of retirement in Rome. Luciana is a Cornovii princess devoted to the freedom and survival of her tribe. Connected only by a passion for horsemanship, the pair could not be more ill-matched. After a deadly conflict thrusts these enemies together, each is determined to fight their desires and triumph over the other. Who will ultimately control the other’s heart?

But Decimus and Luciana are not the only ones on the hunt for supremacy; a desperate struggle over the province is beginning to simmer to a boil. There are whispers of mysterious Druids fomenting unrest among the western British tribes, whose inter-tribal divisions threaten to subsume them. The future of the Roman legions in the province is suddenly thrown into doubt as casualties begin to mount. Decimus and Luciana find themselves entangled within a web of characters, Briton and Roman, playing with Britannia’s destiny to serve their own ends.

The hunt for power is on, where only one side can emerge triumphant. But just who among these hunters will end up hunted?

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/m27PO7

Excerpt:

The princess shielded her eyes and carefully observed the pair in the brightening dawn light. The centurion’s stallion moved as powerfully and gracefully as his conformation had suggested. His long strides, in stark contrast to Belena’s, effortlessly devoured the ground beneath him. He arched his neck and responded willingly to the bit, bending to his rider’s touch almost as soon as it was asked. And that rider’s touch…

Luciana could hardly contain her smile. Decimus, unlike most Romans, was no heavy-handed brute in the saddle; he handled the reins with a light, expert touch, his arms connected to his horse’s mouth. His legs didn’t dangle aimlessly but held straight and firm on either side of Aquila’s barrel; their cues were so subtle that Luciana could hardly see them. His seat seemed attached to the double-pommelled saddle, as though he were an extension of the animal. His military bearing was as straight and true as when he marched on foot. The pair made a noble picture galloping back and forth against the dawn.

Suddenly, Aquila rose into a half-rear and shied. Decimus wrenched the horse’s head back down and maintained his seat as the stallion rapidly side-stepped to the right. He brought Aquila to a halt and quickly slid down to inspect the ground.

Luciana frowned, squinting. ‘What is it?’

Decimus stood, holding a small creature in his arms. Aquila threw his head up and backed away another few steps. ‘It’s a hedgehog.’

‘Poor thing. We’ve disturbed his gathering.’ Luciana eyed the twitching little nose nestled between the centurion’s sturdy forearms. He held the hedgehog gently, his coarse hands taking care not to distress it. Luciana lifted her gaze to Decimus’s face and a small shudder coursed down her spine. He was frowning down at the animal in contemplation, his handsome features shadowed by his helmet.

Suddenly, Decimus caught a flash of red moving across the corner of his vision and he lifted his head in its direction. ‘You!’ He shouted to the stable orderly who’d just appeared toting a barrow of manure behind the stable block.

The boy dropped the handles and hurried over to the centurion’s side. ‘Sir?’

He held the hedgehog out to the boy. ‘Remove this creature from the grounds. It’s disturbing my horse.’

The orderly tucked the hedgehog under one arm, drew a hasty salute across his chest, and obediently scurried away.

Decimus had already leapt onto Aquila’s back and walked the horse over to the offending patch of grass. The stud snorted uneasily but crossed the ground at his rider’s prompting. Once the centurion had walked Aquila over the spot enough times to reassure the horse there was no cause for alarm, he urged the stallion into a canter. They rode back over to where Luciana stood, looking as perfectly matched as they had before.

Luciana smiled, watching Decimus slow to a walk. ‘You must be careful, Centurion. You were almost charming for a moment.’

‘Infernal little scavengers,’ he muttered gruffly. He halted beside Luciana and patted the horse’s neck. ‘I assure you that wasn’t normal behaviour for Aquila. Nothing ever disturbs him.’

‘Except for hedgehogs, apparently.’ She folded her arms and gazed up at him, her eyes sparkling in wonderment. ‘And am I supposed to believe that the Roman army trained a foot soldier to ride like that?’

He effortlessly dismounted before her. ‘I was a stable lad growing up in Rome.’ A wistful, faraway look stole across his eyes before they returned to her. ‘The retired decurion who ran the place paid me in lessons.’

Luciana’s gaze softened. ‘You were eager to learn, no matter the cost?’

‘Something like that.’ He held the reins out towards her. ‘Would you like a go?’

Her expression suddenly brightened. She eagerly snatched at the reins and jumped onto Aquila’s back. Luciana didn’t even spare a momentary backward glance at the centurion. She clapped her knees around the horse and took off down the straight, bent low over his neck.

As soon as she felt the horse’s lolloping gait beneath her, Luciana’s grin widened. Aquila practically felt like a coracle beneath her, rising and falling on the waves of the wind. The ground streamed past in a blur. So this was what flight truly felt like! She lifted her head above the stallion’s short, rippling mane and let loose an exhilarated cry.

With just a flutter of a touch upon his reins, the horse smoothly turned a half-circle, checking his momentum with grace. Luciana marvelled at the sheer power within Aquila’s haunches, the rhythm of his strides, his sensitivity to the bit. The centurion did not just have this horse trained, but he’d conditioned him to a level of fitness that rivalled the man himself.

She flicked one eye upon the figure stationed far down the intervallum. He was, indeed, built as sturdily as his horse. What would it feel like to sense his back course beneath her; to have that solid mass respond to her touch as docilely as Aquila’s; to feel his power pulse within her? Was he likewise capable of taking flight?

She tore her gaze away and refocused upon the centurion’s incredible animal. Aquila smoothly transitioned between his gaits: gallop to canter to trot to canter to walk to trot to gallop. Each patterned footfall was a joy to sit. She laughed gaily, never wishing the ride to end. Caring for Aquila would be no chore; it was a privilege she would savour.

AEC 320 portraits

About the Author:

A native of Dayton, Ohio, A.M. Swink grew up obsessed with two things: books and horses. After a childhood of reading, writing, showing, and riding, she moved to Lexington, Kentucky to complete a degree in equine science and management and a degree in English literary studies. She now works in Lexington as a college professor of reading and writing. In her spare time, she has travelled extensively around the UK and Ireland, exploring ancient sites and artefacts, as well as tracing her own ancestry. She is proud to be descended from County Cork’s Callaghan clan.

When not writing, she can be found collecting and showing model horses or enjoying her favourite British comedy programmes.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.amswink.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555959905053

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/am_swink

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@am_swink

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/amswink.bsky.social

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/409641726

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/A-M-Swink/author/B0D8WT483P

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/167233946-a-m-swink

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@am.swink_author

Blog Tour: The Lost Women of Mill Street by Kinley Bryan

Posted on June 4, 2024 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, Coffee Pot Book Club, historical fiction, review

Title: The Lost Women of Mill Street

Author: Kinley Bryan

Blurb:

1864: As Sherman’s army marches toward Atlanta, a cotton mill commandeered by the Confederacy lies in its path. Inside the mill, Clara Douglas weaves cloth and watches over her sister Kitty, waiting for the day her fiancé returns from the West.

When Sherman’s troops destroy the mill, Clara’s plans to start a new life in Nebraska are threatened. Branded as traitors by the Federals, Clara, Kitty, and countless others are exiled to a desolate refugee prison hundreds of miles from home.

Cut off from all they’ve ever known, Clara clings to hope while grappling with doubts about her fiancé’s ambitions and the unsettling truths surrounding his absence. As the days pass, the sisters find themselves thrust onto the foreign streets of Cincinnati, a city teeming with uncertainty and hostility. She must summon reserves of courage, ingenuity, and strength she didn’t know she had if they are to survive in an unfamiliar, unwelcoming land.

Inspired by true events of the Civil War, The Lost Women of Mill Street is a vividly drawn novel about the bonds of sisterhood, the strength of women, and the repercussions of war on individual lives.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/lostwomenofmillstreet

Review:

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, as it’s not often I read about the mills during the Civil War, and how the people there were displaced by the Union Army as they came through the South. I really found Clara’s journey inspiring and also sad, as she fought so hard to keep her sister safe, to the point of being overprotective. Clara’s experiences in Cincinnati were just as fascinating, and drew parallels to how the immigrants who came to the United States must have felt. You could really see how strong the divide was between the North and the South during the war. Overall, I was engaged from beginning to end and would definitely read more from Kinley Bryan in the future!

About the Author:

Kinley Bryan’s debut novel, Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury, inspired by the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 and her own family history, won the 2022 Publishers Weekly Selfies Award for adult fiction. An Ohio native, she lives in South Carolina with her husband and three children. The Lost Women of Mill Street is her second novel.

Author Links:

Website: https://kinleybryan.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kinleybauthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KinleyBryanWrites

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kinleybryanauthor/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kinley-bryan

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kinley-Bryan/author/B09J5GWDLX

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21892910.Kinley_Bryan

Blog Tour: Red Kingdom by Rachel L. Demeter

Posted on April 12, 2024 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, Goddess Fish Promotions, Mythic Retelling, review

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Rachel Demeter will award a copy of the ebook for Beauty of the Beast, the first book of the series, to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Little Red Riding Hood reimagined with a dark and realistic twist.

Princess Blanchette’s world shatters when the Black Wolf tears apart her castle and everything she holds dear. All she clings to is the vow she made to her grandmother on her deathbed.

Hailed as the people’s champion, Sir Rowan Dietrich liberates the capital in a quest for vengeance. He takes Winslowe Castle with an army at his back and his wolf, Smoke, at his side.

United by a shared cause and powerful attraction, Rowan and Blanchette embark on a journey of self-discovery and redemption—a path filled with loss, transformation, and ultimately, the healing power of love.

Can Norland’s resplendent princess, with her captivating beauty and spirit, tame the fabled Black Wolf?

Inspired by the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, Red Kingdom is a passionate historical romance about the enduring quest for love and the longing for a world at harmony. It is a standalone novel.

Review

A slow burn romance, I really enjoyed the way that Miss Demeter took elements of the story of Little Red Riding Hood without resorting to clichés. I loved the flaws in both characters, and how each came to understand that their lives hadn’t been perfect. It’s been a while since I’ve devoured a fairy tale retelling as quickly as I did this one. I was reminded of Lillian Hart’s retellings. I didn’t want to put it down until I knew what happened to Blanchette and Rowen. Definitely a five star read!

Read an Excerpt

Death at her feet. Death in her home. Death in the air.

Death screamed in every corner of her mind.

Then Blanchette saw him.

Rowan Dietrich, the fabled Black Wolf of Norland, strode through her castle like a waking nightmare. His armor was crudely made, black as the surrounding night, the helm’s dark metal twisted into the shape of a wolf’s snarling head. But the most striking thing about him was his height. He towered above the other fighters and battled with a chilling methodicalness. How he moved and fought frightened Blanchette the greatest.

He looked collected. Even mildly amused. As if this were nothing more than a game. Blood soaked his sword as the blade whirled, whipped, slashed, and claimed lives in a macabre dance of death. And that wolf clung to his heels, its muzzle wet with blood, snarling and leaping at any man who dared come close to its master.

Monster. Demons.

The Black Wolf of Norland had always had a mist of legend around him. She remembered the stories her mother and governess had often whispered after the feasts and in the dark of the night.

“To me,” the Black Wolf called to a soldier a few yards away, his deep voice effortlessly carrying above the tumult. He didn’t need to yell, not even over the mayhem. The force of his tone was enough.

One of her father’s guards raised his blade, but too slowly. Rowan Dietrich’s longsword cut his head off, then came flashing back in a terrible two-handed slash that took another soldier in the leg.

With quivering anger, she realized that this man—this wolf, this beast—was the reason the sky was falling on her family. She clutched the dagger, wishing she could stand a chance against this mountain of a man. How good and right it would feel to plunge the blade deep into his heart and avenge what would likely be the end of her family’s dynasty.

Of course, she’d never survive him or his demon wolf. And if she was ever to avenge her family, if she was to keep her promise, survival meant everything.

About the Author:

I live in Sunny California with my dashing husband, who inspires my romance novels every day!

Writing has always been an integral part of my identity. Before I physically learned how to write, I’d narrate stories to my mom, and she’d record them for me.

I graduated from Chapman’s film school, where I often received the feedback on my scripts, “Your stories and characters are great, but this reads like a novel!” That’s when I realized my true calling.

In my free time, I frequent reptile expos, lift double my body’s weight, and indulge in dinosaur trivia.

I’m passionate about writing stories that explore what it means to be human and to be loved. My books focus on hope, courage, and redemption in the face of adversity.

Buy Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTK1TB8N
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940167675704
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/Search?Query=9798224439089
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/x/id6476895016

Social Links

Instagram: https://instagram.com/racheldemeterauthor
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@rldemeter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rldemeter/
Twitter: https://x.com/RachelLDemeter
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7791305.Rachel_L_Demeter

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Blog Tour: Exsilium by Alison Morton

Posted on March 28, 2024 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, Coffee Pot Book Club, historical fiction, review

Title: Exsilium

Author: Alison Morton

Blurb:

Exile – Living death to a Roman

AD 395. In a Christian Roman Empire, the penalty for holding true to the traditional gods is execution.

Maelia Mitela, her dead husband condemned as a pagan traitor, leaving her on the brink of ruin, grieves for her son lost to the Christians and is fearful of committing to another man.

Lucius Apulius, ex-military tribune, faithful to the old gods and fixed on his memories of his wife Julia’s homeland of Noricum, will risk everything to protect his children’s future.

Galla Apulia, loyal to her father and only too aware of not being the desired son, is desperate to escape Rome after the humiliation of betrayal by her feckless husband.

For all of them, the only way to survive is exile.

Review:
At a time when Rome was at a conflicted crossroads, two families are faced with unfathomable choices…
A beautifully written and well-researched piece by Alison Morton. I really enjoyed Maelia’s character the most, I think. I was able to relate to her struggles, trying to secure her son’s legacy, while also making sure her family was provided for. I liked how the book began with a nod to the gods. I certainly will read more of Alison Morton in the future.

Buy Links:

Universal Amazon Link: https://mybook.to/EXSILIUM

All retailers (including Amazon) Universal Link: https://books2read.com/EXSILIUM

About the Author:

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her ten-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the Roman Empire has survived into the 21^st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but use a sharp line in dialogue. The latest, EXSILIUM, plunges us back to the late 4^th century, to the very foundation of Roma Nova.

She blends her fascination for Ancient Rome with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history.

Alison now lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity and Double Pursuit.

Author Links:

Connect with Alison on her World of Thrillers site: https://alison-morton.com

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton @alison_morton

Alison’s writing blog: https://alisonmortonauthor.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisonmortonauthor/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@alisonmortonauthor

Alison’s Amazon page: https://Author.to/AlisonMortonAmazon

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/alisonmorton.bsky.social

Newsletter sign-up: https://www.alison-morton.com/newsletter/

Blog Tour: Dude or Die by Lynn Downey

Posted on March 4, 2024 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, Coffee Pot Book Club

Title: Dude or Die

Author: Lynn Downey

Blurb:

It’s 1954, and San Francisco writer Phoebe Kelley is enjoying the success of her first novel, Lady in the Desert. When Phoebe’s sister-in-law asks her to return to Tribulation, Arizona to help run the H Double Bar Dude Ranch, she doesn’t hesitate. There’s competition from a new dude ranch this year, so the H Double Bar puts on a rodeo featuring a trick rider with a mysterious past. When accidents begin to happen around the ranch, Phoebe jumps in to figure out why, and confronts an unexpected foe. And a man from her own past forces her to confront feelings long buried. Dude or Die is the second book in the award-winning H Double Bar Dude Ranch series.

Buy Link:

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/b5BVwp

About the Author:

Lynn Downey is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, historian of the West, and native Californian.

She was the Historian for Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco for 25 years. Her adventures as ambassador for company history took her around the world, where she spoke to television audiences, magazine editors, and university students, appeared in numerous documentaries, and on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She wrote many books and articles about the history of the company and the jeans, and her biography, Levi Strauss: The Man Who Gave Blue Jeans to the World, won the Foreword Reviews silver INDIE award.

Lynn got interested in dude ranches during her time at Levi’s. Her debut historical novel, Dudes Rush In, is set on an Arizona dude ranch in the 1950s; Arizona because she’s a desert rat at heart, and the 1950s because the clothes were fabulous.

Dudes Rush In won a Will Rogers Medallion Award, and placed first in Arizona Historical Fiction at the New Mexico-Arizona book awards. The next book in this series, Dude or Die, was released in 2023. And just for fun, Lynn wrote a screenplay based on Dudes Rush In, which is currently making the rounds of reviewers and competitions.

She pens short stories, as well. “The Wind and the Widow” took Honorable Mention in the History Through Fiction story contest, and “Incident at the Circle H” was a Finalist for the Longhorn Prize from Saddlebag Dispatches. The story “Goldie Hawn at the Good Karma Café,” won second place in The LAURA Short Fiction contest from Women Writing the West, and is based on her experiences in a San Francisco religious cult in the 1970s. (That will be another book one of these days.)

Lynn’s latest nonfiction book is American Dude Ranch: A Touch of the Cowboy and the Thrill of the West, a cultural history of the dude ranch. It was reviewed in The Wall Street Journal, True West, Cowgirl, and The Denver Post, and was a Finalist for the Next Generation INDIE Award in Nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews said the book is “…deeply engaging and balances accessible writing style with solid research.”

When she’s not writing, Lynn works as a consulting archivist and historian for museums, libraries, cultural institutions, and businesses. She is the past president of Women Writing the West, a member of the Western Writers of America, and is on numerous boards devoted to archives and historic preservation.

Lynn lives in Sonoma, California, where she sometimes makes wine from the Pinot Noir grapes in her back yard vineyard.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.lynndowney.com

Tumblereads blog: https://tumblereadsblog.com/blog-sg/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WriterLynnD

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lynndowney/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-downey-b82460249/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lynn.downey.historian/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/westernhistorygal.bsky.social

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/WesternHistoryGal/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lynn-Downey/author/B001IXQ2N2