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: 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

Book Blast: The Virgins of Venice by Gina Buonaguro

Posted on July 11, 2024 by heatherosborneauthor under Book Blast, Coffee Pot Book Club, historical fiction

Title: The Virgins of Venice

Author: Gina Buonaguro

Audiobook narrator: Carlotta Brentan

Blurb:

In sixteenth-century Venice, one young noblewoman dares to resist the choices made for her

Venice in 1509 is on the brink of war. The displeasure of Pope Julius II is a continuing threat to the republic, as is the barely contained fighting in the countryside. Amid this turmoil, noblewoman Justina Soranzo, just sixteen, hopes to make a rare love marriage with her sweetheart, Luca Cicogna. Her hopes are dashed when her father decides her younger sister, Rosa, will marry in a strategic alliance and Justina will be sent to the San Zaccaria convent, in the tradition of aristocratic daughters. Lord Soranzo is not acting only to protect his family. It’s well known that he is in debt to both his trading partners and the most infamous courtesan in the city, La Diamante, and the pressure is closing in.

After arriving at the convent, Justina takes solace in her aunt Livia, one of the nuns, and in the growing knowledge that all is not strictly devout at San Zaccaria. Justina is shocked to discover how the women of the convent find their own freedom in what seems to her like a prison. But secrets and scandals breach the convent walls, and Justina learns there may be even worse fates for her than the veil, if La Diamante makes good on her threats.

Desperate to protect herself and the ones she loves, Justina turns to Luca for help. She finds she must trust her own heart to make the impossible decisions that may save or ruin them all.

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Links:

https://books2read.com/u/49O7NW

https://ginabu.com/the-virgins-of-venice/

About the Author:

Gina Buonaguro is the co-author of The Wolves of St. Peters, Ciao Bella and The Sidewalk Artist, as well as several romance titles under the name Meadow Taylor. The Virgins of Venice is her first solo novel.

She has a BA in English from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and earned an MA in English from the University of British Columbia while on a Fulbright Scholarship. Born in New Jersey, Gina Buonaguro lives in Toronto.

Author Links:

Website: https://ginabu.com/

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-buonaguro-35318934/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/gina-buonaguro

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gina-Buonaguro/author/B002LAAF9I

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/219059.Gina_Buonaguro

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: 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/

Book Blast: Imperatrix by S.P. Somtow

Posted on February 1, 2024 by heatherosborneauthor under Book Blast, Coffee Pot Book Club, historical fiction

Title: Imperatrix

Author: S.P. Somtow

Blurb:

Captured by pirates and sold to a Roman aristocrat as a sex slave, Sporus attracted the attention of no less a personage than the Emperor Nero, ruler of the known world. Would-be poet, patron of the arts, aesthete, and brutal autocrat, the Divine Nero saw in the boy a startling resemblance to the Empress Poppaea – and made him an empress as well.

Suetonius, Tacitus, and other Roman historians have given tantalizing glimpses into the incredible life story of the boy who became twice an empress to two emperors, and was condemned to die in the arena by a third.

In this meticulously researched trilogy, World Fantasy Award winning author S.P. Somtow lays bare the darkest secrets of Imperial Rome – its triumphs and its nadirs, its beauty and its cruelty. Through this chaos, a contorted mirror of our contemporary world, this figure of Sporus moves, all too knowing yet all too innocent, providing a worm’s eye view of one of the wildest periods in ancient history.

Imperatrix, the second volume of the tale, takes us into the heart of the Imperial palace with all its intrigue, depravity, and splendor.

Excerpt:

III

I had got up from my dining couch and was circulating among other triclinia laid out in the garden, and I heard those exact sentiments from an old drunk man; I recognized him as Pontius Pilatus, and I recognized the stories, too — the orgiastic love-feast cults, the baby-eating and what not — from the last banquet I’d seen the old general at. But the way he told the stories was more … I would say, more mechanical, like a schoolboy reciting Homer, trying to get through the lines while avoiding the tutor’s quirt.

“Ah,” he said, greeting me, “Poppaea. Or are you Poppaea’s evil twin? You’ve lost your baby belly.”

“Still telling the same tall tales, General,” I said. “But the telling isn’t the same; this time, your tales are literally lighting up the banquet.”

“It’s a good thing they’re using the display crosses,” said Pilatus, “so we can get the light without the smell.”

A woman sitting next to him said, “And without the guilt, Pontius.”

“I daresay if they were marinated in garlic and garum instead of being coated with pitch, the smell would be quite pleasant,” another guest piped up.

“The guilt,” the woman said again, grimly lifting a honeyed mouse by the tail and popping it her mouth, then spitting out the tiny bones.

“My wife, the Lady Procula,” said Pilatus. “She used to have nightmares about it. Now, I have the nightmares.”

“Because, my dear,” said the Lady Procula, “you know they don’t actually have baby-eating orgies.”

“Blood rites, dear. They do have blood rites.”

“Metaphorical, husband! They are a completely harmless cult. The Jews don’t worship the Emperor either, and they’re not lighting up his dinner parties.”

“They will be soon,” said another voice. Tigellinus, also making the rounds. “I hear they are revolting again.”

Buy Links:

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mV2EaJ

About the Author:

Returning to Thailand in 2001, he became artistic director of Opera Siam and has had more than a dozen operas produced around the world including The Snow Dragon and The Silent Prince, premiered in the United States, Helena Citronova, an opera set during the Holocaust, and the ten-part DasJati: Ten Lives of the Buddha.

In the last few years he has made a return to writing novels with the Nero and Sporus trilogy and the young adult series, Club X.

In 2021 the film he produced and wrote, The Maestro: Symphony of Terror received over forty awards at international festivals and in 2023 the Thai government officially elevated him to the status of National Artist.

Read S.P. Somtow’s interview on Literary Titan about Imperatrix on https://literarytitan.com/2024/01/21/the-core-of-innocence/.

Author Links:

Website: www.somtow.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/somtow

Facebook: www.facebook.com/somtow

Instagram: www.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 Sight of Heather by Ally Stirling

Posted on September 27, 2023 by heatherosborneauthor under Blog Tour, Coffee Pot Book Club, historical fiction

Title: The Sight of Heather

Author: Ally Stirling

Blurb:

For centuries, the fae folk and spae women of Scotland were feared – and persecuted.

Life in the 1800s countryside, with its unforgiving climate, was both magnificent and harsh – testing cultures, beliefs and the loyalties of crofters.

The first in this series, The Sight of Heather, begins a journey of allegiance, sacrifice, and fortitude in a land of bold, resilient women.

Jessie’s ideal life spirals when she learns she is a first daughter in a biological line of ‘spaes’ endowed with unique gifts of spiritual sight and healing, aided by powerful ancestral stones.

Backed by a vindictive priest intent on charging Jessie with murder and witchcraft, the new owner of the Cruachan Manor plots to rout the spaes and destroy their beloved forest.

Despite grave warnings and family conflict, Jessie determinedly pursues her skills and powers, plunging her family and village into danger.

Resolute in uplifting her fellow women, Jessie consults her stones.

Faced with those who deem her evil, she must choose to relinquish her craft, or sacrifice herself to protect her culture and kin – and Lily, the next first daughter – the future of the spaes.

Buy Links:

Universal Link: https://mybook.to/The_Sight_Of_Heather

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CFVV28FV

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFVV28FV

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CFVV28FV

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CFVV28FV

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1144046886?ean=2940167577664

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/fr/en/ebook/the-sight-of-heather

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/fr/book/the-sight-of-heather/id6465249946

Snippet:

“We have warned you. Your sister has gone too far and she will pay the price. If you have any sense, you’ll save yourself.”

His mother’s words rang in his ears:

“Be careful when you reach for grander things. You may lose your soul along the way. Even the moon has its dark side.”

About the Author:

Ally Stirling is a Fiction writer of Scottish origin, currently living in Cape Town with her Braveheart husband, awesome children, the happiest dog in the world, and her menacing cat (aka ‘Devil Cat’).

An unexpected gift resulting in a prophetic message prompted Ally to give her passion for writing the time it demanded, and in 2018 she joined Cathy Eden’s Working with Words writers group. She credits the love, support, and inspiration of this group of talented women, her ‘writing tribe’ for encouraging her to put words on paper. She also joined (ROSA,) and while Romance is not her genre, this association has been an invaluable source of knowledge and insight into the indie publishing world.

Allowing her imagination freedom to roam resulted in various short stories, before one in particular rooted itself, evolving into her first full-length novel. This book has now become first in a series, with the second and third ready to follow, four and five in the planning stage. Who knew her characters would be so demanding.

Her love of writing fiction stems from her belief that it transports us to magical places when life gets too real.

Addicted to her friends, coffee, every colour of wine, and any type of chocolate, she describes her clan as the family and friends who have built her castle and keep her sane, without whom she’d be short on humour and drinking games.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.authorallystirling.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorAllyS

Facebook: https://facebook.com/authorallystirling

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

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-sight-of-heather-a-journey-of-loyalty-sacrifice-and-fortitude-in-the-face-of-persecution-by-ally-stirling