Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Seven Will OutSeven Will Out: A Renaissance Revel
by JoAnn Spears


Publication Date: October 31, 2015
eBook & Paperback; 528 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction/Humor/Satire

Add to GR Button

 

 

If you thought “Six of One: A Tudor Riff” was the most fun you could have with your nightdress on, wait until you see what “Seven Will Out: A Renaissance Revel” has in store. Get ready for one ‘ruff’ night! Tudorphile Dolly thought that the night she spent on an astral plane with Henry VIII’s six wives, learning their heretofore unknown secrets, was a one-time thing. Not so! In “Seven Will Out”, Dolly finds herself back in the ether with the women of later Tudor times: Elizabeth I, ‘Bloody’ Mary, Bess of Hardwick, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Anne Hathaway Shakespeare, to name a few. They too have secrets that will turn history on its head, and comic sass that will keep you laughing. You’ve read all of the traditional, serious and romantic takes on the legendary Tudors. Why not try your Tudors with a new and different twist?

Amazon (Kindle) | Amazon (Paperback) | Barnes & Noble

Guest Post: How Tudorphile Dolly Ended Up In Tudor England by JoAnn Spears


My fictional Tudor history professor, Dolly, travelled from my admittedly vivid imagination, and to another-worldly astral Tudor plane, via a circuitous route.  I’ll try to break down the trip as best I can.
The Reason:

Dolly gets to meet the Tudor women (Elizabeth I and her contemporaries in ‘Seven Will Out’, the six wives of Henry VIII and their contemporaries in ‘Six of One’) simply because I have always wanted to meet them.  I have read about them all of my life, and their fascination never palls.  I’ve wanted to talk to them, to ask them why they did the things they did, and to learn how they felt about what happened to them.  I wanted to hear it from the horses’ mouths, so to speak (no ‘Flanders Mare’ pun intended, my dear Ann of Cleves), and not through the filter of a history book or novel.  Lots of authors have given us just the facts, or dialogue between the Tudors themselves in fiction, and they have done an awesome job.  I just wanted talk to the Tudors directly, and in my imagination, I did.  Then I documented what I came up with in my novels.  I approached it wanting to bring a humorous spin to the Tudor women, and once I started speaking to them in my head, they obliged me quite charmingly in that regard–writing my books has been a lot fun.

Why an astral plane/alternative universe?

I wanted to converse with the Tudors in easy, contemporary language.  Therefore, I put them in another-world castle turret, to which they had been exiled by a higher power.  I devised that in this celestial way-station, they had been entertaining ‘guests’ over the centuries prior to Dolly’s advent.  This meant the Tudor folk would have been exposed to history, language, and parlance from after their own era, down to the present, and could speak with Dolly in more or less modern parlance.

The starting point:

I love the Wizard of Oz, and the idea of an alternative universe, and a heroine who goes there, learns, and comes back wiser, fit in perfectly with my plans for my novels.  The Wizard of Oz was the first ‘real’ book I read as a child, and all through my adulthood, I turn to it again and again for inspiration.  The book contains a lot of wisdom about life, even for adults.

The launching pad: 

The idea that I really could take a Tudorphile heroine on a Yellow-Brick-Road journey, and actually write novels about it, went from dream to reality in a hot tub in Vermont.  I was chatting with a friend who was working on a novel, and she knew I liked to write.  She challenged me to start a novel of my own.  I told her about my Tudor-Yellow Brick Road idea, and she liked it.  Dolly was on her way to meet the Tudors!

Her name:

The naming process, like a lot of the writing process, is a blur as I look back, and ask myself how I came up with the name Dolly.  Like Dolly, I am known to my nearest and dearest by a nickname (Cookie, a name given to me by my affectionate Italian grandmother).  I guess it was inevitable that my heroine would have a nickname, too.  Also, I moved, while writing the novel, to Upper East Tennessee, and Dollywood is not far away.  I’ve always thought Dolly Parton pretty cool, and if the name was good enough for her, it was for my heroine.  Also, by strange coincidence, my first pet dog was called Dolly.  And finally, I worked a lot of wordplay and rhyming into my first Dolly novel, ‘Six of One’, and the name ‘Dolly’ worked really well with that.

About by JoAnn Spears

JoAnn SpearsJoAnn Spears couldn’t decide whether to major in English or History in college. Life stepped in, and she wound up with a Master’s Degree in Nursing instead. A twenty-five year nursing career didn’t extinguish that early interest in books and history. It did however stoke a decidedly gallows sense of humor.

The story of the six wives of Henry VIII was JoAnn’s favorite piece of history. Over the years, she read just about every spin on the story that there was. It occurred to her that the one spin that hadn’t been brought to a full length novel about the Tudors was a gallows sense of humor. The Tudors certainly qualified for it, and JoAnn had plenty to spare.

The first ‘real’ book JoAnn ever read was “The Wizard of Oz”. She returned to the Yellow Brick Road for inspiration for a new kind of Tudor novel, and “Six of One” was born.

“Six of One” was begun in JoAnn’s native New Jersey. It was wrapped up in her new Smoky Mountain home in northeast Tennessee, where she is pursuing a second career as a writer. She has, however, obtained a Tennessee nursing license because a) you never stop being a nurse and b) her son Bill thinks she should be sensible and not quit her day job.

While “Six of One” is a different kind of historical novel, JoAnn is a downright stereotypical lady author. She admits to the usual cats, flower beds, needlework, and frightfully complete collections of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott.

Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon Page

 

Giveaway of Seven Will Out by JoAnn Spears


This giveaway is for one paperback and is open to Canada and the U.S. only.  This giveaway ends on March 11, 2016 at 12 pm pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Tour Schedule for Seven Will Out by JoAnn Spears


Monday, February 15
Spotlight & Giveaway at Unshelfish

Tuesday, February 16
Review at Turning The Pages

Wednesday, February 17
Review at Book Nerd

Thursday, February 18
Spotlight & Giveaway at CelticLady’s Reviews

Friday, February 19
Interview at Historical Fiction Addicts
Giveaway at Passages to the Past

Monday, February 22
Review at A Holland Reads
Guest Post at Boom Baby Reviews

Tuesday, February 23
Review & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Obsession

Wednesday, February 24
Review at Rambling Reviews

Thursday, February 25
Review at With Her Nose Stuck In A Book

Friday, February 26
Guest Post at Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More

Sunday, February 28
Review at The Tudor Enthusiast

Monday, February 29
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Seven Will Out: A Renaissance Revel by JoAnn Spears

Oliver & Jack In Axminster WorkhouseOliver & Jack: In Axminster Workhouse (Fagin’s Boy, Book Three) By Christina E. Pilz


Publication Date: September 27, 2015
Blue Rain Press
eBook & Paperback; 406 Pages

Genre: Historical/Gay Romance

Add to GR Button

 

 

In Victorian England, 1846, an ex-apprentice and his street-thief companion are confined inside a workhouse to await trial for a crime they did not commit.

After the seaside interlude in Lyme Regis, Oliver and Jack are arrested and sent to Axminster Workhouse to await trial for the theft of books that they only meant to borrow.

They are put in the less-than-tender care of Workmaster Chalenheim, who controls the quotas they must fill, the amount of food they are allowed to eat, and the punishments they must endure upon breaking the rules, however arbitrary.

Oliver struggles with the shame of being in a place he thought he’d left behind him long ago, and also with the contrast between the life he once enjoyed and the hunger and degradation inside the workhouse walls. Meanwhile, Jack is confronted by a predator who tests the limits of Jack’s endurance and the strength of his love for Oliver.

Together they must find a way to escape the workhouse before they succumb to the harsh conditions or are separated by the hangman’s noose, whichever comes first.

AMAZON (KINDLE) | AMAZON (PAPERBACK) | BARNES & NOBLE


About Christina E. Pilz

Christina E. Pilz


Christina was born in Waco, Texas in 1962. After living on a variety of air force bases, in 1972 her Dad retired and the family moved to Boulder, Colorado. There amidst the clear, dry air of the high plains, as the moss started to grow beneath her feet, her love for historical fiction began with a classroom reading of Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

She attended a variety of community colleges (Tacoma Community College) and state universities (UNC-Greeley, CU-Boulder, CU-Denver), and finally found her career in technical writing, which, between layoffs, she has been doing for 18 years. During that time, her love for historical fiction and old-fashioned objects, ideas, and eras has never waned.

In addition to writing, her interests include road trips around the U.S. and frequent flights to England, where she eats fish and chips, drinks hard cider, and listens to the voices in the pub around her. She also loves coffee shops, mountain sunsets, prairie storms, and the smell of lavender. She is a staunch supporter of the Oxford comma.

WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS | PINTEREST


Giveaway of Oliver & Jack: In Axminster Workhouse By Christina E. Pilz


This giveaway is for the winners choice of print or ebook and is open to Canada and the U.S. only.  This giveaway ends on March 11, 2016 12 am pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Tour Schedule for Oliver & Jack: In Axminster Workhouse By Christina E. Pilz


Thursday, February 25
Spotlight & Giveaway at Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More

Friday, February 26
Guest Post at What Is That Book About

Tuesday, March 1
Review at Raven Haired Girl

Wednesday, March 2
Review at Book Nerd

Thursday, March 3
Interview at Dianne Ascroft Blog

Friday, March 4
Review at Svetlana’s Reads or Views

Monday, March 7
Guest Post at She is Too Fond of Books

Tuesday, March 8
Review at In a Minute
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Wednesday, March 9
Spotlight at A Literary Vacation

Friday, March 11
Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past

Monday, March 14
Review & Giveaway at History Undressed

Wednesday, March 16
Spotlight at Historical Fiction Addicts

Friday, March 18
Interview at Layered Pages

Oliver & Jack: In Axminster Workhouse By Christina E. Pilz

Seeing AmericaSeeing America
by Nancy Crocker


Publication Date: July 15, 2014
Medallion Press
Paperback & eBook; 327 Pages

Genre: Historical/Literary Fiction

Add to GR Button

 

 

Missouri, 1910. John Hartmann is graduating from high school under the critical eye of his father and has no idea what options lie beyond the family farm and his small town.

When Paul Bricken, nineteen and blind, buys a brand-new Ford Model T and suggests John drive him to Yellowstone National Park, John jumps at the chance.

He’s less enthusiastic about inviting Henry Brotherton, who’s loud, crude, and a bigot—but Henry’s available both as a second driver and a tough guy who might be helpful in a tight spot.

As the three young men set off on their tumultuous journey, America is preparing for the fight of the century between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries—and is headed for its biggest racial upheaval since the Civil War.

With Yellowstone drawing ever closer and tensions rising, Paul, John, and Henry will soon learn there is a great deal they didn’t know about the fledgling American Midwest—or about each other.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound


Praise for Seeing America by Nancy Crocker


“. . . a heartwarming, gut-wrenching story about finding out the meaning of the word ‘home,’ realizing that ‘different’ doesn’t always mean ‘insignificant,’ and finding oneself by getting lost.” —Lisa Senftleben, Library Thing

“With echoes of Twain and Steinbeck, Seeing America is a story for every restless soul who ever wondered what lay over the horizon and conjured the courage to set out in search of it.” —Robert Klose, author Long Live Grover Cleveland

“It’s this kind of steadiness of narrative voice, married to visual detail and deftly crafted characterization, that makes this book sing.” —Rosemary Herbert, Star Tribune

“Crocker’s writing is powerful, witty, and at times quite funny.” —Jessica Stock Books

About Nancy Crocker

Nancy Crocker


Nancy Crocker is a Missouri native who started her career as a singer, having performed alongside Loretta Lynn at age thirteen. Her written work has appeared in the American Heritage Anthology, and she is the author of the picture book Betty Lou Blue, published by Dial. Her first novel, Billie Standish Was Here, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2007 and was a Booklist Top 10 Novel for Youth, a Kirkus Editor’s Pick for Best Books for Young Adults, a 2009 TAYSHA Reading List selection, and a New York Library’s Book for the Teen Age selection. She now lives in Minneapolis with her husband and son.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | GOODREADS


Giveaway of Seeing America by Nancy Crocker


This giveaway is for one paperback and is open internationally.  It ends on March 11, 2016 at 12 am pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Tour Schedule for Seeing America by Nancy Crocker


Monday, February 22
Spotlight at What Is That Book About

Wednesday, February 24
Character Interview at Boom Baby Reviews
Spotlight & Giveaway at Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More

Friday, February 26
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Monday, February 29
Spotlight at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, March 1
Interview at I Heart Reading

Thursday, March 3
Spotlight at A Literary Vacation

Friday, March 4
Spotlight at Just One More Chapter

Monday, March 7
Spotlight & Giveaway at Let them Read Books

Wednesday, March 9
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Friday, March 11
Review at Book Nerd

Seeing America by Nancy Crocker