Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Nov 16

23

Written In the Ashes by K. Hollan Van Zandt: Review

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on November 23, 2016
Posted in Books Read in 2016 • Historical Fiction  | Tagged With: , , , , | 4 Comments

Written In the Ashes by K. Hollan Van ZandtWritten In the Ashes by K. Hollan Van Zandt


In the 5th century, Hannah, a sheep herder is taken from her father in Sinai and is taken into the slave trade to be sold in Alexandria, Egypt.  She was bought by Tarek, a young man, still living with his father, Alizar.  Alizar was a pagan and alchemist.  Tarek hid Hannah in his room but Alizar discovered her quite quickly and took her from Tarek and treated her kindly.  

Alizar freed her from her irons had a doctor come and tend to her wounds that the slave traders inflicted.  He treated her very kindly and recognized her intelligence. She lived with him and Tarek but not not totally free from danger. 

This was a time when Christianity was still in its infancy and there were men, called the Parabolani that went after anyone they believed were pagans.

Later, Alizar brought Hannah to the Great Library of Alexandria to sing and she becomes fast friends with Hypatia and other pagans who work there to preserve important art and scrolls.  Hannah decided to work with them and became comfortable in her enriched life. She also helped to unite the fractured pieces of the Emerald Tablet which was seen as the last hope for pagans to live in peace.

Full of adventure, danger, romance, history, and strong female characters, Written In the Ashes has something for just about everyone! I read and reviewed it back in 2012 as a self published novel and loved it.  Now it has been picked up by a new Harper Collins division, Legends.  It has been newly revised and edited and I still love it!  K. Hollan Van Zandt’s writing reminds of Michelle Moran, one of my favorite historical fiction authors.  Written In the Ashes remains one of my top five novels of all times!  It is a must read for historical fiction fans! 

5/5

I received the ebook for my honest review.

About K. Hollan Van ZandtWritten In the Ashes by K. Hollan Van Zandt


Kaia Van Zandt is a celebrated author and teacher whose novel, Written in the Ashes, chronicles the events that led up to the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt. Kaia’s spiritual journey began at age 14 when she founded the youth division of the Humane Society of the United States. Then as a junior in high school, she traveled to the Earth Summit in Brazil, where she taught meditation, and was given the opportunity to work with world leaders on the challenges facing humanity and the planet today, an experience that profoundly influenced her work.

She’s a graduate of Antioch University, where she focused on the intersection between the ancient Goddess traditions and modern culture. Her fascination with healing-both personally and collectively – led her to yoga. During her career she’s worked with thought leaders like Marci Shimoff and Deepak Chopra, actors like Ashley Judd, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Garry Shandling, as well as Sony ImageWorks, UCLA Medical, and the San Francisco 49ers. Her beloved writing mentor is bestselling novelist/humorist, Tom Robbins.

Website: www.kaiavanzandt.com


Facebook: https://business.facebook.com/Kaia-H-Van-Zandt-62326196268/?business_id=1527166044253916
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaiaVanZandt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaiavanzandt/?hl=en
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbpNRBX9k7z1bJndQ2a4Rgg

Buy Written In the Ashes by K. Hollan Van Zandt


Amazon
Barnes&Noble

Written In the Ashes Only $2.99


Right now you can get your very own Kindle copy for only $2.99.  Click here: Amazon


Written In the Ashes by K. Hollan Van Zandt

Oct 16

14

Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Review

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on October 14, 2016
Posted in Book Tours • Books Read in 2016 • Historical Fiction  | Tagged With: , , | 2 Comments

Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Sarah BatesLost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Sarah Bates


Publisher: Booklocker.com, Inc. (February 15, 2016)
Category: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance
Tour Dates: Oct/Nov, 2016
ISBN: 978-1634910262
ASIN: B01D6YS52G
Available in: Print & ebook,  420 Pages

The Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton

 

From award winning author, Sarah Bates, Johnstown, New York, 1823: It is a time when a wife’s dowry, even children, automatically becomes her husband’s property. Slavery is an economic advantage entrenched in America but rumblings of abolition abound.

For Elizabeth Cady to confront this culture is unheard of, yet that is exactly what she does. Before she can become a leader of the women’s rights movement and prominent abolitionist, she faces challenges fraught with disappointment. Her father admires her intellect but says a woman cannot aspire to the goals of men. Her sister’s husband becomes her champion–but secretly wants more. Religious fervor threatens to consume her.

As she faces depression and despair, she records these struggles and other dark confidences in diaries. When she learns the journals might fall into the wrong hands and discredit her, she panics and rips out pages of entries that might destroy her hard-fought reputation. Relieved, she believes they are lost to history forever.

But are they? Travel with Elizabeth into American history and discover a young woman truly ahead of her time.

My Thoughts, Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Sarah Bates


Elizabeth Cady was not like other girls growing up in 19th century Johnstown, New York.  She hated working on her embroidery sample and didn’t understand why she couldn’t take part in more intellectual pursuits like talking about law with her father’s law students. Her father wished, often out loud, that she was a boy.

When it came time for her coming out, she wouldn’t do it.  Sure, she liked boys but wanted one who would be more her intellectual equal and agree with her that women should have the same rights men had.  She also believed that all slaves should be free with all the same rights and liberties as whites.

Though it was rare that a father would agree to further a daughter’s education, her father did so, reluctantly, at the urging of Elizabeth’s brother in-law. Elizabeth attended and graduated the Emma Willard’s Troy Female Seminary.

At age 25 she finally met the man she thought of as her equal, Henry Brewster Stanton. 

The Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton covers Elizabeth’s childhood and young adulthood, before she becomes a suffragette. I would have liked the book to go on and cover her suffragette years or perhaps a sequel.  However, as Sarah Bates, has pointed out, Elizabeth’s time as a suffragette is well documented.  So, she chose to cover the earlier years.

I thought the book ended a bit abruptly but that is a small quibble. Sarah Bates painted a vivid portrait of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with the stroke of her pen. I felt transported to the time and place and even became a close friend.  The Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton is a must read for historical fiction readers.  It has really made me hungry for more and Sarah Bates recommended two books that may just satisfy that need.

I received the ebook version for my honest review.

4.5/5

Would you like to win one print or ebook copy of ‘The Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stantion? There is still time to enter my giveaway!  Enter here: https://theteddyrosebookreviewsplusmore.com/2016/10/lost-diaries-of-elizabeth-cady-stanton-giveaway.html#.V_6XrfArKUk

About Sarah BatesLost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Sarah Bates


Sarah Bates worked as an advertising copywriter for ten years then as a freelance writer.  Her clients included a book packager, the local chamber of commerce, a travel newsletter and a weekly newspaper where she covered business and schools.

Her short fiction has appeared in the Greenwich Village Literary Review, the San Diego North County Times (now the Union-Tribune) and the literary magazine Bravura. She is the author of Twenty-One Steps of Courage, an Army action novel published in 2012 and co-author of the 2005 short story collection, Out of Our Minds, Wild Stories by Wild Women.

She is the winner of Military Category, for Twenty-One Steps of Courage, Next Generation Indie Book Awards (2013) and 2nd Place Finalist, The Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Unpublished Novel- Category, San Diego Book Awards (2015)

Bates was an English Department writing tutor at Palomar College in California for ten years. She continues to privately tutor both academic and creative writing students and is writing a new novel. Sarah Bates lives in Fallbrook, California.

Website: http://www.sarahbatesauthor.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bateswriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahbatesauthor/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108133638718869926894/posts

Buy Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Sarah Bates


Amazon
Barnes & Noble
IndieBound
Kobo

Follow Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Sarah Bates Tour


Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus Oct 5 Kick off, Excerpt & Giveaway

IndieReview’s Behind The Scenes Oct 7 Live Interview 9 PM EST

From Isi Oct 10 Review

Our-Wolves-Den Oct 11 Excerpt & Giveaway(postponed)

Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus Oct 14 Review

Words And Peace Oct 18 Guest Post & Giveaway

Kritters Ramblings Oct 20 Review

Carole Rae’s Random Ramblings Oct 21 Review

Carole’s Book Corner Oct 24 Excerpt & Giveaway

Library of Clean Reads Oct 25 Review, Interview, & Giveaway

Rockin’ Book Reviews Nov 3 Review, Interview, & Giveaway

Lisa’s Writopia Nov 7 Review & Guest Post

StoreyBook Reviews Nov 8 Excerpt

Epic Fehl Reader Nov 10 Review

100 Pages A Day Nov 18 Review, Excerpt, & Giveaway

Wall-to-wall books Nov 21 Review, Excerpt,  & Giveaway

A Room without Books is Empty Nov 29 Review

Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Sarah Bates

Sep 16

26

Monticello: A Daughter and Her Father by Sally Cabot Gunning- Review

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on September 26, 2016
Posted in Books Read in 2016 • Historical Fiction  | Tagged With: , , , | 8 Comments

Monticello by Sally Cabot GunningMonticello: Daughter and Her Father by Sally Cabot Gunning


Monticello explores the relationship of our U.S. founding father, Thomas Jefferson and his daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph. Martha’s mother died when Martha was just entering her teenage years. Thomas Jefferson had his daughter accompany him to France on his first diplomatic mission.  After 5 years they both return home.  By then Martha has grown into a young woman and even had a suitor in Paris that her father didn’t find quite suitable.

Paris seemed to really help shape Martha and her opinions and she had come to disagree with slavery.  While if Paris, she came to believe her father would free his slaves and then hire them to continue running Monticello but her never did.  Also, when they arrive home she notices that her mother’s half sister and slave, Sally Hemings status has change in the household and no longer required to work. 

Then Thomas Randolph enters the picture and sweeps Martha off her feet.  As demands of adulthood and marriage take over, Martha endures pregnancy after pregnancy (she had 12 children)  and her husband’s mismanagement of farms and money. He also starts to act more and more eradicate. Her sister, Maria also dies giving birth to her first child.

As rumors were surfacing of an affair between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.  Martha has suspicions of her own but seemed to try to ignore them.  It is clear that Martha had a tight bind with her father and they influenced each other in different ways. 

I loved the story between Thomas Jefferson and her father but all the hardships with her husband were hard to endure.  It was a time when women could not divorce their husbands but I wanted to shake her and tell her to leave him.  I knew she couldn’t but that the same problems kept up through their marriage and so that part became somewhat repetitive.  That said, Sally Cabot Gunning treated her characters with sensitivity and a non-judgmental approach. Though this is a work of fiction, she did her research and let the characters tell the story.  She certainly made Monticello a character as well.  I really liked her approach and her writing.  I highly recommend Monticello for those who love historical fiction and like to delve into the lives of people, like Thomas Jefferson, who helped shape our world.

I received the ebook version for my honest review.

4/5

About Sally Cabot GunningMonticello by Sally Cabot Gunning


Sally Cabot Gunning lives with her husband in Brewster on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A graduate of the University of Rhode Island and a lifelong resident of New England, she is active in the local historical society and creates tours that showcase the three-hundred-year history of her village. Gunning came to fiction writing at a young age, driven to it in desperation one rainy day when she ran out of books.

She later authored a popular mystery series set on Cape Cod, but when she began to weave the Cape’s rich history into her stories she found herself hooked; she turned her focus to digging out the back story to the history that we thought we knew but didn’t and giving it a human face. This resulted in four critically acclaimed historical novels: The Widow’s War, Bound, The Rebellion of Jane Clarke, Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard, and coming in September 2016 MONTICELLO. 

« Previous Page — Next Page »