I am excited to be hosting the blog tour for The Mallory Saga Series by Paul Bennett #HistoricalFiction #AmericanHistoricalFiction @hooverbkreview @maryanneyarde

 

The Mallory Saga Series 
By Paul Bennett

Follow the Mallory family as they attempt to live a peaceful life on the PA frontier in 1756. They face tragedy and loss as they become embroiled in The French and Indian War - Clash of Empires. In Paths to Freedom, the colonies are heading to open revolt against King George III, and the Mallory's are once again facing the spectre of war. Crucible of Rebellion continues the Mallory story through the early years of The Revolutionary War. Book 4, A Nation is Born completes the Revolution and The Mallory's have played their part in the victory. In book 5, A Turbulent Beginning, the nascent nation finds it hard going to establish a peaceful existence. The Natives of this land resist the westward expansion of white settlers.

Trigger Warnings:

Violence and battle scenes, mild sexual content, and profanity. 

A Nation is Born

The Mallory Saga Series Book 4

As the Revolutionary War shifts south, and west, so too, the Mallory’s find themselves right in the thick of it. On the banks of the Congaree River in South Carolina, and on the Wabash in the Northwest Territory, war is not the only problem they face. Revenge stirs among the embers of war, and the issue of slavery becomes an issue for the Mallory’s.

The series in order

Clash of Empires 

Paths to Freedom 

Crucible of Rebellion 

A Nation Is Born 

A Turbulent Beginning 

Also available on #KindleUnlimited

Paul Bennett 

Paul was born in Detroit when the Big Three ruled the automobile industry, and The Korean Conflict was in full swing. A lifelong interest in history and a love of reading eventually led him to Wayne State University where he majored in Ancient History, with a minor in Physical Anthropology. However, to make ends meet, those studies were left to the realm of dreams, and Paul found himself accidentally embarking on a 50 year career in computers. A career that he has recently retired from in order to spend more time with those dreams….7 grandchildren will help fill the time as well. 

He now resides in the quaint New England town of Salem, Massachusetts with his wife Daryl, just a few minutes’ walk from the North River, and the site where the Revolution almost began. 

The Mallory Saga is the culmination of Paul’s love of history, and his creative drive to write stories. With Nightwish and Bruce Cockburn coming through his headphones, and many cups of excellent coffee, Paul hopes to carry the Saga into the late 19th century, bringing American History to life through the eyes and actions of the Mallory family.

Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, BookBub, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads

Thank you to The Coffee Pot Book Club for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Tour Schedule

I am excited to be hosting the blog tour for The Girl from Bologna (Girls from the Italian Resistance) By Siobhan Daiko #HistoricalFiction #WomensFiction #WWII @siobhandaiko @maryanneyarde

The Girl from Bologna 

(Girls from the Italian Resistance)

By Siobhan Daiko

Bologna, Italy, 1944, and the streets are crawling with German soldiers. Nineteen-year-old Leila Venturi is shocked into joining the Resistance after her beloved best friend Rebecca, the daughter of a prominent Jewish businessman, is ruthlessly deported to a concentration camp.

In February 1981, exchange student Rhiannon Hughes arrives in Bologna to study at the university. There, she rents a room from Leila, who is now middle-aged and infirm. Leila’s nephew, Gianluca, offers to show Rhiannon around but Leila warns her off him.

Soon Rhiannon finds herself being drawn into a web of intrigue. What is Gianluca’s interest in a far-right group? And how is the nefarious head of this group connected to Leila? As dark secrets emerge from the past, Rhiannon is faced with a terrible choice. Will she take her courage into both hands and risk everything?

An evocative, compelling read, “The Girl from Bologna” is a story of love lost, daring exploits, and heart wrenching redemption.

If you read a book by an author and love it, you generally look out for their books in the future. If you’ve read two books, and are presented with an opportunity to read a third? I didn’t even have to think before I said yes, absolutely, I want to read this book.

After a terrorist attack brings back memories of the war, Leila Venturi decides to start recording her life story, or rather, what she did during the war. She has an exchange student, Rhiannon, living in her house, which provides her with some company, which is especially helpful after recording the more harrowing memories Leila has. But as Leila is reliving the past, aspects of the past impact Rhiannon, and while memories can bring pain, so can things happening in the present.

The majority of this novel is set in 1981, with Leila, Rhiannon, and Leila’s nephew, Gianluca. Gianluca and Rhiannon find themselves becoming good friends, as he shows her around Bologna, and they both end up amongst what is causing trouble in the present. Rhiannon has a classmate who Gianluca thinks is acting strange, and when they see her with a right-wing newspaper owner, confusion arises, especially when Marie finds out Gianluca is an investigative journalist, and suddenly doesn’t want to see him anymore. This book certainly has enough mystery to keep you reading!

Not too much of this book is actually set in 1944. We visit the past while Leila records her memories, but it almost seems like this is only a part of the story to provide backstory, and give you an insight into how you should feel about certain characters. I would’ve loved to spend more time with Leila in 1944, but I think the book was written in this way to show you Leila as Rhiannon sees her – you don’t get any information that Rhiannon doesn’t also get.

This is a really great book, and I loved reading it. There are certainly some twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting, and I was very invested in the whole Marie/right-wing newspaper owner/Gianluca situation. Overall, a gripping story, but I do wish the attention on 1944 and 1981 had a more even split.

The Girl from Bologna is available on #KindleUnlimited

Amazon

Siobhan Daiko

Siobhan Daiko is a British historical fiction author. A lover of all things Italian, she lives in the Veneto region of northern Italy with her husband, a Havanese dog and a rescued cat. After a life of romance and adventure in Hong Kong, Australia and the UK, Siobhan now spends her time indulging her love of writing and enjoying her life near Venice.

Social Media Links:

Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, BookBub, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads 

Thank you to The Coffee Pot Book Club for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

 

I am excited to be hosting the blog tour for More Precious Than Gold (The Hearts of Gold Trilogy, Book 2) by Renee Yancy #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalRomance #BlogTour @YancyRenee @maryanneyarde

More Precious Than Gold
(The Hearts of Gold Trilogy, Book 2)
By Renee Yancy

A young woman refuses to become a pawn in her grandmother’s revenge scheme and forgoes a life of wealth and royalty to pursue a nursing career as America enters WWI and the Pandemic Flu of 1918 wreaks havoc in New York City.

Review

Dazzled by the brilliance of the life her estranged grandmother has to offer, Kitty leaves the comforts of her home and enters the world of the American and British aristocracy. She also catches the eye of Lord Eavenlea. But is life as a duchess really what she wants?

This book is a story of two very different halves. The first part is about Kitty dipping her toe into the life that her grandmother has to offer, but after a while, she finds life rather boring and very cutthroat - although she has her grandmother's wealth behind her she cannot escape the scandal caused by her mother's actions along time ago, nor does she really feel at home, having to, at all times, watch her manners and try to impress. So she leaves this seemingly glamorous world behind her and trains to be a nurse. 

Initially, I found it very difficult to warm up to Kitty because she is just so dizzy. She is naive and struggles to judge the empathy she feels for her mother's position correctly.  She is tempted by all the glamour but eventually, when she decides to leave the lavish lifestyle her grandmother has to offer I found myself warming to her.

I thought this novel gave a fascinating insight into the medical profession during this time in history. It also really made me appreciate how far medicine and the understanding of diseases have come. What was once life-threatening is now treated successfully. Through Kitty, the reader experiences both the triumph and the heartbreak of the hospital wards.

I thought this novel was incredibly moving, and I did find myself crying on more than one occasion - especially when it came to the pandemic. The characters came across as very real in the telling, and the narrative was wonderfully paced. I have no hesitation in recommending this novel.

More Precious Than Gold is available to purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and Apple Books

Renee Yancy

Renee Yancy is a history and archaeology nut who works as an RN when she isn’t writing historical fiction or traveling the world to see the exotic places her characters have lived.

A voracious reader as a young girl, she now writes the kind of books she loves to read—stories filled with historical and archaeological detail interwoven with strong characters facing big conflicts. Her goal is to take you on a journey into the past so fascinating that you can’t put the story down. 

When she isn’t writing, Renee can be found in the wilds of Kentucky with her husband and a rescue mutt named Ellie. She loves flea markets and collecting pottery and glass and most any-thing mid-century modern.

Website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, BookBub, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads

Tour Schedule

I am excited to be hosting the blog tour for Leningrad: The People’s War (Leningrad, Book 1) by Rachel R. Heil #HistoricalFiction #WorldWarII #BookReview @HeilRachelR @maryanneyarde

Leningrad: The People’s War 

(Leningrad, Book 1)

By Rachel R. Heil

Leningrad, 1941. 

As Europe crumbles under the German war machine, the people of the Soviet Union watch. There are whispers of war but not loud enough for the civilians of Leningrad to notice. Instead, they keep their heads down and try to avoid the ever-watching eyes of their own oppressive government.

University student Tatiana Ivankova tries to look ahead to the future after a family tragedy that characterizes life under the brutal regime. But, when the rumors that have been circulating the country become a terrifying reality, Tatiana realizes that the greatest fear may not be the enemy but what her fellow citizens are prepared to do to each other to survive. 

As his men plow through the Russian countryside, Heinrich Nottebohm is told to follow orders and ask no questions, even if such commands go against his own principles. His superiors hold over him a past event that continues to destroy him with every day that passes. But, when given the opportunity to take an act of defiance, Heinrich will jump at the chance, ignoring what the end results could be. 

Leningrad: The People’s War tells the harrowing beginning of a war that forever changed the landscape of a city, told through the eyes of both sides in a tale of courage, love, and sacrifice. 

There seems to be no way in stopping the German war machine. It was to be expected that at some point Germany would march on the Soviet Union, and although when expectation becomes a reality there is an element of fear, the citizens of Leningrad cannot help but wonder if life under German rule would be better than life under Stalin - not that anyone would dare to say such a thing out loud. As The German army marches nearer the NKVD is once again causing terror on the streets and everyone is waiting for that knock on the door in the middle of the night. No one is safe, but if there was a way to guarantee your family's safety, then surely you would take it?

Tatiana Ivankova is the unlikely hero in this story. There is nothing about her that suggests she could be anything more than what she is. She is a young woman who is fulfilling her childhood dream by working in the library between studying. Her life seems to be going in the direction that she wants it to, but her pessimistic attitude hides some deep and painful scars, for not everyone in her family survived Stalins' ruthless purges. When there is a rumour that German forces are heading towards Leningrad the people of the city are asked to volunteer. Not wanting to draw the attention of the NKVD (secret police) Tatiana signs up for air-raid duties. But her "friendship" with the reporter, Josef Kransoff, meant that Tatiana's life will change irrevocably forever. 

This story is a deeply haunting one, for it is about a young woman who is forced into the most imaginable of circumstances in her bid to keep her family safe. Tatiana is forced into a situation that she could never have imagined and certainly not one that she would have craved, and yet, there is no choice. To survive, she must pretend and she must become the person that the officials demand that she be. But, despite the danger, Tatiana will not allow herself to become brainwashed and soon she is playing a dangerous game of espionage. 

This novel is incredibly fast-paced - it is certainly one that once started is near on impossible to put down. In fact, I stayed up reading it until three in the morning! It is that gripping! The characters came across as very real in the telling, and the author has depicted in detail what life was like living in Leningrad during the siege. The biggest threat to the civilians was not the advancing German army (although they were terrifying enough) but the Soviet officials. Like many people in this novel Tatiana and her family are stuck between a rock and a hard place, where there are no winners and the losers are dying of starvation in the street. I would highly recommend having a box of tissues with you as your read for there were many times when I found myself wiping tears from my eyes. 

This novel was certainly one of the best books that I have read this year, and I am really looking forward to reading book 2 of what promises to be an unforgettable series. 

This novel is available at the following bookstores:

Amazon UK, Amazon US,  Amazon CA, Amazon AU

Rachel R. Heil

Rachel R. Heil is a historical fiction writer who always dreamed of being an author. After years of dreaming, she finally decided to turn this dream into a reality with her first novel, and series, Behind the Darkened Glass. Rachel is an avid history fan, primarily focused on twentieth century history and particularly World War Two-era events. In addition to her love for history, Rachel loves following the British Royal Family and traveling the world, which only opens the door to learning more about a country's history. Rachel resides in Wisconsin.

Social Media Links:

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, BookBub, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads

Tour Schedule