Amazon just restored my reviews and my reviewing abilities after looking at my appeal, weeks later. They provided no details as to why this happened in the first place. But I’m back reviewing on Amazon…unless it happens again! If I reviewed your book on Amazon in the past, the review should be restored within 24 hours.
Today’s topic is: Books that live rent-free in my head. They can be books that you love or hate, books that scared you, etc. Basically, they are books you can’t forget. I listed four series and one book, and that adds up to many more than ten books.
My review of book 14 in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s, The Good, The Bad, and the History.
Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday.
Orbital Drop is the first book in the Union Empire series. It is fast-paced science fiction that fans of space operas and military-oriented interplanetary adventures will enjoy. This novel is of the same world as McHugh’s Wardens Series. It would be better to start with Blackcoat, a novella that is a prequel to the Union Empire series, and introduces Celine Moro, a Warden and the main character in Orbital Drop.
An orbital drop involves jumping from a spaceship in orbit to the ground, and that’s what Celine has been tasked to do, in order to find out why the child of a Union councillor was targeted for kidnapping.
My favorite character was Gigi, a synth, or robot, who has been given some human characteristics. Gigi provides a bit of humor to this battle-heavy book and becomes an important part of Celine’s team.
This is a story of intense action, betrayal, and revenge, with monsters to boot, and things are not always as they seem. The ending promises more books to come. Fans of McHugh’s Wardens series will enjoy this one and look forward to more.
As an aside for readers of this blog, while this type of science fiction is not my usual go-to, I see that the author has written some historical fantasy, which I am of course all about, and I definitely want to check that out, especially Infamous Reign, which addresses the mystery of the Princes in the Tower.
I was provided a free copy of this book via Zooloo’s Book Tours. My review is voluntary, and the opinions expressed are my own.
Steve McHugh is a bestselling author of urban fantasy, historical fiction, and science-fiction. He has now published over 30 books, with his novel Scorched Shadows being shortlisted for Best Novel at the Gemmell Awards.
Steve was born in the town of Mexborough, South Yorkshire, but now lives with his wife and three daughters in Southampton.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is “Books with the Word ____ in the Title.” I was free to pick the word, and of course I picked “time,” loving time travel fiction as I do. Below are Ten Books with the word Time in the title.
I’ve read all of these except The Time Traders, which I now have in my Kobo app to read later, and The Time Ships, which is an authorized sequel to The Time Machine. Doing Time is the first in Jodi Taylor’s Time Police Series, all of which have the word “Time” in the title.
If you were participating in this challenge, what word would you choose?
Have a wonderful day tomorrow! I think we’re just going to stay inside and avoid the heat. We’ve got grandkids arriving on Sunday for three weeks.
What are your plans?
1940. Olivia Belle Ash is a romance writer who has lost her voice. Famous as “Via Belle” for 20 years, she is now faced with a deadline she cannot meet. Awash in grief, she struggles to write again after the death of her husband three years ago. She also mourns the daughter she lost in infancy. Then, after an invitation to a university literary conference, she meets Simon Farrow. Ultimately, she begins a whirlwind relationship with this younger man, but things are not as they seem.
2006. Harper Rayne is a caterer and aspiring screenwriter looking for a story that will make her career. She ultimately decides to research the story of Via Belle, her late mother’s favorite author, who suddenly vanished in the 1940s.
Some parallels to the real life of a famous Christian romance author, Grace Livingston Hill, are present in the story. Hill was happily married to a minister before his death in 1899. She became a famous author in the early 20th century, and then suffered a very unhappy marriage to a younger man. This book appears to be inspired by Hill’s story, and the author also dedicated The Lost Story of Via Belle to Grace Livingston Hill.
The 1940s timeline is compelling, and the secrets and deception are well written. Simon is as unlikeable a character as many of the villains in the books of Grace Livingston Hill, who usually created very clear heroes and villains in her novels. The 2006 timeline is not as gripping at first, but it does grow in complexity by the end of the book. Fans of Christian fiction and of Hill’s books will enjoy this novel.
I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale Fiction via The Historical Novel Society. My review is voluntary, and the opinions expressed are my own.
This is another review I did for The Historical Novel Society. You can see it on their website here. As mentioned above, it is very loosely based on the life of Grace Livingston Hill, an early 20th Century Christian romance writer. My grandmother started reading Grace’s books to her kids in the 1930’s and 40s, and my Mom passed them on to me. They are very old fashioned–Grace frowned on makeup, for example. But they’re wonderful Christian stories for their time period. My favorite is The Substitute Guest, which I talk about a little bit here.
Grace Livingston Hill (April 16, 1865 – February 23, 1947) was a prolific early 20th-century American novelist best known for her Christian romance and inspirational fiction. She wrote over 100 novels and numerous short stories, often under her own name or the pseudonym Marcia Macdonald (her mother’s maiden name). Her works typically featured young Christian women (or characters who convert to Christianity) facing moral challenges, romance, and redemption, with clear themes of good versus evil and faith restoring lives.
Reverend Thomas Guthrie Franklin Hill: Grace married “Frank” in 1892, and they were married until he died in 1899 from complications of appendicitis. They had two daughters, settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and collaborated on Christian Endeavor materials. After his death, Grace began writing full-time to support her daughters.
Flavius Joseph Lutz: Grace married Lutz, a music teacher for her daughters and 15 years her junior, in 1904, against the advice of others. It was a very unhappy union. Lutz did not contribute to the household financially, not even from music lessons, and was verbally abusive. He often left to stay with his parents, and in 1914, Grace told him not to come back. There was no divorce, but there are rumors that the marriage was later annulled. Grace continued writing into the 1940s and died in 1947.
KOBO | APPLE BOOKS | AMAZON
You must be logged in to post a comment.