Monday, 28 April 2025

Dragon of Denmark (Valiant Vikings Book 1) by Jennifer Ivy Walker


Dragon of Denmark
(Valiant Vikings Book 1)
By Jennifer Ivy Walker


Publication Date: 5th October 2024
Publisher: Green Mermaid Publications
Page Length: 322
Genre: Viking Historical Romance

Skårde the Scourge, bastard son of the Danish king Harald Bluetooth, is a fierce Viking warlord who earned the prestigious title Dragon of Denmark through victorious battles and lucrative Viking raids. When his royal father announces that Skårde will forge a Viking alliance through an arranged marriage to the daughter of Richard the Fearless, the Dragon of Denmark considers the voyage to Normandy an infuriating banishment.


Illegitimate daughter of Richard the Fearless, the Viking Duke of Normandy, Ylva is a Druid priestess and Celtic healer with the otherworldly gift of sight. She learns that she must leave her Breton village behind and travel to Normandy, where she will marry the Viking brute that she has foreseen in a terrifying vision.

When the Frankish king, determined to drive the Vikings from Normandy, attacks and seizes Richard’s clifftop fortress, the Dragon of Denmark must ally with Ljósálfar Light Elves, a Viking völva with powerful seiðr magic, and a vitki-- a shapeshifting sorcerer who can assume the form of a falcon--to reclaim the ducal palace.

Dragon of Denmark is a sizzling, scintillating blend of historical fiction, Norse mythology, paranormal fantasy, and steamy Viking romance!

Pick up your copy of

Dragon of Denmark

HERE!


Jennifer Ivy Walker


JEnthralled with legends of medieval knights and ladies, dark fairy tales and fantasies about Druids, wizards and magic, Jennifer Ivy Walker always dreamed of becoming a writer. She fell in love with French in junior high school, continuing her study of the language throughout college, spending summers in France as a foreign exchange student, exploring medieval castles and troglodyte caves in the Loire Valley, sites of pilgrimage such as le Mont-Saint-Michel, eventually becoming a high school teacher and college professor of French.

As a high school teacher, she took her students every year to the annual French competition, where they performed a play she had written, "Yseult la Belle et Tristan la Bête"--an imaginative blend of the medieval French legend of "Tristan et Yseult" and the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast", enhanced with fantasy elements of a Celtic fairy and a wicked witch.

Her debut novel, "The Wild Rose and the Sea Raven"--the first of a trilogy-- is a blend of her love for medieval legends, the romantic French language, and paranormal fantasy. It is a retelling of the medieval French romance of "Tristan et Yseult", interwoven with Arthurian myth, dark fairy tales from the enchanted Forest of Brocéliande, and otherworldly elements such as Avalonian Elves, Druids, forest fairies and magic.

Explore her realm of Medieval French Fantasy. She hopes her novels will enchant you.

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Friday, 25 April 2025

Summer Poltergeists by Sharon Bradshaw


Summer Poltergeists
By Sharon Bradshaw


Publication Date: 17th July 2025
Publisher: Independently Published

'A collection of sinister, and macabre tales that take place in the summer.'

A reluctant medium is forced to face up to her psychic abilities in The Haunting Of Rose Cottage and solve the mystery of Bea, the spectre that refuses to leave her late grandmother's cottage. 

Whilst Ella has to come to terms with her fear of the paranormal in The Ghost Of Hotel Verona, after she discovers a secret, and that Room 43 is haunted by Frannie Perkins. 

The leisure centre and houses next to the abbey ruins also have their ghosts. Is the white mist, hovering over Lauren's bed during the night, a warning sent by her late mother and has Brother Bernard really been swimming The Thirteenth Length? He was murdered by Henry VIII's soldiers in 1540, during the dissolution of the monasteries!

Summer Poltergeists is Book 3 in the Ghosts From The Bazaar series. 

All of the books in the series contain standalone stories, which can be read in any order.

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Summer Poltergeists
Released on 17th July 2025
Only 0.99 on #Kindle for a Limited Time

Sharon Bradshaw


Sharon Bradshaw is a Historical Fiction Author, Storyteller, and Poet. She lives in the United Kingdom with her family, and a large collection of books. 

Tradition and folklore have their roots in the tales told around the fire, thousands of years ago. Or beneath the stars on warm, summer nights. Tales which have been adapted across the years in their telling, and re-telling. Until possibly all that remains is a grain of truth from the original version. Often these were about real people like King Arthur, and the lives they led; their battles, and warriors; the women or men they loved, and the children. 

Sharon writes the 8th century Durstan series, which begins on Iona in 794 AD. You will find a brief History of the early medieval period in the prequel, A Druid's Magic. Written from the research she did into the time we used to call the Dark Ages. Followed by The Monk Who Cast A Spell, and Passion And The Monk which takes place on Lindisfarne. Durstan Of Iona, book 4, will be coming soon. 

Her first collection of faery stories, again based on folklore and tradition, has been published in The Woodcutter And The Faery Queen. She is also passionate about writing ghost stories. Those which are eerie, and make you want to check that you really are alone when it's almost dark. Eleven of which are in The Bookseller's Ghost, followed by Old Meg And The Fox, with others coming soon in 2024. Whilst you'll find her first collection of love poetry in: From Now 'til Then.

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Tawannanna: Mother of an Empire by Bert Oldenhuis


Tawannanna: 
Mother of an Empire
By Bert Oldenhuis


Publication Date: 22nd March 2024
Publisher: Centraal Boekhuis
Page Length: 391 
Genre: Historical Fiction

It is 1252 BCE .King Hattusili III (Hattu) is king of the Great Hittite Empire together with his queen Puduhepa (Pudu). Pudu is a highly respected stateswoman, diplomat, prime regent and advisor to her husband the king, giving her the venerated title of “Tawannanna”.

King Hattu dies and leaves Pudu to govern the empire as tawannanna to her son Suna, who is crowned as King Tudhaliya IV. Suna is defeated in a crucial battle by the Assyrians at the cost of huge territorial losses.

The empire is further weakened by internal strife and external threats. Pudu must do everything in her power to restore the frayed relations with Assyria and Egypt.

Suna dies and his eldest son Kazanna is next in line for the throne. Puduhepa is vehemently opposed to this due to the inability of either Kazanna or his brother Arnili to produce an heir.

Nevertheless Kazanna is crowned as King Arnuwanda III. However, he has no intention to lead military campaigns and risk his life of leisure, causing the empire to slide further into decline.

The comely Gapazilani (Gapa) was a suitable candidate to become Kazanna’s queen, but four years into the marriage there was still no heir. The palace rumor that the royal marriage had never been consummated gave her the questionable title of “Virgin Queen”.

Arnili, a womanizer pur sang, seduced his brother’s wife Gapa just as she was about to leave on a bogus diplomatic mission to visit her lover Prince Armati in the kingdom of Ammura. A mission that was orchestrated by Puduhepa in an effort to save the dynasty and the kingdom from their eventual demise.

A son Kuzim is born and Arnili is convinced that it is his. Reason to speed up his personal agenda by deposing his brother King Arnuwanda and seizing the throne. He eliminates all obstacles that might block his progress and crowns himself King Suppiluliuma II, fully intending to marry his brother’s widow. However he did not foresee the power of love between Gapa and Armati.

Will Arnili marry Gapa and claim Kuzim as his son or will he hunt them down and kill them both out of spite? And how does the aging Puduhepa react to this unexpected turn of events that upset her so carefully thought-out plan?

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Tawannanna
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Bert Oldenhuis


Bert Oldenhuis was born in the Netherlands but spent his formative years in the United States up to his graduation from the USMMA at Kings Point. His first novel “A Doghouse Tale” was based on his experiences as mariner and was an upbeat to the historical fiction novels of “The Saga of Dorian-Sou.” He has a subject preference for (pre) history and weaves fiction and reality into exciting and adventurous accounts with just that smidge of humor that makes for easy and relaxed reading. He lives with his wife in the Netherlands. 




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His Castilian Hawk (The Castilian Saga Book 1) by Anna Belfrage



His Castilian Hawk
(The Castilian Saga Book 1)
By Anna Belfrage


Publication Date: 28th September 2020
Publisher: Timelight Press 
Page Length: 468 
Page Length: Medieval Historical Romance

For bastard-born Robert FitzStephan, being given Eleanor d’Outremer in marriage is an honour. For Eleanor, this forced wedding is anything but a fairy tale.

Robert FitzStephan has served Edward Longshanks loyally since the age of twelve. Now he is riding with his king to once and for all bring Wales under English control.

Eleanor d’Outremer—Noor to family—lost her Castilian mother as a child and is left entirely alone when her father and brother are killed. When ordered to wed the unknown Robert FitzStephan, she has no choice but to comply.

Two strangers in a marriage bed is not easy. Things are further complicated by Noor’s blood-ties to the Welsh princes and by covetous Edith who has warmed Robert’s bed for years.

Robert’s new wife may be young and innocent, but he soon discovers that not only is she spirited and proud, but she is also brave. Because when Wales lies gasping and Edward I exacts terrible justice on the last prince and his children, Noor is determined to save at least one member of the House of Aberffraw from the English king.

Will years of ingrained service have Robert standing with his king or will he follow his heart and protect his wife, his beautiful and fierce Castilian hawk?

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His Castilian Hawk

Anna Belfrage


Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with two absorbing interests: history and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England.

Anna has also published The Wanderer, a fast-paced contemporary romantic suspense trilogy with paranormal and time-slip ingredients.

More recently, Anna has been hard at work with her Castilian series. The first book, His Castilian Hawk, published in 2020, is set against the complications of Edward I’s invasion of Wales. His Castilian Hawk is a story of loyalty, integrity—and love. In the second instalment, The Castilian Pomegranate, we travel with the protagonists to the complex political world of medieval Spain, while the third, Her Castilian Heart, finds our protagonists back in England—not necessarily any safer than the wilds of Spain! The fourth book, Their Castilian Orphan, is scheduled for early 2024.

Anna has recently released Times of Turmoil, the sequel to her 2021 release, The Whirlpools of Time. Here she returns to the world of time travel. Where The Whirlpools of Time had Duncan and the somewhat reluctant time-traveller Erin navigating the complexities of the first Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, in Times of Turmoil our protagonists are in Colonial Pennsylvania, hoping for a peaceful existence. Not about to happen—not in one of Anna’s books!

All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Readers’ Favorite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards.

Find out more about Anna, her books and enjoy her eclectic historical blog on her website, www.annabelfrage.com.

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Thursday, 24 April 2025

The King’s Intelligencer: Discovering the Missing Princes in the Tower by Elizabeth St.John


 
The King’s Intelligencer:
Discovering the Missing Princes in the Tower
By Elizabeth St.John


Publication Date: October 15th, 2024
Publisher: Falcon Historical
Pages: 494 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

London, 1674

When children’s bones are unexpectedly unearthed in the Tower of London, England’s most haunting mystery—the fate of the missing princes—is reignited. 

Franny Apsley, trusted confidante to Charles II’s beloved niece and heir, Lady Mary Stuart, is caught up in the court’s excitement surrounding the find. Yet, as a dark family secret comes to light, Franny realises the truth behind the missing princes is far more complex—and dangerous—than anyone suspects. Recruited by her formidable cousin Nan Wilmot, Dowager Countess of Rochester, to discover the truth behind the bones, Franny is thrust into the shadowy world of intelligencers. But her quest is complicated by an attraction to the charismatic court artist Nicholas Jameson, a recent arrival from Paris who harbours secrets of his own.

Pursued by Nicholas, Franny searches for evidence hidden in secret family letters and paintings, and uncovers a startling diplomatic plot involving Lady Mary, which causes Franny to question her own judgment, threatens the throne, and sets England on a course for war. With only her courage and the guidance of an enigmatic spy within the royal household, Franny must decide how far she will go to expose the truth—and whether that truth will lead to England’s salvation or her own heartbreak.

In a glittering and debauched society where love is treacherous and loyalty masked, Franny must navigate a world where a woman’s voice is often silenced and confront the ultimate question: What is she willing to risk for the sake of her country, her happiness, and her family’s safety?

A captivating historical novel of conspiracy, passion, and courage, The King’s Intelligencer is one woman's quest for a truth that could change the fate of a nation. A companion to the critically acclaimed best-selling novels The Godmother’s Secret and The Lydiard Chronicles, The King’s Intelligencer weaves together beloved characters and actual events to bring a suspenseful mystery to life.


Praise


The King’s Intelligencer by Elizabeth St.John is an exceptional work of scholarship. With its rich historical context and captivating emotional narrative, this book will keep you hooked until the early hours of the morning. This novel is undeniably successful and strongly recommended for fans of this era.

Review by Mary Anne Yarde
Yarde Reviews & Book Promotion

Elizabeth St.John delivers a tale that's got it all: dazzling court drama, brilliant characters, stunning world-building, sizzling plot twists and a spectacular conclusion. Franny Apsley is a captivating heroine, confident and courageous...her puzzle-solving sleuth work is nothing short of intoxicating for a mystery fan like myself. As an intelligencer, she walks a tightrope of duplicity at great personal risk, and the stakes rise with every step she takes toward the novel's stunning conclusion.
 
Amy Maroney, author of The Girl from Oto and the Sea and Stone Chronicles

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The King’s Intelligencer

Elizabeth St. John

Elizabeth St.John’s critically acclaimed historical fiction novels tell the stories of her ancestors: extraordinary women whose intriguing kinship with England's kings and queens brings an intimately unique perspective to Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times.

Inspired by family archives and residences from Lydiard Park to the Tower of London, Elizabeth spends much of her time exploring ancestral portraits, diaries, and lost gardens. And encountering the occasional ghost. But that’s another story.

Living between California, England, and the past, Elizabeth is the International Ambassador for The Friends of Lydiard Park, an English charity dedicated to conserving and enhancing this beautiful centuries-old country house and park. As a curator for The Lydiard Archives, she is constantly looking for an undiscovered treasure to inspire her next novel.

Elizabeth's works include The Lydiard Chronicles, a trilogy set in 17th-century England during the Civil War, and The Godmother's Secret, which unravels the medieval mystery of the missing princes in the Tower of London. Her latest release, The King’s Intelligencer, follows Franny Apsley's perilous quest to uncover the truth behind the sudden discovery of the princes' bones. In Charles II's court of intrigue and deceit, Franny must decide what she’ll risk—for England’s salvation, her family's safety, and her own happiness.

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Wednesday, 23 April 2025

The Ballad of Mary Kearney by Katherine Mezzacappa

 



The Ballad of Mary Kearney
By Katherine Mezzacappa


Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Publisher: Histria
Pages: 288
Genre: Historical Fiction

‘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?


Praise


‘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.


Pick up your copy of
The Ballad of Mary Kearney

Katherine Mezzacappa


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. 

Katherine 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.
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