The Tsarina's Daughter

I finally finished this book! Jeesh took me over two weeks and it should have only taken a couple days. This is the story of Tsar Nicholas daughter Tatiana. Instead of Anastasia being the one who escaped this time it is Tatiana. I enjoyed the book alot as I don't know much about the revolution of Russia other than the story of the killing of this family. Tatiana tells the story of her growing up and the fragility of both her mother's mental health and her brother's illness with hemophilia and how supposedly Rasputin helped to keep him alive. It was a very good read and a different take on what might have happened during this time in history.

This is the 6th in the Abby Cooper series by Victoria Laurie. I really enjoyed this book and when I come back in my next life I want to be Abby Cooper. How cool would it be to have psychic abilities!! When Abby's boyfriend's cousin is kidnapped and they take off to Las Vegas to try and find him. After Dutch disappears Abby calls in her sister and girlfriend to come to Vegas and the search is on. A great cozy from the first page to the last. Highly recommend the whole Abby Cooper series.

Cold Rock River

I read RoseFlower Creek awhile ago and fell in love with J.L. Miles. I couldn't wait to get my hands on Cold Rock River and it was even better.

It takes place in rural Georgia in 1963. A pregnant 17 yr old Adie Jenkins discovers the diary of 17 yr old Tempe Jordan, a slave girl, begun as the civil war was winding down. Adie is haunted by the death of her younger sister, Annie and Tempe is grief stricken over the selling of her 3 young children by sired by her master. Adie and Tempe's stories are both of family, race, love, loss and longing. You become so involved in both stories it is hard to put the book down. With many twists and turns it all comes to a very surprising ending. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to my next read by this author. I highly recommend Cold Rock River and Roseflower Creek.

The Heretic Queen

I fell in love with Michelle Moran when I read her first book Nefertiti. Now with The Heretic Queen I love her even more.

The Heretic Queen is the story of Nefertari, niece of the heretic queen Nefertiti. Nefertari comes to the court of Pharoah Seti I after her family is killed. She becomes great friends with Ramesses I. When he becomes co- monarch and marries Iset, Nefertari realizes she loves Ramesses and wants to marry him too. Once they marry Nefertari is afraid that the Egyptian people will never accept a heretic descendant as their ruler. This is a love story full of romance, deceit, intrigue and suspense. Nefertari's and Ramesses love for each other is a true tale and Ms Moran brings it to life in her story. I only wish the book would have gone on for another 300 pages.

I can't wait for her next novel to become available and I highly recommend The Heretic Queen to any and all historical fiction fans.

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent is about a 10 yr old girl Sarah, growing up on a farm with her 3 brothers, younger sister Hannah and her parents Thomas and Martha. Like many mother and daughter relationships, Sarah and her mothers is fraught with tension and hostility. Sarah yearns for a more loving mother and when her brother is stricken with small pox Sarah and her sister are smuggled to her Aunt's house where she finds the love and attention she craves from her relatives. Soon however her father comes to take her back home and things go from bad to worse. People turn against their neighbors and accusations run rampant. Her mother is accused of being a witch and taken away. Soon Sarah and her brothers join her mother in jail awaiting their fate. Ms. Kent writes a compelling story of the atrocities that people went thru during this time in out history. Highly recommend The Heretic's Daugher.

I am a big fan of historical fiction and Ms. Gregory. This book tells the story of Mary, Queen of Scots and the time she spent "imprisoned" as the guest of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, Bess of Hardwick. The good part of the book was that I know little about Mary Queen of Scots and need to get to reading the book I have on her by Margaret George. She is an intriguing woman and I would like to know more about her. The bad thing about this book is that very little ever happens. There is little dialogue. It is told in different chapters from each of the above characters view points. Other than George falling in love with Mary little happens. She is moved around from place to place constantly being told she will be freed and that she will never be freed. Bess I think was a woman before her time. She ran the households and managed all the lands and knew to the penny how much money she and George made and how much money it cost to keep an imprisoned Queen happy. I really wish I would have liked the book more but it was just lacking. For true historical fans only.

I started this yesterday afternoon and finished it last night One good thing about Patterson's books are they are very fast reads and I think they were written in much the same way . He and Howard sit down one afternoon and write a story. A very short story. They are almost implausible in their thinking. The sailboat in this book takes off from New Port Rhode Island and in practically no time at all they are in the Bahama's! It is all pretty much far fetched and is hardly worth the $27.99 asking price for hard back book. It would be good in paperback at $4.99 for a quick beach read or a 4-6 hour airplane ride. I wish Mr. Patterson would just take sometime and write a real book again. He must have more than enough money now and why he keeps putting out this drivel is beyond me. Read if you are a fan but only from the library or a used paperback.