Monday 20 August 2018

Renaissance - The Fall and Rise of a King - Marla Skidmore

Renaissance: The Fall and Rise of a King

Title - Renaissance - The Fall and Rise of a King
Author - Marla Skidmore (Twitter)
ISBN - 9781912183296
Genre - Historical Fiction 
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Softcopy 
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US - Amazon CABarnes & Noble - Book Depository 


The Plain of Redemore, 22nd August 1485

Richard III - betrayed and defeated!
His gaze sweeps over the bloody carnage surrounding him. A cry goes up: "We have found the king!" He sees Henry Tudor standing triumphant over a mauled and battered corpse and hears him whisper, "It is done. England is mine."

How can this be, when he is not dead?

With the help of his celestial mentor Father Gilbert, a Franciscan monk, Richard will learn that malign Tudor propaganda has not reigned supreme and that history did not entirely paint him as the child-killer king.

Will he grasp the chance of renaissance and exit the spiritual purgatory that has held him hostage for more than half a millennium?


"After Tewkesbury I murdered Henry VI and his son Edward Lancaster. I executed my brother Clarence - drowning him in a butt of Malmsey. I usurped England's throne to which i had no right. I killed my nephews. I poisoned my wife in order to incestuously marry my niece. My place in history is amongst the most reviled and evil villain's that ever existed. How can someone whose reputation is so mired in infamy find peace in heaven?"
Quote from Chapter 6 page 42

So first off let me start by saying that i am not a huge fan of Richard III and my opinion of him isn't the greatest since Henry VII is my personal favourite King in England's history but this book made me like Richard, with the way this book is written Skidmore tells the tale of a new version with Richard looking back on the few years he was King. 

Richard in this book kind of reminds me of the Richard from horrible histories (If you don't know what i am talking about click here) he has compassion, and he is not the monster that is mostly portrayed in books and TV, don't get me wrong i still am a firm believer that the best person won on the day but now i can understand Richard a bit more than i did before. 

The development of Richard's character was really good, he starts of this downtrodden, sad, and then he grows as he learns of his fate, i enjoyed this book immensely i love Marla Skidmore's writing she has a way with words that make you need to read more and more and not put the book down i was gripped from the very first page and it had me all the way to the end. 

This book is a true and wonderful Historical Fiction, it isn't filled with fairy tales, it isn't filled with boring facts and written like a biography, it is written in a way that is very hard to do, and my only complaint was that it is only 171 pages long, i wished it had been longer maybe to 250 pages but other than that i loved this book, and i cannot wait to read more of Skidmore's writing. I am so glad i went to the Bosworth Anniversary Weekend and found this Author and her book because it has become one of my favourites from this particular era and i can't wait for the next book which i believe is about Sir Francis Lovell, but for now if Historical fiction is something that you enjoy then you will enjoy this book completely and i highly recommend it. 

Until Next Time 
Happy Reading 

Jade 
🌹🌹🌹🌹
(there was no white roses)




Thursday 19 July 2018

Every Time We Fall In Love - Bella Andre

Title - Every Time We Fall In Love
Author - Bella Andre 
Series - The Sullivans #12
Genre - Contemporary / Romance 
ISBN - 9781945253746
My Copy - Purchased 
Format - Kindle
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads  - Amazon UK - Amazon US - Amazon CA - Barnes & Noble - Indigo - IBooks
Harry Sullivan has always put his family first, even when it meant losing Molly—his one true love. He’s never been able to forget her, even after fifteen years. Now that his siblings are all blissfully happy, Harry hopes it’s not too late for his own happily-ever-after. But then his doorbell rings…and one look at the teenage girl standing on his doorstep changes absolutely everything.

Molly never thought she’d see Harry Sullivan again, so she's beyond stunned when her fifteen-year-old daughter brings him back into her life. At eighteen, Harry was already strong, sexy, and honourable. And now that he's even more handsome, more brilliant, more loyal and caring? Molly can't stop herself from falling in love with him all over again. Especially when his kisses and the sizzling attraction between them are hotter than ever.

But with more at stake now than they ever thought possible, will they be able to move beyond the mistakes they both made in the past, and fall in love forever this time?

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

So I have loved the Sullivan series for many years now and that hasn't changed at all, even with my reading slump I still managed to keep up with this series and it is a series that I can just read it isn't full of drama and angst that makes me want to put the book down it is light-hearted and the characters are written in a way that you end up letting them into your heart and you will never let them go.

This is the twelfth book all-round but it is in the New York Sullivans subcategory, we have had the San Francisco Sullivans, the Seattle Sullivans and this is the last book in the New York Sullivans next we have the Maine Sullivans and then I believe it will finish with the London Sullivans but I am not sure, I don't think I will ever get bored of these books they are such light quick reads and they never fail to put a smile on my face. 

Harry is someone I would connect to in real life he loves History and Books and jousts in his spare time he is literally my dream man and so I have been waiting for his book and it didn't disappoint. Harry and Molly's story starts 16 years before the book starts and they were collage sweethearts but things happened and they didn't see each other until Molly's daughter gets involved. We see some of the family and we hear about a few more but this was a very small character base compared to a lot of the other books in this series and for me it fit well with this book because everything was quaint from the little cottage to the beautiful dog, and the beautifully wrapped up storyline at the end of this book. That is another thing I love about this series is each family has its own problems and in the end they always come out stronger no matter how many years it takes. 

I cant say much about the character development in this book without spoiling too much because the biggest character development happened in the climax and it is such a moving part that I don't want to spoil it but I will say if you have read any of the other New York Sullivans books you will also love this development it wrapped this part of the saga perfectly. 

So overall, it is a very good addition to this amazing series and I would recommend these books to anyone who loves a light quick read and has time to become hooked to the Sullivans because it is very hard to resist them.

Until Next Time 
Happy Reading 

Jade

📕📗📘📙


July 2018 TBR

Hi, so I have been in a reading slump for over two years and it has got to the point where I have actually gotten rid of the majority of my books because I couldn't bear to look at them so now I have decided to do something about it and give myself a book a week to read so here are the four books I have chosen for July....

Magnus Chase and the Ship of The Dead - Rick Riordan

I have been reading this book since it came out last October but I never got around to finishing it.

The Ship of the Dead.jpg



Anne Boleyn: A Kings obsession - Alison Weir


I want to finish reading this book, and then the next before October as I am going to the Authors talk about the next book in this series. 





Save the Date - Morgan Matson

I pre-ordered this book but I just haven't had the urge to pick it up yet hopefully soon as I enjoyed all of Matson's other books.


Learn About Loss - Cassandra Clare

I have really gotten into this series of novella's and I seem to always be able to read Clare's books even with my reading slump.



So that is all the books I plan to read this month so ....


Until Next Time
Happy Reading

Jade

📕📗📘📙

Sunday 15 July 2018

Introducing Me


Hello, so I have been so inactive on this blog for such a long time and I am very sorry about that, but in that time I have changed my name to my original name so I am no longer going through a pseudonym of Peyton Fox I am using my real name which is Jade O'Brien nothing else about me was a lie I am in my early twenties and I am from London so my name was the only thing I changed about myself and at the end of my posts from now on I will have my name instead of Peyton. 

Why did I use a pseudonym?

To be honest, I started this blog when I was 18 but I wasn't confident in myself and I wanted to hide behind my blog so I used a name that I loved from a old favourite TV show called One Tree Hill and the last name was just one that was quite common.

Why stop using it?

I am now 23 and much more confident in myself and I just didn't want to hide behind Peyton anymore she wasn't really any different from myself but behind her I felt like I could be true to myself without feeling awkward about reviewing books. 

What's going to change? 

Nothing except my name at the bottom of the posts and I am going to make a schedule and I am going to stick to it. I will start uploading again, because I really missed this blog so much and since I started writing this I didn't realise how much.

So Until Next Time 
Happy Reading 

Jade O'Brien
📚📚📚


Monday 5 February 2018

Love Me Like This - Bella Andre Review


Title - Love Me Like This 
Author - Bella Andre
Series - The Morrison's #3
ISBN9781945253393
Genre - Contemporary Romance 
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Kindle
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Barnes & Noble - Indigo - Amazon UK - Amazon US - Amazon CA - IBooks
 Eight years have passed since Justin Morrison first laid eyes on Taylor and fell head over heels in love with her, even though he knew she could never be his. He's tried everything he can to get over her--including moving to another country--but she's still the only woman he'll ever want. 

Eight years is a heck of a long time to secretly love someone. Taylor knows all too well how impossible it is to forget a man as sexy, sweet, and brilliant as Justin Morrison. So when he turns up on the doorstep of her Napa Valley bed and breakfast, she can't help but long for the happily-ever-after of her dreams.

As Taylor and Justin spend beautifully romantic mornings together watching the sun rise over the vineyards--and can't help but fall into each other's arms on wickedly sexy nights--it looks like they might finally get their chance at the love they've been waiting for. But will the secret Taylor has been keeping shatter everything in the end?
DISCLAIMER ******* THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THE SERIES.

It  has been a long time since a book from this series was released the previous book was released in 2015 so it took me a few chapters to reacquaint myself with the characters but even when i did it did not matter too much since we don't really see much of the rest of the the Morrison family. 
Remembering the other books you could tell from those that this was going to be one of the books but after i finished reading it i didn't get the same feeling as i normally do reading one of Andre's books, it was still good but it felt different. 

If you have read any of this type of genre before you know how these books go, it is pretty much a given that you will know what normally happens, boy and girl fall in love, then something happens to tear them apart, then at the end of the book they end up together. This book is different from that and i actually really appreciate that, i feel as if every new adult/adult romance book has the same story lay out and it has gotten boring in recent months. The characters are your typical romance characters, but you can overlook it, when the story is a bit different you don't feel as if you have read this book before. 

Taylor and Justin are nice characters and they carry the story and since for most of it, it is just them and some background characters you really do get to know them and get invested in them and if you have read the Sullivan Series from Andre then you will recognise the Napa Valley area from that series, and some of the characters.

Bella Andre is one of my Auto-buy Authors and so even though i didn't enjoy this book as most if her others it doesn't mean it was not worth the read, Andre has such a way with words that it doesn't really matter in any case, and even though i did not particularly enjoy this book i do recommend Andre as an Author and you should check her books out they are rather addictive to read.  

Until Next Time
Happy Reading


Wednesday 24 January 2018

Explanation


Hello, i am back once again, but this time i feel as if i owe you all an explanation. So i have let this blog go to the back burner because i have been really busy self-publishing my first book and writing and editing the second, i do not talk about it on this blog because i started this blog in 2013, when i was 18 but i didn't feel comfortable using my real name. So i used a pseudonym, but i have self published my book using my real name even though i am fine with sharing my real name, i do want to keep this blog and my book separate.

But i feel as if i have worked out a system for doing everything, the writing will always come first but i always seem to have at least a week of doing nothing after i finish all i have to do, so i am going to pre write a lot of my posts, and then i will only have a few to do during the month. 

So i will be uploading Monday's, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

Until Next Time
Happy Reading