The Queen Of Warriors

#TheQueenofWarriors #ZenobiaNeil #HFVBTBlogTours 

The Queen of Warriors
by Zenobia Neil

Publication Date: September 19, 2019
Hypatia Books
eBook & Paperback; 363 Pages

Series: Alexandra of Sparta, Book One
Genre: Historical Fantasy

 

Alexandra of Sparta vowed her sword and her heart to the goddess Artemis. And the goddess blessed her. But no warrior lives at peace, and soon, Alexandra loses her title, her troops, and all she holds dear, including the man who holds her heart.

Cursed by a Babylonian witch, she is forced to return to a city she once conquered to make amends, but is captured by the powerful Persian rebel, Artaxerxes. As his prisoner, she awaits judgment for her crimes. But Artaxerxes is not what he seems. With death approaching, Alexandra must face her violent past and discover the truth of her captor’s identity before it’s too late.

Available on Amazon

 “The Queen of Warriors is a full-blooded adventure into the ancient and mythological world of the warrior queen, Alexandra of Sparta. Imaginative, exciting, and alluring! -Margaret George, author of Helen of Troy

 “A surprising tale of retribution but also of redemption. Sexy yet thoughtful . . . unexpectedly moving.” -L.J. Trafford, author of The Four Emperor Series

A sizzling epic that will tempt you into the Hellenistic age. Neil s writing is smooth, and anyone would be hard-pressed not to fall in love with her kick-ass heroine, Alexandra of Sparta! -Adam Alexander Haviaras, Eagles and Dragons Publishing

TW: Adult Fiction

This book was received as an ARC from the Author, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own

Thank you to Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and the Author,

Alexander, The Queen of Warriors has conquered and risen to unimaginable heights with her army. To have it all comes crashing down and Alexandra finds herself broken and seeking forgiveness and all those she has lost.

She finds herself at the temple of the triple head Goddess Hecate, the keeper of the crossroads, the goddess of all witches.

Opening the gate of the underworld she realizes she has to go back to her beginnings to find the answers she seeks. It will not be an easy journey but she starts out in hopes of reaching a state free of the curse that haunts her.

The books well developed portrait of people and their actions during this time table was fabulous. The authors creating a mercenary leader as the main protagonist was so cleverly done. Alexander, Is one strong warrior Queen that is absolutely phenomenal.

Returning to a city she once conquered but Inevitably lost. To make atonement for her past sins.

Once there she is captured by the powerful Persian rebel, Artaxerxes, the Golden Lynx of Ghagae.

The Terror of East, a Greek woman mercenary, fighting for a Greet King. She is now bond and blindfolded waiting judgement for her crimes and atrocities she has committed against Persian subjects, and her own Spartan Generals.

Zenobia, delivers a compelling, intriguing, and well-written read here with absolutely fantastic characters that totally captivated and fascinated me. The strength of this novel handsdown is the author’s fabulous characterizations. This faced past twisty book will definitely have you guessing. The romance is dark and lustful, paring perfectly with the timeframe of when the story takes place.

Zenobia Neil, delivers once again a stunning masterly written novel that will catapult you into Hellenistic age. Bold, gripping, captivating,

About the Author

Zenobia Neil was named after an ancient warrior queen who fought against the Romans. She writes about the mythic past and Greek and Roman gods having too much fun. She lives with her husband, two children, and dog in Los Angeles. The Queen of Warriors is her third book.

Visit her at ZenobiaNeil.com. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, September 16
Review at Broken Teepee

Tuesday, September 17
Guest Post by Reading the Past

Wednesday, September 18
Excerpt at Bookish Rantings

Thursday, September 19
Review at Gwendalyn’s Books

Friday, September 20
Review at Passages to the Past

Monday, September 23
Review at Historical Fiction with Spirit

Tuesday, September 24
Excerpt at What Is That Book About

Wednesday, September 25
Review at History from a Woman’s Perspective

Thursday, September 26
Review & Guest Post at A Bookish Affair

Monday, September 30
Review & Excerpt at Clarissa Reads it All

Tuesday, October 1
Feature at I’m All About Books
Excerpt at Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots

Wednesday, October 2
Review at book frolic
Review at Al-Alhambra
Feature at CelticLady’s Reviews

Thursday, October 3
Excerpt at Coffee and Ink

Friday, October 4
Review at WTF Are You Reading?
Guest Post at Let Them Read Books

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour, we are giving away 2 eBooks and 2 paperbacks of Psyche Unbound and The Jinni’s Last Wish! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.

Giveaway Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on October 4th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to the US only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud will be decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner is chosen.

The Queen of Warriors
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Farewell My Life

#FarewellMyLife #CynthiaSallyHaggard #HFVBTBlogTours 

Farewell My Life
by Cynthia Haggard

Publication Date: April 7, 2019
eBook & Paperback; 586 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Angelina led a life which required her to fib. When Angelina, the black sheep of the Pagano family, meets the mysterious Mr. Russell, she has no idea that she has seen him before…in another country. And so begins Farewell My Life, a novel in three parts, which spins an operatic tale of dangerous love and loss.

The Lost Mother, the first part of this novel, slices back and forth between time and space, opening in the charming village of Georgetown, Washington D.C. while reflecting a family’s troubled past in the lovely village of Marostica in the Italian Veneto.

An Unsuitable Suitor, the second part of the novel, is a Cinderella-ish tale with not-so-charming princes who inhabit the edgy setting of 1920s Berlin.

Farewell My Life, the last part of the novel, set again in Berlin, Germany, during the dark 1930s as the Nazis gain power, takes comfortable lives, assumptions and civilizations and crumbles them into ash

Amazon | IndieBound

Praise for Farewell My Life

“A unique, deftly scripted, and extraordinary novel by an author with a distinctive narrative storytelling style that will hold the readers dedicated attention from beginning to end, “Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia” is an impressive and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections. One of those rare novels that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been finished.”–Mid-West Book Review

“The author knows her characters very, very well; this shows in the consistent and very individual way they act. This is not a plot-driven story; it’s character-driven. In this book, the characters are the jam which holds everything together. The best example of this is Grace, the talented violinist, who, simply, jumps off the page. I loved her.”–Wishing Shelf

“This is not your typical mystery; it’s for fans of thrilling action and historically­-inspired events…Contra to the status quo of the genre, the men are the romantics – though in a deranged manner – and the women showcased are the core strength of the novel.”–BookLife Prize.

“The author…adeptly summons the era in all its manners and details with her descriptive prose…Her omniscient, third-person narrator effectively flits through the heads of various characters, offering momentary glimpses of their inner lives.”–Kirkus Reviews

“I loved the elaborate descriptions of all the places in this book. This is the kind of book that shows instead of just telling. The characters are very well-developed and interesting to read about. Angelina is a fascinating character, as is Grace. Along the duration of the book, Grace learns a lot about herself. I was amazed by her quiet yet vibrant personality, and her brilliant talent.”–Pavani Mathur (The Voracious Bibliophile)

This book was received as an ARC from the Author, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own

Thank you to Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and the Author,

Farewell My Life is a coming of age period drama, the book is set in between World War I and World War II.

Written in third person narration the author has creatively set the novel into three distinctive parts. The opening of the book is set in Georgetown, Washington DC

Angelina, a single mother to Violent and Grace is the black sheep of the Pagano family. She does not follow the norm. Her morals are questionable to say the least. A chance meeting she finds introducing handsome Nicholas Russell to her daughters. This sets in motion some dramatic events, when Mr. Russell attention toward Angelina’s youngest daughter Grace is unnerving and slowly he becomes sinisterly obsessive…. Grace, Angelina’s younger daughter, whose fabulous talent for the violin promises a shimmering career, takes her from the states to the turbulent political climate leading up to the beginning World War II Berlin Exquisitely written with vibrant characters This book has left a lasting impression on me. The storyline captivated me, and held my attention with interesting content.

The author has masterly written a heartfelt, moving, powerful, thought-provoking, book A book that is definitely going to be a reread for me, the writer’s voice is so captivating. I really enjoyed the well researched content historical events interwoven with fictional characters.

Farewell My Life is one of THREE books awarded the “Best Books” honor in Historical Fiction for the National Association of Book Entrepreneurs (NABE) Pinnacle Award.

A little History

The book contains the story of the Oster Conspiracy, one of about 20 attempts to assassinate Hitler between 1934 and 1944

The Oster Conspiracy (German Septemberverschwörung, eng. September Conspiracy) of 1938 was a proposed plan to overthrow German Führer Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime if Germany went to war with Czechoslovakia over the Sudetenland. It was led by Generalmajor Hans Oster, deputy head of the Abwehr and other high-ranking conservatives within the Wehrmacht who opposed the regime for behavior that was threatening to bring Germany into a war that they believed it was not ready to fight.[1] They planned to overthrow Hitler and the Nazi regime through a storming of the Reich Chancellery by forces loyal to the plot to take control of the government, who would either arrest or assassinate Hitler, and restore the exiled Wilhelm II as Emperor.

About the Author

Cynthia graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, Cambridge MA, in June 2015.

Her first novel, Thwarted Queen, a frustrating tale (hence the title) of Lady Cecylee Neville (1415-1495) who was nearly crowned Queen of England, was shortlisted for many awards, including the 2012 Eric Hoffer New Horizon Award for debut authors. To date, sales have surpassed 38,000 copies.

Her forthcoming novel, Farewell My Life, is a Cinderella-ish tale with not-so-charming princes who inhabit the edgy setting of 1920s Berlin.

When she’s not annoying everyone by insisting her fictional characters are more real than they are, Cynthia likes to go for long walks, knit something glamorous, cook in her wonderful kitchen, and play the piano. You can visit her at www.spunstories.com. You can also find Cynthia on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, September 9
Interview at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, September 10
Feature at Books In Their Natural Habitat

Thursday, September 12
Excerpt at A Darn Good Read

Friday, September 13
Excerpt at Maiden of the Pages

Monday, September 16
Review at girl-who-reads

Tuesday, September 17
Feature at Beth’s Book Nook Blog

Wednesday, September 18
Review at Locks, Hooks and Books

Thursday, September 19
Review at Gwendalyn’s Books

Saturday, September 21
Excerpt at Broken Teepee

Monday, September 23
Feature at The Book Junkie Reads

Tuesday, September 24
Review at Unabridged Chick

Friday, September 27
Excerpt at Coffee and Ink

Sunday, September 29
Review at Reading is My Remedy

Monday, September 30
Interview at Unabridged Chick

Saturday, October 5
Review at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, October 8
Feature at I’m All About Books

Wednesday, October 9
Excerpt at Chicks, Rogues and Scandals
Excerpt at Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour, we are giving away two eBooks of FAREWELL MY LIFE! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.

Giveaway Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on October 9th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to the US only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud will be decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner is chosen.

Farewell My Life
https://js.gleam.io/e.js

Releases Day

The Immortal City

Anxiety, Yoga Poses, and the Lost City of Atlantis: Author Amy Kuivalainen Gets Up Close and Personal With Her Characters and the Inspiration Behind Her New Fantasy Release THE IMMORTAL CITY

The Immortal City is out in the world at last! I wanted to share a bit of background and inspiration for the main players in The Immortal City, Penelope and Alexis. Don’t worry, I’m going to make these as spoiler free as possible, while giving you a bit of insight into who they are and how they wandered into my brain and developed into the characters you’ll meet in the book.

Penelope Bryne started as a panic attack.

I had been thinking about writing an Atlantis book for a while, and having a female archaeologist as my protagonist, and I’d been working for universities/academia and had an insight into the daily struggles but didn’t have a feel for her just yet. Then life got in the way.

I’m not a sharer, but I’m comfortable enough to say I was not in a good place anxiety wise in early 2017. My workplace wasn’t a healthy one so I knew that it needed to change, and I was locked into a contract until May and thought I could keep it together and wait it out. In April, I started having public panic attacks. In restaurants that were too crowded, on the train going home from work etc and then as I sat holding in tears in the bathroom of a stranger’s house, at a party I’d been convinced to go to…there was Penelope. Anxiety filled and in the darkest place, feeling like a failure and unable to even control her own mind and body.

I started writing her, and I felt like if I could write a character and how she dealt with her anxiety, maybe I could figure out my own. Pen was doing yoga and meditation, so I got back into it and man, has it helped on so many levels. I’m not saying Penelope is a reflection of me, or that her triggers are the same, but writing her struggles as I went through my own was therapeutic. It still is. I wanted a character who had the panic attacks and anxiety, but still got up and did what she had to and manage it as best as she could. I wasn’t thinking of an audience at the time I planned and wrote The Immortal City, I was thinking how as a reader I don’t see people with anxiety being the heroes. Yeah, sure, there are some that I’ve found where the character has anxiety, but it tends to mysteriously get cured pretty early on when they find the right man/place they belong/the ‘source’ of their anxiety like magical interference. I’m going to tell you right now—Penelope’s anxiety doesn’t go away through the whole series because you don’t get cured of that shit, you only learn to manage it.

Penelope has an impossible dream—to find the historical Atlantis. This dream has shaped her life in all aspects as a daughter, an academic and as a woman. It’s impacted her relationships and drives her waking moments. I wanted a character to get a glimpse of achieving that dream and having it taken away, her hard work and research panned, and her grant money gone. I work in a creative industry, so I know a little bit about having the impossible dream, especially when it gets trodden on. I was also working closely with academics and seeing firsthand how they spend so much of their professional life trying to get grants, publish articles and get recognition for the work that they do and have the means to continue it. I’ve seen people burst into tears when they’ve been denied grant funding because it means they have to leave their research and go back to teach in order to pay the bills. I’m not saying that there’s something wrong with teaching or it’s a lesser vocation because it’s not, but I wanted to share this side of academia because you never see Lara Croft or Robert Langdon being forced to say no to an adventure because they don’t have the cash or means of obtaining it.

Penelope is absolutely the kind of person obsessed with her dream enough to leave her holiday to go to Venice because something pertaining to her research has turned up at a crime scene. While I don’t like to inflict talk of ‘themes’ onto readers, obsession in all its forms plays a big part in the Magicians of Venice series, and nearly every single character in is obsessed with something.

Okay, I don’t think I can say tooooo much more about Pen without giving out spoilers apart from adding she’s an Aussie and an only child. For a bit of fun, I’ve created a yoga flow for her that you can find below. It’s not intensive, as she uses yoga to calm down, and I’ve enjoyed putting this one together for anyone who’s interested.

FYI: I’m not a yoga teacher, this is for fun, please practice safely.  

 

• Mountain

• Forward Fold

• Plank

• Upward Dog

• Downward Dog

• Warrior 2

• Reverse Warrior

• Crescent pose

• Mountain

 

(seven rounds, three breaths per pose)

Developing Penelope and Alexis was night and day by way of process, but I love them both like crazy. They’ve really pushed me as a writer and have helped me through the last few years of anxiety and growth.

I hope you love them as much as I do!

Alexis Donato started as a dream.

Before I had Penelope, I had Alexis. Penelope made me work to see her character and her motivations clearly, Alexis was a god damn freight train of ‘Here I am. Try to understand me at your peril. No, I’m not changing because you want me gentler, or easier, or less complicated.’ Alexis turned up in a dream, in fact a bunch of dreams. And yes, I know how lame this sounds, and yes, just because I had a cool dream doesn’t mean it makes a cool story. Dreams can be pretty bullshit but bullshit fertilises.

Dream 1, came about as all of the Atlantis and research primordial ooze was percolating in my brain. In the dream I knew I was someone else. I wasn’t *me* but I was in Venice at night and someone stepped from the shadows and stabbed me as I was admiring the view from a bridge. I toppled into a canal and when I came to, I was in a stranger’s house and that stranger was Alexis, who told me he was a magician from Atlantis. For those who’ve read The Immortal City this scene may seem familiar although not in this form. It’s because I couldn’t leave this moment out of it. Alexis had arrived and I woke up thinking I really shouldn’t eat so much before bed, but this character refused to go away. The following week I had about three different dreams including having coffee with him in the San Marco piazza. The bastard wouldn’t leave me alone and I knew in my bones I had one of my main characters. The weird thing was, once I had Alexis, every bit of random research I had scattered through notebooks all clicked into place. He was the keystone, the spider in the web, and the plot connected in the most surprisingly creepy way. Writing this series has been like that from day 1 and even now I’m in my third book things keep connecting randomly.

Alexis is a great character and one of the most fun I’ve ever gotten to write. I love writing about magicians and magic in general, so building the myth of Atlantis up around Alexis and the other magicians was such a blast. His duty has been to protect the other magicians and prevent mankind from learning the truth about Atlantis, so you can imagine him butting heads with Penelope who’s determined to discover the truth. He’s a general, a big brother, a son and he does his best to keep the other magicians in line. I really loved being able to use him as my storyteller, and crafting mini stories and memories was a way I could go to Atlantis without losing the book completely to full fantasy territory. Alexis has lived a LONG time, and there’s so much room as a writer to play with and use to develop layers and motivations.

I recently saw a reviewer describe Alexis as ‘part romance, part violence’ and its pretty spot on. He’s a scholar and a warrior. He doesn’t always play well with others but he’s loyal and fierce and damn charming when he wants to be. I’m shamelessly in love with Alexis. I’ve also created him a yoga flow because the poor guy has a lot on his hands.

 

Alexis’s ‘I’m Trying Not to Murder These Magicians’ Yoga Flow

 

• Mountain

• Forward Fold

• Plank

• Upward Dog

• Downward Dog

• Warrior 2

• Reverse Warrior

• Crescent pose

• Mountain

 

(seven rounds, three breaths per pose)

 

Developing Penelope and Alexis was night and day by way of process, but I love them both like crazy. They’ve really pushed me as a writer and have helped me through the last few years of anxiety and growth.

I hope you love them as much as I do

About the author:

Amy Kuivalainen is a Finnish-Australian writer who is obsessed with magical wardrobes, doors, auroras and burial mounds that might offer her a way into another realm. Until that happens, she plans to write about monsters, magic, mythology and fairy tales because that’s the next best thing. Amy is the author of The Magicians of Venice series, The Firebird Fairytales Trilogy and The Blood Lake Chronicles series that mash up traditional tales and mythology in new and interesting ways.

 

About The Immortal City

Dr. Penelope Bryne is ridiculed by the academic community for her quest to find the remnants of Atlantis, but when an ancient and mysterious script is found at a murder site, she flies to Venice determined to help the police before the killer strikes again.

 

Read an excerpt of The Immortal City

https://issuu.com/bhcpress/docs/immortal_city_a_kuivalainen

 

Praise for The Immortal City

“Fans of fantasy, murder mysteries, and romance will admire Kuivalainen’s skill…” —Publishers Weekly

“Magic. Mystery. The Lost City of Atlantis. What more could you want? Amy Kuivalainen has truly impressed me with the amount of research that went into this book. Her approach to explaining the theory of Atlantis is unique and captivating.” —The Book Lyst

 

“…a rapid-paced, suspenseful, gripping, well-written and perfectly executed fictional fantasy/ thrilling murder mystery.” —LuluinHollywood.com

 

“…an exciting and page turning novel which draws from many influences to create a new take on the Legend of Atlantis.” —Crime Classics

 

“…combines both present day Venice and the myth of Atlantis flawlessly. Full of mystery, danger, intrigue, magic, and romance… I anxiously await the next installment.” —Just Jaime’s Reviews

 

“I loved this new take on the lost city [of Atlantis]. The addition of magicians was brilliant. The heroine was smart and strong…the book was filled with magic and took a legend and [turned it on its head] in a wonderful way.” —The Book Dragon

 

“…diligently brings the real world into fantasy, in a breath-taking way.”  —Radzy Writes and Reviews

 

What’s next in The Magicians of Venice series

The thrilling story of Penelope and Alex continues in Sea of the Dead, book two of The Magicians of Venice series, available fall 2020 from BHC Press.

 

For more information on The Immortal City, including where to purchase and a free digital promo pack with posters, visit her publisher’s website.