November 1, 2019 – Gwendalyn’s Books

Hello Bookish Friends

Are you ready for a little Christmas Romance?

Today I’m really excited to be taking part in the Book Tour of,

The Highlander’s Christmas Bride
by Vanessa Kelly which is being hosted by HFBT

The Highlander’s Christmas Bride
by Vanessa Kelly

Publication Date: October 29, 2019
Zebra Books
eBook & Paperback; 432 Pages

Series: Clan Kendrick, Book #2
Genre: Historical Romance/Scottish

In bestselling author Vanessa Kelly’s irresistible Clan Kendrick series, Christmas in the Highlands means family, celebration—and for one brother, the beginning of a passionate adventure . . .

Being thrown over by the man she expected to marry was humiliating enough. Now that Donella Haddon, grandniece of the Earl of Riddick, has also proven a failure as a nun, she has no choice but to return to her family’s estate. The brawny Highlander sent to escort her is brash, handsome, and the only thing standing between Donella and a gang of would-be kidnappers. But the scandal in her past can’t be so easily outrun . . .

Wealthy widower Logan Kendrick was expecting to meet a plain, pious spinster—not a gorgeous, sharp-tongued lass who can hold her own in any ambush. Though she’s known as the Flower of Clan Graham, Donella is no shrinking violet. In fact, she might be the perfect woman to bring happiness back to his lonely little son’s life, just in time for Christmas. But first he must protect her from ugly gossip and a mysterious threat—and convince her that their wild, unexpected desire is heaven sent.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound

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

Are you planning on reading any Christmas themed books this year and what are your weekend plans?

This was a great book to start the Christmas reading season off with.

The Highlander’s Christmas Bride by Vanessa Kelly is the second book in her exciting Clan Kendrick Series. Donella Haddon is known throughout Scotland as “The Flower of Clan Graham” for her beauty and charm. Rebellious, strong willed, Donella Haddon, grandniece of the Earl of Riddick, has also proven herself a failure as a nun, she is dismissed an must return to her family’s estate.

Swoon worthy, widowed businessman Logan Kendrick has offered Donnelly uncle to retrieve her from convent and bring her back to her family estate in order to gain favor with her uncle. The trip turns into a fabulous adventure as the pair encountered drama and kidnappers, and also along the way, found they were extremely attracted to each other. With the pair emotionally damaged from their past, neither of them feel worthy of love due to baggage they have carry around and secrets they have kept.

Engaging characters in this book are all so endearing and the enjoyable dialogue had me laughing in this rousing Scottish historical romance full of charm and adventures.

This book was faced paced that I literally inhaled in one day. A light- hearted, perfected romance, with charismatic delightful characters that keep you vested all the way through this page turner of a romance

The Highlander’s Christmas Bride can be enjoyed as a standalone, for a little backstory of the characters and the their adventures

I suggest also reading :

The Highlander’s Princess Bride (Victoria Knight & Nick Kendrick),

The Highlander Who Protected Me (Royal Kendrick & Ainsley Matthews),

How to Marry a Royal Highlander (Alec Gilbride & Eden Whitney).

About the Author

Vanessa Kelly is a USA Today Bestselling, award-winning author who was named by Booklist, the review journal of the American Library Association, as one of the “New Stars of Historical Romance.” Her Regency-set historical romances have been nominated in a number of contests, and she has won multiple awards, including the prestigious Maggie Medallion for Best Historical Romance. Her books have been published in nine languages.

Vanessa’s latest book, The Highlander Who Protected Me, was a USA Today, Barnes & Noble, and BookScan bestseller. Her Renegade Royals Series was a national bestseller, as was The Improper Princesses Series. My Fair Princess was named a Goodreads Romance of the Month and is a USA Today and BookScan bestseller. The Highlander’s Princess Bride, book 3 in the series, was a Barnes and Noble top 50 bestseller.

When she’s not dreaming of plots for her next Regency novel, Vanessa is writing USA Today Bestselling books with her husband, under the pen name of V.K. Sykes.

You can find Vanessa at vanessakellyauthor.com or at vksykes.com. For all of Vanessa’s latest news and contests–and to receive a free story–please sign up for her newsletter on her website. V.K. Sykes.

You can find Vanessa at vanessakellyauthor.com or at vksykes.com. For all of Vanessa’s latest news and contests–and to receive a free story–please sign up for her newsletter on her website.

Clan Kendrick Facebook Group | Facebook Author Page | Pinterest | Twitter | Goodreads

Blog Tour Schedule

Tuesday, October 29
Review at Coffee and Ink

Wednesday, October 30
Feature at A Book Geek
Review at So Many Books, So Little Time

Thursday, October 31
Review at Amy’s Booket List

Friday, November 1
Review at Gwendalyn’s Books
Excerpt at Donna’s Book Blog
Review at View from the Birdhouse

Saturday, November 2
Review at Fictitiouswonderland

Monday, November 4
Review at Nursebookie
Review at A Bookish Affair

Tuesday, November 5
Review at A Chick Who Reads
Review at Historical Fiction with Spirit

Wednesday, November 6
Review at Bookish Rantings
Interview at Jathan & Heather

Thursday, November 7
Review at Unabridged Chick
Guest Post at Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots

Friday, November 8
Excerpt at Maiden of the Pages
Review at Chicks, Rogues, and Scandals

Monday, November 11
Review at Jessica Belmont
Review at Stephanie’s Novel Fiction
Guest Post at What Is That Book About

Tuesday, November 12
Excerpt at The Lit Bitch
Review at Locks, Hooks and Books

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour, we are giving away signed copies of THE HIGHLANDER’S PRINCESS BRIDE and THE HIGHLANDER WHO PROTECTED ME + a $20 Amazon gift card! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.

Giveaway Rules
– Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on November 12th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Paperback giveaway is open internationally.
– 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 Highlander’s Christmas Bride
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Hello Bookish Friends

Today I’m really excited to be taking part in the Book Tour of, Bittersweet Tapestry
by Kevin O’Connell, which is being hosted by HFBT

Bittersweet Tapestry by Kevin O’Connell

Publication Date: November 1, 2019

Gortcullinane Press

eBook & Paperback

Series: The Derrynane Saga, Book Three

Genre: Historical Fiction

#BittersweetTapestry #KevinOConnell #HFVBTBlogTours

A dramatic decade has passed since sixteen-year-old Eileen O’Connell first departed her family’s sanctuary at remote Derrynane on the Kerry coast to become the wife of one of the wealthiest men in Ireland and the mistress of John O’Connor’s Ballyhar – only to have her elderly husband die within months of the marriage.

Unhappily returned to Derrynane, within a year, under the auspices of their uncle, a general in the armies of Maria Theresa, Eileen and her sister, Abigail departed for Vienna and a life neither could have ever imagined – one at the dizzying heights of the Hapsburg empire and court, where Abigail ultimately became principal lady-in-waiting to the Empress herself, whilst Eileen, for nine momentous years, served as governess to the Empress’s youngest daughter – during which time Maria Antonia, whom Eileen still calls ‘my wee little archduchess’, has become Marie Antoinette, dauphine of France, though she continues to refer to her beloved governess as “Mama”.

As Bittersweet Tapestry opens, it is the High Summer of 1770. Having escorted the future Queen of France from Vienna to her new life, Eileen and her husband, Captain Arthur O’Leary of the Hungarian Hussars, along with their little boy and Eileen’s treasured friend (and former servant) Anna Pfeffer are establishing themselves in Ireland.

Their ties to Catholic Europe remain close and strong; in addition to Abigail and her O’Sullivan family and General O’Connell, his wife and young daughter in Vienna, their brother Daniel is an officer in the Irish Brigade of the armies of Louis XV, whilst their youngest brother, Hugh, is studying at École Militaire in Paris, his path to a commission in the Dillons’ Regiment of the Brigade. His gentle Austrian friendship with Maria Antonia having inevitably waned, Hugh’s relationship with the strikingly-beautiful young widowed Princess Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy is blossoming.

Though happily ensconced at Rathleigh House, the O’Leary family estate in County Cork, being prominent amongst those families which are the remnants of the old Gaelic order in the area, Eileen and Art find that the dark cloud of the Protestant Ascendancy hovers heavily, at times threateningly, over them.

Bittersweet Tapestry is a tale of stark contrasts – between Hugh’s life of increasing prominence amidst the glitter and intrigue of the French court and Art and Eileen’s in English-occupied Ireland – especially as the latter progresses into a dark, violent and bloody tale . . . ultimately involving an epic tragedy, which along with the events leading up to it and those occurring in its dramatic wake, will permanently impact the O’Learys, the O’Connells – and their far-flung circle of family and friends in Ireland and across Europe.

With his uniquely-descriptive prose, Kevin O’Connell again deftly weaves threads of historical fact and fancy to create a colourful fabric affording unique insights into the courts of eighteenth-century Catholic Europe as well as English-ruled Ireland. As the classic story unfolds amongst the O’Learys, the O’Connells, their friends and enemies, the tumultuously-dangerous worlds in which they dwell will continue to gradually – but inexorably – become even more so.

Bittersweet Tapestry joins O’Connell’s well-received Beyond Derrynane and Two Journeys Home as The Derrynane Saga continues – an enthralling epic, presenting a sweeping chronicle, set against the larger drama of Europe in the early stages of significant – and, in the case of France – violent change.

Available on Amazon

Mr. O’Connell began the Derrynane Saga in 2014. His first book, Beyond
Derrynane: A Novel of Eighteenth Century Europe, was published in July 2016,
whilst the second, Two Journeys Home: A Novel of Eighteenth Century Europe was
released in November 2017. Both are in global circulation and have received
a range of positive critical reviews, in the United States, the United
Kingdom and Europe. Bittersweet Tapestry is the third of four projected
volumes.

The Saga has been described as being a sweeping, multi-layered story,
populated by an array of colourfully-complex characters, whose lives and
stories play out in a series of striking settings. Set against the drama of
Europe in the early stages of significant change, the book dramatizes the
roles which have never before been treated in fiction played by a small
number of expatriate Irish of the fallen Gaelic Aristocracy at the courts of
Catholic Europe. It is with Bittersweet Tapestry that O’Connell again focuses
in greater detail on their lives in English-occupied Ireland.

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

Bittersweet Tapestry, by Kevin O’Connell, is the third installment in The Derrynane Saga, set in the captivating times of the 18th century. Kevin O’Connell has way of pulling the reader into this wonderful depicted, turbulent times. The writing is absorbing the prose flows seamlessly.

What really stood out for me and what I really loved about this story was the compelling and emotional layered perspective views, and how they connected the story and the family. We see the the authors creative fictional side to the story interwoven historical details.

Kevin O’Connell again deftly weaves vibrant period details, and historical facts, along with his own creative fiction to create a compelling storyline with riveting insights into the courts of eighteenth-century Catholic Europe as well as English-ruled Ireland.

This epic family saga will catapults into lives the O’Learys, the O’Connells, during the dark sweeping events of the eighteen century. Wonderful fleshed out characters and captivating atmospheric details makes for unforgettable Book.

About the Author

Kevin O’Connell is a native of New York City and a descendant of a young officer of what had—from 1690 to 1792—been the Irish Brigade of the French army, believed to have arrived in French Canada following the execution of Queen Marie Antoinette in October of 1793. At least one grandson subsequently returned to Ireland and Mr. O’Connell’s own grandparents came to New York in the early twentieth century. He holds both Irish and American citizenship.

He is a graduate of Providence College and Georgetown University Law Centre.

For much of his four decades-long legal career, O’Connell has practiced international business transactional law, primarily involving direct-investment matters, throughout Asia (principally China), Europe, and the Middle East.

The father of five children and grandfather of ten, he and his wife, Laurette, live with their golden retriever, Katie, near Annapolis, Maryland.