One would think an insurmountable TBR would deter perusal of the New Release Lists, but I am living proof such logic doesn't hold. My Kindle is overflowing, my nightstand is stacked, and I am still plotting how to get my hands on these April 2024 releases. Lucky for me, four of these titles already have hold options at my local library. It is going to take a few weeks, but I anticipate access to All We Were Promised, The Stone Home, American Daughters, and The Titanic Survivor's Book Club in the near future.  Your Presence is Mandatory is not in my library's catalog yet, but I did suggest ..read more

As December draws to a close, I find my mind wandering to the new year. I don't know what goals I want to set myself just yet or what challenges I might commit to, but my pre-orders offer some insight into what I'm most looking forward to. ⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ The Briar Club by Kate Quinn The New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code returns with a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse during the McCarthy era. Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-h ..read more

Welcome to Historical Fiction Reader Dionne. It’s a pleasure to have you with us. To start things off, please tell us a bit about Running With the Wind. Hi Erin. I’m thrilled to be a guest on your blog today. Thank you for having me! Running With The Wind is a love story and adventure set aboard the famous Mayflower voyage of 1620. Jedediah Trelawney is on the run. After performing a good deed, he is rewarded with a passage to America on the Mayflower but is ill-prepared for the dreadful conditions aboard and the violent storms that ravage the ship. Struggling to adapt to life at sea, J ..read more

DESCRIPTION:  A powerful, engrossing story of a biracial heiress who escapes to Paris when the Haitian Revolution burns across her island home. But as she works her way into the inner circle of Robespierre and his mistress, she learns that not even oceans can stop the flames of revolution. Sylvie de Rosiers, as the daughter of a rich planter and an enslaved woman, enjoys the comforts of a lady in 1791 Saint-Domingue society. But while she was born to privilege, she was never fully accepted by island elites. After a violent rebellion begins the Haitian Revolution, Sylvie and her brother ..read more

Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads Welcome to Historical Fiction Reader Christopher. It’s a pleasure to have you with us. To start things off, please tell us about THE ROMANOV EMPRESS. The Romanov Empress tells the story of Maria Feodorovna, mother of Tsar Nicholas II. Known in her family as Minnie and born as Princess Dagmar of Denmark, she wed into the Romanov dynasty and became tsarina, then Dowager Empress when her son took the throne. Minnie bore extraordinary witness to the final years of the Romanovs, living through the last three reigns, including her husband’s and son ..read more

Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads Welcome to Historical Fiction Reader Heather. It’s a pleasure to have you with us. To start things off, please tell us about THE PHANTOM'S APPRENTICE. Thank you for having me! The Phantom’s Apprentice is a re-imagining of The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, complete with a historical context of the period—illusionists, spiritualism, what it means after we die, music as a means to find one’s inner power, Belle Epoque Paris in all its glory. It’s a sort of mash-up of genres, really; suspense, historical fiction, romance, women’s fictio ..read more

DESCRIPTION:  In this re-imagining of Phantom of the Opera, meet a Christine Daaé you’ve never seen before… Christine Daaé sings with her violinist father in salons all over Paris, but she longs to practice her favorite pastime—illusions. When her beloved Papa dies during a conjurer’s show, she abandons her magic and surrenders to grief and guilt. Life as a female illusionist seems too dangerous, and she must honor her father’s memory. Concerned for her welfare, family friend Professor Delacroix secures an audition for her at the Opéra de Paris—the most illustrious stage in Europe. Y ..read more

Official Website | Blog | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads Welcome to Historical Fiction Reader Lynn. Great to have you with us. To start things off, please tell us a bit about MRS. POE.Told through the eyes of Poe’s lover, poet Frances Osgood, Mrs. Poe traces the rise and fall of the mysterious author the year after he wrote ‘The Raven’ in 1845. What inspired you to write this story? Where did it begin? It all began with trauma in my own life. The week that I heard that the book that I’d been working on for 18 months wouldn’t be published, my husband, who’d been unemployed for a year, came ..read more

DESCRIPTION:  A vivid and compelling novel about a woman who becomes entangled in an affair with Edgar Allan Poe—at the same time she becomes the unwilling confidante of his much-younger wife. It is 1845, and Frances Osgood is desperately trying to make a living as a writer in New York; not an easy task for a woman—especially one with two children and a philandering portrait painter as her husband. As Frances tries to sell her work, she finds that editors are only interested in writing similar to that of the new renegade literary sensation Edgar Allan Poe, whose poem, “The Raven” has ..read more

NOTES FROM THE MARGINS:  Yesterday marked the end of an era, but as news of the Queen's passing rippled around the world, my thoughts strayed to the history of the Windsors and the novels their lives have inspired. I began compiling a list, and as I finished, I was struck by how many of these books have shied away from the politics of empire. I wonder if that will change now that Elizabeth II is gone. Will it be easier to fictionalize now that her chapter has closed or will we continue to focus on landmark events and personal scandals? Only time will tell.  WINDSOR READING LIST ..read more