For July—a time of revolution in both the US and France – we’ll take a fresh look at the woman who caused a religious revolution in England: the controversial, much-maligned, much-misunderstood Anne Boleyn. Most stories focus on the drama that begins when Anne returns to England and catches the eye of King Henry VIII. In this first of two volumes, MADEMOISELLE BOLEYN, Robin Maxwell concentrates instead on Anne’s early life, when she accompanies her father and sister Mary to France.  Maxwell postulates that as a diplomat whose true mission was to spy on the French court, Thomas Boleyn encouraged his daughter Mary’s affairs, particularly with King Francois.  Maxwell shows an initially innocent young Anne learning from prominent intellectuals of the day, interacting with Leonardo da Vinci himself, and observing with increasing acuity the role a woman’s beauty and desirability could play in advancing the ambitions of herself and her family. The dismissive treatment her sister received after playing her part cannot help but have inspired the intelligent, politically and sensually savvy Anne to withhold her favors for six long years, until Henry was willing to make her a wife and a queen instead of just a mistress. But the focus…

Heavens to Murgatroyd, but it’s hot! (And in case you’re wondering, “where did that crazy expression come from?” I don’t know. I look it up, and then I promptly forget again; both the expression and the forgetting are sadly age-related!) And since it’s hot just about everywhere (I heard Australia finally got a bit of cold weather, but even their winter’s been unseasonably warm), I’m safe in suggesting we all just stay inside with a good book. Fortunately, there are SO MANY wonderful books to choose from! First off, another winner from the incomparable duo, Christina Lauren. THE PARADISE PROBLEM will whisk you out of your cranky summer doldrums and plant you in the middle of an island paradise where the days are warm, the nights cool, the sand shimmering white and smooth, and every delicacy imaginable at hand in the resort kitchens. And yes, you have your choice of every conceivable variety of massage in the spa, as well. Darn those talented writers for making me so jealous! (And did they have to do field research to write the book?!) But we’re obliged to forgive them because their story is so good. THE PARADISE PROBLEM is chock-full of tropes:…

Pride month is almost over, but it’s not too late to pick up some of these awesome paranormal and fantasy reads from LGBT authors!   A F/F coming of age romance that spans across two worlds and has high stakes! GHOST FLOWER by Jessica Conwell Come and see. Elodie Morne lives two lives. In one, she’s an eighteen-year-old high school student about to graduate, secretly in love with her best friend, Ezri, and unusual only by the standards of a banal world. In the other, she is the scion of the Outer Darkness, born of Cennend, the sentient nothingness from which all reality sprung. Determined to live as nothing more than an ordinary human, Elodie has done everything in her power to keep the two worlds apart. But forces from both conspire against her. When she discovers a secret society of elites attempting to break the bonds that have kept her “parent” imprisoned for millennia, Elodie is forced to commit an unspeakable act to save all of creation from the wrath of the darkness that birthed her. Now the consequences of her actions have ignited the dark heart of her town, turning the sleepy tourist community of Rook Lake into a war…

Summer is here!! I hope your summer is full of adventure, happy memories, and, of course, lots of great books! When I was a kid, I used to keep track of all the books I’d read over the summer. (Yep, you are looking at a former library summer reading competition champ right here!) I loved writing down the titles of all my books, and I would highlight the books that were particular favorites for me.  This summer, I decided to return to my childhood. Well, sort of return. I’m going to keep a log of all the books I read over the summer months. And I have a few that are already on my TBR list… First up, Rebecca Zanetti has a new series starting with ONE CURSED ROSE.  I love Rebecca’s writing, and this book promises to be a “dark romance” that I am sure to enjoy!  It’s described as being a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Ahem. I do adore Beauty and the Beast… Next on my list? Well, I want to vary things up a bit, so I think I’ll sink into a dark thriller. Jennifer Hunter’s THE LOST VICTIM looks deliciously dark and twisty, and…

Some royal, some talented, the women featured in this month’s stories inspire and fascinate.  Placed in exotic venues or inspired by momentous events, they fought to fulfill their dreams despite the restrictions and obstacles of their times and places. We begin with TIFFANY GIRL by Deeanne Gist.  Louis Tiffany, heir to the Fifth Street jewelry empire, plans to use the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair to showcase his unique stained-glass chapel.  When a glassworker’s strike threatens his vision, he recruits female students from the Art Students League of New York to complete his designs.  Eager to claim a career as a New Woman, to the dismay of her parents, Flossie James answers the call, moving to a boarding house where she encounters a range of people, from married couples to fellow glass workers to newspaper journalist Reeve Wilder.  As she masters her craft as a “Tiffany girl,” she must reconcile her new independence with her attraction to Reeve, who believes a woman belongs at home.  Full of fascinating details about the making of stained glass, Gist’s story also shows the growth of both Flossie and Reeve as they gain experience and change their visions of the world. We meet another woman…

Nice work, Julia London! That’s my call after reading the beloved author’s latest contemporary romance, NICE WORK, NORA NOVEMBER. Ms. London has been delighting readers for decades, and her newest book continues her run of providing a great plot to engage the reader’s interest along with characters who immediately grab our hearts. Nora November is a lawyer working at her father’s personal injury firm, but she’s never wanted to be there, and she feels like her life is out of control. She wakes in a hospital after literally dying for a short time during a surfing accident, and her near death experience provides the impetus she needs to finally stand up for her own wants and needs. Before “dying,” she met a man while being held hostage in a store robbery and finding him ends up on her “reverse bucket list.” Throughout the book and amidst interaction with a skillfully drawn array of secondary characters, Nora acknowledges and receives treatment for clinical depression, and the topic is explored with sensitivity and compassion. The minute I finished NICE WORK, NORA NOVEMBER, I had to control my urge to run to my bookshelves and pull out all of Ms. London’s earlier books….

Kristy Cambron is a bestselling, award-winning author of ten novels, including her latest, THE BRITISH BOOKSELLER, which received a well-deserved starred review from Publisher’s Weekly. I’m delighted she was able to join us here to chat about her new book, give us some insights into the motivation and methods behind her writing, as well as a tantalizing peek into what’s next for her. Marie Bostwick: Welcome, Kristy! And congratulations on the publication of your wonderful new novel, The British Booksellers! It’s a gripping and epic story of love, loss, and redemption that starts in 1908 and stretches over the course of two world wars. Given the timeline, there is a lot going on here, so can you please share a quick overview of the plot? Kristy Cambron: Thanks, and so glad to be here! This story has been beating on my heart for years—a story about the power of books to bring people together. It’s a “You’ve Got Mail”-inspired romance where booksellers (and former childhood friends/loves) must set aside their bookshop wars and come together for a higher purpose when a real war lands on their doorstep. Main characters Amos and Charlotte’s love story spans their lives, so it felt…

It’s that time.  A time that I have been eagerly anticipating. It is now—officially, in my mind, anyway!—beach reading season.  It’s the perfect season to curl up with a book. You can be on the beach, listening to the waves. Or you can be under a shady tree or by the pool…or inside with the AC! But you will have a book in hand, and you will be happy. What makes for a great beach read? Well, I like… Books that completely sweep me away. I need to get lost in my beach read. I want to look up from the book and be surprised that hours have passed. Steamy romance. I mean, come on! It’s the hot season. I need a hot book, too. Bring on the romance. I want to be fanning myself not just because of the temp around me, but because of what’s happening between the pages of my book. If I can’t be at a beach, then I love to read books set at the beach. Take me away to paradise! A happy ending. I need this in my beach reads. I want to finish the book with a smile on my face. I do…

As the winds of spring turn to summer, we look to the Middle Ages for this month’s round of stories.  “Uneasy is the head that wears the crown,” Shakespeare wrote, and along with illuminating a long-vanished world, these novels also vividly demonstrate the danger within the glamor of those whose blood ties them a little too closely to a throne. Proceeding chronologically, we begin with THE REBEL NUN by Marj Charlier, which sheds new light on fascinating and little-known sixth-century personality Clotild.  While a (not surprisingly) negative picture of the historic Clotild is painted in historian Gregory, Bishop of Tour’s, HISTORY OF THE FRANKS, which describes the “bloody rebellion” of thirty nine nuns led by Clotild, Charlier’s novel depicts the events as they might have been from Clotild’s point of view.  The illegitimate daughter of King Charibert I and potential heir to the throne (in a time where illegitimate children were not necessarily banned from inheriting,) Clotild joins the Monastery of the Holy Cross to protect her from the possibility of assassination.  Such recourse was not unusual; in an age where a woman’s choices were marriage, prostitution or the cloister, abbey walls sheltered many women not drawn there mainly by…

NEVER BLOW A KISS by debut author Lindsay Lovise came out this month, and it’s lovely. Imagine you’re somewhere you don’t belong, you’re trying to slip out without being caught, and your attention is caught by a gorgeous man himself obviously desperate to escape the clutches of an uninteresting spinster and her very determined mother. You catch his eye and smile in spite of yourself, and then you blow a kiss before making your escape. That’s how NEVER BLOW A KISS begins, and it’s non-stop fun, suspense, and shenanigans right through to its most satisfactory ending. Lovise has a contemporary paranormal scheduled for the fall, and I’m betting it’s going to be just as good. I found more fun, non-stop action in Carlie Walker’s THE TAKEDOWN. Sydney has convinced herself that it’s her demanding job with the CIA that has kept her from spending time with her sister and beloved grandmother, but might there be other factors at play? When she’s temporarily seconded by the FBI and told to report home to investigate her sister’s fiancé, she has no choice but to comply. And she has to do so without raising her sister’s suspicions OR those of her fiancé’s very…