A Book Geek

Fallen Masters by John Edward
Publication Date: September 18, 2012 by Tor Books
Source: borrowed from the library
Description from Goodreads:
What do you get if you combine William Young’s The Shack with Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons? The answer is Fallen Masters, by New York Times bestselling author John Edward.

In the near future, signs and portents have begun to appear that point to a rushing cataclysm.  Both political and religious world leaders see the patterns, and the scientific community confirm evidence of what they call “a dark matter” that is expanding into our universe, threatening the very fabric of our world. 


But it will not be governments or religions upon whose actions the fate of the world rests.  Rather it will be up to a small diverse group of men and women who will have to decide to use their free will to aid in the last great cosmic battle between good and evil as these apocalyptic forces clash—both here on Earth and on the Other Side.   

An internationally re…

The Queen's Vow by C.W. Gortner
Publication Date: July 2, 2013 by Ballantine Books
Source: review copy provided by publisher via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for an honest review

Synopsis:
No one believed I was destined for greatness.
So begins Isabella’s story, in this evocative, vividly imagined novel about one of history’s most famous and controversial queens—the warrior who united a fractured country, the champion of the faith whose reign gave rise to the Inquisition, and the visionary who sent Columbus to discover a New World. Acclaimed author C. W. Gortner envisages the turbulent early years of a woman whose mythic rise to power would go on to transform a monarchy, a nation, and the world.
Young Isabella is barely a teenager when she and her brother are taken from their mother’s home to live under the watchful eye of their half-brother, King Enrique, and his sultry, conniving queen. There, Isabella is thrust into danger when she becomes an unwitting pawn in a …

Gracianna by Trini Amador
Publication date: July 23, 2013 by Greenleaf Book Group Press
Source: Review copy provided by author/publisher via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for an honest reveiw
Synopsis:
The gripping story of Gracianna–a French-Basque girl forced to make impossible decisions after being recruited into the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied Paris.
Gracianna is inspired by true events in the life of Trini Amador’s great-grandmother, Gracianna Lasaga. As an adult, Amador was haunted by the vivid memory of finding a loaded German Luger tucked away in a nightstand while wandering his great-grandmother’s home in Southern California. He was only four years old at the time, but the memory remained and he knew he had to explore the story behind the gun.
Decades later, Amador would delve into the remarkable odyssey of his Gracianna’s past, a road that led him to an incredible surprise. In Gracianna, Amador weaves fact and fiction to tell his great-grandmother’s sto…

The Queen's Rivals by Brandy Purdy
Publication Date: June 25, 2013 by Kensington Books
Source: Review copy provided by publisher via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for an honest review
Synopsis:
Their ambitions were ordinary, but they were born too close to the throne…
As cousins of history’s most tempestuous queens, Ladies Jane, Katherine, and Mary Grey were born in an age when all of London lived beneath the Tower’s menacing shadow. Tyrannized by Bloody Mary and the Virgin Queen, the sisters feared love was unthinkable —and the scaffold all but unavoidable…
Raised to fear her royal blood and what it might lead men to do in her name, Mary Grey dreads what will become of herself and her elder sisters under the reigns of Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I. On their honor, they have no designs on the crown, yet are condemned to solitude, forbidden to wed. Though Mary, accustomed to dwelling in the shadows, the subject of whispers, may never catch the eye of a gentleman, her be…

City of Hope by Kate Kerrigan
Publication date: June 25, 2013 by William Morrow
Source: ARC provided by publisher via TLC Book Tours for an honest review
Synopsis:

The heartrending and inspiring sequel to Ellis Island, Kate Kerrigan’s City of Hope is an uplifting story of a woman truly ahead of her time
When her beloved husband suddenly dies, young Ellie Hogan decides to leave Ireland and return to New York, where she worked in the 1920s. She hopes that the city will distract her from her anguish. But the Great Depression has rendered the city unrecognizable. Gone are the magic and ambiance that once captured Ellie’s imagination.

Plunging headfirst into a new life, Ellie pours her passion and energy into running a refuge for the homeless. Her calling provides the love, support, and friendship she needs in order to overcome her grief—until, one day, someone Ellie never thought she’d see again steps through her door. It seems that even the vast Atlantic Ocean isn’t enough to keep …