It’s funny that I went to America and ended up buying a book about England, but it is what it is. I am always fascinated by myths and legends and thought that this book was going to be a history of how magic was treated throughout English history, and I was sort of right. The… Read More Book Review: The Book of English Magic by Philip Carr-Gomm & Richard Heygate
It’s been two years, but I found another book that is a better alternative to Murder by Candlelight. I previously recommended Savage Appetites, but while that was a great book, it was very narrowly focused on female fans of true crime, while A Very British Murder take a more general look at the development of… Read More Book Review: A Very British Murder by Lucy Worsley
I wanted more historical mysteries after reading The Lady Chapel, so I checked out Death at St. Vedast, a book that has been on my TBR list for a while! Death at St. Vedast starts with a suspicious suicide – a woman, who seems impervious to the cold, throws herself from a great height. Bianca,… Read More Book Review: Death at St. Vedast by Mary Lawrence
I first heard about The Tudors in Love when Sarah Gristwood went on the Medievalist podcast. The book intrigued me, so I decided to check it out! As you can guess from the title, The Tudors in Love is about love and the Tudors. To be specific, it’s about how the concept of courtly love… Read More Book Review: The Tudors in Love by Sarah Gristwood
“Throughout the centuries, lots of women have married princes. It is supposed to be the stuff that fairy tales are made of; a confection of dashing grooms and swooning brides and true love that conquers all. Needless to say, the reality was somewhat different.” From the introduction of The Wives of George IV Now that… Read More Book Review: The Wives of George IV by Catherine Curzon
I’d forgotten about Candace Robb for a bit, but after I read The Cross Legged Knight, I just had to read another one of the Kate Clifford Mysteries, another series by her. A Murdered Peace is the third book in the Kate Clifford series and it deals heavily with characters from the first two books.… Read More Book Review: A Murdered Peace by Candace Robb
I really enjoyed Shadow on the Crown, the first in the Emma of Normandy trilogy, so when I was offered a review copy of The Steel Beneath the Silk, I jumped at it. I even reread Shadow on the Crown to make sure everything was fresh in my head (it didn’t hurt that the British… Read More ARC Book Review: The Steel Beneath the Silk by Patricia Bracewell
After some pretty good experiences with other Alison Weir books, I was pretty confident in buying more of her biographies. I’ve read a bit about Isabella of France from Helen Castor’s book, She-Wolves, so I was excited to delve into the life of this fascinating woman. Born to a royal line, French Princess Isabella is… Read More Book Review: Queen Isabella by Alison Weir
How can I end the year without going back to one of my favourite series? While this isn’t a Christmas-themed book, the Fairacre series always warms my heart and it feels perfect for the holidays (and for stressful times, and for light reading times, etc). Village Affairs gives us another year of happenings in Fairacre.… Read More Book Review: Village Affairs by Miss Read
This is another one of my BookXcess books and I got it mainly because the idea of a history of neighbours sounded intriguing, even if it was about the idea of neighbours in England. Cheek By Jowl is a history of neighbourhoods and the idea of “neighbours” from thirteenth century to present day England. It… Read More Book Review: Cheek by Jowl by Emily Cockayne