Check out The Stolen Tears Series by Cortney Pearson #YoungAdult #Fantasy #Romance @XpressoTours

The complete series:

Tears are used to steal magic. Stolen magic equals slavery. I must take up the fight.

In an emotionless world, tears are a precious commodity, valued for their magic and sold on the black market. When I find a vial of these enchanted tears, it paints a target. The ruthless Arcaian soldiers use tears to steal magic, and now they're after me.

I can't defend myself against an army. My only chance of survival is aligning myself with a rogue soldier. Talon is rugged, battle-scarred, and full of heavily guarded secrets that keep us both in danger, but I can't help how drawn to him I am. But what happens when I discover his darkest secret of all?

With Talon's wavering allegiance, there’s no one I can trust. The tears have chosen me as their guardian, and I've got to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. If I fail, my people and their magic will be enslaved to the Arcaians forever.

If you like bold twists, riveting worldbuilding, and slow-sizzle romance, find out why readers are calling Chosen Guardian "magically delightful!"

Grab a copy HERE!

Truth is just a dream away.

Talon has been captured by the brutal Arcaian army. I'm the only one who can save him, but first I have to face my once-best-friend, Gwynn.

The minute Gwynn drank her enchanted tears, they changed her. She sided with the Arcaians. Now she'll stop at nothing to get the tears I'm protecting. I know a way to stop her, but it requires journeying into the world of dreams. I don't know much about it, but I've heard the dreamworld holds dangers beyond my wildest imagination.

And if I'm not careful, I may never wake up.

With intriguing characters, a complex world filled with magic, and romance that tugs on your heartstrings, readers love this alluring, dangerous, and provocative second installment in The Chosen Series.

Grab a copy HERE!

A treacherous game of destiny.

Talon must atone for his broken oaths and marry a woman he doesn't love or face banishment forever. While the thought of him marrying someone else rips me apart inside, I have bigger problems.

The cards the Seer gave me don't just divine my future. I found out they're part of a game of destiny, a long-lost access point that can help me gain command over an angelic army. An army powerful enough to wipe out an entire race.

I need that army to save my people.

The Arcaians intend to use that army to destroy them.

Which of us will win?

Emotions clash, worlds collide, and even the best intentions go wrong in this heart-pumping final installment in USA Today bestselling author Cortney Pearson's The Chosen Series.

Grab a copy HERE!

Only your allegiance matters.

Talon Haraway's place as leader of the Arcaian army is secure. He's settled into command and he has free reign of the Triad Palace, all while catching the eye of the pretty kitchen maid, Aria. Better still, the requirement of all soldiers--to steal magic from the emotionally deprived Itharians--is one that Talon has tactfully been able to avoid.

Until now.

When a new set of recruits arrives in Valadir, the last thing Talon expects is to have one of them redefine what he thought he wanted. Now with pressure from the Arcaian general, Tyrus Blinnsdale, to steal magic and prove he's truly one of them, Talon must decide who he wants to be and where his loyalty lies before it's too late.

Brimming with conflict and intrigue, go back to where it all started in USA Today bestselling author Cortney Pearson's The Chosen Series. One-click this captivating novella today!

Grab a copy HERE!

Add the series on Goodreads!

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult 

Back the Stolen Tears Series Kickstarter project here!

The purpose of this Kickstarter is to raise funds to launch Special Edition hardcovers of the 3 full-length books in the series as well as to offer an exclusive book box!

EXCERPT

“I hope we get some good tears,” Gwynn whispers. “Hopefully, they won’t extinguish my magic or shrink us to the size of nymphs or something.” Nymphs are small, hobbling creatures the size of small children.

“Or maybe you’ll get a siren’s ability to transfix the unsuspecting passerby with the power of your song.”

Gwynn grins at the prospect. “Hypnotic song power? Yes, please. Or maybe we’ll become instantly rich. Or smart like Darrin Graffman—”

“Right?” Darrin Graffman is the only guy at school I’ve ever heard of actually getting his hands on some. Supposedly, he drank tears the night before his Pledgeschool Acceptance Exams and got soaring scores, and he’s about as smart as a fencepost.

“It depends on your innermost desires,” I say. “I’ve heard tears personalize themselves to what you want most. Once you drink them, they make whatever that is happen. If you don’t know what you want…well, that’s when it becomes a gamble.”

“I know exactly what I want,” she says.

“Then you’ve got nothing to worry about.” I hope my words sound more reassuring than I feel.

Cortney Pearson is the USA Today bestselling author of the Stolen Tears series. She writes fantasy worlds brimming with adventure, loyalty, and romance, from wizards, to ghosts, to pirates. She is the mom of four cuties, loves classical music, chocolate, slow-burn kissing scenes, and sparkles. Not necessarily in that order.

Don't miss a thing regarding Cortney's books. Sign up for her newsletter! www.cortneypearson.com

Stay up-to-date in her FB group, Cortney's Secret Keepers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CortneysSecretKeepers/

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Read my review of Saving Sophie by Debbie Schrack #ContemporaryRomance #YoungAdult @debbie_schrack

Saving Sophie

By Debbie Schrack

Seventeen-year-old Gabe Hunter knows he has a purpose in life. He has always strived to be the “best of the best,” but lately nothing has gone his way. Gabe was devastated six months earlier when his half-brother Josh had a drunk driving accident that killed four members of a family and left a sixteen-year-old girl named Sophie an orphan. Josh went to prison and Gabe struggles to forgive him because how can he forgive the unforgivable? When Gabe reluctantly agrees to do math tutoring for his senior service project, he discovers that the girl he will be tutoring is also named Sophie. But in a town of eighty thousand people, what are the odds it will be the same person? Astronomical, Gabe figures.

Gabe soon discovers, though, that it is the same Sophie. A former National Merit Scholar finalist, Sophie had a severe brain injury in the accident. She has seizures, amnesia, and can barely read or write. When he meets her, Gabe realizes what his purpose in life must be—to help Sophie and make amends for his brother. His plan is to spend the rest of the school year tutoring Sophie, then say goodbye and go quietly off to college without ever telling her that his brother was the one who killed her family. What Gabe doesn’t count on is falling in love.

Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult 

Page Length: 329

Grab a copy HERE!

MY THOUGHTS!

Gabe just wants a normal senior year. But his brother, Josh, is in prison after drunkenly crashing his car and killing four people, leaving just the sixteen year old girl alive, and orphaned. How can Gabe possibly have a normal senior year when he is living the repercussions of his brother's mistakes, and can’t move on because he absolutely cannot forgive his brother? 

By the time Gabe signs up for his senior service project, there aren’t many options left. He opts for a math tutoring position, and finds himself in a difficult situation. The girl he’s signed up to tutor is named Sophie, and suffers from amnesia and seizures after being involved in a car accident that killed her family. Sophie doesn’t remember anything from before the accident, but Gabe certainly does, and he is all too aware that he has placed himself directly in the middle of the mess his brother caused. And yet, Gabe can’t ask for a different service project - he has to try and help put things back together. His brother ruined Sophie’s life, and he has a chance to maybe help her, if only a little. 

There is a very big message of forgiveness in this book. Gabe finds it very hard to even think about talking to Josh, he can’t understand how Josh could have been so reckless to cause the accident in the first time, let alone how he doesn’t seem to hold any remorse for what happened. Sophie doesn’t remember anything from before the accident, so she doesn’t remember the family she lost and has a disconnection from the accident, unlike Gabe. But as situations change, they both have to come to terms with what happened, and Gabe grows to realise that maybe forgiveness just takes a while to come around. 

It seems almost inevitable that Gabe and Sophie’s relationship will evolve to more than friends. The progression is slow, and paced perfectly. Sophie doesn’t jump into anything because she is unsure how she feels, and Gabe is afraid of hurting her after she suffered so much at the hands of Josh. But secrets threaten to tear everything apart – Sophie doesn’t know that Gabe is Josh’s brother, and Gabe keeps the fact that he is tutoring Sophie a secret from everyone he knows. Secrets in relationships are also a big part of this book, and they never end well. It’s all the secrets that cause the wondering as to whether forgiveness is possible. 

There are several characters in this book that I absolutely loved. Sophie and Gabe are obvious favourites, but also Jess, one of Gabe’s best friends, and Joe, Sophie’s seizure alert dog. I don’t think anyone could help but love Joe! I definitely related to Gabe’s obsessiveness over being the best he possibly can be. He strives for perfection and is never satisfied with second best. I think Gabe in particular came across as a very real character. He struggles with very real problems, and his reactions are depicted wonderfully.

There are a lot of real and difficult topics covered in this book. After the accident, Gabe swears off drinking for fear of doing the same, but plenty of his teenage friends don’t. Parties with heavy drinking, and drug use, are depicted, as well as Josh being in prison and struggling with alcoholism. There are some difficult decisions that have to be made with regards to an unplanned pregnancy, although I can’t talk about that too much for fear of giving away the story. The characters in this book are teenagers, barely adults, and yet they are all dealing with very adult problems, most of the time without the support of the adults around them. In addition to all of this, Sophie’s physical needs, such as a limp and her need for a seizure alert dog, are all intertwined with the story very realistically. Not everyone feels pity for her, or understands, but instead many make fun of her, and she struggles a lot. It is finding a friend in Gabe that allows Sophie to build confidence, and realise that she is strong enough to do what she wants.

This is a book that I read in any spare moment I had. I couldn’t leave the characters for too long without missing them, and I clung to every word. As the book neared the end, I did start to grow a little concerned that there would be a cliffhanger, or an unresolved ending that would be picked up in a second book, but that was not the case. Everything came together in a neat little bow and the ending was definitely one that I was satisfied with, although I’m not going to say any more about it! I did absolutely love reading this book, it is most certainly one that I will read again and again until I know the story inside and out. If you are a fan of YA romance, this book is a must!

Debbie Schrack has spent her professional life working with children and young adults. She has a B.S in Special Education from the University of Virginia, and an M.Ed. from George Mason University. Although the character Sophie in her debut novel SAVING SOPHIE is fictional, she is a composite of many of the struggling learners Debbie has taught over the years.

Debbie lives with her family in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Debbie finds personal fulfillment in creating new things, whether it be a novel, a painting, or a batch of croissants. She loves animals, and horses are her special passion. When she’s not writing or horseback riding, Debbie is a sucker for musicals, enjoys visiting art galleries, and desperately wants to travel more. She also loves hanging out with her three children, who she will always consider her most amazing creations.

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Read an excerpt from Island of Dreams by Harry Duffin #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub @duffin26 @cathiedunn

Island of Dreams

By Harry Duffin

In May 1939, when Professor Carl Mueller, his wife, Esther, and their three children flee Nazi Germany, and find refuge on the paradise island of Cuba, they are all full of hopes and dreams for a safe and happy future.  

But those dreams are shattered when Carl and Esther are confronted by a ghost from their past, and old betrayals return to haunt them. 

The turbulent years of political corruption leading to Batista’s dictatorship, forces the older children to take very different paths to pursue their own dangerous dreams. 

And - among the chaos and the conflict that finally leads to Castro’s revolution and victory in 1959, an unlikely love begins to grow - a love that threatens the whole family. 

Having escaped a war-torn Europe, their Island of Dreams is to tear them apart forever.

Publication Date: December 2022

Publisher: Cumulus Publishing

Page Length: 420

Genre: Historical Family Saga

Grab a copy HERE!

EXCERPT

‘It’s so warm, Papa. It’s still night, but it’s so warm!’

Professor Carl Mueller smiled down at his daughter, holding his hand at the rail of the S.S. St Louis, the ship that had been their refuge, their salvation, as it slipped slowly through the darkness towards the sleeping city. A sense of relief washed over him, like the caress of the tropical breeze. 

‘We’re in the Tropics, Anna. It’s always warm here.’

Anna gazed at the shimmering lights of the city strung out along the shore. 'Look! It's like one of Mama's diamond necklaces!'

'She hasn't got them anymore!' snapped her elder brother, Hans, in German. 'We had to sell them to get on the boat!'

'Because of your stupid Nazis!' replied Anna fierily. 

'The Nazis are not stupid!'

'Children, children, don't fight!’ said their father firmly, but gently. 'And please remember we must speak English now.' 

Hans snorted his annoyance, but said nothing.

As the deep throb of the engines slackened below their feet, they fell quiet. The scent of wet palms and exotic blooms filled Anna's nostrils. She breathed deeply. At twelve years old her life was beginning again. She breathed deeply once more. It was the smell of freedom.

‘It looks so beautiful, Papa. Our new home.’

‘It isn’t our home!’ retorted Hans. His father looked at him. Hans continued in English. ‘Germany is our home, isn’t it, Father! Our Fatherland.’

‘Perhaps one day, my son, it will be again. Until then...’ His voice tailed off.

In silence, they listened to the dark swell slapping against the iron ship, each momentarily lost in their own thoughts, dreams and fears. 

‘Is that a fort, Father?', asked Hans suddenly.     

The dim bulk of El Morro, its huge cannon guarding the entrance to the harbour, loomed out of the black water, hunkered against the lightening sky.  

‘It looks like it, Hans.’

‘Who built it? Is it still used? Do the cannons fire?’

Carl Mueller smiled. ‘I don’t know. We shall have to find out.’

‘I want to explore everything, Papa!’ Anna said excitedly. ‘I shall learn Spanish and learn everything about Cuba!’

Her father smiled at her again, but beneath the smile there was deep sadness. There was one person who could teach Anna everything about the island. A charming, lively, intelligent man who would make the perfect guide to their new home. He didn’t know if the man had ever returned to the island, his home. But, if he had, Carl Mueller fervently hoped that they would never meet him.

The cab splashed to a halt, waking Freddie Sanchez as he was thrown against the back of the driver’s seat. Streetlights dazzled him from the wet, empty sidewalk. He felt disorientated and a little sick. That last daiquiri was one too many. The last half dozen, really. 

‘Thank you, Carlos,’ he muttered, groping for the door handle.  ‘Put it on my tab.’

‘Señor Sánchez –’ 

‘Mañana, Carlos. Mañana, I promise.’ 

‘I have a family to keep, Senor Sanchez –’

‘You’re a lucky man, Carlos. A lucky man. I have no one.’

He stumbled from the cab, ignoring the muttered Spanish oath behind his back. Freddie understood. Being half-Cuban, of course he understood. But at such moments he leaned on his English side and played the colonial.

The cab squealed into a turn and roared back along the deserted sea-front towards the casinos. 

Leaning against the harbour wall to support himself Freddie remembered falling headlong down the stairs of the Hotel Nacional, and the young policeman catching him, saving him from breaking his neck.   

‘You have to be more careful, Senor Sanchez’, said the young man as he helped him to a taxi.

‘Thanks, Ramos,’ he had said. ‘I’m...er, just a little tired.’

Freddie recalled the flash of gleaming white teeth, the sarcastic smile. Why did he still pretend with people like Ramos, who must know as many gutter secrets as anyone on the island. Ramos could care less about him being a drunk, so why did Freddie pretend? Perhaps because the years of excess still hadn’t quite left their tell-tale traces, and the last thing to leave him was his vanity. From his medical training, Freddie knew he'd been born lucky. He had a constitution like the sea wall he was leaning against. Solid, resistant, able to take anything that life threw at him. In body at least, if not in mind. 

The faint strains of ‘Moonlight Serenade’ drifted from deep inside the narrow streets of the Old City. In the dark blue of the West a lone star was fading.  Fading like him. But in broad daylight it would still be there, shining invisibly, long after he was gone. Freddie Sanchez would leave no trace. 

The klaxon on the S.S. St Louis broke into his self-pity. Out in the dark ocean, like a birthday cake ablaze with candles, the S.S. St Louis stole into the arms of the harbour, the smoke from its stacks ghostly wraiths against the night sky. It looked as if it was headed straight towards the second-floor window of his tiny room by the harbour. 

Nearly a thousand refugees, the papers said, escaping from the Nazis. German families like the one he once knew as a student in London. Where were they now? Safe, he was certain. He was sure Professor Carl Mueller's family would be safe...Despite the warmth of the night, at the thought of the Mueller’s, Freddie shivered. After so many years, the cold chill of self-disgust still lingered.

Harry Duffin is an award-winning British screenwriter, who was on the first writing team of the BBC’s ‘Eastenders’ and won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best TV serial for ‘Coronation Street’. 

He was Head of Development at Cloud 9 Screen Entertainment Group, producing seven major television series, including ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ starring Richard ‘John Boy’ Thomas, and ‘Twist in the Tale’, featuring William Shatner. 

He was the co-creator of the UK Channel Five teen-cult drama series ‘The Tribe’, which ran for five series. 

He has written three novels, Chicago May, Birth of the Mall Rats [an intro to the TV series ‘The Tribe’], and Island of Dreams, which will be published in December 2022.

Chicago May is the first book of a two-part series: www.chicagomay.com

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Read an excerpt from Like A Hero by Michael J. Bowler #YoungAdult #ActionandAdventure #NewRelease @MichaelJBowler @XpressoTours

Like A Hero

By Michael J. Bowler

Courage can be costly. Orphaned brothers Vincent and Dennis Villanueva learn the truth of those words when they create a masked crime fighter and turn him loose on Los Angeles. The brainchild of fourteen-year-old Dennis and embodied in twenty-one-year-old Vincent, “Invictus” hits the streets to jumpstart apathetic Angelenos into taking a more active role in their city.

But reality isn’t a comic book. Vincent finds poverty, homelessness, drug addiction, abuse, and cast-off children. Labeled a vigilante and criminal, the shy grad student with formidable martial arts talent and abysmal people skills soon doubts his ability to make an impact.

Forced to straddle an ambiguous line between moral and legal, he becomes disheartened and secretive, hiding the truth of what he’s doing from Dennis and driving a wedge between them. Feeling neglected, Dennis infiltrates a dangerous drug ring to show Vincent he can be just as heroic, not knowing that the woman in charge is weaving an insidious plot against Invictus as part of her citywide scheme of vengeance. In a race against time, Vincent must regain Dennis’s trust before the brother he loves is lost to him forever.

Publication date: October 18th 2022
Genres: Action, Adventure, Young Adult 

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EXCERPT

Vincent had practically grown up in James and Linda’s house. Across the street and a few houses down from theirs, it had been his and Dennis’s home away from home, with James and Linda like second parents to both of them, not just their godson, Dennis. Unlike their house, this one was single story, but it had long hall- ways, a huge kitchen because Linda loved to cook, and a big sparring room off the garage.

Vincent’s dad had installed his own workout room at the house, but James’s was larger and he’d incorporated strength training equipment that the boys had used over the years to strengthen their joints and muscles.

The Villanueva clan had spent many a laugh-filled Thanksgiving or Christmas at the Stevens home, and the large brightly lit dining room felt hauntingly empty without his parents sitting at the table with them. Loy and James had been partners in the police department as far back as Vincent could remember, and the families were more like one than two.

Sitting at the burnished wood table passing bowls of rice back and forth choked off most of the words he considered saying because too many memories intruded. Dennis, he knew, felt their missing parents even more acutely.

James shoveled mashed potatoes into his mouth and swigged from a glass of water. “I still can’t get over what happened yesterday,” he offered. “Only Dennis could have a graduation like that.”

He tried for a smile, but Dennis half-heartedly returned it as he chewed on his chicken.

Yeah, he’s fighting the PTSD again, Vincent realized.

Linda said, “I would’ve preferred to watch the excitement from Vincent’s vantage point – the parking lot.” She smiled and reached out to cup Dennis’s hand with one of hers. “I was so terrified for you, baby.”

Dennis swallowed his food. “Yeah, me too. Lucky Invictus showed up, huh, James?”

James grunted as he swallowed a bite of chicken and placed his fork down onto his plate. “Truth be told, he did save your life, Dennis. He saved everyone. Torres was wrong.”

“You tried to save me,” Dennis added. “Thanks for that.”

“I’d do anything for you boys, you know that,” James affirmed, his face set with determination. “I promised your dad I’d–”

Dennis flinched and averted his eyes.

“Well, uh, I’m happy Invictus showed up when he did,” Vincent tossed out, knowing it sounded lame, but wanting to distract Dennis. “I’m the only one allowed to take down my baby brother.”

He elbowed Dennis and drew out the smile he loved.

“Only cuz you outweigh me, Vince,” Dennis said, the fire returning to his voice. “You know I can kick your ass by catching you off-guard.”

“Exactly how many times have you managed to do that?” Dennis laughed. “Okay, once. But I’ll do it again.” Vincent returned the laugh and they high-fived.

Linda chuckled. “I almost had a heart attack yesterday and these two laugh about it.”

“That’s us guys for you, Linda,” James said, and they resumed eating.

Vincent scooped some rice onto his plate and passed the bowl to Dennis. Trying to sound casual, he said, “So James, are you and Torres really gonna treat Invictus like a criminal? I mean, he saved Dennis and those other people, right?”

“No choice, Vince,” James said around a mouthful of asparagus. “Like Torres said, nobody can be allowed to operate outside the law.”

“Even if they’re doing something good?” Dennis asked.

“Even then,” James responded. “If we let guys like that do their thing, order eventually breaks down and we end up with chaos. Your d—” He stopped himself quickly. “You’ll understand that better when you’re older. Life isn’t a comic book.”

“It could be,” Dennis offered before focusing on his food.

Vincent noted James and Linda exchange a confused look and hoped they weren’t making the older couple suspicious. Then James said something that almost stopped his heart.

“You know, Linda, there was something about his fighting style.” “Whose?”

“Invictus,” James went on, pausing with his utensils in mid-air. “I was just telling Torres today that there was something familiar about his fighting style. Did you notice anything, hun? You’ve trained half the young black belts in L.A.”

She considered a moment. “Now that you mention it, there was something about the fluidity of the body, the way he spun into those kicks.”

“It’ll come to me. I never forget a fighting style.”

Vincent kept his head down, but stole a quick glance at Dennis. His brother was looking his way and wore the same facial expression.

This wasn’t a good development.

 

Michael J. Bowler is an award-winning author who grew up in Northern California. He majored in English/Theatre at Santa Clara University, earned a master’s in film production from Loyola Marymount University, a teaching credential in English from LMU, and a master’s in Special Education from Cal State University Dominguez Hills. Michael taught high school in Hawthorne, California, both in general education and to students with disabilities. When Michael is not writing, he serves as a youth mentor with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and a volunteer within the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles, but mostly he takes care of his recently adopted son. He is a passionate advocate for the fair treatment of children and teens in California and hopes that his books can show young people they are not alone in their struggles.

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Read my review of The Godmother’s Secret by Elizabeth St.John #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @ElizStJohn @cathiedunn

The Godmother’s Secret

By Elizabeth St.John

What if you knew what happened to the Princes in the Tower. Would you tell? Or would you forever keep the secret?

November, 1470: Westminster Abbey. Lady Elysabeth Scrope faces a perilous royal duty when ordered into sanctuary with Elizabeth Woodville–witness the birth of Edward IV’s Yorkist son. Margaret Beaufort, Elysabeth’s sister, is desperately seeking a pardon for her exiled son Henry Tudor. Strategically, she coerces Lancastrian Elysabeth to be appointed godmother to Prince Edward, embedding her in the heart of the Plantagenets and uniting them in a destiny of impossible choices and heartbreaking conflict.

Bound by blood and torn by honour, when the king dies and Elysabeth delivers her young godson into the Tower of London to prepare for his coronation, she is engulfed in political turmoil. Within months, the prince and his brother have disappeared, Richard III is declared king, and Margaret conspires with Henry Tudor to invade England and claim the throne. Desperate to protect her godson, Elysabeth battles the intrigue, betrayal and power of the last medieval court, defying her husband and her sister under her godmother’s sacred oath to keep Prince Edward safe.

Were the princes murdered by their uncle, Richard III? Was the rebel Duke of Buckingham to blame? Or did Margaret Beaufort mastermind their disappearance to usher in the Tudor dynasty? Of anyone at the royal court, Elysabeth has the most to lose–and the most to gain–by keeping secret the fate of the Princes in the Tower.     

Inspired by England’s most enduring historical mystery, Elizabeth St.John, best-selling author of The Lydiard Chronicles, blends her own family history with known facts and centuries of speculation to create an intriguing alternative story illuminating the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower. 

Publication Date: 4th October, 2022
Publisher: Falcon Historical
Page Length: 350 pages
Genre: Biographical Historical Fiction / Historical Mystery

Grab a copy HERE!

This novel is free to read with #KindleUnlimited subscription.

MY THOUGHTS

Manipulation. Uncertainty. Fear. When Elysabeth Scrope is given the role of ensuring the Queen’s baby makes it into the world safely, there is no way she could possibly have predicted the events that would occur afterwards. But, with the first cries of the baby boy, heir to the throne of England, Elysabeth’s life changed forever. Her loyalties change, and the oath she swears is sworn truthfully – she will do everything in her power to protect her godson, Edward.

As Edward grows up, Elysabeth grows more and more involved in his life. She is like a second mother to him. And so, when she is called to his side with the news of the death of his father, she leaves immediately. Her beloved Ned is now king at just 12 years old, and desperately needs her by his side to help guide him. His mother may have her own plans for him, but Ned has his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Duke of Buckingham to get him through a coronation and onto the throne safely. And, of course, Elysabeth.

With the title of godmother, Elysabeth finds herself in the midst of untruths and conspiracies. Her main goal is to keep Ned safe and well, but there are those around her who have different plans, and she learns things that suggest Ned’s well-being is not at the forefront of everyone’s minds. 

Everyone knows the story of the Princes in the Tower, but the truth about what really happened to the boys is something that may never come to light. All anyone can do is to speculate, or, as Elizabeth St.John has done with this novel, mix historical fact with fiction to come to her own conclusion. Something I love about this book, in particular, is that it is a personal story to the author. Elysabeth is an ancestor of the author, and the historical character provides a perfect narrator for this story.

A lot of historical novels set in this era follow the lives of those in power, or relatives of them. By choosing Elysabeth Scrope, this novel offers an interesting perspective. Firstly, while she becomes like family to the King and Queen when she becomes godmother to Ned, Elysabeth is an outsider. She is pulled between loyalty to York and to Lancaster. And, almost more importantly, while she is godmother to Ned, she is also sister to Margaret Beaufort. She is practically mother to Edward V, and aunt to Henry VII. Elysabeth is perfect for this story, for she gives the perspective of both sides. She sympathises with Margaret, but has also sworn a vow to protect Ned, and it is a vow she refuses to break.

The fate of the two brothers in the tower has been blamed on many people, most commonly on their uncle, Richard III, the Duke of Gloucester. The man they should have been able to trust the most. However, this is but speculation. There is just as little proof that Richard was the cause of their demise as there is proof that he protected them as he was supposed to. This book explored the ins and outs of these present-day accusations, while revealing a truth to the reader about what very well might be the truth behind the Princes’ fate. The historical detailing was immaculate, it almost felt like reading the diary of Elysabeth Scrope at times, for the first-person narrative gave this book the feel of a first-hand account written at the time of the novels’ events. The historical figures came back to life, they breathed life among the pages, and I felt myself a part of the story as I read.

I truly enjoyed Elysabeth’s telling of this story. She is a character who is incredibly easy to like, for she is so honest and kind. She does what she can to do the right thing by Ned as she is mixed up in politics and the ulterior motives of those around her, even if that means breaking promises and holding onto secrets here and there. She is an incredibly brave and strong woman, one who can stand up for herself and for others. There are, of course, other characters who I absolutely despised, but if I get into the characters I did not like, and the reasons why, I will give away the entire story, and this review will end up being thousands of words long.

Nearly two years ago, I read a short story by Elizabeth St.John from the collection Betrayal, which followed Elysabeth Scrope for but a short moment, and I recall absolutely loving it and longing for a longer version of that story, one that would tell the full story of Edward V’s godmother. It seems my wishes have come true, for this book is exactly that. It is an absolutely fabulous novel, and I am so glad to have had read it. I cannot praise it enough. It is simply a masterpiece of a novel, and one that I could not put down.

Elizabeth St.John spends her time between California, England, and the past. An acclaimed author, historian, and genealogist, she has tracked down family papers and residences from Lydiard Park and Nottingham Castle to Richmond Palace and the Tower of London to inspire her novels. Although the family sold a few country homes along the way (it's hard to keep a good castle going these days), Elizabeth's family still occupy them— in the form of portraits, memoirs, and gardens that carry their legacy. And the occasional ghost. But that's a different story.

Having spent a significant part of her life with her seventeenth-century family while writing The Lydiard Chronicles trilogy and Counterpoint series, Elizabeth St.John is now discovering new family stories with her fifteenth-century namesake Elysabeth St.John Scrope, and her half-sister, Margaret Beaufort.

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Read an interview with Jane Davis, author of Small Eden #HistoricalFiction #TheCoffeePotBookClub #BlogTour @janedavisauthor @cathiedunn

Small Eden

By Jane Davis

A boy with his head in the clouds. A man with a head full of dreams.  

1884. The symptoms of scarlet fever are easily mistaken for teething, as Robert Cooke and his pregnant wife Freya discover at the cost of their two infant sons. Freya immediately isolates for the safety of their unborn child. Cut off from each other, there is no opportunity for husband and wife to teach each other the language of their loss. By the time they meet again, the subject is taboo. But unspoken grief is a dangerous enemy. It bides its time.

A decade later and now a successful businessman, Robert decides to create a pleasure garden in memory of his sons, in the very same place he found refuge as a boy – a disused chalk quarry in Surrey’s Carshalton. But instead of sharing his vision with his wife, he widens the gulf between them by keeping her in the dark. It is another woman who translates his dreams. An obscure yet talented artist called Florence Hoddy, who lives alone with her unmarried brother, painting only what she sees from her window…

Publication Date: 30 April 2022, eBooks / 30 May 2022, paperbacks
Publisher: Rossdale Print Productions
Page Length: 394
Genre: Historical Fiction (1864 – 1910)

Grab a copy HERE!

INTERVIEW!

Writing Interview questions.

Why did you choose to write your book in this era?

Once I decided on my subject-matter, the choice was made for me. The inspiration for Small Eden was the cottage I have called home for the past twenty-one years. When we moved into the cottage, the vendors told us that it had been the gatehouse for an estate, and this was certainly the received wisdom, but it didn’t feel right. We consulted a local historian, who was intrigued enough by what he saw to begin researching the history of the cottage. What he had to tell us was far more interesting. It was built (as far as he was able to ascertain) as the ticket office for pleasure gardens which opened at the turn of the century and had closed by 1923. 

I find recent history fascinating because it explains the world I was born into. I wanted to paint a picture of a world on the cusp of change. Following the invention of the steam engine, England changed from a rural, agricultural country to an urban, industrialised one. There were tremendous advances in medicine. In 1853, the Vaccination Act made it compulsory for children to be inoculated against smallpox. The publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species had people questioning their beliefs. The era saw great building projects, Brunel’s suspension bridges and the Crystal Palace. But despite the fact that a woman had been on the throne since 1837, women had very few rights, and only limited access to further education. The aim expressed by the principal of Mill Mount College was to prepare women to become wives, mothers, teachers and missionaries. The Victorian ideal of womanhood was ‘The Angel in the Home.’

Did you find researching this era particularly difficult? What was the hardest thing to find out, and did you come across anything particularly surprising?

There’s a wealth of information about the Victorian era, but as for Rossdale’s Pleasure Gardens, what led a man to embark on such an endeavour after the last of London’s pleasure gardens had failed isn’t written in any history books. The little we know comes from Ordnance Survey maps, census records and a reproduction of a woodcut which hangs in our hall, depicting Edwardian ladies playing a game of doubles on a tennis court, just in front of our cottage. My instinct was that something from his past was driving him. Of course, had our research been more successful, there would have been no story to write.

I did come across something surprising in my research. The name Carshalton is associated with lavender growing. Of the many lavender farms that used to exist, only two remain. Mayfield Lavender is the better known. People travel a long way to see it. https://www.mayfieldlavender.com/

Having decided that my main character, Robert Cooke, should be a physic gardener – someone who grew and distilled herbs for medicinal and cosmetic use – and trying to get an understanding for the crops he would have grown, I discovered that Mitcham – just three miles down the road —was best known in the nineteenth century for opium production. In the 1870s, Britons consumed 100 tonnes of opium annually. Queen Victoria is said to have taken a daily dose of laudanum (a tonic that contained opium dissolved in alcohol). Opium was used for malarial fever (still prevalent in Cambridgeshire and Lincoln), as a sedative, a painkiller. It was used for coughs and rheumatism. It soothed digestive complaints, gout, toothache and depression. People thought nothing of dosing their children with Godfreys tonic (recommended for colic, hiccups and coughs), or doctoring their babies gripe-water. And Opium was important to the British Empire, being responsible for 15% - 20% of its annual revenue. But after it fell out of favour at the end of the 19th century, production was written also out of local history. Possession of opium without a doctor’s prescription only became illegal in 1920 with the introduction of the 1920 Dangerous Drugs Act.

Can you share something about the book that isn’t covered in the blurb?

There wasn’t space in the blurb for the mysterious Miss Hoddy. Although Robert Cooke is a physic gardener, he’s no designer and so he decides to run a competition for the design of his pleasure gardens. Florence Hoddy is the only woman to enter. She has a brilliant mind and is a talented artist, but she lost the use of her legs in a road accident, and is cared for by her brother Oswald – and in a small Surrey village that alone is enough to set tongues wagging. Hiding herself away from pitying eyes, she paints only what she sees from the window at the back of her house.

Personal Interview questions.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I love to walk and a love photography, and luckily it’s possible to combine the two. I hope that my love of the British countryside is something that comes across strongly in my writing. For such a small island, there is so much variety to explore. 

What did you want to be when you grew up?

The truth is that I’m not a writer, but a failed artist. I was interested in story-telling as a child but, instead of words, I used pictures. Right up to my O-Level year, I spent all my spare time drawing and painting. I assumed I’d make a career in art. It was the one thing I was really good at. And then came a hard lesson. The O-Level examiners simply didn’t like my work. There had never been a plan B. 

My reaction was to leave school and take the first job that came along, which happened to be in insurance, and there I stayed for the next twenty-five years. There were compensations. I bought a house, had three double wardrobes full of clothes, I dabbled in amateur dramatics, led a Venture Scout Group, climbed mountains and travelled. But gradually I became more and more aware that I was missing a creative outlet and, when something happened that I needed to make sense of, I began to write.   

Small Eden is my tenth novel. As my collection of books grows, I’m beginning to see them as my legacy. As someone who doesn’t have children, they are the mark I will leave on the world. So another reason for writing – one that I didn’t think about in my mid-thirties when I started to write – is to create a legacy that I can be proud of.

Either or!

Tea or coffee: Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon. 

Morning person or Night owl: Morning person. 

Social Media or book: Book

Paperback or ebook: Paperback.

Hailed by The Bookseller as ‘One to Watch’, Jane Davis writes thought-provoking literary page turners.

She spent her twenties and the first half of her thirties chasing promotions in the business world but, frustrated by the lack of a creative outlet, she turned to writing.

Her first novel, 'Half-Truths and White Lies', won a national award established with the aim of finding the next Joanne Harris. Further recognition followed in 2016 with 'An Unknown Woman' being named Self-Published Book of the Year by Writing Magazine/the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust, as well as being shortlisted in the IAN Awards, and in 2019 with 'Smash all the Windows' winning the inaugural Selfies Book Award. Her novel, 'At the Stroke of Nine O’Clock' was featured by The Lady Magazine as one of their favourite books set in the 1950s, selected as a Historical Novel Society Editor's Choice, and shortlisted for the Selfies Book Awards 2021.

Interested in how people behave under pressure, Jane introduces her characters when they are in highly volatile situations and then, in her words, she throws them to the lions. The themes she explores are diverse, ranging from pioneering female photographers, to relatives seeking justice for the victims of a fictional disaster.

Jane Davis lives in Carshalton, Surrey, in what was originally the ticket office for a Victorian pleasure gardens, known locally as ‘the gingerbread house’. Her house frequently features in her fiction. In fact, she burnt it to the ground in the opening chapter of 'An Unknown Woman'. In her latest release, Small Eden, she asks the question why one man would choose to open a pleasure gardens at a time when so many others were facing bankruptcy?

When she isn’t writing, you may spot Jane disappearing up the side of a mountain with a camera in hand.

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