Jaffareadstoo....: HFVBT Blog Tours

Showing posts with label HFVBT Blog Tours. Show all posts

Thursday, 22 November 2018

Blog Tour and Giveaway ~ The Monastery Murders by E M Powell

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's stop on The Monastery Murders Blog Tour

Thomas & Mercer
27 September 2018

My thanks to the author, publisher and HFVBT Blog Tours for my copy of the book
and the invitation to take part in this blog tour

What's it all about.

Their lives are ones of quiet contemplation—and brutal murder.

Christmas Eve, 1176. Brother Maurice, monk of Fairmore Abbey, awaits the night prayer bell. But there is only silence. Cursing his fellow brother Cuthbert’s idleness, he seeks him out—and in the darkness, finds him brutally murdered.

Summoned from London to the isolated monastery on the Yorkshire Moors, Aelred Barling, clerk to the King’s justices, and his messenger Hugo Stanton, set about investigating the horrific crime. They quickly discover that this is far from a quiet monastic house. Instead, it seethes with bitter feuds, rivalries and resentments. But no sooner do they arrive than the killer strikes again—and again.

When Barling discovers a pattern to these atrocities, it becomes apparent that the murderer’s rampage is far from over. With everyone, including the investigators, now fearing for their lives, can Barling and Stanton unmask the culprit before more blood is spilled?

My thoughts about it..

I love wandering around the ruins of an ancient abbey. The glory of their days can still be seen and felt within the warmth of the stone and in the shadowy footprints of the holy men, and women, who once spent time in the chancels and cloisters, intent on prayer.

In The Monastery Murders, the clerk to the king’s justice, Aelred Barling, finds that, once again, he is embroiled in a difficult and dangerous case, and, on this mission, more than ever, he is grateful to have the support of, his stalwart messenger, Hugo Stanton.

On the orders of Ranulph de Glanville, the King’s great justice, Barling and Stanton are sent to Fairmore Abbey, an isolated Cistercian Abbey in Yorkshire, where they are to investigate a brutal murder which has left the inhabitants of the Abbey reeling both with shock, sadness and more than a hint of anger. The monks and lay men of the settlement are in turn both jittery and bewildered and turn to their Abbot, Philip de Franingeham, for fatherly support and guidance. However, all is not as it seems in this quiet Cistercian Abbey, and Barling and Stanton very soon, discover, to their cost, just how deep is the core of evil, which strikes at the very heart of the Abbey.

In the hands of this skilled storyteller, the medieval world of 1176, comes gloriously alive with all the sights, sounds and terrifying experiences of living in such a cloistered environment, especially when multiple deaths seem to be occurring. From matins, to compline, the ordered lives of the religious order is held up to scrutiny, and it soon becomes obvious that all is not as it seems in this house of God.

This is now the second Stanton and Barling mystery that I have read and I have been very bit as enthralled in this murder mystery as I was in the first of their adventures. The author creates such a sense of history that it is entirely possible to believe that you are walking alongside Stanton and Barling as they go, confidently, about their investigations.

This series has only just got started and I have every confidence in this author’s skilful ability to create more and more adventures for these two intrepid detectives. I can’t wait to see where they go in their next adventure.

About the Author

E.M. Powell’s historical thriller Fifth Knight novels have been #1 Amazon and Bild bestsellers. The King’s Justice is the first novel in her new Stanton and Barling medieval murder mystery series. She is a contributing editor to International Thriller Writers’ The Big Thrill magazine, blogs for English Historical Fiction Authors and is the social media manager for the Historical Novel Society.

Born and raised in the Republic of Ireland into the family of Michael Collins (the legendary revolutionary and founder of the Irish Free State), she now lives in North-West England with her husband, daughter and a Facebook-friendly dog.

Website

Facebook

Twitter @empowellauthor #TheMonasteryMurders

@hfvt

#HFVTBlogTours

✨✨GIVEAWAY✨✨

During the Blog Tour we will be giving away 6 copies of The Monastery Murders by E.M. Powell! To enter, please enter via the Gleam form below.

Gleam Entry Here

Giveaway Rules:

– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on December 7th. You must be 18 or older to enter.

– Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY.

– Only one entry per household.

– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.

– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

Jaffareadstoo is not responsible for choosing the winner or the distribution of the prizes.

Good Luck 😊

Wednesday, 11 July 2018

Blog Tour ~ The King's Justice by E M Powell

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be hosting today's stop on The King's Justice Blog Tour

Thomas & Mercer
1 June 2018
Stanton and Barling #1

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book and to HF Virtual Book Tours for the invitation to be part of this blog tour

What's it all about..

A murder that defies logic—and a killer on the loose.

England, 1176. Aelred Barling, esteemed clerk to the justices of King Henry II, is dispatched from the royal court with his young assistant, Hugo Stanton, to investigate a brutal murder in a village outside York.

The case appears straightforward. A suspect is under lock and key in the local prison, and the angry villagers are demanding swift justice. But when more bodies are discovered, certainty turns to doubt—and amid the chaos it becomes clear that nobody is above suspicion.

Facing growing unrest in the village and the fury of the lord of the manor, Stanton and Barling find themselves drawn into a mystery that defies logic, pursuing a killer who evades capture at every turn.

Can they solve the riddle of who is preying upon the villagers? And can they do it without becoming prey themselves?

And here are my thoughts about it..

It's been a real treat to escape to 1176 and spend time in the company of Aelred Barling, an esteemed clerk to the justices of Henry II, and his messenger and erstwhile assistant, Hugo Stanton, as they seek to investigate a brutal murder which has taken place in a small village on the outskirts of York.

With a real sense of time and place, The King's Justice takes us into very heart of medieval England and back to a time when impartiality was tenuous at best, and most often those on the wrong side of the law were often pronounced guilty even before trial. Trying to prove innocence was, quite often, a deadly affair, and although they have people under suspicion, Barling and Stanton’s attempt to investigate this horrific crime leads them into some very dark places.

From its short and snappy chapters, and filled with twists and turns, The King’s Justice moves along at a lively pace and there is certainly never a dull moment, or a minute’s peace, once these two, rather unconventional, investigators arrive in the village of Claresham. Stanton and Barling's subsequent involvement with, Sir Reginald Edgar, the Lord of the Manor, does nothing to make the due process of justice any less troublesome.

Imaginatively written, with a fine eye for historical detail, The King’s Justice is the first in a proposed new series of medieval crime mysteries. The partnership between the sanctimonious Barling, alongside the more rambunctious, Stanton, makes for a really interesting partnership, and I am sure that we will learn more about what makes this duo tick as the series progresses. There is much to find out and I am already looking forward to seeing just where this intrepid duo find themselves in the next instalment of the Stanton and Barling mysteries.

About the Author

Website

Twitter @empowellauthor #TheKingsJustice

Facebook

#HFVBTBlogTours

During the Blog Tour we will be giving away 6 paperback copies of The King’s Justice! To enter, please enter via the Gleam form below.

Giveaway Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on July 13th. You must be 18 or older to enter.

– Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY.

– Only one entry per household.

– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.

– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

Enter Gleam Giveaway Here

This giveaway is organised by the Blog Tour operator and Jaffareadstoo is not responsible for its organisation or of the distribution of prizes.

Historical Fiction Virtual Tours

Wednesday, 30 May 2018

Blog Tour~ The Tudor Trilogy by Tony Riches

I'm delighted to be part of this historical fiction blog tour and to share my review of

Book One of the Tudor Trilogy

Preseli Press
2015
Thanks to the author and HF Virtual Book Tours for my copy of Owen and my invitation to this blog tour

Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, OWEN is the epic tale of one young man’s incredible courage and resilience as he changes the course of English history.

England 1422: Owen Tudor, a Welsh servant, waits in Windsor Castle to meet his new mistress, the beautiful and lonely Queen Catherine of Valois, widow of the warrior king, Henry V. Her infant son is crowned King of England and France, and while the country simmers on the brink of civil war, Owen becomes her protector.

They fall in love, risking Owen’s life and Queen Catherine’s reputation—but how do they found the dynasty which changes British history – the Tudors?

This is the first historical novel to fully explore the amazing life of Owen Tudor, grandfather of King Henry VII and the great-grandfather of King Henry VIII. Set against a background of the conflict between the Houses of Lancaster and York, which develops into what have become known as the Wars of the Roses, Owen’s story deserves to be told.

My thoughts about it...

OWEN, is the first book in the Tudor trilogy, which focuses on the story of Owen Tudor, the enigmatic Welshman who, by his intimate relationship with the widowed Catherine de Valois, founded the Tudor dynasty.

In this fictional account of Owen Tudor’s life, and times, the author has brought to vibrant life the story of a man who struggled to find his place in a society which didn’t allow recognition of his strong Welsh heritage, and whose complex relationship with the young Queen would undoubtedly place him in grave danger. When we first meet Owen Tudor, in 1422, all this was well into the future, as he is newly introduced into the Queen’s household as her Keeper of the Wardrobe, a position which will give him some degree of permanence, something which has been sadly lacking since his days as a soldier, having fought in the army of the Queen’s late husband, Henry V, in the French campaigns.

Throughout the whole of the novel, time and place is captured perfectly, and the author has done a commendable job of bringing Owen Tudor alive in the imagination. Most certainly, in this novel, Owen comes across as a fascinating individual, a fine-looking man by all accounts and there’s no doubt that the ladies liked him. I think that he was a certainly a risk taker but he also seems to have been very much a product of his Welsh upbringing, calm and controlled when needed and yet, filled with a passionate zeal for those whom he supported. However, as Owen’s intimate relationship with the widowed Queen develops, so he discovers, to his cost, that being closely involved with someone so near to the English throne brings its own heightened level of danger and conspiracy.

With impeccable research, the author brings the early part of the fifteenth century alive in a very believable and authenic way. The multi-layered conspiracies of Plantagenet rule under the protectorate of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, paints a rich and intense picture of a troubled time, alive with intrigue and filled with a level of danger that we would have difficulty living through today. And yet, there is a wonderful strength of character to Owen Tudor that I felt such a rapport with him, and by the end of the novel, in 1460, I wished that life had, perhaps, been a little kinder to him.

OWEN is a very good account of the origins of the Tudor dynasty and the author has done justice to Owen Tudor, bringing his story and his contribution to history alive in a significant and fascinating way.

**During the Blog Tour there is a give away of an eBook & Signed Paperback of each book!**

Please enter via the Gleam Link here

This giveaway is organised by the Blog Tour operator and Jaffareadstoo is not responsible for its organisation or of the distribution of prizes.

Historical Fiction Virtual Tours

About the Author

Tony Riches is a full-time writer and lives with his wife in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. After several successful non-fiction books, Tony turned to novel writing and wrote ‘Queen Sacrifice’, set in 10th century Wales, followed by ‘The Shell’, a thriller set in present day Kenya. A specialist in the history of the early Tudors, he is best known for his Tudor Trilogy. Tony’s other international best sellers include ‘Warwick ~ The Man Behind the Wars of the Roses’ and ‘The Secret Diary of Eleanor Cobham’.