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A Queen's Ambition Sets Portugal Ablaze - an Editorial Review of "Leonor"
Book Blurb: A queen’s ambition. A kingdom on the edge. One woman’s hunger for power will set Portugal ablaze—unless she’s devoured first. A queen’s ambition. A kingdom on the edge. One woman’s hunger for power will set Portugal ablaze—unless she’s devoured first. Portugal, 1367. The court is a powder keg, and Leonor Teles de Meneses is the spark. Born noble, married off for duty, Leonor aches for more—freedom, passion, a place at the heart of power. Her wit is sharp, her enem
DK Marley
3 hours ago5 min read
A Novel of Love and Intrigue During Wartime - an Editorial Review of "Flight to Eternity"
Book Blurb: We tend to think of spies as being either James Bond or George Smiley: suave secret agents or orchestrators of betrayal. But what about everyday people who find themselves in the wrong place, at the wrong time, surrounded by lies, deceit and murder? In Flight to Eternity, Sally Edwards seeks to uncover the truth behind her grandfather’s role in World War II naval intelligence. She discovers more than she bargained for. "If you like fiction that captures a time and
DK Marley
1 day ago4 min read
The Shameful Realities of an Orphan's Life in 1940s Canada - an Editorial Review of "Wildflowers Grow in Broken Places"
Book Blurb: Told in multiple viewpoints is a story that begins on a cold winter December night in Quebec 1941, the Jardin sisters, three-year-old Josephine and six-year-old Collette, were abandoned by their parents in a freezing cold house with scraps of food. They fell upon the mercy of Canada’s Ministry of Children and were quickly sent into the province’s Catholic-run orphanage system. When Premier Maurice Duplessis was voted in a few short years later, new radical laws of
DK Marley
2 days ago4 min read
Espionage, War, and Passion in 1920s China - an Editorial Review of "The Dragon Gate Conspiracy"
Book Blurb: Wuhan, 1926. Civil war has reached the Yangtze. A Nationalist army sweeps north out of Canton, warlord regimes crumble ahead of it, and foreign gunboats ride at anchor off the Hankow bund while inside the concessions the great powers watch one another across the river. Second Lieutenant Jack Gaines came out to protect American lives and property, not to involve himself in other men's secrets. Then a Japanese businessman who claims to trade in wood oil keeps turnin
DK Marley
3 days ago5 min read
An Irish Immigrant Family Raising Seven Boisterous Children in 1900 - an Editorial Review of "Growing Up O'Malley"
Book Blurb: From Mary Frances Fisher comes Growing Up O’Malley, her companion novel to Paradox Forged in Blood. Both are compelling works of historical fiction based on true events and stories passed down from the author’s family. Growing Up O’Malley is a poignant story of an Irish immigrant couple raising seven boisterous children in the early 1900s. Their antics provide the backdrop for a story filled with humor and determination to navigate life’s challenges—the Great Depr
DK Marley
4 days ago4 min read
Capturing the Sephardic Jewish Experience During WWII - an Editorial Review of "Vidal"
Book Blurb: Part Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, and Art Spiegelman's Maus, Danila Botha's powerful debut graphic novel, follows young Vidal who grows up in Tiberias (Ottoman Empire and then British Mandate Palestine) and moves to Paris to pursue his art and freedom and gets trapped there during World War II. Botha traces the steps of Vidal's life through Chagallian vignettes, from his Sephardic upbringing in Tiberias to studies in the Technion in Haifa, his artistic life in Pa
DK Marley
5 days ago4 min read
For Those Who Believe History is Hiding Something - an Editorial Review of "The Matriarch Mission"
Book Blurb: A girl. A goddess. A question that will cost everything.1913 Crimea. Thirteen-year-old Oksana Mangupli enters the legendary cavern of blue light and answers an ancient calling from a forgotten goddess.From the polar north to Moscow to the Black Sea, she will search for Her truth.As revolution tears Russia apart, Oksana is haunted by Zoran Murometz — a man of terrifying power who will destroy everything she loves to take the truth she carries.The man seemingly dest
DK Marley
6 days ago6 min read
Four Strangers Intersect in Detroit of 1963 - an Editorial Review of "The World As It Is"
Book Blurb: From the award-winning author of Savage City, The Arsenal of Deceit, and The Ghosts of Detroit, the gripping final novel in Donald Levin’s Detroit Quartet. Detroit 1963. The lives of four strangers intersect when a shocking act of police violence inflames the city: Amp Hamilton, aspiring Motown musician and eyewitness to the killing of a Black woman by a white cop, torn between King's nonviolent resistance and Malcolm X's radical Black nationalism, Hannah Posner,
DK Marley
Aug 214 min read
A Reader's Favorite 'Must Read' - an Editorial Review of "Unbroken Hope"
Book Blurb: Finalist for the Prestigious Literary Globe Book Awards. Reader's Favorite Must Read The prestigious Kirkus Reviews says "Get it..." "Any book that treats the Okie experience does so in the shadow of the master, John Steinbeck, which is not a knock on Wells. In fact, he takes a page from the master in that he begins many chapters with moving set pieces (think of Steinbeck's famous tortoise crossing Route 66). Chapter 5 begins, "US Route 66 was the ant trail to the
DK Marley
Aug 205 min read
The Genius and the Tramp Versus Germany - an Editorial Review of "Midnight Patriots"
Book Blurb: GERMANY WANTS EINSTEIN ALIVE. CHAPLIN DEAD. Spies, assassins, a femme fatale board the Super Chief. The Genius and the Tramp race west into danger. Last stop: showdown at midnight. Blending fact and fiction, Midnight Patriots follows real-life friends Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin as they confront powerful enemies threatening America. It's 1940. Europe is in flames. Germany occupies much of the continent, and the Blitz rains terror on London. Fritz Duquesne,
DK Marley
Aug 196 min read
A Family Saga in East Tennessee - an Editorial Review of "The Scott Boys"
Book Blurb: The Scott Boys was recognized as a Finalist for the AWA Hawthorne Prize; a Finalist for the Chanticleer Laramie Award for Americana Fiction; a Finalist for the IAW Book of the Years; received the Editors Choice Award from iUniverse; and a Distinguished Author designation from the International Impact Book Awards.The Scott Boys: A Civil War Novel- Inspired by Actual Events is an iUniverse Editor's Choice. From East Tennessee, the Scott family faces Civil War confli
DK Marley
Aug 185 min read
Fleeing a Life of Mistakes and Regret - an Editorial Review of "A Good Name"
Book Blurb: In 1841, Talbot Green arrives in Mexican California a man with a hidden past and a future yet to be claimed. Fleeing a life of mistakes and regret, he reinvents himself as a shrewd businessman in Monterey, navigating the quickly changing political, military, and economic times. Through daring trade ventures, high-stakes negotiations, and a partnership and friendship with the influential Thomas Oliver Larkin, Green rises from outsider to central figure in Californi
DK Marley
Aug 175 min read
DK Marley
Aug 160 min read
A Brutal Rivalry Between Two Fascinating Women - Blog Tour and Book Excerpt for "Renaissance Rivals"
BOOK EXCERPT The Vatican, 1501 Lucrezia entered the room swiftly, the pope’s attendants blurring in her peripheral vision. Without looking at them, or even at her father, she knelt before him and lowered her head to kiss the immense ruby set in gold upon his outstretched hand, lingering there so she would not have to meet his eyes. At last he lifted her chin, forcing her gaze upward toward his own dark eyes, twinkling with far too much vitality for a man of seventy. Known for
DK Marley
Aug 126 min read
Anne Boleyn Accepts a New Challenge - an Editorial Review of "Queen of Diamonds"
Book Blurb: Anne Boleyn accepts a new challenge! For fans of Philippa Gregory, Elizabeth Chadwick, Carol McGrath and Anne O’Brien. Can Anne guard her heart against those determined to take it…? France, 1515 With the departure of her mistress, Mary Tudor, back to England, Anne Boleyn now finds herself in the service of Queen Claude of France. Claude assigns Anne the role of companion to her younger sister, Princess Renée, and Anne soon discovers Renée is a handful — wilful and
DK Marley
Aug 85 min read
A Modern Republic From the Ashes of an Old Theocracy - an Editorial Review of "It Always Rains in Estaran"
Book Blurb: A nation in turmoil. A people divided. A revolution unfinished... The great revolutionary leader, reformer, liberator, and, for some, oppressor, General Mateh Redes is dead. He leaves behind a newly formed, fragile republic crumbling under the weight of its own creation. With Estaran remade, its people struggle with the disorienting clash between past and present. Now rival factions clamor for power, and it is up to Sark Efni, the handpicked successor of Mateh Red
DK Marley
Aug 74 min read
The Signs Are Everywhere - an Editorial Review of "Land Shadows"
Book Blurb: Winner of the Maxy Award First Runner-Up for Historical Fiction, Eric Hoffer Award Shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize Land Shadows is a sweeping historical saga spanning the Scottish Highlands, Gilded Age New York, and the contested lands of New Mexico. At its heart is Murdoch McNeil, an orphaned boy shaped by loss and ambition, and Kewanee, a Potawatomi girl resisting forced assimilation at the Carlisle Indian School. Their lives entwine across decades a
DK Marley
Aug 64 min read
The Machinery of Racism - an Editorial Review of "Skulls and Gulls"
Book Blurb: Coming Soon Book Buy Link: Coming Soon Editorial Review: Title: Skulls and Gulls Author: Joseph Kovler Rating: 4.4 "Skulls and Gulls" by Joseph Kovler, a historical fiction set in September 1938 follows Samuel Cohen Bernstein, a Jewish reporter for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Through him, the book explores the machinery of racism, the corruption of institutions, and the possibility of reckoning. The novel depicts how prejudice masquerades as research, granting legit
DK Marley
Aug 53 min read
Her Life and Civic Leadership in a By Gone Era - Blog Tour and Book Excerpt for "Marie Conner - A Leading Lady"
BOOK EXCERPT Chapter 13 Polly Potter (1950-51). “Our children are our future!” –Marie Conner, 1951. Two short excerpts from this chapter to use together. (In 1950) The Christmas party for Santiam Unit 51 was on Sunday, December 17, and again with a turkey dinner. Marie attended that, as did several district officers. Gold Star Mothers were the unit’s honored guests on that night. For music, Mrs. Lois Abrell led group singing while Marie played the piano. Two young girls with
DK Marley
Aug 43 min read