Cover Reveal: America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie

AMERICA'S FIRST DAUGHTER

Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie

Releasing March 1st, 2016

"In a compelling, richly researched novel that draws from thousands of letters and original sources, bestselling authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie tell the fascinating, untold story of Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughter, Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph—a woman who kept the secrets of our most enigmatic founding father and shaped an American legacy.

From her earliest days, Martha “Patsy” Jefferson knows that though her father loves his family dearly, his devotion to his country runs deeper still. As Thomas Jefferson’s oldest daughter, she becomes his helpmate in the wake of her mother’s death, traveling with him when he becomes American minister to France. And it is in Paris, at the glittering court and among the first tumultuous days of revolution, that she learns of her father’s liaison with Sally Hemings, a slave girl her own age.

Patsy too has fallen in love—with her father’s protégé, William Short, a staunch abolitionist intent on a career in Europe. Heartbroken at having to decide between being William’s wife or a devoted daughter, she returns to Virginia with her father and marries a man of his choosing, raising eleven children of her own.

Yet as family secrets come to light during her father’s presidency, Patsy must again decide how much she will sacrifice to protect his reputation, in the process defining not just Jefferson’s political legacy, but that of the nation he founded".

Pre-Order Now: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iTunes | Kobo and a Rafflecopter giveaway

LAURA KAMOIE has always been fascinated by the people, stories, and physical presence of the past, which led her to a lifetime of historical and archaeological study and training. She holds a doctoral degree in early American history from The College of William and Mary, published two non-fiction books on early America, and most recently held the position of Associate Professor of History at the U.S. Naval Academy before transitioning to a full-time career writing genre fiction as the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty books, Laura Kaye. Her debut historical novel, America's First Daughter, co-authored with Stephanie Dray, allowed her the exciting opportunity to combine her love of history with her passion for storytelling. Laura lives among the colonial charm of Annapolis, Maryland with her husband and two daughters.

Find Laura Here: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

STEPHANIE DRAY is a bestselling and award-nominated author of historical women’s fiction. Her series about Cleopatra’s daughter has been translated into six different languages, was nominated for a RITA Award and won the Golden Leaf. As STEPHANIE DRAVEN, she is a national bestselling author of paranormal romance, contemporary romance, and American-set historical women’s fiction. She is a frequent panelist and presenter at national writing conventions and lives near the nation’s capital. Before she became a novelist, she was a lawyer, a game designer, and a teacher. Now she uses the stories of women in history to inspire the young women of today.

Find Stephanie Here: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Book Review: THE TRAITOR'S WIFE by Allison Pataki

During the American Revolution the “belle of Philadelphia” was Miss Peggy Shippen. She was a haughty selfish beauty that was a royalist at heart. Peggy was the type of girl that was beautiful but ugly on the inside. Her maid Clara Bell was everything Peggy was not. Clara had recently lost her grandmother and was taken into service by the Shippen family. Clara had been given the hardest duty in the household and that was to keep Peggy happy. Spoilt rotten to the core Peggy was a vain woman and cared nothing about anything in life other than her pretty face, her elaborate dresses and her handsome British beau major John Andre. Peggy’s lavish life style of fancy dinner parties, gorgeous gowns, and dashing men in uniforms was all too much for Clara. She felt completely overwhelmed with Peggy’s disillusioned world. Her one and only comfort in her new employers home was the developing friendship she had with a young man named Caleb that also worked for the shippen family. Clara began to settle into her new life as Peggy’s maid and found it anything but easy.

The Royalist had controlled Philadelphia at this time during the revolution but nothing lasts forever and it was all about to come to an end. The rebels infiltrated the royalist camp and forced the royalists including Major John Andre to flee. In that instant Peggy’s idyllic life and heart shattered into tiny little bits of hopelessness.  Months later she was still broken hearted. Eventually Peggy unenthusiastically welcomed the rebel forces and their commander Benedict Arnold.  A legendary war hero of the revolution, Benedict had bravely fought for Washington and had suffered greatly because of it. He had been wounded in the leg during battle and had been in dire financial straights because the loyalist had not paid him for his military services for years. Eventually Peggy came around after mourning the loss of Andre. It was time to move on and since she was a vain woman she realized Benedict Arnold was the only man in town with the means to satisfy her financially. Twice her age and defiantly not her type Peggy pursued the general and with her fathers permission married him even though she only marginally loved him, it would never be a great love affair between them.

When Peggy was married Clara had been sent with Peggy’s new household but finical circumstances arise for the newly married Arnold’s and they got their first dose of reality in the form of poverty. Clara missed nothing to do with Peggy because it was her job. She noticed her mistresses decline and unhappiness it was not a shock to Clara that Peggy had concocted a crazy plan to bring them back to wealth but all at the expense of betraying her country and the men that her husband had faithfully served for so long. It would take every trick Peggy ever learned to sway her husband into becoming a traitor. Forced to just stand by and watch things unfold Clara loved her country and she knew she had to do the right thing.  It was just like Peggy to be rotten but this was taking it to a whole new level and Clara just snapped.  She had enough of selfish Peggy Shippen and no longer could she or would she just stand by while two traitors destroyed her country.

4/5 Good read, a whole new time period for me this time around. This is my first American Revolution historical fiction novel and I really enjoyed it. What leaned me towards this read was the new TV series Turn, I am hooked on Turn and many of the shows characters are featured in this novel. It was a great introductory novel to the American Revolution. I would highly recommend this novel to historical fiction lovers because it is a great novel that is loosely based on real events.

PG-13 for mild violence and sexual references

FTC- This novel is from my personal collection.

Amazon: THE TRAITOR'S WIFE by Allison Pataki

S T A Y  C O N N E C T E D  W I T H  M E :
U T U B E ~ T W I T T E R ‪ ~ F A C E B O O K ~ I N S T A G R A M ~ G O O G L E +‪
~L I Z Z I E~

Book Review: PRINCE LESTAT by Anne Rice

The vampire Lestat is finally back. This time he has a purpose he just does not know it yet. Picking up in modern times Lestat is still the pitiful self-made outcast.  Loathing himself he has refused to intergrade himself back into his vampire family. In his self-imposed exile Lestat roams the world haunted by the past that he cannot change. While wandering he does a few miraculous things, first he saves a little girl named Rose from utter destruction and becomes her uncle “Lestan”. Second he meets two unique vampires one of very ancient lineage named Seth that is the human son of the dead queen of the damned Akasha. Seth’s newly made vampire partner Dr. Fareed is a genius doctor that has quickly become a valuable asset to the “vampire tribe”. In his medical experiments Fareed has discovered a way to stop the vampire blood in the body long enough to give Margaret new eyes and Flavious a new leg.  With these medical break troughs whirling around the vampire community is on the cusp of a new era not just medically but also socially. The vampire dj Benji has taken notice of this and on his nightly broadcasts he tells all the vampires that  “we are a tribe of one” and every night he begs Lestat to come home and help the tribe. Lestat refuses to do so but Benji’s pleas do not go unheard.

The whole vampire community is still recovering in the wake of the terrible events that Queen Akasha dealt them. At the time no one knew that when she awoke she also woke up many super ancient vampires that had been sleeping for centuries and even some millenniums. As they have been coming to many have found that this mysterious “voice” has been talking to them demanding the destruction of the young vampires all across the world. Some of the ancient ones had fallen victim to incessant demands of the Voice nearly driving them to madness. Lestat has become a great vampire of interest to the Voice and loved to torment him.  The torment of the Voice had been harassing Lestat for quite some time until the burnings of the young ones began. That was Benji’s reason in vigilantly calling Lestat home to the tribe. There is only one way the vampire tribe was going to figure out what this mysterious Voice wants. They would all have to come together to and use all of their strength to find out where this voice is coming from. Only then will they discover its reasons for wanting to destroy the young ones.  The Voice must be stopped at all costs before it kills them all.

5/5 I loved this wonderful addition to the Vampire Chronicles because it almost brings every single one of the vampire characters together. The only part of this novel that I did not like was that Anne left out Tarquin Blackwood and Mona Mayfair.  The only reason it upset me that there was no mention of them was because the last two previous novels in the series were completely devoted to Lestat’s adventures with Mona and Quinn in New Orleans. I was disappointed because I felt that if everyone was coming together to be a tribe then that would include Mona and Quinn. On a really positive note there was a new feature I really found useful that none of the previous novels had and at the very end of the novel there is a full character index and an “informal” guide to the whole series. I found both of these features really helpful in jogging my memory on the previous novels events and it really helped in keeping track of all the newly awaken vampires. I would not recommend this novel as a stand-alone novel because it literally pulls the previous twelve novels together. If you really want to read this novel with out reading all twelve other novels I would recommend at least reading “The Queen of the Damned” because then you will at least get the major points in the back history.

R ~ Rating for sexual references and graphic violence

FTC ~ this novel is from my personal collection. I received no compensation for this review and it is reflective of my honest opinion of this novel.

A M A Z O N

Prince Lestat by Anne Rice

STAY CONNECTED WITH ME: 

S U B S C R I B E ~ T W I T T E R ‪ ~ F A C E B O O K ~ I N S T A G R A M ~ G O O G L E +‪

~L I Z Z I E~

Book Review: BLOOD CANTICLE by Anne Rice

The adventures of the southern gentleman turned vampire, Quinn Blackwood and the Brat prince Lestat continue on with Blood Canticle. This time around Lestat could not help himself and he made a new vampire. Mona Mayfair has always been the love of Quinn’s life yet she was dying. The only way to save Mona was to give her the dark gift or say goodbye to her forever, which Quinn could not bear. After Mona was given a new life the deadly trio set out to find out the truth about Mona’s mysteriously missing daughter. Mona’s daughter was a “taltos” which was an alien race that over the years had been born to only the women that were witches. Mona’s family had a dark extensive history with the taltos, which is all covered in the series The Lives of the Mayfair Witches.

Mona’s cousin Rowan was the matriarch of the family and she was also a super genius doctor. At times Rowan had a history of mental instability that all stemmed from her history with the taltos. Mona wanted answers from Rowan about her daughter but Rowan did not really have any clear answers for her, which made the trio all the more determined to find out the fate of Mona’s daughter. Coming together in this novel the Mayfair witches and the vampires contact the only ancient being that Lestat knew would know the truth. The ancient vampire helped locate the daughter and what they find is shocking to say the least.

3/5 Not my favorite, out of all the books in the Vampire Chronicles this one is by far my least favorite. That does not mean I did not enjoy reading because I did enjoy the novel. I think if I had read the whole Lives of the Mayfair Witches series first then this novel would have been much better. I also felt that since I have not read that series that if I had I would have more fully grasped everything that was going on with Mona and Rowan. I would highly recommend reading the Lives of the Mayfair Witches before reading this novel.

X-Rating for sexual references
FTC- I borrowed this book from my local library

Amazon: BLOOD CANTICLE by Anne Rice
~Lizzie~

Book Review: BLACKWOOD FARM by Anne Rice

Quinn Blackwood, a true Louisiana southern gentleman and heir to the vast Blackwood estate had a very unusual childhood. From as far back as he could remember he had a doppelganger spirit that no one else could see. Goblin as he called him, always had been a part of his life, which was eccentric to say the least. There was nothing typical about growing up at Blackwood farm. All of the Blackwood’s were filthy rich. The whole family had lived there for many generations even their servants had been with the family for generations. Raised by his loving grandpa Quinn could do or have anything he wanted yet his main focus was his other half Goblin. The family and servants patronized him but in his life only one person really understood him. Quinn’s equally eccentric aunt queen loved him like no one else could, she believed in his doppelganger even though she could not see him. Blackwood manor had a great family history to go along with the heritage home; it was not uncommon for a person to see some of the family ghosts roaming about the house. For Quinn though it was different from everyone else, he saw the ghosts and seemed to attract them.

In the backwater swamps that the Blackwood family owned was a legendary island called Sugar Devil Swamp. No one had ever seen it but Quinn’s great grandfather supposedly had gone there as a retreat for weeks at a time. It was also said at this time that he had built a secret house out there in the swamp. No one had ever dared find the island because it was legend that his elderly great grandfather on his deathbed had taken off and escaped to the island never to be heard from again. Quinn was determined to find the island and when he did he was shocked at what he had found. Finding the island was just the beginning. Crossing paths with a vengeful ghost from his great grandfathers past was terrifying enough but then he crossed the most terrifying and mysterious being he had ever seen; an immortal.

Quinn was not given a choice about becoming a child of the blood, stolen in the night from his eccentric life there was no going back on what happened to him. Immortal now and forever yet Quinn could not turn his back on the home and the people or spirits that loved him the most. He felt he had to return home especially to Goblin yet when he returned home he had found that Goblin had changed and now was becoming a great threat. Quinn did the most logical thing a blood child could do he reached out to none other than the brat prince himself, Lestat. It made perfect sense and since Quinn had read Lestat’s vampire memoirs he knew Lestat’s history with ghosts, spirits, witches and vampires. If anyone was going to be able to help Lestat was the only one with the know how to do it. Quinn’s only hope was teaming up with the notorious brat prince of New Orleans.

4/5 Enjoyed this one but for me it was lacking in the whole historical aspect I enjoy so much. But I must admit that what it lacked for me historically it made up for it in other paranormal ways. This is one of the few books I would not recommend to just anyone because in all honesty you really need to read the whole Vampire Chronicles to fully grasp all that’s going on in this novel. I also would recommend that you read Anne’s other series “The Mayfair Witches” because this novel is a cross over between the two series. I have not read the Mayfair series and found that I did follow the novel along quiet well but I think it would have been much better of a read if I had read the Mayfair series first.

X-Rating sexual encounters
FTC-this novel is from my personal collection

Amazon ~ BLACKWOOD FARM by Anne Rice
~Lizzie~

Mailbox Monday

Shakespeare's Sonnets
The bard's sonnets read by a leading actor of stage and screen Simon Callow.

Savor the most celebrated love poems in the English language. Written almost 400 years ago, the sonnets of William Shakespeare are passionate and exalted, rich in imagery and alliteration, and full of mystery and intrigue.

This selection presents all 154 sonnets composed from 1593-1601. In words and rhyme, he reveals his infatuation with the "Dark Lady," his relationship with a rival poet, and his private thoughts on love, death, beauty, and truth: timeless themes that span the centuries to touch our hearts today.

A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America
A dramatic retelling of our nation's past by today's preeminent multiculturalism scholar, Ronald Takaki, this book examines America's history in "a different mirror"-from the perspective of the minority peoples themselves. Beginning with the colonization of the "New World" and ending with the Los Angeles riots of 1992, this book recounts the history of America in the voices of the non-Anglo peoples of the United States-Native Americans, African Americans, Jews, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and others-groups who helped create this country's rich mosaic culture. In this significant work of scholarship, Professor Takaki grapples with the raw truth of American history and examines the ultimate question of what it means to be an American.

~Lizzie~

The Great Gatsby Movie Art and Fashion

I know I am really late on "The Great Gatsby" Train but I must admit I held myself back. I read the book before I watched the movie and it was worth the wait. Beautifully filmed this movie is breath taking and I am glad I waited. I wanted to share with you all some of my favorite little things related to "The Great Gatsby". Happy reading all!

Carey Mulligan "Daisy Buchannan

Tiffany even jumped on board for Gatsby themed spread May 2013

For More On The Great Gatsby:
Check out the Soundtrack on Google Play
Amazon, Books, The Movie, and More on The Great Gatsby
You Tube "Young and Beautiful" - A Tribute to "The Great Gatsby"
You Tube The Great Gatsby Deleted Scenes - Alternate Ending SPOILER ALERT!

~Lizzie~

Book Review: THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald

American classic literature at its finest. Short yet anything but sweet this novel will leave you feeling very reflective on your own life’s choices. At a tiny 180 pages this novel is not exactly an easy novel to read even for me it was rough going in a few spots. My interpretation is that Fitzgerald purposely wrote this novel intentionally vague. I think the point is to leave the story open for the reader to decide how they view the novel.

In the fabled city of West Egg Nick Carraway moved into a forgotten gardeners cottage between mansions the summer of 1922. Nick a WWI vet had moved to West Egg from the Midwest to pursue his hobby of writing. Nick’s had a lovely cousin named Daisy Buchannan that lived across the bay in East Egg. West and East Egg were very different from each other. East Egg residents were made of “old money” and West Egg was considered “new money”. The two suburbs fabled to be outside of Long Island NY were worlds apart. The two rarely crossed paths except for at “Gatsby’s Parties”. Coincidentally Gatsby happened to live right next door to Nick in a giant mansion. His parties were notorious for being the best in New York and the whole city would turn out for his shindigs.

Nick became quickly reacquainted with his beautiful cousin Daisy and her husband Tom. Nick and Tom were old Yale grad buddies. Tom also was heir to a vast family fortune and was an arrogant jerk. He and Daisy lived in the lap of luxury in East Egg. It was crystal clear to Nick after spending dinner with his rich cousins that Daisy was a very unhappy woman. Tom was the main source of that pain because it was said that he “kept a woman in NY”. Nick with out a choice would happen to meet this other woman that very night. During dinner Tom insisted that they go out for a night in town. On their way into town on the train Tom jumped off the train and headed straight to the local mechanic shop. Nick was stunned to discover that this other woman of Tom’s was also someone else’s wife. The mechanic’s wife Myrtle made Nick very uneasy. Daisy was his cousin yet after a little cajoling Nick partied like a wild man all night with Tom, Myrtle, and their closest friends.

Nick had been on a parting splurge when he received an official invitation to one of Gatsby’s wild parties. When he arrived he realized he was the only one who had actually been invited. He had a hard time finding the host of the glorious party and he happened to come across Daisy’s best friend he had met at dinner the other night, Jordan Baker. At least he had Jordan to cling to at the party because Gatsby was always aloof at his own parties. Nick had set out to discover more about the host and all he got back were outlandish tales of Gatsby’s background. He came to the conclusion that no one knew who Gatsby really was and right when he had given up searching him out Gatsby found him. He was nothing like he had expected, young, handsome, and defiantly sober unlike Nick. The pair hit it off and Nick found himself invited into Gatsby’s mysterious life of “new money”.

Gatsby had engaged Nick because he “wanted him to know something of him” because he had a request for Nick and miss Jordan Baker would explain the rest to him. Jordan had mentioned at the party that she had met Gatsby before and Gatsby needed their help. His request seemed like a simple thing. He wanted Nick to invite Daisy Buchannan to tea. Sounds simple enough yet Nick had no inkling at the history behind Jay Gatsby and Daisy. Nick felt compelled to arrange the meeting between his married cousin and this eccentric millionaire he barely knew and that was just the beginning.

4/5 I gave this novel a four even though I loved it because I had to re-read quite a few parts. The style of the prose maybe hard to digest for some readers, it can be difficult at times. If you did not read this in high school then I would highly recommend reading it before you watch the movie. I also think that if you did read it as high school mandatory curriculum then you should re-read it again because your interpretation as an adult might vary from a youth’s stand point. I also want to point out that the movie is almost exactly like the book except a few small parts cut out. The movie made a great follow up to the read.

R – Rating for violence and sexual references.
FTC – I bought this novel for my personal collection.
Amazon – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
~Lizzie~

Book Review: INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE CLAUDIA'S STORY by Anne Rice and Ashley Marie Witter

What a fun short read. As many of you know before I became obsessed with historical fiction I was really obsessed with Anne Rice’s series “The Vampire Chronicles”. The series actually led me to HF because I realized it was not just the vampires I loved but it was that Anne’s vampire story lines followed the characters thought out history. I loved following them through the different eras. It made each book really unique and this one is no different from the others.

If you have seen the movie “Interview with the Vampire” which stars dreamy young Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt then you know that Claudia is the child vampire that Lestate (Tom Cruise) created to keep his beloved Louis (Brad pitt) with him. Lestate created an emotional bondage between him and Louis when he created her and now Louis could never leave. He was going to leave Lestate because he could not tolerate his barbaric vampire ways. Louis was always a sensitive soul and at one point or another he refused to kill humans and had resorted to killing rats to feed. When Claudia was created Louis instantly had a soft spot for the girl that would never grow up. Lestate’s plan had worked but at what cost, making a vampire child was against the vampire code in the novels and he knew it. Yet Claudia and Louis were kept in the dark about Lestate’s past history and they had no inkling of what the future held for the pair.  A dark future lay just across the water for Lestate and Claudia and there will be a price to pay and ignorance will not be a tollerated excuse.

This graphic novel is from Claudia’s prospective which has not been done before. It followed very close to the original novel and even the movie. It even has that dark feel that I love about the series. I enjoyed this novel it was like reading the story all over again new. It was fun and fast paced and was nothing like the nice Edward from “Twilight”. The highlight of the novel is the artwork it is incredible, so detailed and is done in all sepia tones except the bright red blood.

5/5 Very well done art work but very violent. If you can stomach a more violent vampire series then Rice is the way to go. I included below a few pictures I took of the novel to show the style of the novel.

Amazon

Interview with the Vampire Claudia’s Story by Anne Rice and Ashley Marie Witter

Vampire Chronicles Series by Anne Rice
~Lizzie~