Stacking the Shelves #57

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

Richard Duke of York, King By Right by Matthew Lewis

(Kindle purchase)

One of the only books I've come across to tackle only Richard Duke of York's life. Matthew Lewis is a great storyteller too. I have several of his books and love his podcast. If you love learning about the Wars of the Roses like I do this is a good author to read. He's factual but not overly wordy and definitely not boring! So many books discuss the family but this one focuses on the role of Richard and I am interested to learn more about him. 

The Forbidden Queen by Anne O'Brien

(Kindle purchase)

I haven't read anything by this author and that's tragic because I own several of her books and have promoted them in the past. I know she's a great author. It's hard to get her books for an inexpensive price. That says a lot about her work though. I have read Jean Plaidy's book about Katherine of Valois, wife of Henry V and it was great. This one looks good and I love her story. It's so tragic and romantic! I hope to read and review this one in 2025. 

Murder in an Italian Castle by Benedict Brown

(Kindle purchase)

I am so excited for this one!  Lord Edgington and his grandson Christopher are traveling abroad. This is book one of Lord Edgington Investigates Abroad and they go to Italy for a European holiday. Of course a murder occurs and they must put on their sleuthing hats once again. 

I have read the Christmas book in the previous series. It was well written and witty and I really like the author's newsletter and updates he sends in my email. His name is Benedict Brown and he has two other cozy mystery series as well. I prefer cozies that take place in fun, exotic locations and he says he visited the castle he features and has a lot of details and history about it to share in the book. I love that!

Death at the Highland Loch by Lydia Travers (Lady Poppy Proudfoot Book One)

 

Publication Date:

May 19, 2025

Genre:

Cozy Mystery

Length: 350 pages

Series: Lady Poppy Proudfoot

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

Scotland, 1924: When Lady Poppy Proudfoot travels to the Highlands for a midsummer party, the last thing she and her fellow guests expect is for a body to wash up beside the loch.

Despite protests that it could have been an accident, Poppy is convinced it’s murder and decides to dust off her law degree and hunt for clues. But when the police arrive, the grumpy Inspector MacKenzie dismisses her evidence, insisting a crime scene is no place for a Lady. The nerve!

With the help of her trusted Labrador, Major, Poppy begins to unpick the case. But she soon has two mysteries to solve, as her host Lady Constance Balfour claims a diamond and emerald bracelet has been stolen. Could the two cases be linked? Was it Freddy the footman, a favorite of her ladyship? Or American actress Miss Cornett, with a keen eye for jewels? Or with such a dazzling guest list, was someone from the local village tempted into the grounds by the party?

When a woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Poppy is attacked, she realizes that someone wants her off the case. Someone connected to Balfour House is a murderer and a thief, but who? And can Poppy solve the mystery before she, too, washes up beside the loch?

My Thoughts:

This is the first book in the series and I'm grateful Net Galley let me read it early. I am always excited to get ARC's approved. It's the first in her new series so I wanted to read it to be in on it from the beginning. I've read some of her other one called The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency, and it was cute. 

This story picks up with new characters, Lady Poppy and her love interest, Inspector MacKenzie. Poppy is attending a get together in the Highlands and of course encounters a murder. They don't even know who it is at first and when Inspector MacKenzie arrives on the scene sparks fly between them in many ways. He considers her to be an interfering busybody who has no business involving herself in crime detection and she considers him to be an insufferable know it all. You can guess where this goes as the book moves on....predictable, tried and true plot but cute nonetheless.

Can't Wait Wednesday: The Queen's Cousin: A Novel of Queen Anne of Scotland by Raymond Wemmlinger (Tudor Royal Series Book 3)

For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, I'm featuring, The Queen's Cousin: A Novel of Queen Anne of Scotland, by Raymond Wemmlinger. This is one of four books so far in this series. The next one is due out later this year. He picks subjects that are not as well known in the Tudor era and that isn't easy to do. I know nothing much about Queen Anne of Denmark and Scotland and wife of King James VI (son of Mary Queen of Scots) so it should be interesting.

They aren't long epics but this is how I love to learn history....through character studies of real people of the time. I hope to start the series soon. I hope you've found something you can't wait to read. Happy reading ya'll!

British Historical Fiction

 May 16, 2025

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

With an aging childless queen on England’s throne, the search for an heir intensifies…

Scotland, 1594

Nineteen-year-old Anne of Denmark, Queen of Scotland, is thrilled and triumphant at the birth of a healthy baby boy, destined to reign as King of Scotland and, possibly, England. But Anne’s enjoyment of maternal glory quickly fades as her husband King James, fearing his son will be politically manipulated against him as he was against his mother, the deceased Mary Queen of Scots, removes the child permanently from her care. Outraged, Anne tries to regain control of her son, initiating a bitter marital struggle which sours what had been a loving and harmonious marriage.

Anne is haunted by the giant legacies of Mary Stuart and Elizabeth Tudor on the thrones of Scotland and England, and is determined to make her own mark. And central to that ambition is securing the succession to the English throne from her husband’s cousin, the elderly and childless Queen Elizabeth.

Can Anne regain favour with the Scottish King? Will they join forces to secure the English throne?

Or will this daring Queen of Scotland fade into obscurity…?

THE QUEEN’S COUSIN is a biographical historical novel of Anne of Denmark, wife of King James and Queen of Scotland during the Tudor era of Elizabeth I’s reign.

Top Ten Tuesday: How My Blogging Style Has Changed Over Time

 

This week's theme for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is "ways in which my blogging style has changed over time." I love this topic and like reflecting on it, seeing what I do differently now and what I'd like to change in the future. With it only being my fourth year at this I don't feel like the expert some of my fellow bloggers of twenty years are but I certainly now have a good feel for what it entails. 

So this is fun and gets me motivated to work harder to improve and drop the things that just don't work for me. I want to have fun at this and also have a quality blog so you have to modify sometimes! Here are the ten ways I've changed at blogging since I began in 2022. 

1. I don't write opinion posts anymore. I started to in the beginning but found I just didn't enjoy focusing my time on it. Maybe in the future I will again, I'm not against them, but I like focusing on books and authors and podcasts more. 

2. My willingness to review books I really disliked is not there. I don't mean I say every book is fabulous but if I really don't like a book I am hesitant to review it and say only negative things. Authors work very hard and it is discouraging to hear how awful your book was I'm sure. I'd rather review books I love or give an honest, but not harsh, completely negative review.

3. I don't write a book review every single week. I used to schedule a review for every single Friday. But I found it really stressed me out. Sometimes I was just too busy to finish a book that week or maybe I just had a week I didn't want to write a review. When reading long, epic books, a week is not nearly enough time to read it well. So now I'm working on just going with the flow. I have a schedule for blogging and regular posts but......I don't put pressure on myself to write a review every week on a certain day. I'll get to it when I get to it. Or at least I tell my brain that and try to relax, lol.

Stacking the Shelves #56

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!

Kindle purchase from Amazon

I love this author for non-fiction and she's been featured on podcasts I love. She has a style of writing that is narrative and gets to the point but is also rich in details. This book is one of a kind, narrowing in on the Beaumonts and their influence throughout the Crusader period. I am looking forward to all the new information and research in it!

Kindle purchase from Amazon

This author has a wonderful podcast he runs with another author, Sharon Bennett Connelly. It's called A Slice of Medieval and this is his latest book. It is a non-fiction, straightforward guide to all things Wars of the Roses and even though I'm well schooled in that period now, I enjoy his style of conversation on the show episodes and hopefully that transfers to print. He said he wanted to take a series of episodes for the layperson who doesn't know anything and put it in book form. I know a ton about it all but I love the period and am always happy to re-read about it!

Kindle purchase from Amazon

This author was interviewed about her books on A Slice of Medieval's podcasts recently and it was fascinating hearing her explain about how she writes historical fiction and about her character creation for this series. It is set during the Wars of the Roses and the heroine is determined to save her family home from civil war. It came out in January and is part of The Tarnished Crown series. I probably won't get around to starting it anytime soon but I'd like to read it this year before book two comes out.