Back to the Books Giveaway Hop

As a part of the Back to the Books Giveaway Hop, you can enter to win The Gilded Shroud by Elizabeth Bailey.


Emily, wife of the Marquis of Polbrook, was strangled in the night. The last thing Emily's brother-in-law, Lord Francis Fanshawe, expects to find is an adept investigator in the newly arrived temporary lady's companion for his elderly mother.

Ottilia Draycott quickly becomes the family's hope for establishing the innocence of the marquis, despite his sudden disappearance that same night and his declared wish that Emily was no longer his wife. Then a priceless heirloom fan goes missing from the scene of the crime. Only Ottilia can piece together what happened that fateful night.

Read my review to learn more about this historical romance/mystery.


This contest is for USA & Canada residents only.

To enter the giveaway:

1) you can twitter me saying "Hi @genrereviewer. Enter me in the giveaway for THE GILDED SHROUD by Elizabeth Bailey."

OR

2) You can leave a comment to this post asking to be entered. Please also leave some way for me to contact you--or follow this blog so you can see the winner announcement.


This giveaway ends September 7th at midnight. The winner will be randomly selected. I'll announce the winner on September 8th on this blog.

If you entered using twitter, I'll send you a @ or DM telling you of your win and asking where to send the book. If you entered using the blog comments, you'll need to leave your e-mail address so I can contact you or check back to see if you won so you can e-mail me your mailing address. If the winner hasn't responded with a mailing address within seven days, I reserve the right to pick a new winner.

I hope everyone has fun with this!


The blogs participating in the Back to the Books Giveaway Hop:

The Gilded Shroud by Elizabeth Bailey

The Gilded Shroud by Elizabeth Bailey ISBN-13: 9780425242896 Trade Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: September 6, 2011

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description from Back Cover (slightly modified):
A maid finds her dead mistress sprawled across a disheveled four-poster bed with a bruised neck. Emily, wife of the Marquis of Polbrook, had been strangled in the night. The last thing Emily's brother-in-law, Lord Francis Fanshawe, expects to find so soon after the crime is an adept investigator newly arrived as a temporary lady's companion to his elderly mother.

Ottilia Draycott is intelligent, resourceful, and observant. She quickly becomes the family's hope for establishing the innocence of the marquis, despite his sudden disappearance that same night and a declared wish that Emily was no longer his wife. Then a priceless heirloom and some jewelry goes missing from the scene of the crime. Only Ottilia can piece together what happened that fateful night and discover the murderer.


My Review:
The Gilded Shroud is a historical romance set in 1789 in England. There is a puzzle-mystery to solve that brings the romantic pair together, but the story reads primarily like a "clean" romance. The clues were not hidden or obscured, so the "whodunit" was very guessable even from the start of the book.

While it was verbally acknowledged that the heroine was unconventional for the time period, everybody loved her unconventional manner and skills. Everyone cooperated with her, so solving the mystery was just a matter of asking the right questions of the right people in order to discover the full picture of what happened.

The characters were interesting and enjoyable. There wasn't much suspense since there were no barriers to the investigation, a lack of danger to anyone (at least, that they knew), and even the romance was a matter of slowly growing to admire the other person and acknowledging that at the end. Despite that, the pacing never felt slow to me. It was a relaxing read, which can be very nice.

Interesting, vivid historical details about everyday life and the wider political events were woven into the story and brought it alive in my imagination.

There was a minor amount of explicit bad language that modern readers might be offended by. There were no sex scenes, though sex was vaguely referred to throughout the story. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
The chambermaid, creeping into my lady's room to light the fire, noticed nothing amiss. Prey to all the discomforts of a cold in the head, with her hearing muffled, Sukey was unaware of the unusual silence. Nor could any unpleasant odour penetrate beyond the thickness of a stuffed-up nose. Indeed, her concentration was intent upon trying not to sniff too loudly, for fear of disturbing her mistress's rest.

With deft and practised movements, she went about her accustomed task with the minimum of noise, scraping out last night's ashes and setting fresh coals and faggots in their place. When it came to blowing up the embers to encourage a fitful flame, however, the shortness of breath induced by Sukey's condition made her cough involuntarily.

Catching a hand to her throat, the chambermaid paused in her work, her fearful head automatically turning towards the great four-poster behind her, poised for the slightest sign of wakening within.

Courageous by Randy Alcorn

Courageous by Randy Alcorn based on the screenplay by Alex Kendrick & Stephen Kendrick ISBN-13: 978-1-4143-5846-8 Trade Paperback: 375 pages Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers Released: August 1, 2011

Source: Review copy from Tyndale House Publishers.

Book Description from Back Cover:
As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, and their partners willingly stand up to the worst the world can offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. While they consistently give their best on the job, good enough seems to be all they can muster as dads. But they’re quickly discovering that their standard is missing the mark.

They know that God desires to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, but their children are beginning to drift farther and farther away from them. Will they be able to find a way to serve and protect those who are most dear to them? When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God...and to their children?


My Review:
Courageous is a Christian general fiction novel with a fair amount of action. It's a novel based on a movie by the same name, and it sometimes read like it (especially during the action scenes). However, it had more depth than I was expecting from a movie-turned-novel.

The main characters were varied, complex, and reacted realistically to the various struggles they faced. The details about police work, gangs, and families brought the story alive in my imagination. However, a couple of the police scenes did seem set up (unrealistic) in order to get a laugh. Suspense was built by relational tension as well as physical danger.

It was an interesting, entertaining novel. I'm not sure how inspired fathers will be by it (though I think most will be), but I do think men will enjoy the book. There's action, suspense, humor, and more.

Some Bible verses were quoted and were the basis for the characters' motivation to become better fathers. There was no bad language or sex scenes. Overall, I'd recommend this novel for itself and for it's message.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
A Royal-red Ford F-150 SuperCrew rolled through the streets of Albany, Georgia. The pickup’s driver brimmed with optimism, so much that he couldn’t possibly foresee the battles about to hit his hometown.

Life here is going to be good, thirty-seven-year-old Nathan Hayes told himself. After eight years in Atlanta, Nathan had come home to Albany, three hours south, with his wife and three children. New job. New house. New start. Even a new truck.

Sleeves rolled up and windows rolled down, Nathan enjoyed the south Georgia sunshine. He pulled into a service station in west Albany, a remodeled version of the very one he’d stopped at twenty years earlier after getting his driver’s license. He’d been nervous. Wasn’t his part of town—mostly white folks, and in those days he didn’t know many. But gas had been cheap and the drive beautiful.

Read more from chapter one.

Across the Wide River by Stephanie Reed

Across the Wide River by Stephanie Reed ISBN-13: 9780825435768 Trade Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: Kregel Publications Released: November 25, 2004 Author's Website Author on Twitter

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description from Back Cover:
Freedom—
Some take it for granted.
Others consider it worth dying for.

Lowry Rankin knows all too well the cost of freedom; after all, his family’s red brick home is the first stop on the Underground Railroad north of the Ohio River.

He’s seen friends beaten for the color of their skin. He’s watched simple farmers make a difference. He’s even risked his own life transporting escaped slaves. But will Lowry be able to conquer his greatest fear when he’s called to speak out?


My Review:
Across the Wide River is a novel for young adults and adults based on an actual family's biography. It's a historical novel (with a romance) that's rich in historical detail and set starting in 1825. Lowry, the main character, was presented as a complex, realistic young adult who wanted to help the runaway slaves but who also resented the hard work involved in helping them.

The story ended a bit abruptly. While several things about Lowry's future were resolved, several other major issues were left open-ended in a way that made me suspect a sequel. (There is a sequel: The Light Across the River.)

There was a very minor amount of "he cussed" style bad language. There were no sex scenes. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting and enjoyable novel to those interested in the Underground Railroad.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
The boy sprinted along the forest's edge in the bright Kentucky sunshine. As he plowed through scarlet maple leaves, they crackled under his shoes and clung to his white knee stockings. The sweet, dusty smell wrinkled his freckled nose. The sleeves of the boy's loose white shirt fluttered as he ran, and he kept one thumb firmly tucked under the waist of his gray breeches.

"Hurry up, Father!" Lowry yelled over his shoulder. Why were adults always slow as molasses? "Sherwood will think we ain't coming for Bible school!"

"Lowry Rankin!" Father sounded far away. "You know better than that."

"Honest, Father, I ain't kiddin'!" He hopped the creek that meandered along a green rise to the distant ridgeline. Suddenly something rolled under his foot and he sat down hard. Rubbing his hip as he retrieved his straw hat, Lowry rustled through the leaves until he uncovered a moldy wooden handle about two feet long. He fingered one gnawed end as Father towered above him with a stern face.

Read more from chapter one.

And the winner is...

Sorry about the delay! I got a bit distracted yesterday... But now it's time to announce the winner of the Summer Giveaway Hop. Including Twitter entries, 61 people entered. Using a random number generator and numbering the entrants in the order I received them, the winner is:


Janelle
who won "Double Take."


Congratulations! I'll be contacting you for your address.

For those who didn't win, you can always buy a copy of these books from your favorite bookstore or see if they have them at your local library.

Cotillion by Georgette Heyer

Cotillion by Georgette Heyer ISBN-13: 978-1-4022-1008-2 Trade Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca Released: 1953, 2007

Source: "won" in return for filling out a survey for the publisher.

Book Description from Back Cover (heavily modified):
Kitty Charing stands to inherit a vast fortune from her irascible and eccentric adoptive father--provided she marries one of his great-nephews. She's smitten with handsome, rakish Jack, but he refuses to play his Uncle's games and doesn't show up to ask for her hand. None of the suitors who show up are desirable...until Freddy shows up without knowing what's going on. Freddy is immensely rich and not bad-looking, but he's mild-mannered and a bit hapless. He's fond of Kitty, but not interested in marriage.

Kitty forms a plan to put herself in the path of Jake and make him jealous by pressuring Freddy into a sham betrothal to her. She travels back to London with him to be introduced into society. Freddy is beside himself making sure she dresses in style and isn't ruined socially by her questionable new friendships. Kitty has her eyes opened about the true character of several of her cousins. In the end, will she make the right match?


My Review:
Cotillion is a light-hearted historical romance set in England in 1816. The book was recommended to me as "charming" and "funny," but I didn't really find the story notably funny or charming until the second half of the book. By then, we knew the characters better, Kitty was fully entangled in several funny situations, and I did very much enjoy the story. Still, as a whole, I personally prefer Heyer's Frederica. In both books, I liked how the hero and heroine were better people because of the other's influence.

The characters were varied and engaging. A nice amount of day-to-day historical detail was woven into the story to give a sense of time and place. This did create a slightly slower pacing typical of historical novels. The characters used a lot of slang typical for the time period but which we don't use any more. I had no trouble figuring out what was meant from the context, but some people might find the slang confusing.

There was a minor amount of explicit bad language. There were no sex scenes. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
The saloon, like every other room in Arnside House, was large and lofty, and had been furnished, possibly some twenty years earlier, in what had then been the first style of elegance. This, however, had become outmoded, and although the room bore no such signs of penury as a ragged carpet or patched curtains, the bright brocades had faded, the paint on the panelled walls had cracked, and the gilded picture-frames had long since become tarnished. To a casual visitor it might have seemed that Mr Penicuik, who owned the house, had fallen upon evil days; but two of the three gentlemen assembled in the Saloon at half-past six on a wintry evening of late February were in no danger of falling into this error.

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