I’m delighted to share my review for Adam Lofthouse’s War Lord: Scourge of Rome #historicalfiction #blogtour #Roman
Here’s the blurb
And so we have reached the end of my tale. But what are endings if not new beginnings?
Alaric has been home for a year. He went north and saved the Cimbri, just as he said he would. But the cost has been higher than he ever thought. A shadow of the War Lord he once was, he now trades in amber and dotes on his children.
A simple life. And with it, contentment. But he knew this couldn’t last forever; peace isn’t for someone like him, and sure enough trouble finds him once again. A routine journey south turns into a new and unknown wave of danger as red-cloaked legionaries attack, causing confusion and carnage.
Warriors dressed as Romans have been scouring the country, slaughtering innocent people, and leaving Roman footprints wherever they march. But things are not what they seem, and it falls to Alaric to don his armour once more, and march his Ravensworn in pursuit of a mysterious enemy that could destabilise his world beyond repair.
War Lord, as the blurb states, is the end of Alaric, or is it a beginning for him?
Once more, we’re thrust straight back into the action, and Alaric, while accepting he’s an old man these days, does indeed not seem to have ‘grown up’ at all, as he’s so fond of reminding himself. From one hairbrained scheme to another, Alaric realises that perhaps, after all, there is a great deal at stake, and he is, of course, the man to solve everyone else’s problems, for all he likes to pretend he doesn’t care about anyone but himself, his children and his wife.
Adam writes fabulous books. I do love Alaric. He’s a bad egg, and yet, we all can’t help liking him, as indeed, does everyone who comes into contact with him. There’s no end of action and adventure, no end of peril, and through it all, Alaric sails with his usual charm and determination. But, is this one quest too much for our epic second-century hero, living on the outskirts of the Roman empire, but admiring them all the same? Has he finally found an enemy he can’t hope to beat, even if he unites the tribes? Or will he have to prove as quick-thinking as ever?
While all this is happening, there is also an intriguing backstory, reliving a moment in Alaric’s life when everything changed for him. It adds a certain poignancy to our character, making his wild ways more understandable.
This is a cracking finale for Alaric’s story. Enjoy it. I know I did.
Adam Lofthouse is the author of action-packed historical thrillers. His brand new series for Boldwood, ‘Enemies of Rome’, will focus on the boundaries at the edge of the Roman Empire. The first book Raven, will be published in February 2025.
I’m sharing my review The Wordsmith’s Guide to Planning the Perfect Plot by Elizabeth M Hurst #blogtour #nonfiction #writingadvice
The Wordsmith’s Guide to Planning the Perfect Plot
* DO YOU STRUGGLE TO FINISH WRITING A NOVEL? * DO YOU RUN OUT OF MOMENTUM BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE YOUR STORY IS GOING?
The Wordsmith’s Guide to Planning the Perfect Plot is your trusted companion for turning story ideas into structured, compelling narratives. In this fourth instalment of the Wordsmith’s Guides series, Elizabeth M. Hurst takes you through popular plotting methods—including the Snowflake Method, Save the Cat Beat Sheet, and The Inside Outline—helping you choose the right approach for your writing style. You’ll also find practical advice on troubleshooting common pitfalls, crafting satisfying endings, and keeping your plan adaptable as your story evolves.
Inside, you’ll discover:
Clear explanations of proven plotting methods
Guidance on choosing the right structure for your novel
Tips for overcoming plot issues and staying on track
Advice on writing satisfying, well-rounded endings
A practical appendix full of tools and templates to support your planning process
Whether you’re a planner, a pantser, or somewhere in between, Planning the Perfect Plot will help you shape your novel with clarity and confidence.
Planning isn’t something I really do as a writer. But I was certainly curious to see how others might go about writing their stories. Elizabeth M Hurst gathers together many different techniques for planning a novel, and it is interesting to discover how I could be writing a novel, if my mind worked in that way. Mine, alas, does not. It thrives on the chaos. But, I do think the book is an excellent resource for those who plan before writing, and perhaps worry too much about sticking to their plan and the plot they thought they’d be writing when it goes awry and things starts to misbehave. I found it intriguing to read how people use ‘beats’ to craft their story as well as arcs and other techniques. I’m in awe of anyone who can think that far ahead:) I’m not a planner because I ‘feel’ my way through a story – but the author certainly nails my writing style in her explanations.
The author readily acknowledges that most people will use a variety of these techniques, and I was pleased to see that through it all, the delightful chaos of characters and plot misbehaving was never far from her thoughts.
The idea behind writing the novel, was, the author says, to encourage writers to finish their drafts using whatever techniques work for them. This is a worthy endeavour. Many people start writing a story and falter when things start to feel ‘off.’ This should provide opportunities to get writers writing again by thinking of their plot in different ways. I suspect it could be used as an effective diagnostic tool to discover where a plot is faltering, and once that’s been done, writers will learn what works and doesn’t work for them and in future, potentially, avoid the traps waiting to choke off the creativity.
A concise and interesting summary of the way writers write, providing suggestions for breaking free from processes that might not be working. I’m sure all writers will find their ‘type’ in the explanations.
Meet the author
Elizabeth was born and bred in the picturesque harbour town of Whitehaven in the northwest of England, where the long, wet winters moulded her into a voracious reader of fiction to escape the dismal weather.
She graduated with a degree in Business Studies and a string of jobs followed, after which she finally settled in the automotive industry, where she spent twelve happy years.
Having already started writing around the age of 40, she had begun to dream of a more creative lifestyle and set about creating her freelance editing and proofreading business, EMH Editorial Services. In 2018, she quit the corporate world and concentrated her energy full-time towards her love of the written word.
Elizabeth now lives with her husband in the warm and sunny south of France, where the wine is cheaper than the water, and the cats spend their days hunting lizards and dreaming of the birds that roost on the roof.
I’m sharing my review for Desolation by Keith Moray, a brand new historical mystery #bookreview #blogtour #newrelease
Here’s the blurb
A BRAND NEW wickedly dark medieval mystery from Keith Moray. If you like your murder truely gruesome – this series is for you! 🩸☠️🗡️
The Black Rood of Scotland, stolen.
A coroner of York, murdered
An evil worse than plague itself, at large…
1361, York. As the country recovers from the war with France, and whispers that the pestilence has returned to England grow louder, fear is in the heart of every nobleman and commoner alike. Sir Ralph de Mandeville, ex-solider and newly appointed Justice of the Peace is sent to Langbarugh, just outside York, to investigate the murder of Coroner Sir Boderick de Whitby.
More deaths quickly follow, and while these are swiftly dealt with as plague victims, Sir Ralph and his two assistants Merek and Peter soon uncover something altogether more horrifying… A greater evil is at large in the northern wapentakes.
As panic escalates and the lines between plague and murder blur, Sir Ralph is thrust into a desperate race against time. Every shadow hides a potential killer, every cough could be a death knell. Can he unmask a murderer lurking in the terrifying shadow of the Black Death before they’re all consumed by a terror more sinister than any plague?
Desolation is the first book I’ve read by Keith Moray. I think the cover is fabulous and very evocative.
The story is intriguing, with a wide cast and it takes quite some time until we finally meet Ralph de Manville because there are so many other characters to meet first. I do hope that in later books in the series, Ralph will enter the narrative a little quicker.
It is quite a complex plot, because the narrative switches between characters so much. The reader does have to work to make sense of what’s happening. We are told certain things, but not others – so we know what’s happening but not necessarily who is doing it. The body count is HUGE!
When Ralph finally begins to make sense of what’s happening, the resolution comes quite quickly, and the ending is certainly satisfying.
I read a lot of mysteries. If I don’t work out ‘who did it’ I am always impressed, although with Desolation there are so many people implicated, it does feel as though there are a lot of people to guess. I worked out some elements, but not others, and I did very much enjoy the mystery element of the story.
Meet the author
Keith is a retired GP, medical journalist and novelist, writing in several genres. As Keith Moray he writes historical crime fiction in the medieval era and in ancient Egypt, The Inspector Torquil McKinnon crime novels set on the Outer Hebridean island of West Uist, and as Clay More he writes westerns. Curiously, his medical background finds its way into most of his fiction writing.
Shield of Mercia has been out for a week. Here’s what the blog tour hosts had to say about the latest book featuring young Icel #newrelease #histfic #TheEagleofMerciaChronicles #audio
A huge thank you to Rachel and the blog hosts.
Here are the links to the complete reviews.
Being a reviewer is a lot of fun, it’s also a lot of work and takes a great deal of planning. I’m always so grateful to those who take a chance on my books. It can sometimes be a step into the unknown.
Mercia is triumphant. Her king is safe. But Wessex was never Mercia’s only enemy.
Tamworth, AD836
Following a brutally cold winter, King Wiglaf of Mercia is in the ascendancy. Even Wessex’s Archbishop of Canterbury extraordinarily ventures to Mercia to broker a religious accord. But, can the hard-won peace prevail?
Viking raiders threaten Wessex. These blood-thirsty warriors are fast, skilful and have no reticence about killing those who stand in their way. Their aim isn’t to rule but to overwhelm, slaughter and take ill-gotten wealth.
King Wiglaf is no fool. As the Vikings push to overwhelm Wessex, Mercia’s lands look insecure. King Wiglaf needs the shields of Mercia’s warriors to prevent the overwhelming advancement of their deadliest enemy yet.
To save Mercia, Icel must first prevail over the two men who mean to end his life; King Ecgberht of Wessex and his son, Æthelwulf of Kent and only then the marauding Viking army for whom boundaries have no meaning.
I’m delighted to welcome Ken Tentarelli and his new book, The Blackest Time, to the blog with an excerpt.
Excerpt
Parishioners rise up in anger when a priest declares the Black Plague a divine punishment fortheir sins
.Those attending the morning mass included families living in the parish, lumbermen who had been logging forests in the nearby hills, The lumbermen clustered together near the front of the church, close to the altar. They formed the single largest group. Everyone, Gino included, studied the people nearby, fearful someone close by might show symptoms of the sickness: flushed faces, lumps, or darkened areas on the neck or arms.
While waiting for mass to begin, Gino listened to snatches of conversation. Men raised their voices enough to speak with other men, probably neighbors with whom they had sat elbow-to-elbow in a crowded tavern months ago, and now wouldn’t get within an arm’s length of each other. Women felt it imprudent to speak above a whisper in church, so they merely smiled at each other across the void.
Gino heard some families were absent from mass because they were mourning the death of family members. In one family, it was said, both the mother and father had succumbed, leaving behind three youngsters. No one knew what had become of those children. Stories circulated of entire families having been claimed by the sickness. Most surprising were reports of families fleeing the city to escape the pestilence. For the past two years, people had streamed into Florence from the countryside to seek salvation from the famine. Did the departure of these families mark a turnaround, the beginning of an exodus?
Although the lumbermen were far from him, he sensed hostility in their guttural outbursts. Many had left wives and children in the city while they logged in the hills, so death rampaging unchecked though the city threatened their families and they reacted with anger. They wanted something more tangible than bad air—possibly someone—to blame for the misery.
A small bell sounded when the sacristy door opened, and a priest emerged, followed by two altarboys. When they reached the altar, the priest spread his upraised arms and delivered the opening blessing. Near the midpoint of the service, the priest stepped to the pulpit to deliver his sermon.“We are all God’s children,” he began. “God loves us … all of us. He wants us to love Him, to heed His word, and to obey Him. Our Lord would not cause His children to suffer without reason.” Shifting from a tempered tone, the priest boomed, “This pestilence has been inflicted upon us because we have offended Him. There can be no other explanation.”
Shaken by the indictment, people glanced furtively at those around them as if they were all co-conspirators in a plot against God. “What could we have done to deserve this punishment?” they asked themselves.
Pleased his words had stunned his flock as he had intended, he continued, “We have sinned against God, and only by ending our sinful ways can we expect Him to end this scourge. You may not be an adulterer or a fornicator, but ask yourself, are you committing the sins of envy and pride?”
One lumberman’s face reddened. He bellowed, “My wife was a good, holy, God-fearing woman. She committed no sin worthy of this damnation; yet she suffered a horrible death. She cannot beheld to account for this misery.”
The outcry froze everyone. The priest gripped the lectern so tightly his knuckles turned white; his fingernails dug into the wood. Another lumberman shouted, “My son was barely old enough to walk. He was an innocent child. What sin could he have committed? But he was struck down.”
Family groups moved farther away from the bellicose woodsmen, who began grumbling in support of their comrades. A third man called out, “I wear my best smock when I come to church.” He pointed to its threadbare sleeve and its soiled shoulder. “This is my best! Look at it !It’s frayed and spotted. How could anyone who dresses like this be accused of being prideful?
“Do you know who is prideful?” he asked and raised an arm angled toward the priest. “Thepriests! Look at them. They don’t wear frayed vestments. Before the new bishop came, the priests in this diocese wore plain linen vestments. But now, linen isn’t good enough for them. They all wear expensive silk.” The eyes of all the parishioners shifted to the priest.
The man continued, “The bishop refused to serve communion from a pewter chalice. Now all chalices in the diocese are silver … all except the one used by the bishop. His is gold.” He spread his arms wide. “My wife spends nights in the dark to preserve her lone candle, while this church and others are lit up like brothels.”
He swept his gaze around the church to make eye contact with everyone. “For two years, when rain destroyed the crops, we all struggled to find food for our families. Beggars starved in the streets. But do you know of any priest who went hungry? None of them went to sleep with pangs of hunger. They made sure their bellies were filled.”
“If this terrible disease has been unleashed upon us by the sin of pride, it is the bishop and his minions who brought it upon us.” He ended his tirade in a booming voice, saying, “We need to make the bishop stop his prideful ways and walk in the humble shoes of Saint Francis. I say we go to him now.” He strode the length of the nave and out the door, followed by the other lumbermen.
Here’s the Blurb
Set in the 1300s during the devastating black plague, The Blackest Time is a powerful tale of compassion, love, and the human spirit’s ability to endure immense adversity.
Gino, the central character, is a young man who leaves his family’s farm to find work in a pharmacy in Florence. His experiences show us how people coped in the most horrific time in history.
Shortly after Gino arrived in the city, two years of incessant rain destroyed crops in the countryside, leading to famine and despair in the city. Gino offers hope and help to the suffering— he secures shelter for a woman forced to leave her flooded farm, rescues a young girl orphaned by the plague, and aids others who have lost everything.
The rains had barely ended when the plague hit the city, exposing the true character of its people. While some blamed others for the devastation, the story focuses on the compassionate acts of neighbors helping each other overcome fear and suffering. Doctors bravely risk infection to care for their patients. A woman healer, wrongly accused of witchcraft and driven from the city, finds a new beginning in a village where her skills were appreciated.
Despite the hardships, love blossoms between Gino and a young woman he met at the apothecary. Together they survive, finding strength in each other and hope in a world teetering on the edge.
The Blackest Time is a testament to the strength of the human spirit in overcoming unimaginable tragedy.
Ken Tentarelli is a frequent visitor to Italy. In travels from the Alps to the southern coast of Sicily, he developed a love for its history and its people.
He has studied Italian culture and language in Rome and Perugia, background he used in his award-winning series of historical thrillers set in the Italian Renaissance. He has taught courses in Italian history spanning time from the Etruscans to the Renaissance, and he’s a strong advocate of libraries and has served as a trustee of his local library and officer of the library foundation.
When not traveling, Ken and his wife live in beautiful New Hampshire.
I’m sharing my review for The Little Black Book Killer by Fiona Walker, the third book in her The Village Detectives series #bookreview #cosycrime #newrelease
Here’s the blurb
Matchmaking has never been so murderous… 💔🔪
Juno is feeling ready – at last – to start dating again, after losing her husband some years ago. She is sure she can make time from being a Village Detective, indeed it might help distract her from her crush on hunky (but far-too-young!) pub landlord – Mil.
So she’s signed up to an exclusive new dating app and cannot wait. But when one of the founding investors in that same dating app drops dead in front of fellow Village Detective Phoebe in a nearby hotel – and then a second investor is found hanging in the local cricket pavilion just days later – Juno knows she’ll have to put her love life on hold.
Teaming up once more with Phoebe, Felix and Mil… the Village Detectives are back. And this time Juno – who’d thought she was getting under the covers with a new lover – is going undercover to catch a killer…
Wickedly funny cozy crime, from million-copy bestselling author Fiona Walker! Fans of The Thursday Murder Club and A Death on Location will love the Village Detectives!
The Little Black Book Killer is the third book in the Village Detective Series, and I definitely think it’s my favourite so far. I laughed so hard at one line in particular, and I think all readers will love it.
Freddy is out of her ‘funk’ (which has been a running theme). Juno is certainly ‘dialled down’ a few notches (yay), and their switching narratives ensure the reader almost always knows what’s happening. The characters involved in the actual mystery are a delightful mix of local villagers who all bring something to the table. The graveyard vandals and the missing underwear also add a delightful side story.
The mystery itself is quite complex, and there are a ton of red herrings (yay), so I didn’t work out all the elements of the resolution, which I always appreciate.
As I said, this is the third book in the series, and my favourite so far.
Check out my review for The Poison Pen Letters, the second book in the series. I have read book 1 too, but clearly not popped it on the blog.
Meet the author
Fiona Walker is the million copy bestselling author of joyously funny romantic comedies. Most recently published by Head of Zeus, she will be turning to cozy crime for Boldwood.
Shield of Mercia is now available. Return to the world of young Icel, and listen to me rabbiting on, again #newrelease #histfic #TheEagleofMerciaChronicles #audio
Me doing a bad job of introducing the new book
In my defence, I am frantically trying to finish another title!
I have mentioned elsewhere that my publisher are now publishing what are known as ‘trade paperbacks’ for their titles. This is the format most of my indie titles are published in, and you can find this ‘new’ size here.
Here’s the blurb
Mercia is triumphant. Her king is safe. But Wessex was never Mercia’s only enemy.
Tamworth, AD836
Following a brutally cold winter, King Wiglaf of Mercia is in the ascendancy. Even Wessex’s Archbishop of Canterbury extraordinarily ventures to Mercia to broker a religious accord. But, can the hard-won peace prevail?
Viking raiders threaten Wessex. These blood-thirsty warriors are fast, skilful and have no reticence about killing those who stand in their way. Their aim isn’t to rule but to overwhelm, slaughter and take ill-gotten wealth.
King Wiglaf is no fool. As the Vikings push to overwhelm Wessex, Mercia’s lands look insecure. King Wiglaf needs the shields of Mercia’s warriors to prevent the overwhelming advancement of their deadliest enemy yet.
To save Mercia, Icel must first prevail over the two men who mean to end his life; King Ecgberht of Wessex and his son, Æthelwulf of Kent and only then the marauding Viking army for whom boundaries have no meaning.
It’s happy release day to Shield of Mercia. Return to the world of young Icel, and listen to the beginning of the audiobook #newrelease #histfic #TheEagleofMerciaChronicles #audio
The audiobook
The rather wonderful Sean Barrett has narrated all of young Icel’s adventures. Listen to the beginning of the audio now.
Here’s the blurb
Mercia is triumphant. Her king is safe. But Wessex was never Mercia’s only enemy.
Tamworth, AD836
Following a brutally cold winter, King Wiglaf of Mercia is in the ascendancy. Even Wessex’s Archbishop of Canterbury extraordinarily ventures to Mercia to broker a religious accord. But, can the hard-won peace prevail?
Viking raiders threaten Wessex. These blood-thirsty warriors are fast, skilful and have no reticence about killing those who stand in their way. Their aim isn’t to rule but to overwhelm, slaughter and take ill-gotten wealth.
King Wiglaf is no fool. As the Vikings push to overwhelm Wessex, Mercia’s lands look insecure. King Wiglaf needs the shields of Mercia’s warriors to prevent the overwhelming advancement of their deadliest enemy yet.
To save Mercia, Icel must first prevail over the two men who mean to end his life; King Ecgberht of Wessex and his son, Æthelwulf of Kent and only then the marauding Viking army for whom boundaries have no meaning.
It’s happy release day to Shield of Mercia. Return to the world of young Icel, and the book of healing #newrelease #histfic #TheEagleofMerciaChronicles
The book of healing
One of the side stories in The Eagle of Mercia Chronicles series, is the (fictional) endeavour of Ealdorman Tidwulf and the healers Gaya and Theodore to gather together all the remedies known by people within Mercia at the time, in the steady hands of Brother Matthew, James and Michael.
There are a number of books of medicine that survive from this period. Most people have heard of Bald’s Leechbook, which lists many remedies, and I find them fascinating. (It’s also available to read online) Some have been proven to be very effective, and while in recent decades the move away from herbal remedies has seen these older remedies somewhat derided, there’s genuine investigative work taking place now to understand them. As was highlighted to me when I attended a Herbal Roots training day last year at Dilston Physik Garden, our reliance on paracetamol and ibuprofen is not only very modern, it is perhaps the reasons these old remedies are not often kept in every household (well, at least the ones people believed worked).
I’ve attended a number of lectures concerning remedies and how these have survived, as well as whether they might prove to be effective (check out www.ancientbiotics.co.uk). One element, aside from all the others, that I find fascinating is the difficulty in transmitting perhaps the most pertinent of information – what quantities should all the component parts in the remedies be used in. (This is something highlighted at one of the many lectures I’ve attended, but I can’t find the reference despite trawling my notebooks, so sincere apologies to the academic involved).
In Shield of Mercia, Icel discusses the problem with Gaya and Theodore, sees the work in progress, and also listens to the monks discussing how they should categorise their work. In particular, they discuss one particular herb, Hundes heafod, also now as snapdragon, which highlights another problem. These herbs might have had multiple names. While there must have been much handed down and a great deal of ‘learned’ knowledge (I’ve also mentioned this in the Dark Age Chronicles where Meddi knows remedies taught to her by the previous seeress) I do think it would still have caused difficulties. If you read some of the remedies, they tell you what to use, but not how much to use.
This is only one of many problems with these ancient remedies; another is that many written herbal remedies were from far warmer climates than the UK. How then were they to find local fauna that had the same properties as those found elsewhere? I am no gardener, or herbalist, (and indeed, I struggle to identity any plants aside from daffodils and roses) but even I can see how frustrating the problems must have been. In including something that we would no doubt use the web to search for these days, in my Saxon stories, I hope to prompt readers to think about what it must have been like to live during the era without paracetamol and ibuprofen, and whatever it is the lovely dentist injects into my gums when I have to have remedial work done – I can only imagine how painful that must have been.
Mercia is triumphant. Her king is safe. But Wessex was never Mercia’s only enemy.
Tamworth, AD836
Following a brutally cold winter, King Wiglaf of Mercia is in the ascendancy. Even Wessex’s Archbishop of Canterbury extraordinarily ventures to Mercia to broker a religious accord. But, can the hard-won peace prevail?
Viking raiders threaten Wessex. These blood-thirsty warriors are fast, skilful and have no reticence about killing those who stand in their way. Their aim isn’t to rule but to overwhelm, slaughter and take ill-gotten wealth.
King Wiglaf is no fool. As the Vikings push to overwhelm Wessex, Mercia’s lands look insecure. King Wiglaf needs the shields of Mercia’s warriors to prevent the overwhelming advancement of their deadliest enemy yet.
To save Mercia, Icel must first prevail over the two men who mean to end his life; King Ecgberht of Wessex and his son, Æthelwulf of Kent and only then the marauding Viking army for whom boundaries have no meaning.
It’s happy release day to Shield of Mercia. Return to the world of young Icel. It’s going to get cold (and then rather hot). #newrelease #histfic #TheEagleofMerciaChornicles
This is my fourth attempt at the recording:) (Contains spoilers) (click on it to ‘pop’ it out)
Here’s the blurb
Mercia is triumphant. Her king is safe. But Wessex was never Mercia’s only enemy.
Tamworth, AD836
Following a brutally cold winter, King Wiglaf of Mercia is in the ascendancy. Even Wessex’s Archbishop of Canterbury extraordinarily ventures to Mercia to broker a religious accord. But, can the hard-won peace prevail?
Viking raiders threaten Wessex. These blood-thirsty warriors are fast, skilful and have no reticence about killing those who stand in their way. Their aim isn’t to rule but to overwhelm, slaughter and take ill-gotten wealth.
King Wiglaf is no fool. As the Vikings push to overwhelm Wessex, Mercia’s lands look insecure. King Wiglaf needs the shields of Mercia’s warriors to prevent the overwhelming advancement of their deadliest enemy yet.
To save Mercia, Icel must first prevail over the two men who mean to end his life; King Ecgberht of Wessex and his son, Æthelwulf of Kent and only then the marauding Viking army for whom boundaries have no meaning.
MJ Porter 