Review - Queen of the Summer Stars by Persia Woolley

 

TITLE:    Queen of the Summer Stars
AUTHOR:    Persia Woolley
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 488 pages
PUBLISHED:   Sourcebooks, 2011
SOURCE:   Received from Publisher for Review

FROM GOODREADS:    In a country simmering with witchcraft and unholy alliances, Guinevere joins forces with her husband, King Arthur, to gain control of Britain's warring knights. She presides over fabled heroes-including Gawain, Merlin, Tristan and Isolde-and treacherous villains, including Morgan le Fey and Lancelot. Vibrantly human, she reigns as a woman poised to discover the true peril and promise of the human heart. The second novel of this Arthurian trilogy plays out the history and myth of the round table, brought to life through the words of an extraordinary queen.

MY TAKE:    I read this series several years ago when it was first published.  I loved it then and I love it just as much now.  I am very pleased that Sourcebooks has chosen to reprint this classic tale with the gorgeous covers that just add to my enjoyment (again) of the story.  Arthurian tales are one of my favorite sub-genres.  My mom started me on The Knights of the Round Table at a very young age and I have never been able to pass up one of these stories.

Persia Woolley began her trilogy with Child of the Northern Spring.  In that book we meet Gwen while she is remembering her childhood as she is riding to her wedding.  We learn about this independent and intelligent girl ~ one who is really rather far ahead of the times. 

As we join Guinevere in this second installment, she is dealing with the impending death of Igraine, Arthur's mother.  We are with her through loss and battles that are both personal and Britain's.  The author brings to us in vivid, living color a woman who tried to balance who she was on the inside with who the King and country needed her to be on the outside.

I love that these books are written from Guinevere's point of view.  It is refreshing to see the female side of this epic tale.  The fact that this Gwen is portrayed as anything but the simpering twit that so many of the versions make her out to be is a treat.  Woolley uses a more modern speech than some might expect for a historical fiction.  I found this to be helpful as it is easy to get bogged down in the correct dialogue and phrasing when reading these type of stories.  The tale moves along a very nice pace due in part to this change of verbiage.

I won't go too much more into the details of the plot.  It's a treat to be enjoyed yourself.  This series is on my all time favorite list and I think it will be on yours as well.  I highly recommend it.  Sourcebooks will be coming out soon with the third book:  The Legend in Autumn - keep your eyes open for it.

Out of 5 JEWELS, I give it:

 

 
~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.

Men in Kilts! Sourcebooks' HOT July Steal

I couldn't resist passing on this information I received from the fabulous Danielle at Sourcebooks.  It is in regard to one of my favorite things to look at, dream of and read about: 

Men In Kilts

 There’s just something about kilts…  Scottish Highlanders are among historical romance fans’ favorite heroes, and Sourcebooks has its own batch of tough warriors (with a soft side, of course) for readers to enjoy! This week we have a FABULOUS eBook deal: 5 of our readers’ favorite men in kilts, for ONLY $0.99!   Go to Sourcebooks to find out where to get your copies.  Offer ends July 18.   

Awaken the Highland Warrior

by

Anita Clenney

A man from another time…

Faelan is from an ancient clan of Scottish Highland warriors, charged with shielding humanity from demonic forces. Betrayed and locked in a time vault, he has been sleeping for nearly two centuries when spunky historian Bree Kirkland inadvertently wakes him.

She’s more fearsome than the demon trying to kill him, and if he’s not careful, she’ll uncover the secrets his clan has bled and died to protect…Could he be the treasure she’s been seeking all her life…

When Bree inherits an old treasure map, she discovers a warrior buried in her backyard. But the warrior isn’t dead. Bree shocks Faelan with her modern dress and her boldness, and he infuriates Bree every time he tries to protect her.

With demons suddenly on the move, Bree discovers that Faelan’s duty as protector is in his blood, and that her part in this fight was destined before she was born. But nothing is ever what it seems…

Highland Hellcat

 by

Mary Wine

He wants a wife he can control…

Connor Lindsey is a Highland laird, but his clan’s loyalty is hard won and he takes nothing for granted. He’ll do whatever it takes to find a virtuous wife, even if he has to kidnap her…

She has a spirit that can’t be tamed…

Brina Chattan has always defied convention. She sees no reason to be docile now that she’s been captured by a powerful laird and taken to his storm-tossed castle in the Highlands, far from her home.

When a rival laird’s interference nearly tears them apart, Connor discovers that a woman with a wild streak suits him much better than he’d ever imagined…

The Highlander’s Sword

by

Amanda Forester

A quiet, flame-haired beauty with secrets of her own…

Lady Aila Graham is destined for the convent, until her brother’s death leaves her an heiress. Soon she is caught between hastily arranged marriage with a Highland warrior, the Abbot’s insistence that she take her vows, the Scottish Laird who kidnaps her, and the traitor from within who betrays them all.

She’s nothing he expected and everything he really needs…

Padyn MacLaren, a battled-hardened knight, returns home to the Highlands after years of fighting the English in France. MacLaren bears the physical scars of battle, but it is the deeper wounds of betrayal that have rocked his faith. Arriving with only a band of war-weary knights, MacLaren finds his land pillaged and his clan scattered. Determined to restore his clan, he sees Aila’s fortune as the answer to his problems…but maybe it’s the woman herself.

 

Wild Highland Magic

 by

Kendra Leigh Castle

She's a Scottish Highlands werewolf, but no one's ever shown her how to use her powers…

Growing up in America with a father who hates his own nature, Catrionna MacInnes has always tried desperately to control her powers and pretend to be normal. Now her father has brought her and her sisters to Scotland to reunite with the pack they fled years ago…

He's a wizard prince with a devastating secret…

Bastian an Morgaine has found sanctuary among the MacInnes werewolf clan but no relief from the soul-searing curse that haunts him. The minute Cat lays eyes on Bastian, she knows she's met her destiny. In their first encounter, she unwittingly binds him to her for life, and now they're both targets for the evil enemies that are out to destroy their very souls…

Highland Rebel

by

Judith James

Amidst the upheaval of Cromwell's Britain, Jamie Sinclair's wit and military prowess have served him well. Leading a troop in Scotland, he impetuously marries a captured maiden, saving her from a grim fate.

A Highlands heiress to title and fortune, Catherine Drummond is not the woman Jamie believes her to be. When her people effect her rescue, and he cannot annul the marriage, Jamie goes to recapture his hellcat of a new wife...

In world where family and creed cannot be trusted, where faith fuels intolerance and war, Catherine and Jamie test the bounds of loyalty, friendship, and trust...

~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.

Guest Post and Giveaway - Dracula in Love's Karen Essex

 Dracula In Love

Today I am very pleased to welcome author Karen Essex to One Book Shy.  She is on virtual tour right now with her latest book, Dracula In Love.  I was thrilled to get a chance to read this book.  Karen has written a post about one of the very things that I mentioned in my review yesterday ~ "Female Power".  Take it away Karen.........

 

Dracula’s Women: Restoring Female Power to Vampire Lore



By Karen Essex

I want to state outright: I revere Bram Stoker. His seminal novel, Dracula, was a brilliant creation, a haunting and harrowing story, especially considering that so much of what we now know as the “vampire” sprang from his brain. His fantastic book has spawned thousands of variations in movies, books, graphic novels, illustration, and on and on. But when it came to the women, he wrote like a man of his time, constructing the typical paradigm of bad girl (Lucy Westenra who succumbs to the vampire’s seduction) versus the good girl (Mina Harker who does not). The vampire’s seduction was a thinly veiled metaphor for—yes, you guessed it—sex.

My ambition for Dracula in Love, told entirely from Mina’s perspective, was to turn the original story inside out and expose its underbelly or its “subconscious mind.” I wanted to give Mina and Lucy rich, full lives, as well as plausible inner lives, that made sense with the era in which they lived, but also reflected the breadth of women’s desires.

I did extensive research into the late Victorian era but I also wanted to research the history of blood-drinking creatures that evolved into the vampire. Surprisingly, my research turned up a wealth of information that became a major theme. I knew that vampires had a long, rich history dating back to pre-biblical times. What I did not know was that many of the original blood drinkers of myth were female, symbolic of feminine magic and power. I decided to illuminate these historical sources for the vampire, and while doing so, revisit the lost landscape of female magical power.

As I dug deeper into world mythologies, I became fascinated by these bloodsucking goddesses and monsters. These are the true bad girls of mythology—the fearsome Indian goddess Kali who punished and possessed her enemies by drinking their blood; the vengeful, child-eating, blood-drinking Lamia of Greece and North Africa who so captivated the pre-Raphaelite artists popular in Stoker’s day; Lilith, Adam’s first Mesopotamian wife who drank blood in vengeance; and the blood-lusting warrior fairy queens of Ireland. I wanted these sultry sirens in my book, and by God, I did get them in there!

So if the original blood-drinkers were females, then why did Stoker create Dracula as a male? For one thing, mythological stories rarely follow a straight line. Myths are reinvented in every culture, adapted to the needs and beliefs of the people and the times. Through the millennia, concepts of vampires shape-shifted. They were thought to be spirits of women who had been witches; angry plague victims risen from the dead; victims of crime come back to suck the blood of the perpetrators; and succubi who visited men in the night, draining them of their life force (the male spirits who did similar harm to slumbering females are known as incubi).

Then, in what might be construed as a strange twist of fate, to accommodate the Victorian mentality, writers like Mr. Stoker turned the predatory vampire into a male, giving him the supernatural power, with women becoming his victims. The Victorians lived in fear of unleashed female sexuality. To their minds, women were pure and innocent creatures who must remain protected, shielded from worldly life. If women succumbed to sexual lust, ordered Victorian society would combust.

Moreover, sex is power, which was the very last thing the Victorians wanted women to possess. As someone who has made an exhaustive study of women’s history, I cannot think of any period in which women were thought to be as frail as during the Victorian era. I’m certain this was a reaction to the vocal and persistent cries of feminism that escalated as the 19th century came to its end.

As a result, suddenly it was the male vampire roaming the foggy, narrow streets of London threatening lovely young ladies like Lucy Westenra who succumbed to Dracula’s kiss, or the more pious Mina, who resisted him. With Dracula in Love, it was my joy and privilege to infiltrate the original story and promote anarchy. I wanted to turn the old paradigms upside down, and return the ladies to that place of power, lost somewhere in the centuries since Lilith and the Lamia roamed the earth taking their bloody revenge, causing men to quake with fear, and maybe, just maybe, quiver with a tinge of excitement.

~~~~~

Karen, thank you so much for stopping by One Book Shy to share your thoughts with us.  This was a fascinating peek into the thought process behind the book. 

Readers, you can catch up with Karen at her website,  her blog or on Facebook.

I hope you have all enjoyed the sneak peeks at this intriguing story.  Now I have another lovely treat for you!  5 lucky readers will each win your own copy of Dracula In Love!  That's right, FIVE winners!!!!!  Lots of exclamation points!!!!!!!

• Must be 16 years or older
• US residents only
• NO PO Boxes
• Must fill out the FORM below
• Contest ends at midnight PST July 19th
• Winners will have 72 hours to respond to winning email
• Prize will be shipped by publisher
• One prize per person/household

I'd like to thank Amy from Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours  for including me and One Book Shy on this book tour. 

Be sure to stop by the other blogs on the tour to find out what they have to say about

~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.