Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Promotional Post: For King and Country by Charlene Newcomb #Review #Giveaway






Author: Charlene Newcomb
Book: For King and Country
Series: Battle Scars #2
Self Published
Publication date: April 27, 2016
Length: 579 pages


Reviewed by Meredith



Synopsis

England 1193
Civil war threatens as battle-scarred knight Henry de Grey returns from the Crusades. King Richard languishes in captivity, a prisoner of the Holy Roman Emperor. Traitors to the crown pit Henry and his friends against dangerous and unknown enemies.


Loyalties will be tested, families torn apart. Friend or foe? It is hard to tell one from the other.

The king’s brother John and his allies plot to usurp Richard’s throne. With the knights Sir Stephan and Sir Robin, Henry fights for king and country. But he must keep his feelings for Sir Stephan l’Aigle secret. Sure as arrow or sword, their forbidden love could destroy him.

War, political intrigue and passion… heroes… friends and lovers… and the seeds for a new Robin Hood legend await you…





Review

For King and Country is book two in Charlene Newcomb's Battle Scars Series. Book one being Men of the Cross. After book one ended we were very much wondering what was going to happen to our MC's so I was looking forward to book two. My patience was rewarded brilliantly for it.

We continue the journey with Stephan and Henry. They are back in England after the Crusades, by no means is the war over. As a matter of fact the country is in pure chaos thanks to Prince John. King Richard is being held captive, the throne is being fought upon, there's traitors everywhere! There are many story arcs in this book and I was on the edge of my seat for so much of it. I had no idea who to trust, what words were truth, and what "next thing" Henry, Stephan, Robin, or John would do that might get them killed.

With new books comes new characters of course. We meet Henry's father and sister and Stephan's brother. I find secondary characters to be vital to any story. In this one I found myself muttering, "Oh look, more suspects."

The romance in this story for Little John was delightful. A little bit of fresh air through all the fire and ashes. I kept finding so many small joys throughout the intensity of the tale. On top of the suspense, intrigue, and romance, this book was filled with so much history. It's rich in many things. It is a very long book but I felt like I just glided along. There was no lag, the characters were brilliant, (even the evil ones) outstanding writing. This is truly a marvelous series. Especially if you're a history buff! You must read this in order. No book is a standalone. You're following a journey. I look forward to book three!


About the Author
Born & raised in South Carolina, I wanted a life of adventure and travel. I realized my dreams of hitting the big time with the all-girl rock band Liberation were just that - dreams. And becoming an astronaut wasn't in the cards. So I joined the Navy to see the world and spent six years as a communications technician/voice language analyst. I fit college into my life (BA in History, and many years later an MA in Library Science). That desire to travel in space translated into writing science fiction: I published 10 short stories in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I have written two novels, one a contemporary drama, Keeping the Family Peace; the other, Men of the Cross (book 1 of Battle Scars), allows me to share my love of history with readers. Book 2 of the series will be published in 2015
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Giveaway

Enter the giveaway to win a copy of this book and a $10.00 Amazon GC!
Contest will end February 28th!
Thank you!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

18 comments:

  1. Charlene is a new author to me; the story intrigues me though so I guess I'll check back to the first book!
    Thanks for the review, Meredith.

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  2. I like historical books but I must admit I've never read a book this so far back in time but it sounds so good and thank you for the review.

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  3. Love historical novels and this sounds so interesting; totally need to start this series.

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  4. Great review! Thanks for the giveaway!

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  5. Thank you for the review. The series sound great and I put it on my TBR list.

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  6. Charlene is a new author to me, but I love historical novel, so this is a must read for me!

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  7. I read your newsletter, and like you, I also beta read Michael's Broken Land, and I enjoy stories with gay characters that aren't just about the romance. So, I love gay historicals, and I love this time period. - TheWrote [at] aol [dot] com

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  8. I read a sample chapter and it was good so this series is definitely going on to my to-be-read list.

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  9. Haven't read this series and Charlene is a new-to-me author so it will be a good chance to give it a go. Especially since I have started to enjoy MM historical romance :)

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  10. Fantastic cover and title. Love them both!

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  11. Thank you for the review. Congrats on the release =)

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  12. I met Charlene at GRL in Denver this past fall - what a lovely person! I am looking forward to reading the series!

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  13. Congratulations on the new release

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  14. Hello, Charlene! Congratulations and much success. England 1193, huh. That's a lot of history, there. New to me author and willing to learn more.
    taina1959 @ yahoo.com

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  15. Congrats on the new release. I haven't read much historical fiction but I like the sound of this.

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  16. As a medievalist, I am always so thrilled to find new historical fiction authors about the period. These look absolutely fabulous and I am excited to read them!

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