Book review -- 'Worthy of Legend'

 This is the final book in the 'Secrets of The Isles' series from the fantastic Roseanna M. White, and 'Worthy of Legend' did not disappoint! 

(There won't be any spoilers here!)

I've mentioned in past reviews that I appreciate how individual and unique Roseanna makes all her lead characters.  This one is no exception.

Bram Sinclair might admit he's... "a trifle overprotective"... But he'd like to think that's maybe the worst of him.  Well we, as the audience, haven't exactly seen him as warm or...much else in the previous books, so we're gonna take some convincing.  But Roseanna's up for the task!

By contrast, passive and rather timid Lady Emily Scofield has seemed just that as far as we've seen.  And between the two unfolding personalities, and more treasure waiting to be found that may be linked to tales of King Arthur...  A thrilling, wild island adventure certainly lies ahead!

My nerves were certainly on alert with this one; the antagonistic forces seemed fairly distant in the first one, and were certainly scaled up in the second.  Well they're ramped up quite a bit and are close and personal in this third and final book.  Yikes. (in the best possible way!)

As with all series conclusions, this one had quite a bit to tie up, while still feeling like it stands alone, too.  This one does a great job with that.  This 'Secrets of The Isles' series feels a little more episodic than many of Roseanna's, but nothing at all wrong with that.  I like both styles for a series, and can't really choose a favorite way.  But the episodic feel really fit the setting and treasure-hunting themes tying the three books together.

I felt like this showcased one of the skillful ways Roseanna chose to make the Isles of Scilly a background character on their own.  Setting is definitely a major feature, while descriptions never carry on and bog down the story.  A really lovely combination, and it really leaves a lovely feel overarching the stories all the way through till this last one.

It's awkward to try to end a non-spoiler review like this every time...  Well, this series was a wonderful one, full of peril, clashing personalities, rumors and searching for treasure, and a beautiful foggy, windswept setting.  Start yourself with 'Nature of A Lady' and 'To Treasure An Heiress', and work your way to enjoying this lovely third installment, 'Worthy of Legend'.  Happy reading!

Disclaimer:

  I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publishers, and was not required to leave a positive review.  All views expressed are mine and mine alone.

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GET THE BOOK HERE ---->  purchase Worthy of Legend 

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1906

 

After a summer of successful pirate-treasure hunting, Lady Emily Scofield and her friends are forced to hide the unprecedented discoveries they’ve made, thanks to the betrayal of her own family. Horrified by her brother who stops at nothing to prove himself to their greedy father, Emily is forced to take a stand against her family—even when it means being cut off entirely.

 

Bram Sinclair, Earl of Telford, is fascinated with tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table—an interest he’s kept mostly hidden for the last decade. But when a diary is unearthed in the islands that could lead to a secret artifact, Bram is the only one able to piece the legends together.

 

As Bram and Emily seek out the whereabouts of the hidden artifact, they must dodge her eager family and a team of archeologists. In a race against time, they must decide what makes a hero worthy of legend—is it fighting valiantly to claim the treasure . . . or sacrificing everything in the name of selfless love?

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About the Author

Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.

Blog: https://www.roseannamwhite.com/blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoseannaMWhite/

Newsletter: https://www.roseannamwhite.com/newsletter-signup

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/roseannamwhite/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roseannamwhite/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoseannaMWhite

Website: https://www.roseannamwhite.com

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Book review -- 'To Treasure An Heiress'

 The 2nd in the Secrets of the Isles trilogy, I am unfortunately behind in reviewing this one... But first, wow, do I love the cover!

(No spoilers here, by the way!)

I’ve loved getting to know spunky Beth Tremayne, who wants nothing more than to do what she’s planned, and in /her/ way, thank you very much. Juxtaposed with the hilarious peeps inside Sheridan’s jolly cluttered-but-honest mind, the complimenting contrast is so much fun. Sheridan is obviously quite taken right off the bat with Beth (ahem, /Elizabeth/), and I thoroughly enjoyed his little mental score-keeping on how he guessed his standing was in Beth’s eyes at any given moment.
Ah!  A good half-step forward!
Oh, nope, that’ll be back two steps...
Really endearing. I loved seeing that he’s not really the bumbling, wealthy aristocrat with a simple mind that he originality played himself off as.

He and Beth are so similar, really; both want what they want, and initially don’t take much account for how something they do or how they respond will affect others around them. The journey to learning to look beyond their own agendas —really, both for the same thing: that lost treasure— is the driving force they both have to relent to, albeit reluctantly, and in slightly different ways. These two quickly became some of my favorites among author Roseanna M. White’s many fantastic characters. She is a master of making all her characters unique and feel individual; no cardboard stock characters here.

She’s also one rare author that I feel does dual character lead-sets well. Senara and Rory felt...different but the same in all the right ways from the secondary couple in the previous book. Similar roles and similar-but-different struggles, but while being completely their own people, and not at all slipping into becoming placeholders for a warm body to move the plot along. But then again, they and their stories never overshadow the main plot or the main leads. Really deft character waltzing on Roseanna’s part. (Love Senara’s name too, by the way.)

Maybe I say it every time, but figuring out how much to tell and when to stop so as not to give the story away is a struggle.

So I’ll just wrap up by saying that this main story thread picks up the faint one started in the first book, since the first (The Nature of A Lady) was primarily about the mixup with the two Beths, and the unraveling of what was happening there as the Libby-Elizabeth got dragged into the Beth-Elizabeth’s ancient treasure hunt. This one lets Beth’s pirate treasure and its troubles take center stage, while she and Sheridan unwittingly help and hinder each other in going after the same thing for their own reasons.

Suffice to say that if well-written characters, a vivid, wild yet quaint location, hunts for mysterious pirate treasures, searching out clues, and a lovely historical setting that the author understands well are your cup of tea... or you’ve never tried this kind of tea before, you should absolutely give ‘To Treasure An Heiress’ a read.

And enjoy its gorgeous cover, while you’re at it!

Disclaimer:

  I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publishers, and was not required to leave a positive review.  All views expressed are mine and mine alone.

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GET THE BOOK HERE ---->  purchase To Treasure An Heiress 

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1906   Beth Tremayne has always been drawn to adventure. During her childhood, she fed that desire by exploring every inch of the Isles of Scilly. As an adolescent, she dreamed of love in London’s ballrooms. Now, stumbling across an old map on her family’s property, she’s found more adventure than she ever dreamed in the hunt for pirate treasure. Unfortunately, Beth can’t escape the attentions of her family’s guest, Lord Sheridan.   Sheridan has spent years pursuing whatever archaeological interest caught his imagination. And when he discovers that Beth’s search connects with one of his favorite pirates of history, he can’t help getting involved. Plus, he finds her irresistible, even though she insists he stole a prized possession of hers.   As they work together following different clues and drawing closer to danger, they start to piece together a story of tragic love and piratical adventure. But the true surprise is the treasure they discover in one another.

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About the Author

Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.

Blog: https://www.roseannamwhite.com/blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoseannaMWhite/

Newsletter: https://www.roseannamwhite.com/newsletter-signup

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/roseannamwhite/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roseannamwhite/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoseannaMWhite

Website: https://www.roseannamwhite.com

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Book review — ‘The Nature of A Lady’

  I always love a good mystery...  And this new release, 'The Nature of A Lady' from fantastic Roseanna M. White, is chock FULL of them!  I had no idea when I first heard the synopsis how fascinating and full-of-adventurous-situations this would be!  (...And as a bonus, I mean, just LOOK at that gorgeous cover art!!)  As this is the first in The Secrets of the Isles series, I look forward to seeing what other lovely covers and surprises await in future books.

  What I was expecting was Roseanna’s signature lovely, unhindered, bright writing style, her fully human, varied and interesting characters, her ever-twisting plot, and the skill with which she deftly drops little hints and clues and details that you'll hardly notice until you need them.  And I was not disappointed in the least!  She handles mysterious circumstances with such skill, and I hope this exceptionally layered mystery is the first of many more mystery-heavy novels from Roseanna.  I for one will eat them all up in a moment, right alongside any of her other stellar historical tales.  (...pardon how many times the word 'mystery' came up in that last paragraph... It's truly the best word for the situation!)

  The locations in this one in particular are really vivid and memorable.  It beautifully fits in with the way the islands act almost like their own characters in this story, and adds a wild element that magnified all the strange circumstances and events that pepper throughout the story.  Matched with her always well-established sense of the time in yesteryear when her tale is set, these are some of the biggest reasons I come back to Roseanna time and time again, eager to immerse myself in another place in another era.

  Another thing I love about Roseanna’s books is seeing clearly through the eyes of people who are completely different from myself.  Often, these people are villains or anti-villains, hiding in the shadows, giving the reader an uneasy feeling of what’s impending; you are seeing events from both sides, but often  unsure how close the protagonists are to this hidden danger.  And sometimes, as in ‘Number of Love’, you’re seeing through the eyes of a mathematical genius like Margot, or in this book, a heavily scientific natural mind that thinks in Latin definitions and ways of cataloging like  Libby.  I’m not even partly similar to Libby in...almost any way, but Roseanna makes a clear path into her style of thinking and understanding that is both fascinating and still understandable to any of us who don't think that way.

  Melbenna in this story was another fascinating character; with her stubborn streak, her free-roaming island ways, and her determination to stick with what she’s decided is best and not allow herself to examine uncomfortable things too closely.  Hers and Libby’s growth really parallel each other’s, while being completely unique and seeming opposite at the same time.  It makes for really stand-out interactions and intertwining plotlines.

  All that, backed with an overarching mystery that has more loose ends than...something with a ton of loose ends...!...makes for a compelling constant build of all the things that need to be answered, and left me with several anxious moments where I was certain there just weren’t enough pages to resolve it all!  But as she does so well, Roseanna tied up just what was needed, when it was needed, and not a moment sooner.  And with her usual delivery of a satisfying explanation, but not often in the ways we expect.

   And as a final note, I always appreciate that any romances she writes will be sweet and clean in content, but never without difficulties that differentiate them from simple (and so often glorified) shallow infatuation.  So you can actually be happy for the couple at the end, instead of wishing they’d look just a little past the emotion of a moment.

  With an effort to keep avoiding spoilers, here is where I will just encourage you to pick up ‘The Nature of A Lady’ and embark on a fantastic adventure in the year 1906, of lost people and things, mysterious happenings and findings, rumors of pirates and dangerous treasures seekers-- all on a wild and lovely set of islands just off England’s shores.

(...And you’re gonna want a kitten aftwards, fair warning...)

  A great place to find yourself a copy ------>  The Nature of a Lady -- landing page 

Disclaimer:

  I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publishers, and was not required to leave a positive review.  All views expressed are mine and mine alone. 

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About the Book

The Nature of a Lady

1906 Lady Elizabeth "Libby" Sinclair, with her love of microscopes and nature, isn't favored in society. She flees to the beautiful Isles of Scilly for the summer and stumbles into the dangerous secrets left behind by her holiday cottage's former occupant, also named Elizabeth, who mysteriously vanished.   Oliver Tremayne--gentleman and clergyman--is determined to discover what happened to his sister, and he's happy to accept the help of the girl now living in what should have been Beth's summer cottage . . . especially when he realizes it's the curious young lady he met briefly two years ago, who shares his love of botany and biology. But the hunt for his sister involves far more than nature walks, and he can't quite believe all the secrets Beth had been keeping from him.   As Libby and Oliver work together, they find ancient legends, pirate wrecks, betrayal, and the most mysterious phenomenon of all: love.

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About the Author

Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.

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