Katherine Longshore keeps getting better and better. In my opinion, BRAZEN (The Royal Circle, Book 3) is her best book yet!

Mary Howard has always lived in the shadow of her powerful family. But when she’s married off to Henry Fitzroy, King Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, she rockets into the Tudor court’s inner circle. Mary and “Fitz” join a tight clique of rebels who test the boundaries of court’s strict rules with their games, dares, and flirtations. The more Mary gets to know Fitz, the harder she falls for him, but is forbidden from seeing him alone. The rules of court were made to be pushed…but pushing them too far means certain death. Is true love worth dying for?

Kimberly’s Review of BRAZEN:

I’ve never been one to lean in the direction of historical fiction until I started reading Katherine Longshore’s books and BRAZEN is my favorite to date. Her writing just keeps getting better and better. It’s so rare to find a book that is historically educational while also as tantalizing and swoon worthy as a very popular romance. An amazing read.

Mary Howard and Henry FitzRoy are chess pieces in the very real and dangerous games being played in King Henry VIII’s court. But love has a power all it’s own and Longshore gives us front row seats to the danger and intrigue. You do not want to miss your chance to be a part of this. Read BRAZEN–better yet–read GILT, TARNISH and then BRAZEN asap!

You can pre-order BRAZEN by Katherine Longshore here…

*Amazon

*Barnes & Noble

*IndieBound

Having spent time as a freelance travel writer, travel agent, coffee shop barista, bookseller, ship’s steward, construction company contracts manager and Montessori preschool teacher, I have finally found my calling. I write historical fiction for young adults. I am represented by Catherine Drayton of InkWell Management.

You can find out more about Katherine Longshore and BRAZEN here…

*Website

*Twitter

*Facebook

*Goodreads

*YA Muses

Want to know what other must-reads the Bookanistas have been consuming? You’re in for a treat…

Lenore Appelhans is nuts for NOGGIN by John Corey Whaley

Tracy Banghart swoons for STAR CURSED by Jessica Spotswood

Rebecca Behrens raves about PUSH GIRL by Bookanista Jessica Love

Christine Fonseca is riveted by SEKRET by Lindsay Smith

Jessica Love sings the praises of OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery Lord

Katy Upperman is crazy for THE SYMPTOMS OF MY INSANITY by Mindy Raf

If you could read a historical fiction about any time period in history, what time frame would you like to see between the pages of a good book? I want to hear more about the Berlin Wall and what that felt like for families separated and trying to get home to each other. Okay historical fiction writers–get on that for me.

Tags: Bookanistas, Brazen, Gilt, Historical Fiction, Katherine Longshore, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, review, Tarnish, YA Author, YA Book, YA Muses, Yanarella School of Dance

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I fell in love with Katherine Longshore‘s writing with her debut novel GILT.

TARNISH by Viking Juvenile, is available on June 18th (Pre-order HERE) and it’s even better!

GOOD READS SUMMARY

Anne Boleyn is the odd girl out. Newly arrived to the court of King Henry VIII, everything about her seems wrong, from her clothes to her manners to her witty but sharp tongue. So when the dashing poet Thomas Wyatt offers to coach her on how to shine at court–and to convince the whole court they’re lovers–she accepts. Before long, Anne’s popularity has soared, and even the charismatic and irresistible king takes notice. More than popularity, Anne wants a voice–but she also wants love. What began as a game becomes high stakes as Anne finds herself forced to make an impossible choice between her heart’s desire and the chance to make history.

MY REVIEW

I LOVED Katherine Longshore’s debut novel, GILT, and you should get excited because TARNISH is even better! The one thing that kept running through my mind as I read TARNISH, was how hard it must have been to be a woman in a man’s world. To have very little, or no control of your own destiny. The thought is frightening. And yet, against the odds, Longshore gives us Anne Boleyn. She wants more. Anne has a spark and it makes me think of her as one part of a long, bright, string of lights. Anne is part of a chain of women through out history, that have helped to shape our role in the world today. But it’s not just Anne. Reading TARNISH made me realize that Longshore is another light–one that continues to guide our way.

Katherine Longshore takes history and mystery and weaves it into magic. Irresistible.

ABOUT KATHERINE LONGSHORE

(Taken Directly from Katherine Longshore’s Website)

I’ve always been a writer. I’ve been writing stories since I learned how to hold a pencil, asking my dad how to spell words while I worked under the bar stools at our kitchen counter.

In my teens, I fell in love with theater. I wanted to act. On the stage. I loved the hush of the crowd, the sticky odor of pancake makeup and the dusty resin of wax on the stage floor. I loved to be able to look out over the audience, the flash of glasses reflecting the stage lights. I loved to hear their laughter. But mostly, I loved losing myself in a character made of words. To make that character live and breathe. Now, that is magic.

I played bit parts (including that of a catatonic in a mental institution—my only line was a scream) and grew into bigger roles on the high school stage. I spent five summers spouting Shakespeare beneath stars and redwoods, hoping one day to play Rosalind in As You Like It.

I got an acting scholarship to a good university and went on to study acting and costume design for two years. But then I traveled on the Semester at Sea—a program on which students study on board a ship and travel around the world, visiting ten countries in one hundred days. It changed my life. I realized I didn’t want to spend my entire life in a windowless black box (a theater) but in the greater world.

So I created my own major, planning to use it to be a travel writer. I spent two months traveling Europe by train. I worked for nine months for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association on a research boat as a steward (making beds and washing dishes) in order to earn the money to backpack around the world. The ship went to Chile and the Antarctic, and even stopped at Easter Island—one of the most remote locations in the Pacific Ocean. After so long at sea, I needed time on land, so I packed up my sister and her puppy in a beaten-down station wagon and drove across North America.

And then I packed a single bag and flew to Africa. Alone. I spent five months in southern Africa—South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Zambia, but primarily Zimbabwe. I saw elephants and rhinos and kudu, was woken up from a dead sleep in a tent by the roar of lions and sat for hours on the banks of the Zambezi watching Victoria Falls. I spent the rest of that year in Southeast Asia—mostly eating coconut curry. After a few restless months at home, I traveled to Australia and New Zealand and completely depleted my travel fund.

And then I went to England, invited by an Englishman I’d met in Zimbabwe. I went for two weeks and stayed for six months—I left the day before my visa expired—and the next year I married him.

I lived in England for five years, in a little town in the county of Kent. I lived within spitting distance of Hever Castle—Anne Boleyn’s childhood home. Penshurst Place, once owned by the Duke of Buckingham and Knole House, once owned by King Henry VIII himself were also nearby. I grew to love the English countryside—so different from the forests and volcanic mountains of California. And I came to love English history—so much more violent and colorful and ancient than my own.

In the course of my life, I’ve worked as a dishwasher, lingerie seller, coffee barista, cake decorator, ship’s steward, video rental clerk, freelance journalist, travel agent, waitress, contracts manager, bookseller and Montessori preschool teacher.

But in writing for teens, I’ve finally found my calling.

And through writing, I am able to encompass all my loves. Becoming a character made of words. Exploring new worlds. And living history.

YOU CAN CHECK OUT MORE GREAT BOOKANISTAS REVIEWS HERE

Elana Johson is enthralled by CROWN OF EMBERS by Rae Carson

Stasia Ward Kehoe is mesmerized by GRAVE MERCY by Robin LaFevers

Christine Fonseca  adores DEAD SILENCE by Kimberly Derting

Corrine Jackson revels in ALONG FOR THE RIDE by Sara Dessen

Katy Upperman is charmed by QUINTANA OF CHARYN by Melina Marchetta

Kimberly Sabatini is touched by TARNISH by Katherine Longshore

Lenore Appelhans  loves The Originals by Cat Patrick

What amazing women do you think has/had the spark that’s helped to change the role of women in the world today?

And yesterday I told you that I had a BIG Anniversary coming up today. I’d like to wish my wonderful, amazing husband, John a Happy 20th Anniversary today.

I love you more today than yesterday. <3

Tags: Book Review, Bookanistas, Gilt, Katherine Longshore, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Tarnish

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The cool thing about the Class of 2k12 ARC Tour is that I’m picking up books that might not necessarily find their way into my stack of reading material.  This is not because I don’t want to give them a try, but rather because there are so many books on my TBR list (that I know I NEED to read) that I’m less inclined to wander down a less traveled reading road without a strong recommendation.  I am so glad that I was given the chance to challenge myself with GILT by Katherine Longshore.  I was utterly fascinated with this book.  Let me give you a little bit of information before I tell you why you MUST read it.

When her best friend marries Henry VIII, Kitty must learn to walk the fine line between secrets and treason, discovering that in the Tudor court, the price of gossip could literally be her head.

I’m going to be perfectly honest when I tell you that often historical fiction is not my thing. Sometimes I find the factual details to be mind numbing–but when it’s done right–it gives me shivers. The truth can be scarier than the imagination.

GILT gave me shivers.

Longshore was a master of the skill, show–don’t tell, particularly when it came to sharing her historical information. She painted a rich, vivid picture of the times and I never felt like I was pulled from the story in order to get the details. And then then there were the characters… I was utterly fascinated and appalled by Catherine Howard and Katherine Tylney. I couldn’t look away from their friendship, escapades and dysfunction. The rest of the cast of characters were equally as engrossing–each one falling into place like the interlocking gears of a watch. When Cat Howard was in motion, it made the whole Tudor Court spin and I couldn’t look away. And lastly, I loved the play on words with the title. Gilt means to be thinly covered with gold leaf or gold paint. But if you scratch at the lightly veiled corruption of the times, you easily discover a lot of guilt.

This is one of those books that perfectly straddles the line between literary and commercial. I absolutely loved it!

Tags: Gilt, Historical Fiction, Katherine Longshore, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, YA Author, YA Muses, YA Novel, YA Writer

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