Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Bookish Settings that I'd Love to Visit

Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by The Broke and The Bookish.

Okay,  let's see what are the top 10 places I want to visit because I read about them in a book, and if I can remember exactly which books made me interested.

1.  Ireland 

Hmm, can't remember exactly which books, but I know there were some!

2.  Forks, Washington

 Because of Twilight, obviously.

3.  Scotland

Many books, all of the On Dublin Street series by Samantha Young.  The Harry Potter castle is actually in Scotland as well.

4.  England

So many books take place in England.  A lot of them by Amy Daws.  Of course, the Harry Potter series.  

5.  New York City

Okay, this might be a little bit cheating, but NYC was always on my list, because of all kinds of books, like Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz to name one.  And I did get to go there several years ago, and have now been 4 times. 

6.  New Orleans

Another one I've already gotten the chance to visit. And because of books like the Arcana Chronicles by Kresley Cole or the Wicked saga by Jennifer Lynn Armentrout, I totally wanted to go.

7.  Mexico

I've always been interested in old ruins from ancient civilizations, and after the book The Ruins by Scott Smith, Mexico became high on my list.  I made that come true about 10 years or so ago, when I visited the ruins in Tulum.  My first, and so far only, time out of the US.

8.  Egypt

Egypt is one that is from many, many books, among other things.  But a few that I can remember for sure are the Time Travelers series by Caroline B. Cooney, the Blossom Culp series by Richard Peck, as well as newer books like Reawakened by Colleen Houck.

9.  Germany, Amsterdam

I have wanted to see the house, attic really, that Anne Frank and her family had to hide out in.  I also feel like I want to visit a concentration camp, and pay my respects to those whose lives were lost in the holocaust.

10.  Australia

I think the first time I really thought I wanted to go was after reading Pride of the Peacock by Victoria Holt.

So, have you been to any of these places?  Are you from one of them?  What are some locations you want to visit after reading a book that took place in that setting?

Blog tour: Review and Giveaway - Empire of Dust (Blood of Gods and Royals #2) by Eleanor Herman

--> About the Book: -->

Title: EMPIRE OF DUST (Blood of Gods and Royals #2)

Author: Eleanor Herman

Pub. Date: June 26, 2016

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 432

Format: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks | Goodreads
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In Macedon, war rises like smoke, forbidden romance blooms and ancient magic tempered with rage threatens to turn an empire to dust 

After winning his first battle, Prince Alexander fights to become the ruler his kingdom demands—but the line between leader and tyrant blurs with each new threat. 

Meanwhile, Hephaestion, cast aside by Alexander for killing the wrong man, must conceal the devastating secret of a divine prophecy from Katerina even as the two of them are thrust together on a dangerous mission to Egypt. 

The warrior, Jacob, determined to forget his first love, vows to eradicate the ancient Blood Magics and believes that royal prisoner Cynane holds the key to Macedon's undoing. 

And in chains, the Persian princess Zofia still longs to find the Spirit Eaters, but first must grapple with the secrets of her handsome—and deadly—captor. 

New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman entwines the real scandals of history with epic fantasy to reimagine the world's most brilliant ruler, Alexander the Great, in the second book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.
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Grab the FREE novella VOICE OF GODS Now!

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and

The novella QUEEN OF ASHES for $2.99!

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My Review:
Normally my reviews include a bit of a recap, but since you've got that with the "official" synopsis above, I'll try to stick to my specific thoughts.  I do want to link you back to my review of the first book, Legacy of Kings, first, because I'm going to try to connect this review to parts of that one as much as possible.   One kind of interesting thing that was happening while I was reading this, is that the audiobook I was listening to also had to do with a historical fiction take on Alexander the Great as well, and so it was fun to think about the different parts of each book as I was listening to, or reading the other.  

As with the first book, there is a pretty large cast of characters to keep up with. But what the author is great at, is writing each of them so that you can tell exactly whose point of view that chapter is.  And for the most part, each of the characters' first chapter in this book gave you a review of what had happened in the last book, or at least refreshed your memory, but without doing it in a totally awkward and obvious way.  There wasn't too much with Alex and his sister Katerina together in this book.  And Alex's best friend, Heph, is not on Alex's good side at the moment, after killing a major character in the battle in the last book, that Alex had wanted brought in alive.  So Katerina and Heph are on a mission for Alex, to try to find other soldiers or armies to come back to help defend Alex's kingdom, since Alex's father is off on his own pursuit to advance their kingdom.  Alex must show the people that he can be a good leader.  And at first he relies on some people to advise him that aren't quite the best people to listen to.  Jacob, Katerina's betrothed from back home, is sure that she must be dead, after he left her on the battlefield with a fatal wound from the man that was the leader of his group, the Aesarian Lords, also the enemies of Alexander.  

Of course there will be betrayal from family, Alex's mother Olympias, the head Aesarian Lord, Bastion, Alex's sister Cynane.  There will be gods, and monsters, and the search for magical creatures like the Pegasus.  Zofia, the princess who ran away before she could be sent to marry Alexander, because she was in love with one of her father's soldiers, will find out there is more to the man who ended up kidnapping her and using her to try to find the Pegasus.  There will be deaths, some that Alexander will be the cause of, some that Olympias will be the cause of, and others that will just be a part of the normal events in war and countries at odds in this ancient time.  There will even be at least one death that isn't final, that the person gets another chance, to be good or do evil, that is what we will see.

Once again I fell in love with the characters in this series, as well as the beautiful world and all that the author has included in it.  And I'm now left anxiously awaiting the third book!! 

--> About Eleanor: -->

Before the Game of Thrones craze swept the nation, Eleanor Herman was hard at work entertaining readers with her extensive research on courtly intrigue and romance. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Sex with Kings, as well as three other works of nonfiction: Sex with the Queen, Mistress of the Vatican, and King Peggy.

Obsessed by all things royal and historical, she lives in McLean, Virginia with her husband and four extremely dignified cats. Legacy of Kings was her first novel.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest

--> Giveaway Details: -->

• 3 winners will receive a finished copy of EMPIRE OF DUST, US Only.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Tour Schedule:

Week One:

6/20/2016- The Cover Contessa- Interview

6/21/2016- Zach's YA Reviews- Review

6/22/2016- Fiction Fare- Guest Post

6/23/2016- My So-Called Book Reviews- Review

6/24/2016- Two Chicks on Books- Interview

Week Two:

6/27/2016- Lisa Loves Literature- Review YOU ARE HERE!

6/28/2016- A Dream Within A Dream- Guest Post

6/29/2016- Mundie Moms- Review

6/30/2016- Once Upon A Twilight- Review

7/1/2016- Curling Up With A Good Book- Interview

--> About Book 1:
-->

Title: LEGACY OF KINGS

Author: Eleanor Herman

Pub. Date: September 1, 2015

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 432

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble |iBooks | Goodreads

 
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Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to newcomer Katerina, who must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But Kat’s first love, Jacob, will go to unthinkable lengths to win her, even if it means competing for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet fiancée, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Weaving fantasy with the salacious and fascinating details of real history, New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known: Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.

Audio Book Review: Passion (Fallen #3) by Lauren Kate (September Sequel Challenge #2)

Once again I downloaded the audio book from the library to go on with this story. And I really enjoyed a lot about this next part in the series.  It was filled with so many different periods in history, which was a lot of fun.  We didn't get to see all of the characters that much in this book, other than of course Luce and Daniel, although the others did show up here and there for small parts of the story.  If you haven't read this far in the series yet, you can stop here and go back and read my review of the first book, Fallen, so that I don't give you any spoilers. 

In this story we pick up right where we left off from book 2, Torment, Luce has taken off inside of an Announcer, and the others are following her, trying to find her.  Especially Daniel.  Luce is trying to understand just why do they always fall in love.  It leads to death for her every time, and horrible heartbreak for Daniel every time.  And she doesn't know just why they fell in love, or if they are just compelled to because of the curse.  And so she is going back to her past lives to try to figure out why they love each other.  Along the way she will pick up someone named Bill, a gargoyle, who is there to help her figure out what she wants to see.  She will find out in some lives she is a much different girl than she is now.  She will see Daniel in all of his different human bodies as well.  We get to see how she dies, and Luce gets to actually be inside the bodies to experience the death in some of the situations.  I loved all the reincarnations, although so many were in Europe and places other than America, even before it got into the more ancient history.  But there was World War I, and World War II.  Russia, Shakespeare's time, ancient Mayans, and the one I was beginning to wonder if they'd have, ancient Egypt.

The whole time Daniel is following her, always showing up just right after she's left it seems.  And he is just hoping that she won't do something that could mess up all of history, including their love.  In the end, they will find each other, but it will be after something horrible is about to be set in motion.  You see the devil himself will show up, and he will have something to say about this whole thing with Luce and Daniel, and his own wants.  And we'll be left waiting to find out how the gang will fight him, and whether Luce and Daniel's love will really survive, and if they can finally break the curse.

I liked it better than the first two, although there were still moments I wanted to smack Luce, and moments that Daniel was still kind of a controlling jerk.  But again, I'm so ready to read the next book and find out what happens.  Or should I say listen to the next book.  I also heard there is going to be a 5th book, told from Cam's point of view.  And does anyone know when the movie comes out?  I thought it was this fall, but I haven't seen any previews for it.

A to Z April: O Reviews - The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory/Out of Time by Caroline B. Cooney

Today I'm sharing two books that kind of deal with history.  The first one is definitely called historical fiction, and the second one has characters that time travel, so it is both contemporary and historical.

First is The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory.  I ended up reading this one because of the movie that was going to be coming out soon at the time.  This was back when I had time and tried to read the book before I saw the movie. These days I'm running out of time, or learning that it is often more disappointing to read the book first in case they do a bad job on the movie.  But this book, and the movie, got me more intrigued by the actual history of Henry VIII.  And that was right in time for the HBO series The Tudors as well.  I guess this book might be a 2nd in a series, but I don't know that I'll read any others.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king.

A rich and compelling novel of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her heart.

When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king and take her fate into her own hands.

The second book is one by a pretty popular author, it is Out of Time (Time Travelers #2) by Caroline B. Cooney, and again I'm just picking the 2nd one because of the letter, and I plan to talk about the whole series.  It does have the dreaded love triangle that everyone moans and complains about, but that I firmly insist is nothing new, but an old, old, old part of stories, and I can name some if you want!  It starts with a girl who kind of has always felt that she was born too late.  Until one day she is transported back in time where she falls in love, even though she does have someone back in her own time period.  The series follows her and some other characters to time periods such as around the late 1800s, medieval times, and even ancient Egypt.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads for this second book:
Annie Lockwood exists; everyone admits it. Everyone has seen her. But only Strat insists that Miss Lockwood traveled one hundred years back in time to be with them in 1895. Now Strat is paying an enormous price: His father has declared him insane and had him locked away in an asylum. When Time calls Annie back to save Strat, she does not hesitate, even though her family is falling apart and desperately needs her. Can Annie save the boy she loves, or will her choice keep her a trespasser out of time?

So what historical time periods fascinate you?  Have you read either of these books, or maybe a different book by one of these authors?

Don't forget to enter my giveaway below.

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