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Roses Have Thorns by Sandra Byrd Series: Ladies in Waiting #3
Also by this author: Mist of Midnight
Genres: Christian Fiction, Christian Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Tudor Romance
Published by Howard Books on August 9, 2013
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
Source: Author, Blog Tour, Publisher
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From the acclaimed author of To Die For comes a stirring novel told that sheds new light on Elizabeth I and her court. Sandra Byrd has attracted countless fans for evoking the complexity, grandeur, and brutality of the Tudor period. In her latest tour de force, she poses the question: What happens when serving a queen may cost you your marriage—or your life?
In 1565, seventeen-year-old Elin von Snakenborg leaves Sweden on a treacherous journey to England. Her fiance has fallen in love with her sister and her dowry money has been gambled away, but ahead of her lies an adventure that will take her to the dizzying heights of Tudor power. Transformed through marriage into Helena, the Marchioness of Northampton, she becomes the highest-ranking woman in Elizabeth’s circle. But in a court that is surrounded by Catholic enemies who plot the queen’s downfall, Helena is forced to choose between an unyielding monarch and the husband she’s not sure she can trust—a choice that will provoke catastrophic consequences.
Vividly conjuring the years leading up to the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots, Roses Have Thorns is a brilliant exploration of treason, both to the realm and to the heart.
A Novel of Elizabeth I
Genre: Christian Historical Fiction
Publisher: Howard Books
*This post was update to my new format with the UBB Plugin on April 11, 2015.
An incredible historical tale. A keeper shelf book. Gorgeous covers that keep the pages turning. Each of these statements is something true in describing this historical Ladies in Waiting series from Sandra Byrd. To Die For was captivating beginning to end in a story of Anne Boleyn’s Meg Wyatt. The Secret Keeper was a beautiful story that kept the pages turning of Kateryn Parr’s Juliana St. John. Roses Have Thorns is a different and yet enchanting tale that branches the expanse of the sea between Sweden and England to share Elizabeth I’s Elin von Snakenborg or Helena’s tale. This one was especially enchanting for me as I’m all the way up the line English bred and born (with a bunch of Scotland in me) and I married a man with a heritage of Sweden of which I am not all too familiar.
At first I was unsure of what I thought of Elin, later Helena. She seemed to be a bit of a pushover in just blindly watching her sister’s actions with her fiancé. But then I knew as she was leaving the shore that perhaps her life was meant to take another direction and that her inaction or nonresponse was no so much of being a pushover, but perhaps letting things happen as she didn’t really want those circumstances anyhow.
*Thanks to Howard Books, Renee Chaw and Sandra Byrd for providing a copy for review.*
If you are interested, Sandra is running an AWESOME giveaway on her blog right now where you can enter to win a signed copy of Roses Have Thorns, a $25 e-gift card to Heirloomroses.com, or a Elizabethan inspired necklace! Here’s the link with all the details if you would like to enter to win: http://sandrabyrd.com/blog/books-and-blooms-giveaway/
About Sandra Byrd
After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd has now published more than forty books. Her adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake, was a Christy Award finalist, as was her first historical novel, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn. To Die For was also named by Library Journal as a Best Books Pick for 2011 and The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr, was named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2012. The Tudor series’ end cap, Roses Have Thorns: A Novel of Elizabeth I published in April, 2013.
A life-long lover of Victorian Gothic romances, Sandra’s new series, Daughters of Hampshire, weaves elements of that mystical, traditional genre with inspirational and literary threads. Mist of Midnight, the series’ first book, debuts in March, 2015.
Sandra has also published dozens of books for tweens and teens, and is passionate about helping new authors develop their talent and their work toward traditional or independent publication. As such, she has mentored and coached hundreds of new writers and continues to coach dozens to success each year.
The post Roses Have Thorns: a novel of Elizabeth I by Sandra Byrd appeared first on Creative Madness Mama.