Mailbox Monday #136

Hello all!  I missed Mailbox Monday last week so this is a two week combination. 

I received several books this past week for my upcoming class.  Since they are less exciting – I’m just going to list them quickly and move on.

• Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century A. D. to the Third by Edward N. Luttwak
• Twelve Caesars by Suetonius
• A History of Rome by Max Cary
• A History of Rome by LeGlay
• The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture by Peter Garnsey

Ok, now for the fun stuff!  For review this week I received:

• The Maid and the Queen by Nancy Goldstone – received from the publisher.  Love reading about Joan of Arc.

The untold story of the extraordinary queen who championed Joan of Arc.

Politically astute, ambitious, and beautiful, Yolande of Aragon, queen of Sicily, was one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages. Caught in the complex dynastic battle of the Hundred Years War, Yolande championed the dauphin's cause against the forces of England and Burgundy, drawing on her savvy, her statecraft, and her intimate network of spies. But the enemy seemed invincible. Just as French hopes dimmed, an astonishingly courageous young woman named Joan of Arc arrived from the farthest recesses of the kingdom, claiming she carried a divine message-a message that would change the course of history and ultimately lead to the coronation of Charles VII and the triumph of France.

Now, on the six hundredth anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc, this fascinating book explores the relationship between these two remarkable women, and deepens our understanding of this dramatic period in history. How did an illiterate peasant girl gain access to the future king of France, earn his trust, and ultimately lead his forces into battle? Was it only the hand of God that moved Joan of Arc-or was it also Yolande of Aragon?

• The Show by John Heldt from the author on Kindle.  I loved books 1 and 2 – can’t wait to read book 3!

Seattle, 1941. Grace Vandenberg, 21, is having a bad day. Minutes after Pearl Harbor is attacked, she learns that her boyfriend is a time traveler from 2000 who has abandoned her for a future he insists they cannot share. Determined to save their love, she follows him into the new century. But just when happiness is within her grasp, she accidentally enters a second time portal and exits in 1918. Distraught and heartbroken, Grace starts a new life in the age of Woodrow Wilson, silent movies, and the Spanish flu. She meets her parents as young, single adults and befriends a handsome, wounded Army captain just back from the war. In The Show, the sequel to The Mine, Grace finds love and friendship in the ashes of tragedy as she endures the trial of her life.

• The Chalice by Nancy Bilyeau received from the publisher.

In the next novel from Nancy Bilyeau after her acclaimed debut The Crown, novice Joanna Stafford plunges into an even more dangerous conspiracy as she comes up against some of the most powerful men of her era.

In 1538, England is in the midst of bloody power struggles between crown and cross that threaten to tear the country apart. Joanna Stafford has seen what lies inside the king’s torture rooms and risks imprisonment again, when she is caught up in a shadowy international plot targeting the King. As the power plays turn vicious, Joanna understands she may have to assume her role in a prophecy foretold by three different seers, each more omniscient than the last.

Joanna realizes the life of Henry VIII as well as the future of Christendom are in her hands—hands that must someday hold the chalice that lays at the center of these deadly prophecies…

Did you all get anything good in your mailboxes?

Mailbox Monday is on a monthly blog tour and for the month of March it is being hosted by Chaotic Compendiums.

 

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