My Review of A Transcontinental Affair by Jodi Daynard

Review of A Transcontinental Affair by Jodi Daynard

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical drama about a forbidden affair that develops between two passengers on the first coast to coast across the USA train journey by Pullmann express in 1870.

People from quite different backgrounds and situations are thrown together in a small space and passions are aroused.

The book is extremely well written and the locations they travel to and through are beautifully descriptive so I felt I was there with them, travelling across the USA in this newest form of transport, seeing places one could probably only have dreamt of. It's made me long to do this same trip myself today although the charm of the book is in that it is so undiscovered and new. 

The main characters are wonderful, especially the women. and I was rooting for Louisa especially.


I have read some really fabulous books from Lake Union publishing recently and this is another really great read.

This was one of Amazon's Prime Reads offerings and I urge you to give it a try.

Here's the blurb from Goodreads

A sweeping tale of adventure and danger, innovation and corruption, and two women whose lives intertwine in unexpected ways on America’s first transcontinental train trip

May 1870. Crowds throng the Boston station, mesmerized by the mechanical wonder huffing on the rails: the Pullman Hotel Express, the first train to travel from coast to coast. Boarding the train are congressmen, railroad presidents, and even George Pullman himself. For two young women, strangers until this fateful day, it’s the beginning of a journey that will change their lives.

Sensitive Louisa dreads the trip, but with limited prospects, she’s reluctantly joined the excursion as a governess to a wealthy family. Hattie is traveling to San Francisco to meet her fiancé, yet she’s far more interested in the workings of the locomotive than she is in the man awaiting her arrival. As the celebrated train moves westward, the women move toward one another, pulled by an unexpected attraction.


But there is danger in this closeness, just as there is in the wilds of the frontier and in the lengths the railroad men will go to protect their investments. Before their journey is over, Louisa and Hattie will find themselves very far from where they intended to go.

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Blog Tour Son of The Moon by Jennifer MacAire extract @rararesources

Blog Tour Son of The Moon by Jennifer MacAire

Today I am welcoming author Jennifer MacAire to Beadyjans Books for the BlogBlitz Tour of her latest historical novel Son of the Moon.

I have an Excerpt from Son of the Moon by Jennifer Macaire

Can you face the consequences of cheating the Fates?

Alexander the Great journeys to India, where he and Ashley are welcomed with feasts and treachery.

With their son, Paul, being worshipped as the Son of the Moon, and Alexander’s looming death, Ashley considers the unthinkable: how to save them and whether she dares to cheat Fate?

Excerpt: 

Alexander found many men willing to marry and stay in Taxila with the king. The city would become the biggest center of Hellenic culture in India. Greek would be spoken there for centuries. It would become one of the greatest exchanges between east and west. Taxile didn’t know this, of course, but he seemed thrilled to meet Alexander. He wouldn’t stop rubbing his hands together and beaming. 

He was also very impressed with the army. He saw Alexander as the chance he’d been waiting for. To the south was his greatest enemy, the rajah Porus, whom he had been fighting against on and off for decades. Alexander had sent ambassadors to Porus asking for right of passage through his lands. The second night we stayed in Taxila, news came that the demands had been rejected, and Porus was massing his army on the banks of the river Jhelum.

Alexander grew very still when the news came. I think he was bitterly disappointed. He had been looking forward to coming to India and being received everywhere. The idea of fighting his way through India displeased him enormously. Nonetheless his military mind was already busy making plans. We left five days after we arrived.

I used those five days to go shopping. I’d been in the mountains, away from civilization for so long. I’d forgotten what it was like to go to the market, to buy food and clothes, to go to the theater, or eat at a restaurant. 

I insisted Alexander accompany me and do all those things, except the restaurant. There weren’t really any restaurants in those times; just food stands in the market place. We strolled through the city. The people acclaimed us, and everyone tossed flowers at us; flowers and colored rice. I loved it. I felt like a bride the entire time. 

Alexander covered me in beautiful, bright silks and cottons, and we ate curried lamb and peacocks. Alexander loved Indian food and Taxile adored Greek art. Alexander’s men put on sports exhibitions in the plains, and the people of the city swarmed out to see them every evening. 

Lanterns made of colored silk, and ribbons of bright cotton decorated everything. All the hues were bright and vibrant. Gold! Red! Pink! Violet! they screamed. The Greeks were entranced. It was a mutual love affair between the pure, classical Greek style and the colorful, elaborate Indian manner. It was sparkling white marble meeting bright fuchsia silk. It was like cold vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce. It was calm restraint meeting wild abandon. Everyone exclaimed at everything. There wasn’t a single thing that the Indians didn’t adore about the Greeks, and the Greeks thought that everything in Taxila was fabulous.

The Author - Jennifer Macaire

Find her at 

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

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jennifermacaire/

twitter @jennifermacaire

https://jennifermacaire.wordpress.com/

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The Forgotten Village by Lorna Cook Blog Tour

The Forgotten Village by Lorna Cook:

It's the second stage of the Blog Tour for the new book from Avon Books The Forgotten Village by Lorna Cook. It's a dual timeline romance perfect for your holidays.

My Review:

The Forgotten Village is a dual-time romance, light and easy to read it is the perfect holiday read to while away the time on your sun lounger with.

It tells two womens’ stories, one in 1943 and the other in the present day. Both women have managed to lumber themselves with unbearable men who have turned out to be complete swine, both women have been bullied mercilessly by their male counterparts and been trampled underfoot by their domineering other halves. Fortunately, both women begin to realise this and make an attempt to break free but is it too late? The Forgotten Village will let us find out.

In modern-day Cornwall, we meet Melissa who for some reason which is pretty hard to comprehend has come on holiday with a total boor, Liam, who treats her worse than a doormat! Of course, she ends up having a dreadful holiday, left alone to amuse herself whilst he swans off and has a great time leaving her to her own devices. I don’t know if I was more annoyed at him for behaving like a cad or at her for complicitly going out with him for as long as she has.

Deciding to explore the local area a bit she ends up at a place of historical interest, a small Cornish village which has been shut off from the world since the Second World War when it was requisitioned by the army and the occupants were all forced to leave.

This creates the link for us to venture into the past where we meet Lady Veronica, preparing for flight from their family home to surrender it to the armed forces and at the same time  trying to plan her own escape from another domineering bloke I was just itching to see get his come-uppance. To find out if I was granted this desire you’ll have to read the book yourself!

Of course, this is romantic fiction and the romance soon happens when Melissa happens to bump into a much more charming man than the one she is thinking of dumping. Guy is a handsome and compassionate actor who is taking part in a planned tv show about the eponymous Forgotten Village of Tyneham. Together with Guy, Melissa decides to investigate more about the past linked to the village and in particular Lady Veronica, to whom Guy has a link as his ageing Aunt had worked in this village as her “Ladies maid”

This creates the dual storyline, which is well done and undeniably compelling. It has all the romantic interest you'd expect from a romance with the historical aspect providing a few twists and a mystery which has been concealed over the years. It is in this past where Melissa will discover a dark secret which will still have ramifications today.


I would personally have liked more historical depth to the story, about the history and the past of the village. But this is romantic fiction and if you want a book that’s entertaining and romantic to read on your sun lounger this will fit the bill perfectly.

The Forgotten village is available in Paperback or ebook to add to your holiday reads list now. Find a copy here.

The Blurb

A timeless story of love and sacrifice, perfect for fans of Rachel Hore, Tracy Rees and Kate Morton.

1943: The world is at war, and the villagers of Tyneham are being asked to make one more sacrifice: to give their homes over to the British army. But on the eve of their departure, a terrible act will cause three of them to disappear forever.

2017: Melissa had hoped a break on the coast of Dorset would rekindle her stagnant relationship, but despite the idyllic scenery, it’s pushing her and Liam to the brink. When Melissa discovers a strange photograph of a woman who once lived in the forgotten local village of Tyneham, she becomes determined to find out more about her story. But Tyneham hides a terrible secret, and Melissa’s search for the truth will change her life in ways she never imagined possible. 

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Baxters Requiem by Matthew Crow - Review and Blog Tour

Baxters Requiem by Matthew Crow

Follow the Blog Tour here on Beadyjans Books for the heartwarming new book by Matthew Crow entitled Baxters Requiem which I have read, loved and reviewed.

If you're looking for a genuinely uplifting, sweet and captivating book, please consider Baxters Requiem - it's just adorable.

My Review

Baxters Requiem is a gentle and heartwarming tale of thwarted love and dealing with loss.

Perfect for fans of Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon, it’s about an elderly man, the eponymous Baxter who in his twilight years decides he must have one last attempt to say goodbye to the one true love of his life. In doing so he forges new friendships, and helps a young man come to terms with his own grief.

I found it a quick and easy read, which I galloped through, enjoying every word. Simple yet meaningful, hauntingly beautiful and a real testament to companionship and self-forgiveness.

Baxter himself is a delight, irascible, humorous and forthright at the age of 94, having reluctantly allowed himself to be admitted to Melrose Gardens nursing home where the residents are in turn doddery yet full of life.

Greg is a typical 19-year-old of the “whatever” generation, he is at a los and ends up working at Melrose Gardens as an interim measure just to get out of his fathers way. The two men just can’t understand each other as poles apart Father and son try to deal with the sudden and senseless death of Gregs younger brother.

Baxter sees a glimmer of potential in Greg and enrols his help in a seemingly ill-advised crazy venture, to France, to visit war graves and pay tribute to Thomas, the man he waved farewell to, more than half a lifetime ago, yet has never really said goodbye to.
Greg is a real enigma, described as surly and shy, a lad of few words I found him perspicacious and actually rather eloquent, quite lovable and I just wanted to mother him.

Even the secondary characters are sublime. 
The unstoppable Winnie, cherished lifelong friend of Baxter, charges through life in her motorised disability scooter, imbibing too much alcohol, being the best friend imaginable and the worst influence possible. 
Suzanne who tries to run a tight ship at Melrose but turns a blind eye now and again to Baxters antics and Jamila, reluctant receptionist in the family business which is the care home who daydreams her way through her work, an eyebrow tattoo pen grasped between her immaculate blinged-up nails and a glint of romance in her well-outlined eye.


Baxters requiem is a joy to read for anyone of any age. It blends teen angst with the frustration of old age, poignancy with fun and shows that no matter what age you are it’s never too late to do something meaningful.

My thanks go to RandomThingsTours for inviting me to participate in the blog tour, thus introducing me to Baxter and this wonderful book.

The Blurb

A tender, witty, uplifting story about friendship, family and community written with great humour that will appeal to fans of Rachel Joyce, Ruth Hogan and Joanna Cannon.

Let me tell you a story, about a man I knew, and a man I know...

Mr Baxter is ninety-four years old when he falls down his staircase and grudgingly finds himself resident at Melrose Gardens Retirement Home. 

Baxter is many things - raconteur, retired music teacher, rabble-rouser, bon viveur - but 'good patient' he is not. He had every intention of living his twilight years with wine, music and revelry; not tea, telly and Tramadol. Indeed, Melrose Gardens is his worst nightmare - until he meets Gregory. 

At only nineteen years of age, Greg has suffered a loss so heavy that he is in danger of giving up on life before he even gets going. 

Determined to save the boy, Baxter decides to enlist his help on a mission to pay tribute to his long-lost love, Thomas: the man with whom he found true happiness; the man he waved off to fight in a senseless war; the man who never returned. The best man he ever knew.

With Gregory in tow, Baxter sets out on a spirited escape from Melrose, bound for the war graves of Northern France. As Baxter shares his memories, the boy starts to see that life need not be a matter of mere endurance; that the world is huge and beautiful; that kindness is strength; and that the only way to honour the dead, is to live.


Baxter's Requiem is a glorious celebration of life, love and seizing every last second we have while we're here.

The Author

Matthew Crow was born and raised in Newcastle. Having worked as a freelance journalist since his teens he has contributed to a number of publications including the Independent on Sunday and the Observer. He has written for adults and YA. His book My Dearest Jonah, was nominated for the Dylan Thomas Prize.

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Legends of Persia - Jennifer Macaire - Guest Post for Blog Tour

Legends of Persia - Jennifer Macaire - Guest Post for Blog Tour

I'm welcoming Jennifer Macaire to Beadyjans Books today with her sensual new historical time travel romance Legends of Persia. I was thrilled when Jennifer offered to take some time out of her hectic schedule to write me an article for my blog as part of the tour to launch her novel, organised by Rachels Random Resources tours.

About the book in Jennifers own words

Legends of Persia

When Ashley Riveraine jumped at the chance to travel back in time to meet her hero Alexander the Great, she never thought she would end up staying there…

Following Alexander the Great’s army on its journey across Persia, Ashley is walking the knife edge of history. As a presumed goddess, Ashley is expected to bless crops, make sure battles are won and somehow keep herself out of the history books.

Can Ashley avoid the wrath of the Time Institute while keeping the man she loves alive?

She told me about the steamier side of her writing.

Romance and sex in historical fiction

Let's talk about romance and sex in fiction books. I write historical fiction with a dash of science fiction (time travel), fantasy (Greek and Nordic mythology), and romance (my heroine, Ashley, shares her life with two men – Alexander the Great and his lover, Hephaestion).

When I started writing this story (believe me) I had no idea it was going to turn into a steamy, sensuous series. It started out as a short story commissioned by a magazine about time travel. But the fact is, when I started researching and found out most of what we know about Alexander the Great is hearsay and that I could let my imagination run wild – it went wild!

Alexander mistakes time-travelling journalist Ashley for the goddess Persephone and kidnaps her, stranding her in 333 BC. They fall in love and she accompanies him on his trek across half the world. But I had a modern woman from the future and a man from ancient Greece (Macedonia) thrown together, and they had nothing in common.

What happens when a young man and woman get together? Do they discuss the politics? Do they talk about the weather? What common ground did they have? Well, most of you are probably nodding sagely and imagining all sorts of different...positions. Yes, you're right. Falling in love usually means lots of sweaty, bouncy sex full of giggles, sighs, moans, and body parts moving in various directions at various speeds.

What happens when one of the partners is unabashedly bi-sexual and his lover also happens to be bi-sexual, and sex is considered a natural part of life such as eating, breathing, or learning to swim?  Yes, that's right – the pair turns into a threesome. So, reader beware – (although I don't write about it in as much detail as some would like), there is a spicy side to some chapters (if you want, you can just skip over those parts, they don't last very long, just a paragraph or so) but here's what I've discovered: reviewers will always comment on that part of my book. If they approve, they will say "Read about Ashley's sensuous journey across ancient Persia", and if they don't approve, they will say, "A very interesting book except for too much sex and marching".

This brings us back to the question "How much sex & romance is too much in historical fiction?"

If you consider 'Clan of the Cave-bear' or the Outlander series historical fiction, you would think that my books are fairly tame compared to the caveman sex in the Clan books or the spankings and punishments in the Outlander tales (I loved both series, btw!) So I'll go out on a limb and say, "I think that if the sex takes away from the story, it is too much sex, and if it fits with the characters and setting, it's fine (and you can always skip over those parts)."  At any rate, I'd call my books "sensual" and leave it at that.

Jennifer Macaire

Want to know more about Jennifer - here are her web links.

Find Jennifer Macaire on Twitter : @jennifermacaire
Author website:
Blog (more fun):
Facebook page:
Instagram (for those who like pretty pictures):
BookBub:
Universal to buy link for Amazon:

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Blog Tour - The Oceans Between Us Gill Thompson - Review

The Oceans Between Us Blog Tour and my Review

Today it's my absolute privilege to be part of the Blog Tour for the lovely new historical fiction title The Oceans Between us by Gill Thompson. My thanks go to Random things Tours and the publisher Headline books for inviting me along.

My Review

As soon as I received my copy to review I dived in and couldn't put it down. This book has that absorbing quality which lets you immerse yourself into the story quickly and deeply.

The Oceans Between us is a heartbreaking drama based on the true and shocking events of the children sent to Australia in the aftermath of world war 2.

This book begins at the height of the London Blitz as bombs fall all around, families head for air raid shelters and lives are ripped apart. It tells the story of young Jack who is separated from his beloved mother during the blitz in London and finds himself in an orphanage waiting and hoping for his Ma to come and claim him.

But he is offered the “opportunity” of all opportunities, a chance to migrate to Australia, where he is told life will be sweet with plenty of what youngsters have been missing in the war years, wholesome food, fresh air and fun. Although he worries that his Mother won't be able to find him he isn't in a position to say no and anyway he looks forward to escaping the rigidity of the orphanage and the strict Nuns who run it.

On the ship with his fellow orphanage lads he makes a new friend and together that pals plan their new lives in the sun.

He and his new pal end up at Bindoon, ostensibly a boys home run by religious brothers, but which is in reality little removed from a labour camp where the boys are half starved, abused and forced to work doing hard manual labour. He still dreams that his Mother is still alive and longs for her to come and get him.

It’s hard to comprehend that this was a real place and these events were shamefully all too true.

Meanwhile a woman who was found wandering alone and suffering from shock and complete memory loss, tries to piece together her life and over the years, as fragments of her memory return, we learn she is Jacks Mother and she also wants nothing more than to hold her lost boy in her arms once more.

This is above all a story of racial prejudices, and a cruel programme aimed at providing Australia with "good clean white breeding stock" – the British orphans and unwanted children sent there, many to conditions worse than those experienced during the war.

There are two love stories within these pages, both of which have similarities, people of different backgrounds coming together to overcome prejudice and find love, despite mixed race marriages being sadly very much frowned upon in, so called polite society, and threads of friendship, betrayal, bullying and abuse which make this a dark and harrowing read. I galloped through it wanting to know what eventually happens to Jack and his Mother and found an engrossing and captivating read that kept me on the edge of my seat.

The Blurb 

Inspired by heartrending real events, a mother fights to find her son and a child battles for survival in this riveting debut novel.

For readers of Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, The Letter by Kathryn Hughes, and Remember Me by Lesley Pearse.

'A warm-hearted tale of love, loss and indefatigable human spirit' Kathryn Hughes

A woman is found wandering injured in London after an air raid. She remembers nothing of who she is. Only that she has lost something very precious.

As the little boy waits in the orphanage, he hopes his mother will return. But then he finds himself on board a ship bound for Australia, the promise of a golden life ahead, and wonders: how will she find him in a land across the oceans?

In Perth, a lonely wife takes in the orphaned child. But then she discovers the secret of his past. Should she keep quiet? Or tell the truth and risk losing the boy who has become her life?

This magnificent, moving novel, set in London and Australia, is testament to the strength of the human spirit and the enduring power of love.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gill Thompson is an English lecturer who recently completed an MA in Creative Writing at Chichester University. The first three chapters of THE OCEANS BETWEEN US were longlisted for the Mslexia novel award. She lives with her family in West Sussex and teaches English to college students.

Website: http://www.wordkindling.co.uk/

Twitter: @wordkindling

Find the book on Amazon or your favourite bookshop.

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