Thursday, May 14, 2026

Book Review: Lady of Lincoln by Rachel Elwiss Joyce

Lady of Lincoln:

A Novel of Nicola de la Haye, the Medieval Heroine History Tried to Forget

(The Nicola de la Haye Series Book 1)

By Rachel Elwiss Joyce

Publication Date: February 27th, 2026

Publisher: Hedgehog Books

Page Length: 462

Genre: Biographical Historical Fiction / Medieval Historical Fiction

A true story. A forgotten heroine. In a time when women were told to stay silent, could she become the saviour her people need?

12th-century England. Nicola de la Haye wants to do her duty. But though she’s taught a female cannot lead alone, the young noblewoman bristles at the marriage her father has arranged to secure her inheritance. And when an unexpected death leaves her unguided, the impetuous girl shuns the king’s blessing and weds a handsome-but-landless knight.

Harshly fined by Henry II for her unsanctioned union, Nicola struggles to salvage her estates while dealing with devastating betrayals from her husband… and his choice to join rebels in a brewing civil war. Yet after averting a tragedy and gaining the castle garrison’s respect, she still must face the might of powerful men determined to crush her under their will.

Can she survive love, threats, and violent ambition to prove she’s worthy of authority?

In this carefully researched and vividly human series debut, Rachel Elwiss Joyce showcases the complex themes of honour, responsibility, and freedom in the story of a remarkable heroine who men tried to erase from history. And as readers dive into a world defined by violence and turmoil, they’ll be stunned by this courageous young woman’s journey toward greatness.

Lady of Lincoln is the gritty first book in the Nicola de la Haye Series historical fiction saga. If you like richly textured female heroes, courtly drama, and fast-paced intrigue, then you’ll adore Rachel Elwiss Joyce’s gripping true-life tale.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I thought I was settling in for a familiar kind of historical fiction—measured, elegant, and safely contained within the usual rhythms of duty, decorum, and predictable romance.

It did not stay comfortable for long.

Because Lady of Lincoln quickly reveals itself to be far less interested in comfort than in consequence. What begins as a young woman pushing gently against expectation turns, rather swiftly, into a story about what happens when those expectations push back.

At the centre is Nicola de la Haye, who begins with what feels like a reasonable hope: that her life might involve some degree of choice. Not a radical ambition, you might think—but in 12th-century England, this turns out to be wildly optimistic.

Her father, naturally, has other plans. A sensible marriage. A secure future. A man of stability and reputation. All very practical. All very… not what Nicola wants.

Instead, she chooses William FitzErneis.

Which, as decisions go, is not her best.

At first, William has all the expected qualities—charm, confidence, the sort of presence that suggests life with him might be exciting rather than merely tolerable. Unfortunately, excitement quickly translates into financial chaos, questionable decisions, and a series of consequences that ripple far beyond Nicola herself.

What’s particularly well done is that he isn’t written as a simple villain. It would be easier if he were. Instead, he’s frustratingly human—reckless, desperate, occasionally sincere, and often spectacularly unreliable. You can see why Nicola falls for him. You can also see, with increasing dread, why that choice is going to cost her dearly.

And it does.

A lot.

What follows is less a romance and more a gradual, painful education in responsibility. Nicola’s early ideals—love, independence, a life shaped by her own choices—collide headfirst with the realities of land ownership, political tension, and the unpleasant fact that other people’s livelihoods now depend on her ability to hold everything together.

She adapts. Not instantly, and not without mistakes, but steadily.

There’s a clear shift from girlhood to something far more formidable. By the time she begins to take control of her lands in earnest, it’s not out of ambition, but necessity. And that makes her far more compelling.

Meanwhile, hovering in the background (and occasionally stepping forward with quiet persistence) is Gerard de Camville—the man she didn’t choose. He represents stability, loyalty, and a kind of steady respect that Nicola is far too young, at first, to fully appreciate.

It’s not a love triangle in the usual sense. It’s more a study in timing, perspective, and the painful clarity that often arrives just a little too late.

The historical backdrop is handled with a confident, unobtrusive hand. You feel the instability of the period—the shifting loyalties, the tension between crown and church, the ever-present threat of conflict—without ever feeling like you’ve been dropped into a lecture.

Instead, it’s woven through Nicola’s experience. The fines, the rebellions, the sieges—they’re not distant events, they’re immediate problems. Problems that have very real, very human consequences.

And the book does not shy away from those consequences.

There are moments here that are genuinely difficult to read. Not for shock value, but because they’re grounded in the harsh realities of the time—war, illness, punishment, loss. It’s unflinching in a way that makes Nicola’s resilience feel earned rather than ornamental.

What I appreciated most is how the story builds. It doesn’t rely on a single dramatic turning point. Instead, it accumulates pressure—bad decisions, external threats, personal loss—until Nicola is forced to become someone capable of withstanding all of it.

By the end, she is almost unrecognisable from the girl we first meet.

Not hardened exactly, but sharpened. More aware. More deliberate. And fully conscious that survival, in her world, requires far more than hope.

This is ultimately a story about growth forged under pressure—about a young woman who is given very little room to fail, and yet somehow learns, adapts, and persists anyway.

I finished it with a deep respect for Nicola, a lingering sense of the cost of every choice she made, and a strong urge to immediately pick up whatever comes next in the series.

Praise for Lady of Lincoln:

"Joyce’s vivid prose and masterful storytelling immerse the reader deeply into the emotional landscapes of her protagonists, making their struggles and triumphs resonate long after the final page has been turned. This debut is not only impressive in its narrative depth but also remarkable in its ability to evoke thought and reflection long after the final page is turned."

~ The Coffee Pot Book Club 5* Editorial Review

You can find your copy of Lady of Lincoln Here, and get this, if you have #KindleUnlimited you can read for free.

Rachel Elwiss Joyce

After a rewarding career in the sciences, Rachel returned to her first love—history and the art of storytelling. Fascinated by the women history neglected, or tried to forget, she creates meticulously researched, emotionally resonant fiction that brings her characters’ stories vividly to life.

Her fascination with the past began early. At six years old, she was already inventing tales about medieval women in castles, inspired by her treasured Ladybird books and other picture-rich stories that transported her to another time. By the time she discovered Katherine by Anya Seton as a teenager, she knew the joy and escape that only great historical fiction can bring.

Rachel’s two grown-up children still tease her (fondly) about childhoods spent being “dragged” around castles, archaeological sites, and historical re-enactments. For Rachel, history and imagination have always gone hand in hand.

There was, however, a long gap between the stories of her childhood and her decision to write her own novel. The spark came when she discovered the remarkable true story of Nicola de la Haye—the first female sheriff of England, who defended Lincoln Castle against a French invasion and became known as “the woman who saved England,” Rachel knew she had found her heroine, and a story she was destined to tell.

Rachel lives in the UK, where she continues to explore the lives of women who shaped history but were left out of its pages.

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Sunday, May 10, 2026

Book Review: Firevein: The Awakening (Firevein Saga Book 1) by Hanna Park

Firevein: The Awakening
(Firevein Saga Book 1)
By Hanna Park

I went to Røros for a wedding—not to fall for a man

who looked at me like he had already mourned me once.

From the first moment Rurik touched me, something beneath my skin burned. Every kiss felt inevitable. Every glance pressed at the edge of memory. He says I’ve lived before, that I’ve died before, that he has loved me through it all. I don’t remember him—but the mountain does.

The tunnels beneath Røros hum when I pass. Runes flare in the stone. The deeper I fall into his arms, the more something inside me begins to awaken—hot, wild, and impossible to ignore. I was never meant to survive what should have killed me. Now something ancient is stirring, and I can’t shake the feeling that it’s because I did.

I have buried Cristabel in every lifetime—though she has worn different names.

Across centuries, I have found her and lost her to the curse my bloodline was sworn to guard. She was never meant to live this time—but she did. Now the fire in her veins is awakening too soon. The balance beneath the mountain is shifting, and the oath I have carried for generations is beginning to fracture.

I waited lifetimes to hold her again. This time, I will not let her go—even if saving her means unleashing what should have remained buried.

A steamy Nordic fantasy romance of reincarnation, fate, and fire.

Triggers: Female cancer survivor. Steamy open-door scenes.

You can find your copy over on Amazon and get this, it is free to read with #KindleUnlimited

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Oh look, a relaxing trip abroad (in which the itinerary includes an inconvenient magical awakening, a deeply persuasive immortal man, and a rapidly escalating series of encounters that are very much not about sightseeing).

Firevein: The Awakening is a bold, unapologetically sensual story of identity, power, and the rather immediate problem of discovering that your body may understand things long before your mind is ready to catch up.

I went into this expecting something along the lines of a contemporary fantasy with a romantic thread. You know the sort: a touch of magic, a mysterious stranger, perhaps a slow build toward something meaningful.

Instead, the book takes that expectation, gives it a brief and courteous nod, and then proceeds to dismantle it in a sauna.

Cristabel Johnson arrives in Norway for a wedding, which seems perfectly straightforward. Unfortunately, the trip also brings with it an awakening that is less about gentle self-discovery and more about intense, physical awareness—sensations that feel unfamiliar and yet disturbingly inevitable.

This becomes rather difficult to ignore when reality itself begins to shift around her.

Enter Rurik, who appears at precisely the moments when things become impossible to explain and then declines to explain them. He is patient, controlled, and entirely too aware of her—of what she feels, what she might become, and what she has been before.

Which, as introductions go, is not exactly reassuring.

Rurik approaches everything with a level of restraint that becomes more noticeable the further things escalate. He does not push—but he does not withdraw either. He waits, adjusts, and responds, allowing Cristabel to lead even when it is clear that he understands the situation far better than she does.

Cristabel, meanwhile, is attempting to make sense of an experience that is as physical as it is psychological. Her body reacts first—urgently, insistently—while her thoughts trail behind, trying to impose logic on something that does not appear to follow it.

This proves… complicated.

Most of the story follows her as she navigates this shift: the awakening itself, the fragmented impressions of something that feels like memory, and the increasingly undeniable connection to Rurik. Unfortunately, these are not separate developments.

They are, in fact, the same thing.

The deeper she goes, the clearer it becomes that this is not simply about attraction or even transformation. It is about a pattern—something that has happened before, something that carries weight, and something that does not come without consequence.

Rurik, for his part, becomes steadily less composed as the story progresses. His control remains, but it is no longer effortless. There are moments where something older surfaces—recognition, restraint, and the suggestion that whatever exists between them is neither new nor entirely safe.

Again, not ideal.

Their relationship develops with intensity rather than hesitation. This is not a story interested in polite distance or carefully measured emotional pacing. It is immediate, charged, and driven as much by instinct as by choice, with a constant undercurrent of something larger unfolding beneath the surface.

Which, given everything else that is happening, feels entirely appropriate.

The worldbuilding emerges through sensation rather than explanation. Magic is not laid out in tidy rules; it is experienced—felt through the body, through memory, through moments where reality itself seems to thin.

What I enjoyed most is how confidently the story commits to its tone. It does not shy away from the erotic elements or attempt to soften them. Instead, it uses them to drive both character and plot, tying physical experience directly to identity, history, and power.

By the time the deeper implications begin to surface, the emotional and narrative stakes feel fully earned.

Past lives, shifting realities, an attraction that refuses to be reduced to something simple, and a protagonist who is discovering that understanding herself may be as intense as it is unavoidable.

What can I say? This one starts with a wedding trip and very quickly becomes something far more consuming.

I had a thoroughly compelling time with it.

Hanna Park

I began my writing career in the pre-dawn of a winter morning while my husband snored like a train. We could call my husband the catalyst. If it weren’t for him, I would never have gone to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, feed the cat, and sit on the loveseat in front of the fire. It was there, in those moments of wondrous quiet, that I did something I had never thought possible. I opened my laptop, and while the coffee went cold, I wrote a story. My husband had no idea that these sojourns to the loveseat in front of the fire would become a daily occurrence, that writing would become an obsession, but the cat knew. She knows everything.

I write stories that make you laugh, make you cry, and make you love. Thank you, friends, for reading!

In the beginning, there was an empty page.

I am a writer who lives in Muskoka, Canada, with a husband who snores, a hungry cat, and an almost perfect canine––he’s an adorable little shit.

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Website

Thursday, May 7, 2026

That Catskill Summer (Lived-In Love, book #1) by Bart Charlow

That Catskill Summer

(Lived-In Love, book #1)

By Bart Charlow

He wrote the book he lived. Now she wants to rewrite the ending.

For fans of the 1960s Catskills era of Dirty Dancing, this is a very different kind of love story.

Author Aaron Ben-Ami’s steamy novel, based on a failed youthful love affair in the "Summer of Love" Borscht Belt, is a sensation. Love was easy to come by in the resort culture of the early sexual revolution, but not so easy to keep. Now, as his story is being made into a movie starring Isobel “Izzy” Sandler, the past and present are about to collide.

Ironically, it was a chance meeting with Izzy that inspired Aaron to write the book in the first place—she was his muse. But as they grow close during filming, Izzy discovers the raw truth behind the fiction. She is the granddaughter of Elyse, the real woman who modeled for the novel’s lead—and Aaron's greatest "what if".

Set against the richly textured backdrop of a disappearing American era, That Catskill Summer is a story of what we miss in the moment and what stays with us long after. It is a journey through the humor, the heat, and the heartbreak of youth, told through the reflective eyes of someone who survived it.

Perfect for readers of emotionally rich, time-layered fiction who value reflection over resolution – and those who believe that a single summer can define a lifetime.

Doesn' this book sound absolutely amazing? You can find your copy here and the paperback is available on B&N.

Bart Charlow

Bart A. Charlow is an author, consultant, and retired therapist whose writing explores the intricate intersections of memory, legacy, and the human heart. With over 45 years as a visual artist and photographer, Bart brings a painterly eye to his prose, capturing the atmospheric beauty and lingering shadows of the people and places that shape us.

Born into the carnival life of a Borscht Belt Catskills hotel family, he has never let the ordinary constrain him.

His first book, A Catskill Carnival: My Borscht Belt Life Lived, Lost and Loved, is a memoir of his early years in a unique setting, coming to terms with it and cherishing its life lessons. Pickle Barrel Tales: More Borscht Belt BS is the companion book of over 50 wry vignettes from several “mountain rats”.

A true son of the Catskills, Bart’s deep connection to the "Borscht Belt" Dirty Dancing era serves as the foundation for his storytelling. His novels delve into the complex emotional landscapes of mature characters, often focusing on the ways the past refuses to stay buried and how new love must contend with old ghosts. His latest series is “Lived-In LoveTM”, dedicated to telling realistic relationship stories with deep emotional connections, not the usual tropes.

Whether through a camera lens, a paintbrush, or the written word, Bart is dedicated to capturing the "circus of memories" that defines the mature experience.

He writes a regular column, “Bart on Art”, for The San Mateo Daily Journal.

Bart has been a favored speaker on TV, radio and in print media for decades and is recognized for his service in the United States Congressional Record.

Among honors he holds is the Jefferson Award for his community leadership and service.

He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, grown children and grandchildren.

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Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Rescued by the Rakish Lord by Sarah Mallory

Rescued by the Rakish Lord

By Sarah Mallory

A man of such dubious reputation…

that he was called Devil Blackbourne!

When Lord Deveril Blackbourne meets Selina Wynter, he is intrigued. For she has all the accomplishments of a lady, but the fiery temper and spirit of a tavern maid! Then she is abducted by a dastardly suitor, and Deveril—for all his roguish reputation— can’t stand idly by…

Lord Deveril is Selina’s least likely rescuer, but when they’re stranded together in a snowstorm and her reputation is at risk, he surprises her with a gallant proposal! Deveril’s no honourable suitor, yet his actions say otherwise…

Just who is the real Devil Blackbourne? Selina’s determined to find out!

Doesn't this book sound amazing. You can grab your copy here!

Sarah Mallory

Sarah Mallory is an award-winning author who has published more than 40 historical romances with Harlequin Mills & Boon. She loves history, especially the Georgian and Regency.

She won the prestigious RoNA Rose Award from the Romantic Novelists Association in 2012 and 2013 and nominated in 2022. She also won the RNA’s Romantic Historical Novel Award in 2024 for The Night She Met the Duke. Sarah also writes romantic historical adventures as Melinda Hammond.

Sarah was born in the West Country but lived for many years on the Yorkshire Pennines, taking inspiration from the wild and rugged moors. Then in 2018 she fell in love with Scotland and ran away to live on the rugged North West Coast, which is proving even more inspiring!

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Website Sarah Mallory

Website Melinda Hammond

Friday, May 1, 2026

Lucie Dumas by Katherine Mezzacappa

Lucie Dumas

By Katherine Mezzacappa

London, 1871: Lucie Dumas of Lyon has accepted a stipend from her former lover and his wife, on condition that she never returns to France; she will never see her young son again. As the money proves inadequate, Lucie turns to prostitution to live, joining the ranks of countless girls from continental Europe who'd come to London in the hope of work in domestic service.

Escaping a Covent Garden brothel for a Magdalen penitentiary, Lucie finds only another form of incarceration and thus descends to the streets, where she is picked up by the author Samuel Butler, who sets her up in her own establishment and visits her once a week for the next two decades. But for many years she does not even know his name.

Based on true events.

You can find your copy over on Amazon & Apple Books.

Katherine Mezzacappa

Katherine Mezzacappa is Irish but currently lives in Carrara, between the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea. She wrote The Ballad of Mary Kearney (Histria) and The Maiden of Florence (Fairlight) under her own name, as well as four historical novels (2020-2023) with Zaffre, writing as Katie Hutton. She also has three contemporary novels with Romaunce Books, under the pen name Kate Zarrelli. The Maiden of Florence was shortlisted for the Historical Writers’Association Gold Crown award in 2025 and has also been published in Italian.

Katherine’s short fiction has been published in journals worldwide. She has in addition published academically in the field of 19th century ephemeral illustrated fiction, and in management theory. She has been awarded competitive residencies by the Irish Writers Centre, the Danish Centre for Writers and Translators and (to come) the Latvian Writers House.

Katherine also works as a manuscript assessor and as a reader and judge for an international short story and novel competition. She has in the past been a management consultant, translator, museum curator, library assistant, lecturer in History of Art, sewing machinist and geriatric care assistant. In her spare time she volunteers with a second-hand book charity of which she is a founder member.

She is a member of the Society of Authors, the Historical Novel Society, the Irish Writers Centre, the Irish Writers Union, Irish PEN / PEN na hÉireann and the Romantic Novelists Association, and reviews for the Historical Novel Review. She is lead organiser for the Historical Novel Society 2026 Conference in Maynooth, Co. Kildare.

Katherine has a first degree in History of Art from UEA, an M.Litt. in Eng. Lit. from Durham and a Masters in Creative Writing from Canterbury Christ Church.

Connect with Katherine:
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Amazon Author Page
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