Please give a war welcome to historical fiction author, Vivienne Brereton, who is on tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club. Scroll down to read my review!
Beware the Lizard Lurking
(The House of the Red Duke, Book 2)
By Vivienne Brereton
Uninvited guests at a secret wedding.
A frozen River Thames.
May Day celebrations to remember.
The young Henry VIII, with the aid of his chief advisor, Thomas Wolsey, and against the counsel of Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey, is hellbent on a so-called holy war with France. This puts him at odds with his Scottish brother-in-law, James IV of Scotland, and his older sister, Margaret.
Both Tristan and Nicolas know that time is running out for them before they have to…enter the Church - and into an arranged marriage, respectively. In the meantime, they remain at loggerheads over pretty Ysabeau de Sapincourt, the spoilt young wife of the hapless Robert.
At La Colombe, near Ardres, in Picardy, spirited little Valentine is still making mischief as she sees fit.
Across the Narrow Sea, Cecily is perfectly content in her beloved Zennor Castle, in Cornwall.
None of them know what Dame Fortune has in store for them. Will she allow them to follow their own paths…or has she got other ideas?
What happened to the recipes? 😱
I was looking forward to some more barmy Tudor dishes to try out on my unsuspecting husband. He wasn’t too keen on Thomas Wolsey’s Hyppocras. To be absolutely honest, I think this novel flowed a great deal better without the recipes, as it kept me focused on the story at hand, rather than pulling me away from the book so that I could rummage through my cupboard for ingredients I knew I did not have. I really do hope that at some point Vivienne Brereton writes a Tudor cookbook, as long as she is careful not to give us all salmonella from dishes such as a whole Roasted Peacock, with feathers reattached. Or perhaps a swan - who on earth would want to eat a swan? Or a peacock, for that matter? Or grilled beaver tails - I mean, who thought that would be a good idea? But I digress.
This novel, like the one before it, is centred around the powerful Howard family. It was no surprise that once again, they were scheming and plotting and trying to find new ways to increase their influence and power at court-how dare the Staffords have ideas above their station!! However, the Howards’ actions left rather a lot to be desired, and there were times when I found myself very annoyed with them indeed. In particular, I took a great dislike to Thomas Howard (not the old man, but his obnoxious son). I was so distraught by what I read that I decided to do a quick Google search and oh my, what an awful man. Thomas’ treatment of his wife was utterly deplorable. If he lived in this day and age, he would be in prison, which he deserved, if my opinion counts for anything.
I was rather swept away with the families that lived across “the narrow sea” or the English Channel as we Brits like to call it. I really enjoyed reading about Nicholas, Tristan and that little scamp, Valentine! I also enjoyed reading about Cecily and meeting the Boleyn girls.
There is a huge cast of characters in this novel, but thankfully, I kept my little family tree notes that I made when I read the first book, so I had no problems keeping up with who everyone was. I am not sure that this book stands on its own because you need to read the first book to understand how the characters got to where they are.
I really enjoy this author’s writing style, and I cannot wait to get my hands on Book 3, The Witch’s Prophecy, to find out what happens next.
I received my copy from The Coffee Pot Book Club but you can grab yours from Amazon Uk, Amazon US and any of the other places there is Amazon (the company not the rainforest)!
However, life took over somewhat and only after stays, short and long, in six countries she called home did she finally settle down to finish her novel.
Words have always played an important part in her life, whether it's been writing, editing, teaching English, or just picking up a good book.
Having three sons came in very handy when she had to write about squabbles between the male characters in her novel. Not so handy when she took her boys to Hampton Court and one of them got lost in the maze!
Seeing 'A Phoenix Rising', the first book in the series 'The House of the Red Duke' in print for the first time was a moment of great joy for her. She very much hopes that anyone reading ‘Beware the Lizard Lurking’, the second book in the series, will enjoy the end result as much as she enjoyed writing it.
Connect with Vivienne:
Website • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook
Thank you so much for hosting today's blog tour stop!
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