I'm the product of a man who married more times than I like to admit to strangers and even family. We moved all the time. Those two elements in my life led me to run out the door immediately upon release from sorting my belongings from their thoroughly packed boxes. I made friends at once with everyone I came across. Who knew how long we’d live there? Over the years, I acquired deep friendships from around the U.S. and often daydreamed of them all being in the same place at once and loving the solidarity. It never happened, but it's a theme that runs through me. It’s what I like to write about.
This book captured me from the first moment with Amaranthe determined to be the best enforcer despite being looked down upon because she was a woman doing a man’s job and not doing what her family expected of her.
When she finds herself the target of an assassin which she must target, she gathers a collection of misfits who (spoiler sort of) become the family she needs to succeed and survive along with bumble, trip, fail, and regroup with.
I loved cheering her on and wincing at her (sometimes hilarious) struggles.
Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is good at her job: she can deter thieves and pacify thugs, if not with a blade, then by toppling an eight-foot pile of coffee canisters onto their heads. But when ravaged bodies show up on the waterfront, an arson covers up human sacrifices, and a powerful business coalition plots to kill the emperor, she feels a tad overwhelmed.
Worse, Sicarius, the empire's most notorious assassin, is in town. He's tied in with the chaos somehow, but Amaranthe would be a fool to cross his path. Unfortunately, her superiors order her to hunt him down.…
Like many of us over (ahem…we’ll say) 40, I grew up reading historical romance—those were the first full-length romance novels on store shelves. My mum is British and visits there added to my interest in Regency England. Then 50 Shades exploded and people’s spice level tolerance increased. But mainly in contemporary romance, with all the tools and toys. Curious as to how spice in the Regency would look, I went searching. I found a few of these fabulous authors, but not many choices, so I decided to write one. Now there are more authors published in this subgenre, and I’m proud to be one of them.
While I found Joanna Shupe from her Regency books, I heard an interview with her in which she talked about trying to write about the Gilded Age, but no publisher would take it. So to support her dream, I choose the first of her Gilded Age series—an opposites attract novel between an uptown girl and a downtown guy who works for her father and has some secrets. The spice level in this is steamy rather than erotic. I picked this because I will read a Robin Hood story with romance every time.
Silver-tongued lawyer. Keeper of secrets. Breaker of hearts.
He can solve any problem . . .
In serving the wealthy power brokers of New York society, Frank Tripp has finally gained the respectability and security his own upbringing lacked. There's no issue he cannot fix . . . except for one: the beautiful and reckless daughter of an important client who doesn't seem to understand the word danger.
She's not looking for a hero . . .
Excitement lies just below Forty-Second Street and Mamie Greene is determined to explore all of it-while playing a modern-day Robin Hood along the…
I’m a contemporary mystery junkie. Realistic tales, set in the modern world always grab my attention. In a creative writing course in college, one professor suggested the old ‘write what you know’ approach. I don’t know everything, but I know what I like. Mysteries! I thrive on distinctive characters, those who are willing to put every effort into getting to the bottom of the situation. Sharp, tight dialogue and descriptions are essential. Give me that, and I’ll be back for more. This is my passion. Come along if you want a thrill and a surprise or two.
I love the way Parker weaves a bit of legend into this story about a modern-day version of Robin Hood running wild through Los Angeles. Allison Murietta may be following in the footsteps of her ancestors, stealing from whoever strikes her fancy, and giving the spoils to charity. The action is fast-paced.
This is the first Charlie Hood mystery and Parker does a wonderful job, bringing the rookie detective along. The interactions between Hood and Murietta are perfect. There’s plenty of action to draw the reader in, and more twists than I expected.
Investigating the latest crime scene of a celebrity thief who has been staging lucrative heists and donating the spoils to charity, rookie deputy Charlie Hood embarks on an affair with a key witness and is forced to make an ethics-testing decision when the thief is targeted by a professional killer. 100,000 first printing.
I read all kinds of romance books, and this slow-burn historical western caught my attention because the heroine is more interested in creating a name for herself as a newspaperman than she is in finding a man.
Also, she’s an excellent gambler and gives her winnings to the impoverished people of her community, almost like Robin Hood. For a woman to thrive in a male-oriented workplace and to gamble, which is strictly a pastime only for men, well...this had me hooked!
I was so worried for Everleigh, the heroine, because her scandalous actions could lead to her downfall, but I cheered for each of her successes. This is a great story about female empowerment and finding love with someone who respects you for who you are.
Everleigh Camden has upset her mother. She has chosen a profession over marriage. But Everleigh intends to get hitched someday. She just wants some experiences before she settles down, which includes being the secretary to an attorney, and using her winnings from nightly poker games to form the anonymous, charitable persona, "Bets Gamble".
However, when a new partner joins the law office, he brings his unwelcome ideas and shocking orders to help him catch the Shooter Creek Bandits.
Wade Bennett, sour on marriage and orderly to a fault, moves to Houston with the intent of catching the…
I grew up in a hard-core reader family. Everyone always had a book in their hands, so it came naturally to me to absorb everything in the house library before the urge to write caught up with me. My first typewriter was my mother’s from college, my twelve-year-old self delighted by the opportunity to express herself at last in ways that made sense to me (especially since I was the weirdo introvert who talked to the voices in her head). Since my parents exposed me to a multitude of genres, it’s no surprise I write everything from sci-fi to post-apocalyptic, fantasy and horror, cozy mysteries, and young adult paranormal.
Take a sweeping YA adventure and magic and horses and a delicious book boyfriend all dropped on an outspoken, stubborn young woman thrown into a life she’s uniquely suited to and you have this delightful read from Robin McKinley. With a powerful heroine doing her best to understand her place, suspended between two distinct ways of life, The Blue Sword makes me want to run away from feeling out of place, awkward and never good enough and be just like Harry Crewe.
Read this modern classic of young adult fantasy from award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Robin McKinley
Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Free Hillfolk. When Corlath, the Hillfolk King, sees her for the first time, he is shaken—for he can tell that she is something more than she appears to be. He will soon realize what Harry has never guessed: She is to become Harimad-sol, King’s Rider, and carry the Blue Sword, Gonturan, which no woman has wielded since the legendary Lady…
I fell in love with Australian history on a school camp to Beechworth, which was also my first introduction to Ned Kelly. As I got older, after having already tried to establish a career trajectory as an English teacher, I realised my passion for writing and history could help me create the books and media that I wished I could access, as well as be a place to store all those decades of research sitting in my head. My fascination with psychology, true crime, and Australian colonial history naturally reached a meeting point with the Australian bushrangers: the bandits that terrorised Australia for over a hundred years, the most infamous of whom was Ned Kelly.
This is treated like a Bible by “Nedheads” (Ned Kelly buffs) for its detail as much as Jones’ compelling writing style. This was the culmination of decades of Jones’ own research into the Kelly saga that involved sifting through the many disorganised archives and even interviewing people who knew the key players personally. It is the book that set many people off on a journey to find out as much as they could about this incredible period of Australian history and helped revitalise the Kelly legend.
Every nation has a lovable bandit/rebel/folk hero in the mould of Robin Hood and Rob Roy. But Ned Kelly is an uncomfortable hero - he killed policemen, robbed banks, stole horses from squatters...But he became a champion of the rural underclass and an enemy of arrogant officialdom. Ned Kelly was of Irish stock - to some, he embodied the splendid rebel spirit of the Irish, to others he was the awful example of what the Irish Australian was capable of in opposition to British law. Ned Kelly became increasingly prominent in Australia's artistic life - in paintings, literature, poetry, drama,…
I have a passion for fairy tale stories especially ones for adults because they are often the first stories we learned as kids. The ability to look back at how we interpreted them and how our understanding changes over time and culture makes for something that is truly timeless, and therefore like a beloved trope is never the exact same thing twice. Each time only builds on our enjoyment and the many possibilities we can imagine. Not only in worlds of magic, but our own.
This book is a Robin Hood retelling. While both our Robin’s fight for social change and the poor while falling in love along the way, S.L. Prater’s has a gender swap twist as features a thieving witch pestering the sheriff of Nottingham. I believe Robin being a woman subverts expectation and by seeing the known in a new light like that makes the world a bit more empathic to each other. I think the old and known can change and still hold so much heart.
“I can’t tell if you’re about to kiss me or arrest me …”
Sheriff Nottingham should not be enjoying his pursuit of the witch Robin Hood. It’s supposed to be a job: catch the thief, bring her to justice, pursue the next criminal. But the longer their game of cat and mouse goes on, the more he never wants it to end.
Nottingham senses Robin is luring him into a political dispute between the king and an ambitious prince—a battle that threatens to destitute the poor in Sherwood. But the sheriff can’t risk getting involved. He’s already overwhelmed raising his…
I love books that take you to another world, stories that show you bits of our reality while exploring another. It’s thrilling to step into a world where anything can happen, where dragons exist, where our laws of nature may not apply. But also, I love seeing the familiar in fantastical places: love, friendship, and hope. Though the characters in books may inhabit worlds made mostly out of paper, ink, and imagination, their stories are universal.
While this novel is not set in another world, it does show a side of our world and history too often ignored. Travelers Along the Way is a heartfelt and humorous take on the Robin Hood tale, brimming with sisterhood, cunning disguises, and dangerous heists. It transports through clever details and unforgettable characters.
Winner of the 2022 Middle East Book Award in Youth Literature
A ragtag band of misfits gets swept up in Holy Land politics in Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi, a thrilling YA remix of the classic legend of Robin Hood.
Jerusalem, 1192. The Third Crusade rages on. Rahma al-Hud loyally followed her elder sister Zeena into the war over the Holy Land, but now that the Faranji invaders have gotten reinforcements from Richard the Lionheart, all she wants to do is get herself and her sister home alive.
I have been enthralled with legends of medieval knights and ladies, dark fairy tales and fantasies about Druids, wizards, and magic since childhood. I fell in love with French in junior high school and continued studying the language throughout college. My debut novel, "The Wild Rose and the Sea Raven"--the first of a trilogy-- is a blend of my love for medieval legends, the romantic French language, and paranormal fantasy. It is a retelling of the medieval romance of "Tristan et Yseult", interwoven with Arthurian myth, dark fairy tales from the enchanted Forest of Brocéliande, and otherworldly elements such as Avalonian Elves, Druids, forest fairies and magic— with a decidedly romantic French flair.
The legend of Robin Hood always fascinated me as a young girl, and this paranormal fantasy adaptation offers a smoldering romance set in medieval England in the enchanted Sherwood Forest. Based upon the legend of Robin Hood, this novel blends history, magic, passion, politics, and sacrifice in a compelling, captivating tale of the fabled archer reborn.
Curlew Champion, master archer, has always known his destiny. With his cousin, Heron Scarlet, he will become a guardian of Sherwood Forest and further his people's fight against Norman tyranny. But the third member of the triad is still to be revealed, the woman who will complete the magical circle and, perhaps, answer the longing in Curlew's heart.
Anwyn Montfort has fled disgrace in Shrewsbury and come to Nottingham at her father's bidding. He wishes her to make a good marriage and settle down. But the wildness that possesses her refuses to quiet. She knows she's been searching for something…
As a graduate student in library science, I stumbled across an entry on Macbeth in a biographical dictionary. It stated he was actually a good king who ruled for seventeen years. Furthermore, he claimed the throne in his own name and that of his wife. I was hooked. I did extensive research trying to find the man behind the legend, and how the tale got twisted into what Shakespeare gave us. From Celtic, Norse, and English sources, I extrapolated the culture of 11th-century Scotland, and a man who might well have been the historical high king Macbeatha.
I will read anything by Parke Godwin. His command of language and his talent for bringing history to life won me over from the first book. In Sherwood, he takes on Robin Hood, whose legend is compiled of stories collected over a 200-year period. Godwin sets the story a hundred years prior to the legend, in the time of William the Conqueror. Sherwood gives us the life of a brash young Saxon landholder, displaced by the conquerors, who leads a guerrilla resistance from Sherwood Forest. It also paints a sympathetic young sheriff of Nottingham, who starts as Robin’s foe but grows to admire the outlaw—and falls in love with his wife Marian.
Forced from his home by Norman invaders, young Edward Aelredson, Thane of Denby, takes refuge in the forest Sherwood, where, with sword and bow, he bedevils the usurping king and comes to be called "Robin Hood." Reprint.
