books that make you go hmmm...two for the price of one !!


by Paula Reed

Release Date:  February 16, 2010

SYNOPSIS:  Upon the death of her demonic husband, Hester Prynne is left a widow, and her daughter is left a wealthy heiress. Together they travel to England where Hester seeks a quiet life—only to find herself drawn into the circle of the most powerful Puritan of all time, Oliver Cromwell.

From the moment Hester donned the famous scarlet letter, it instilled in her the power to see the sins and hypocrisy of others, an ability not lost on the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. To Cromwell, Hester’s sight is either a sign of sorcery or a divine gift that Hester must use to assist the divinely chosen in his scheming to control England. Since sorcery carries a death sentence, Hester is compelled against her will to use her sight to assist Cromwell. She soon finds herself entangled in a web of political intrigue, espionage, and forbidden love. Sweeping, engaging historical fiction, Hester will carry readers away to seventeenth century England with a deeply human story of family, love, history, desire, and the human ideal.




by Melanie Benjamin

Release Date:  January 12, 2010

SYNOPSIS: Few works of literature are as universally beloved as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Now, in this spellbinding historical novel, we meet the young girl whose bright spirit sent her on an unforgettable trip down the rabbit hole–and the grown woman whose story is no less enthralling.



But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful?



Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories.


That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war. 


For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey.


A love story and a literary mystery, Alice I Have Been brilliantly blends fact and fiction to capture the passionate spirit of a woman who was truly worthy of her fictional alter ego, in a world as captivating as the Wonderland only she could inspire.


What are your thoughts dear reader?



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19 comments:

  1. Man, you are good! I've got an ARC of Alice but I hadn't heard of the Hester book yet. Thanks for the heads up!

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  2. Wow!! Hester sounds interesting.
    Looking forward to its release.

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  3. Hester sounds good. The "demonic" is what caught my attention. The other one regarding Alice, I was never a real fan of Alice in Wonderland...

    Thanks for the post!!!

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  4. I have to admit, they both look quite tantalizing!

    Lezlie

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  5. Hester sounds fascinating. I am not sure about the Alice one. I would have to see more.
    thanks for the info

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  6. I am very interested in the Alice book, not so much in the Hester book.

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  7. I have the Alice ARC and I'm interested. The Hester book . . . that's a definite Hummmmmmmmmm.

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  8. Hmmmmm...I don't know about the Hester one, but I have heard great things about the Alice one from people getting ARCs. I look forward to reading that one.

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  9. I want both of these! What a wonderful continuation of two amazing stories. Thanks for posting these, Amy...

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  10. Hester does not sound that interesting to me. Sometimes I think that the original work of art (I'm thinking Gone with the Wind and now The Scarlett Letter) needs to be left alone.

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  11. I heard about Alice I Have Been through Shelf Awareness, but not about Hester! Not sure if I will look into either because, like Tracie, sometimes I am not a huge fan of sequels of classic literature. But... these sound interesting!

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  12. I think Alice Have I Been looks interesting, and I am waiting to read some reviews of it before I decide if I want to read it or not. I had not heard of Hester, but it does look interesting as well.

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  13. Both of them sound fascinating, and just the type of books I would love to sit down and read on a cold winter's day. So many books, so little time!

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  14. The Alice book sounds kind of ridiculous, imo. "Royal romances"? For the lulz. And really, the fictional Alice was pretty annoying. So just imagine how the real life Alice is going to be.

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  15. These both look like great books. Alice I Have Been has especially caught my attention.

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  16. I think the Hester books sounds wonderful. Well maybe the Alice one too. Great post.

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  17. I don't know about these two. I didn't like the original Alice, so I don;t think I would like her grown up. And Hester....definitely makes you go hmmm.

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