A New Year in reviews...

2016 has dawned, so I extend a very happy Guid New Year to all readers of this blog! 

I'm starting the year in a manner I mean to continue  - one aspect of my resolutions being to remember to post a tiny reflection (call it a short review if you wish) on books I've read and enjoyed. I'm not a fan of lengthy tomes of reviews which dissect every single part of the book and don't believe spoilers are helpful to author, or new reader, so all I aim to do is to give short praise to writing that I've enjoyed reading. Short and positive impressions of a book are so important for the author and can really help boost the book on the larger book outlets like Amazon.

I'll be cheating a little because these first 2 books mentioned were read during the last days of 2015 though, from today, I aim to post my thoughts on all books read over 2016.

To that I'll add just one thing, and that is that if I can't give 4 or 5 stars ( as on Amazon ratings) to a book then I won't be writing about it at all. If I do give a 4  or 5 rating then it will because I really do think it's a book to recommend to others.

The Wall Rome’s Greatest Frontier by Alistair Moffat 5*

I've been reading a fair number of books covering Roman Scotland recently and I have found this to be a highly informative one. At times, I wanted to know more about the sources used to make such a convincing account but overall it's a very useful background to the eras prior to the building of Hadrian's Wall and for the decades following after its construction. I've a number of pages with corners turned down, the pages containing information I want to know more about or something relevant to my own writing. 

This non-fiction book was written with an easily read style, one piece of information seamlessly moving on to another even though the author was writing, at times, about events separated by decades or even centuries but which had strong connections. 

Later today, I'll be making notes on those pages before I move on to my next 'Roman Scotland ' text. 

Rebellious Cargo by Susan Lodge 4*

As a break from reading non-fiction history texts I zoomed through a read of this thoroughly enjoyable 'historical romance on the high seas' novel. The writing style was consistently good and the editing very well done. 

Following the escapades of Jane Charlesworth was an easy task as the independent woman of the early 1800s proves to be a resourceful woman. I liked that her companion/friend, Celine, is probably even more courageous as they both become embroiled in the intrigues and dangers caused by rapacious, dangerous men. Captain Adam Marston ticks all the romantic hero boxes as he finds solutions to the problems caused by his disappearing charge - Jane Charlesworth.

During the last couple of decades, I've read a number of novels covering a similar pre-Battle of Trafalgar era, with fairly similar locations and storylines, and enjoy the machinations of the 'female' on the high seas. If you like to read historical romance, but haven't read much covering this era, then you might really love reading this one! 

Here's to happy reading in 2016.

Slainthe!