11 books sold and another book read!

Sunday selection!

This past week has been a bit odd in terms of the time I've had for reading non-fiction and fiction. Much of what was available time when not grandchild minding last week was taken up in domestic duties, and time reserved for preparation for my visit to a local ladies' discussion group.

The ladies of the Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, discussion group invited me to do a presentation on my books. I enjoyed making the PowerPoint presentation for them but enjoyed presenting it even more. They were a lovely audience. I was told afterwards they were too fascinated to chip in and ask lots of questions. I answered some at the end but I belatedly realised that I should have left them more time for this because they are usually quite vocal. 

Selling 11 of my novels to them was a huge boost- so I thank the ladies very much and hope they all enjoy the reads. 

I did mention a time or two during the presentation about the benefits to an author of doing a short review on Amazon or Goodreads etc but I know that it's a rare thing to receive feedback when people buy my paperback novels directly from me. They are wary of putting a review on amazon for a book they've bought elsewhere. 

However...

That doesn't deter ME from writing a few lines on books recently read, so here's what I thought of the novel I managed to complete last week. 

Over the decades, I've read a lot of books set in Tudor times many of which I've thoroughly enjoyed although they're not currently my most favourite time period to read about. There has been a huge glut of Tudor cinematic/TV productions and books on the market during the last five to ten years and I though I had had my fill. 

Last year, I read Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel simultaneously as I watched the BBC screened version of it and that was both a revelation and a challenge. The revelation was because I've generally read a book in advance of seeing a production on TV and the experience of reading to watch each week was novel indeed. The challenge was to have read enough of each book, each week, to keep pace with the events which were chosen from the book as inclusions in the production. 

The Kiss if The Concubine covers the same historical events but with different slants according to the author choice of concentrating on Anne Boleyn as the main character. I have to say that The Kiss of the Concubine was a much easier read than Wolf Hall and I completed it in a much shorter time scale. 

If you like historical fiction that is almost more of a historical romance then you'll probably enjoy this read. 

Here's what I put on Amazon and Goodreads....

This was a fascinating version of the journey of Anne Boleyn from innocent teenager to older woman and eventually to queen of England- after Henry VIII succeeded in removing his first wife via the divorce that rocked the nation. Hearing it all from Anne Boleyn’s voice was interesting, though at times almost irritating when she was first pursued by Henry. However, the use of first person brings to life the motivations put forward by the author giving justification for Anne’s reasoning during the long 7 year wooing by King Henry VIII. The passage of time isn’t laboured in the story yet, when the inevitable end comes it seems almost too early. 

Happy reading to you and please consider writing a short review of any books you read. My sales ranking on Amazon could definitely do with a boost and every single review helps !

Slainthe!