Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva Review

Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva by Eliza Redgold

Publication Date: July 14, 2015
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Formats: Ebook, Paperback
Pages: 320
 Genre: Historical Fiction

   

We know her name. We know of her naked ride. We don't know her true story. We all know the legend of Lady Godiva, who famously rode naked through the streets of Coventry, covered only by her long, flowing hair. So the story goes, she begged her husband Lord Leofric of Mercia to lift a high tax on her people, who would starve if forced to pay. Lord Leofric demanded a forfeit: that Godiva ride naked on horseback through the town. There are various endings to Godiva's ride, that all the people of Coventry closed their doors and refused to look upon their liege lady (except for 'peeping Tom') and that her husband, in remorse, lifted the tax. Naked is an original version of Godiva's tale with a twist that may be closer to the truth: by the end of his life Leofric had fallen deeply in love with Lady Godiva. A tale of legendary courage and extraordinary passion, Naked brings an epic story new voice.

PRAISE

"Redgold's variation on this enticing legend is often lyrical and offers a satisfying blend of history, lore, and romance." (Booklist) "Breathes new life into the story of the woman who would stop at nothing to protect her land and people." (Romantic Times) "NAKED delivers far more than the famous ride of Lady Godiva. It's a beautifully woven story of love, loyalty, and the determination of a young woman trying to protect her people and their way of life, no matter the price. Godiva is a wonderfully strong woman in an age of dangerous men, and in NAKED, she certainly meets her match!" (Amalia Carosella, author of HELEN OF SPARTA) "A wonderful, romantic retelling of the Lady Godiva legend. There is the colorful Anglo-Saxon backdrop, warriors, battles, peacemaking, desire, revenge and love - everything a fan of medieval romance could desire - plus a strong-willed heroin. Written with a lyrical lilt to her prose, Redgold adds realism to the myth and love to the lusty tale, allowing readers a glimpse into what might have been." (RT Book Reviews)

MY REVIEW

When the opportunity to read Eliza Regold's novel, Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva, presented itself, I leapt! I love the legend of Lady Godiva, and to have a historical fiction novel in my hands--heaven. I wasn't disappointed. Redgold's telling of the tale of a woman who rode naked on horseback through the center of town is a riveting journey filled with angst, emotion, sacrifice, danger, daring, finding one's self and a great deal of vivid imagery that makes the medieval world come alive.

Lady Godiva is a heroine that I greatly admired, not only because she had the guts to ride naked through town in order to save her people from starvation, but for all she was willing to do for her people, even sacrifice herself. At a young age, she is tested by the savage attack by Thurkill the Tall that leaves her family destroyed and puts her in the center of the battlefield. Her merit tested again and again, and each time we see her grow a little more.

There is also a bit of a love triangle happening here. We know her childhood friend is in love with her and he wanted her to marry him, but she put him off... And along comes Lord Leofric the Earl of Mercia to save the day--and end the life of Thurkill the Tall. Though Edward tempers from loving companion/guard/friend to jealous boar at times, I did feel a little bad for him. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and from the moment Godiva met Leofric, she felt the friction sizzling in the air between them. I loved the fierceness and the gentleness of Leofric, and the way he challenged her and loved her.

The book is very well researched with a plethora of detail in both the landscape, the house, the clothes, the weapons, battles, food, drink, but even riddles, WHICH I LOVE. The writing is fantastic, and flows poetically and beautifully. I look forward to reading more from this author.

I highly recommend this sweeping narrative, with plenty of twists and turns, told from the first-person point-of-view of Godiva, a warrior woman, lover, leader, friend and wife.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOKS-A-MILLION | ITUNES | INDIEBOUND | KOBO

ABOUT THE AUTHORELIZA REDGOLD is based upon the old, Gaelic meaning of her name, Dr Elizabeth Reid Boyd. English folklore has it that if you help a fairy, you will be rewarded with red gold. She has presented academic papers on women and romance and is a contributor to the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Romance Fiction. As a non-fiction author she is co-author of Body Talk: a Power Guide for Girls and Stay-at-Home Mothers: Dialogues and Debates. She was born in Irvine, Scotland on Marymass Day and currently lives in Australia. For more information visit Eliza Redgold's website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Google+.

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

Monday, August 10
Review at Bibliophilia, Please

Tuesday, August 11
Spotlight at Passages to the Past

Wednesday, August 12
Guest Post at The Maiden's Court
Spotlight at A Book Geek

Thursday, August 13
Spotlight at Just One More Chapter

Friday, August 14
Review at 100 Pages a Day

Saturday, August 15
Guest Post at Mina's Bookshelf

Monday, August 17
Review at A Bookish Affair

Tuesday, August 18
Review at Book Nerd
Guest Post at A Literary Vacation

Wednesday, August 19
Review at Unshelfish
Review at Svetlana's Reads and Views

Thursday, August 20
Spotlight at Historical Fiction Connection
Guest Post at A Bookish Affair

Friday, August 21
Review at History From a Woman's Perspective
Review at Let Them Read Books

Monday, August 24
Review at I'm Shelf-ish
Review at Please Pass the Books
Guest Post at Bibliotica

Tuesday, August 25
Review at A Fold in the Spine
Review & Interview at History Undressed
Guest Post at Curling Up By the Fire

Wednesday, August 26
Review at Bookish
Spotlight at The True Book Addict

Thursday, August 27
Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book
Review & Guest Post at Romantic Historical Reviews
Guest Post at The Lit Bitch

Friday, August 28
Review at A Book Drunkard
Review at Book Lovers Paradise

GIVEAWAY

To enter to win a copy of Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva or a $50 Amazon Gift Card, please enter via the GLEAM form below. Three winners will be chosen. Rules ñ Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on August 28th. You must be 18 or older to enter. ñ Giveaway is open to US residents only. ñ Only one entry per household. ñ All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion ñ Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen. Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva Blog Tour

Review of Time-Travel Romance, HANDS OF TIME by Irina Shapiro (GIVEAWAY!)

I've had the pleasure of reading the first book in Irina Shapiro's new time-travel series, THE HANDS OF TIME, and I'd like to share my review with you all! Leave a comment for your chance to win a Kindle copy!

About The Hands of Time

Publication Date: December 7, 2011
Merlin Press
eBook
ASIN: B006JRO9WS

When a young American woman vanishes without a trace from a quaint fishing village on the coast of England only one person knows the truth, but he remains silent, allowing the authorities to search for her in vain, safe in the knowledge that she will never be found.  As Valerie’s bereft sister returns home alone, she struggles to understand what happened and come to terms with her terrible loss when she suddenly stumbles upon a clue that might finally shed some light on her sister’s disappearance.

Meanwhile, Valerie Crane finds herself transported to the year 1605. Terrified and confused she turns for help to the Whitfield brothers, who take her in and offer her a home despite their misgivings about her origins. Both Alexander and Finlay Whitfield fall in love with the mysterious woman who shows up on their doorstep, creating a love triangle that threatens to consume them all.  Valerie must make her choice, deciding between the brother who will lead her down the path of destruction or one who will give her the love she couldn’t find in her own time.

My Review

THE HANDS OF TIME was a fun, quick read. We're first introduced to Valerie who is going through a seriously rough patch in life, with her cheating husband parading around his impregnated girlfriend after they were not able to conceive a child. ROUGH! I was actually excited for her to travel to a different time and place, just to be away from that mess.

I liked the way in which she traveled back through time. As a writer/reader of time-travels, its nice to see a fresh new take on how the characters can make time leaps. Once Valerie arrived in 1605, however, I found she didn't really seem too surprised, or really to care all that much. Which could have been a side affect of the severe psychological trauma she'd been through--maybe she WANTED to be there. But it wasn't the only case in which I felt I needed just a tad more insight. I would have liked to get deeper into the characters' heads. I found myself questioning their motivation a lot of the time, and wishing I could see what they were thinking.

After finding herself in 1605, Val ends up being taken in by two brothers--Alec and Finlay. They've had a rough time of it too, between their religion not being accepted and the majority of their family dying of illness. They take her in easily, perhaps a bit too easily, but its understood that they are lonely. There is a bit of a love triangle that goes on in this story. My fav was Alec, though at first she ends up with Finlay.

I did enjoy getting to see that various viewpoints of the other characters. With a series this large, I think that is important, especially when you have so many key players. It was great we could see what Louisa (Val's sister) was doing back in present day. The only oddity was that Valerie is in first person and the rest are in 3rd person, sometimes with omniscient narrative prose. BUT, despite it being odd, I liked it because it gave Valerie ownership over the series. This is really her story, even though we get to see inside the heads of the other characters.

Loved the tie-in of Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot--always fun to see real events in books, and how the characters react to them. Lots of political/religious unrest during that time period, and I felt that Ms. Shapiro did play that out well.

Lots of twists and turns, that definitely had me on the edge of my seat. Can't say too much more, or else I'll give it away, and I'm not into spoilers!

I wanted to touch briefly on something that I happened to see on an Amazon thread regarding this book--and that was the history within the book. Normally, I refrain from commenting on these types of things, but I thought it necessary to explain here, because it is giving the book a bad rap. The reviewer was irritated, and brought forth irritation in others, because of the mention of Virginia and shipping exports, etc... from the colonies. The reviewer states that this is impossible given that Jamestown wasn't founded until 1607--true it wasn't. BUT, there were actually people living in VA before 1607. In fact, Sir Walter Raleigh named the area Virginia after Queen Elizabeth in 1584 when he traveled there. Yes, there were ups and downs, and abandoned at times, but that doesn't mean it was non-existent. Simply because it wasn't officially colonized until 1607 doesn't mean that the history within this book is false. Additionally, on the orders of King James in 1603, the "colonies" were exporting from there to England--timber being one of those exports (which the heroes in this series use as their business). We could argue the use of the term plantation, which brings to mind sprawling mansions with white columns, fields of crops and slaves, but in fact, the word plantation simply means large farm--a word that was derived in the 15th century. 

I am definitely not an expert in this area, but I wanted to point this out, since some readers were raising their pitchforks over the history. I'd also like to point out this: when reading fiction, we must be able to suspend belief. It is fiction--a tale, an escape, a fantasy. This is a time-travel after all, if we can believe that time travel is possible, why is it so hard to believe that people were shipping timber from the Americas?

Now, the one thing I did find unbelievable was that a doctor in the 17th century could hear a baby's heartbeat with a stethoscope at only 6 weeks of pregnancy... That is unlikely, considering most women don't hear it with a doppler until about 12 wks on average. But, like I said, its fiction! And it didn't detract from the story.

If you're interested in a fast, light read, give this book a look. It's a nice fantastical, sensual read for a day you're snowed in. A little trip through time to Renaissance England. Do be aware that is part of an ongoing series, so all loose ends will not be tied up at the end. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

Now, I need to go find an old French clock :)

Purchase the Book

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Hands-Time-Book-ebook/dp/B006JRO9WS

About the Author

Irina Shapiro was born in Moscow, Russia, where she lived until she was eleven.  In 1982 her family emigrated to the United States and settled in New York.  Due to her love of reading, Irina was able to pick up English very quickly, and was an honor student throughout her school career.

After graduating from Bernard M. Baruch College in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in International Business, Irina worked in advertising for two years before shifting her focus to Import/Export.  She worked her way up to the position of Import Manager in a large textile house before leaving the work force in 2007 to focus on her autistic son.

It wasn’t until Irina had been at home for some time that she began to write.  Eventually the characters began to take on a life of their own and have conversations in her head, and once she started writing her musings down the stories came easily enough.  Irina incorporated her love of history and travel into her writing to create a rich and detailed background for the characters.  Since then Irina has written eight novels.  She is currently working on book five of The Hands of Time Series.

Irina Shapiro lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children.

For more information, please visit www.irinashapiro.com.  You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Historical Book Review: Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson

Many thanks to our book reviewer, Emma Westport, for reviewing D. E. Stevenson's book, Miss Buncle's Book!

About the Book...

Who Knew One Book Could Cause So Much Chaos?

Barbara Bunde is in a bind. Times are harsh, and Barbara's bank account has seen better days. Maybe she could sell a novel ... if she knew any stories. Stumped for ideas, Barbara draws inspiration from her fellow residents of Silverstream, the little English village she knows inside and out.

To her surprise, the novel is a smash. It's a good thing she wrote under a pseudonym, because the folks of Silverstream are in an uproar. But what really turns Miss Bunde's world around is this: what happens to the characters in her book starts happening to their real-life counterparts. Does life really imitate art?

A beloved author who has sold more than seven million books, D. E. Stevenson is at her best with Miss Buncle's Book, crafting a highly original and charming tale about what happens when people see themselves through someone else's eyes.

Available now from Sourcebooks

ISBN: 9781402270826

Emma's Review...

Art shapes reality when an “unimaginative” young woman writes a book about her friends and neighbors.  But what else can Miss Buncle do?  Being “unimaginative,” she must write about what she knows.  And she must write because, with the economy failing, her dividends are not coming in.  How will she pay her bills?

What Miss Buncle lacks in ‘imagination’ she makes up for with her ability to read human nature.   A publisher takes on the book, releasing it under Miss Buncle’s highly  “unimaginative” pseudonym, “John Smith.”  The book quickly becomes a best seller. 

Miss Buncle is delighted.  Her first check—an amazingly unthinkable one hundred pounds—warrants a trip to London, a perm and a lovely new hat.  Life is looking up.

But then her neighbors read the book.  Too many secrets have been revealed.  Some are foolish.  Does Mrs. Carter wear a wig and put pectin in her jam?  Some are heartbreaking.  Will a marriage fall apart because the husband is an abusive fool?   Soon the people in Miss Buncle’s small town are out for blood—John Smith’s blood.  For good or for ill, everyone wants to know—who authored Miss Buncle’s book.

Pour your tea and settle in because, from the opening pages, you’ll be drawn into this small village, set somewhere in England, sometime between the wars.  You’ll probably stay the night.  You’ll definitely want a sweater.  Because this book is hard to put down—and, despite what Miss Buncle may say, it is truly, truly imaginative.