Mailbox Monday: Sherry Jones and Posie Graeme-Evans

The Sharp Hook of Love by Sherry Jones ~ autographed ~ releases 10.7.2014
"Among the young women of 12th century Paris, Heloise d’Argenteuil stands apart. Extraordinarily educated and quick-witted, she is being groomed by her uncle to become an abbess in the service of God. But with one encounter, her destiny changes forever.
Pierre Abelard, headmaster at the Nôtre Dame Cloister School, is acclaimed as one of the greatest philosophers in France. His controversial reputation only adds to his allure, yet despite the legions of women swooning over his poetry and dashing looks, he is captivated by the brilliant Heloise alone. As their relationship blossoms from a meeting of the minds to a forbidden love affair, both Heloise and Abelard must choose between love, duty, and ambition.

Sherry Jones weaves the lovers’ own words into an evocative account of desire and sacrifice. As intimate as it is erotic, as devastating as it is beautiful, The Sharp Hook of Love is a poignant, tender tribute to one of history’s greatest romances, and to love’s power to transform and endure".

The Exiled by Posie Graeme-Evans
"In this windswept story set in the lusty fifteenth century, the enchanting Anne faces the challenge of raising her child in exile. Always resourceful, she flourishes as a merchant and is able to support her household. But the local businessmen aren't pleased about competing with a woman and her foes are multiplying around her, desperate to put her back in what they believe is her rightful place.

Anne has a secret that her enemies could use to destroy her. Her beloved son is the product of a passionate affair with the king, Edward IV, who knows nothing of his existence. If this information were to fall into the wrong hands, it could prove lethal for Anne and her child. She struggles to find peace in a world of duplicity and suspicion, where adversaries masquerade as allies, and someone very powerful wants her dead. Yet, despite the pressure of her enemies, what pains Anne the most is that she is unsure when or if she will see her darling Edward again".~Lizzie~

Book Review: PANDORA by Anne Rice

The ancient vampire Pandora has lived for millenniums and finally tells her tale. Roman by birth during the height of the great Roman reign, Pandora was an anomaly in the world of men. She was educated, articulate, strong and not to mention beautiful. You can say she is defiantly the love of Marius’ life from the moment they met. They had first met as mortals and Marius had begged Pandora’s father to be allowed to marry her. Her father told Marius “you are destined to be a roaming historian” and he was deemed unfit for marriage. Marius and Pandora aka Lydia back then went their own paths but had never forgotten each other.

In a horrific turn of events Pandora is forced to flee Rome in fear for her life. Alone she is secreted away to Antioch to start a new life. With no family or friends to comfort her Pandora grieved terribly for her loss and ended up turning to the only comfort she could think of, the temple of Isis. Finding new friends with her goddess Isis she felt compelled to share her tragedy and the freakish dreams that had been plaguing her ever since she left Rome. The dreams were disturbing to the temple and they did not know what to make of them but they knew someone who might be the only person that could help her to understand them. The “mysterious mind reader” as they called him turned out to be none other than Pandora’s lost Marius. This was just the beginning of Marius and Pandora’s love that endured for millenniums. This time around there was no way Pandora would give Marius up and not with out a fight.

3/5 Not my favorite, it was really short and basically only gave the beginning of Pandora’s tale. I would not recommend this novel unless you have read “Blood and Gold” because the two novels really tie in together. And if you want the whole story you have to read them both.

R~ Rating for sexual references

FTC ~ this novel is part of my personal collection.

Amazon: Pandora by Anne Rice

~Lizzie~

Book Review: BLOOD CANTICLE by Anne Rice

The adventures of the southern gentleman turned vampire, Quinn Blackwood and the Brat prince Lestat continue on with Blood Canticle. This time around Lestat could not help himself and he made a new vampire. Mona Mayfair has always been the love of Quinn’s life yet she was dying. The only way to save Mona was to give her the dark gift or say goodbye to her forever, which Quinn could not bear. After Mona was given a new life the deadly trio set out to find out the truth about Mona’s mysteriously missing daughter. Mona’s daughter was a “taltos” which was an alien race that over the years had been born to only the women that were witches. Mona’s family had a dark extensive history with the taltos, which is all covered in the series The Lives of the Mayfair Witches.

Mona’s cousin Rowan was the matriarch of the family and she was also a super genius doctor. At times Rowan had a history of mental instability that all stemmed from her history with the taltos. Mona wanted answers from Rowan about her daughter but Rowan did not really have any clear answers for her, which made the trio all the more determined to find out the fate of Mona’s daughter. Coming together in this novel the Mayfair witches and the vampires contact the only ancient being that Lestat knew would know the truth. The ancient vampire helped locate the daughter and what they find is shocking to say the least.

3/5 Not my favorite, out of all the books in the Vampire Chronicles this one is by far my least favorite. That does not mean I did not enjoy reading because I did enjoy the novel. I think if I had read the whole Lives of the Mayfair Witches series first then this novel would have been much better. I also felt that since I have not read that series that if I had I would have more fully grasped everything that was going on with Mona and Rowan. I would highly recommend reading the Lives of the Mayfair Witches before reading this novel.

X-Rating for sexual references
FTC- I borrowed this book from my local library

Amazon: BLOOD CANTICLE by Anne Rice
~Lizzie~

Mailbox Monday: Kate Quinn, Eleanor Herman, and Anne Rice

Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn
"An exciting debut: a vivid, richly imagined saga of ancient Rome from a masterful new voice in historical fiction
Thea is a slave girl from Judaea, passionate, musical, and guarded. Purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia, Thea will become her mistress's rival for the love of Arius the Barbarian, Rome's newest and most savage gladiator. His love brings Thea the first happiness of her life-that is quickly ended when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.

As Lepida goes on to wreak havoc in the life of a new husband and his family, Thea remakes herself as a polished singer for Rome's aristocrats. Unwittingly, she attracts another admirer in the charismatic Emperor of Rome. But Domitian's games have a darker side, and Thea finds herself fighting for both soul and sanity. Many have tried to destroy the Emperor: a vengeful gladiator, an upright senator, a tormented soldier, a Vestal Virgin. But in the end, the life of the brilliant and paranoid Domitian lies in the hands of one woman: the Emperor's mistress".

Mistress of the Vatican by Eleanor Herman
"Today's Roman Catholic Church firmly states that women must be excluded from church leadership positions, but they neglect to mention that for over a decade in the seventeenth century a woman unofficially, but openly, ran the Vatican. Now, Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with the Queen, exposes one of the church's deepest secrets, laying bare facts that have been concealed for 350 years.
Beginning in 1644 and for eleven years after, Olimpia Maidalchini, sister-in-law and reputed mistress of the indecisive Pope Innocent X, directed Vatican business, appointed cardinals, negotiated with foreign ambassadors, and helped herself to a heaping portion of the Papal State's treasury. Unlike the ninth century's Pope Joan, whose life is shrouded in mystery, Olimpia's story is documented in thousands of letters, news sheets, and diplomatic dispatches.

Knowing of Pope Innocent's absolute dependence on his sister-in-law, Cardinal Alessandro Bichi angrily declared on the day of Innocent's election, "We have just elected a female pope." Mischievous Romans hung banners in churches calling her Pope Olimpia I. Cardinal Sforza Pallavicino bewailed the "monstrous power of a woman in the Vatican." One contemporary wrote that women might as well become priests, since one of them was already pope.

Born in modest circumstances, Olimpia was almost forced into a convent at the age of fifteen due to the lack of a dowry. She used deceit to escape, and vowed never to be poor and powerless again. Throughout her life, Olimpia exacted excruciating vengeance on anyone who tried to lock her up or curb her power. But her grisly revenge on the pope who loved her would be reserved for after his death. . . .

Seventeenth-century Rome boasted the world's most glorious art and glittering pageants but also suffered from famine, floods, swarms of locusts, and bubonic plague. Olimpia's world was kleptocratic; everyone from the lowliest servant up to the pope's august relatives unblushingly stole as much as they possibly could. Nepotism was rampant, and popes gave away huge sums and principalities to their nephews instead of helping the poor. Dead pontiffs were left naked on the Vatican floor because their servants had pilfered the bed and stripped the corpse.Mistress of the Vatican brings to life not only a woman, and a church, but an entire civilization in all its greatness . . . and all its ignominy".

Blood Canticle by Anne Rice 

"Fiery, fierce, and erotic, Blood Canticle marks the triumphant culmination of Anne Rice’s bestselling Vampire Chronicles, as Lestat tells his astounding tale of the pleasures and tortures that lie between death’s shadow and immortality. . . .

Surrounded by its brooding swampscape, Blackwood Farm is alive with the comings and goings of the bewitched and the bewitching. Among them is the ageless vampire Lestat, vainglorious enough to believe that he can become a saint, weak enough to fall impossibly in love.

Gripped by his unspeakable desire for the mortal Rowan Mayfair and taking the not so innocent, new-to-the-blood Mona Mayfair under his wing, Lestat braves the wrath of paterfamilias Julien Mayfair and ventures to a private island off the coast of Haiti. There, Saint Lestat will get his chance to slay his dragon. For Mona and the Mayfairs share an explosive, secret blood bond to another deathless species: a five-thousand-year-old race of Taltos, strangers held in the throes of evil itself".

Taltos by Anne Rice
"In the third chronicle of the Mayfair Witches, the Talamasca seek to preserve the nearly extinct Taltos race by bringing together a male and female. Their searching catches the attention of an ancient Taltos named Ashlar entwined with Lasher's identity. Ashlar reveals the taltos mythology and lineage and enlists the help of Michael and Rowan in his battle againsst evil. Ashlar longs to make right the sufferings of his people. To help Ashlar, Michael must keep his coupling with Mona Mayfair (a precocious teenager who loves sex and computers equally) a secret, for it has produced a new female Taltos. Rowan attempts to assist him, but the task is difficult given that Morrigan, the Taltos, has been named the heir to the Mayfair fortune. Morrigan becomes the new monster of the Mayfair family".

~Lizzie~

Jean Plaidy's Stuart Saga, The Saga Breakdown

Jean Plaidy's Stuart Saga can be down right confusing and after much research I have broken the whole series down by isbn numbers, covers and even publication dates. What makes this series so complicated is the re-prints and the fact that all of Jean Plaidy's novels were released first in the U.K. then later in the US. There are numerous re-prints for each book because they have been very popular through out the past decades. The hardest part to figure out was the condensing of 3 books into one with a whole new title. I wrote this all out with the hope that someone else will be able to easily pick out which section of the House of Stuart they want to go to or which series of covers they want to start collecting.

I am proud to say I have read the whole saga from beginning to end and instantly fell in love with the "Stuart Charm". My favorite by far was the Charles the II's novels or as I read them combined into one "The Loves of Charles II". I hope that all my historical fiction lovers out there have the chance to read at least one of these richly portrayed Jean Plaidy novels because they are real historical fiction gems.

When I originally set out on the Jean Plaidy Stuart Saga endeavor I had had planned on adding every single cover art for every single novel in this saga. I found out the hard way that conflicting info and the overwhelming daunting task of making sure everything is correct, I have nixed the plan to include everything because the reality is that we are dealing with multiple releases in multiple formats spanning multiple countries. I decided to condense it down into my favorites the original releases then the three other publishers that reccently re-printed the series: Three Rivers Press, Crown Publishing, Arrow Books and Cornerstone Digital. I must note that I did not include the digital releases in publications list.

The original U.K. hardback releases of The Stuart Saga. Rare and usually expensive in good condition. Printed through out the 70's.

Three Rivers Press, beautiful novels to collect because the spine has a piece of the cover art and when you line them all up on a bookcase it shows all of the historical art. I would recommend collecting this set if you are also going to collect the other prints by Three Rivers like The Queen's of England series BUT....be for warned that if you do go with this set like I did many of these copies are very hard to get and if you order them on Amazon even though they show the Three Rivers Press version you WILL get Crown's version instead. I had a really hard time rounding all of these re-prints up especially "Murder Most Royal" but they are to die for on a bookcase. If you want to see mine all lined up check out this post on my Jean Plaidy collection. The Queens of England series is in this print and The Stuart Saga.

Crown Publishing, I have a mix of these ones I am missing the Mary Queen of Scots ones but I have "The Murder in the Tower" on to the end. I really do not like it that Crown chose to use the same cover art for "The Captive Queen of Scots" and "The Three Crowns". I really can not accept why they would do that but to me but it really throws a wrench in it for collectors because it is the most recent re-prints but it is like having a double copy. This set of re-prints really looks lovely on a shelf too like the Three Rivers prints because they made the spine very appealing. This publisher is also a good one for collecting The Tudors Series and the Lucreazia Borgia duo because they are the most recent re-prints

Arrow Books and Cornerstone Digital U.K. editions: this is where it gets complicated Arrow books published hard copies of "The Royal Road to Fotheringhay" and "The Captive Queen of Scots" but after that they stopped and Cornerstone Digital picked up the same style of cover art for the kindle aka digital versions of the rest of the series. I wish they would consider making hard copies of all of them but I doubt that will happen. Arrow books is really good to collect for other Plaidy series like

The Plantagenet Saga, Queen Victoria Quartet, Isabella and Ferdinand Trilogy, Catherine de Medici Trilogy.

Mary Stuart ~ Two Novels

• 1 "The Royal Road to Fotheringay" ~ ISBN 9780609810231, Originally Published 1955. Publications: 1968 hardback, 2004 paperback, 2007 paperback, 2010 paperback. Synopsis, Amazon, My Review

• 2 "The Captive Queen of Scots" ~ ISBN 9781400082513, Originally Published 1963. Publications: 1967 Hardback, 1967 paperback, 1965 hardback, 1969 "Fair Devil of Scotland", 1971 paperback, 1977 paperback, 2006 paperback, 2007 paperback. Synopsis, Amazon, My Review, Search my blog for more on Mary Queen of Scots

James I ~ One Novel

• 3 "The Murder in the Tower: The Story of Frances, Countess of Essex" ~ ISBN 9780307346216, Originally Published 1964. Publications: 1964 hardcover, 1971 paperback, and 1974 hardcover, 2010 paperback. Synopsis, Amazon, My Review Search my blog for more on James I

Charles II ~ Three Novels or One Combined Version

• 4 "The Wandering Prince" ISBN 9780330022415, Originally Published 1956. Publications: 1956 hardcover, 1969 paperback, 1971 hardcover, and 1972 paperback. Synopsis, Amazon, My Review

• 5 "Health Unto His Majesty" ISBN 9780330022835, Originally Published 1956. Publications: 1969 hardcover, 1969 paperback, 1972 hardcover, 1973 paperback, and 1992 hardcover. Synopsis, Amazon, My Review

• 6 "Here Lies our Sovereign Lord" ISBN 9780449232569, Originally Published 1957. Publications: 1969 paperback, 1973 hardcover, 1975 paperback. Synopsis, Amazon, My Review

• 4,5,6 Combined "The Loves of Charles II" ISBN 9781400082483, Originally published in 1972 Published as a combined re-print in 2005, The one volume version of "The Wandering Prince", "Health Unto His Majesty", and "Here Lies our Sovereign Lord". Publications: 2005 paperback, 2005 paperback. Synopsis, Amazon, Search my blog for more on Charles II

Mary II and Anne Queen of Great Britain ~ Three Novels or One Combined Version

• 7 The Three Crowns: The Story of William and Mary" ISBN 9780307346247, Originally Published 1965. Publications: 1973 paperback, 1977 hardcover, 2010 paperback. Synopsis, Amazon, My Review,

• 8 "The Haunted Sisters" ISBN 9780307719522, Originally Published 1966, "Haunted sisters" was retitled "Royal Sisters: The Story of the Daughters of James II" for the most recent re-print 2011. Publications: 1977 paperback, 2011 paperback

• 9 "The Queen's Favorites" ISBN 9780307719515, Originally Published 1966, "The Queen's Favorites" was retitled "Courting Her Highness" for the most recent reprint 2011. Publications: 1978 hardcover, 2011 paperback. Synopsis, Amazon, My Review,

• 7,8,9 Combined "The Last of the Stuarts" ISBN 9780709161974, Originally Published 1965,  The one volume version of "The Three Crowns", "The Haunted Sisters", and "The Queen's Favorites". Publications: Published 1977 Hardcover. Synopsis, Amazon, Search my blog for more on Mary II, and Anne Queen of Great Britain

~Lizzie~

Mailbox Monday: Lives of the Mayfair Witches

Lasher by Anne Rice
"From the day her first Vampire Chronicle was published, critics and readers--readers by the hundreds of thousands--have been mesmerized by the writings of Anne Rice. And with the publication of The Witching Hour, she created for us yet another world and legend, and both the chorus of praise (see back of jacket) and the multitudes of her readers once more increased.
At the center: the brilliant and beautiful Rowan Mayfair, queen of the coven, and Lasher, the darkly compelling demon whom she finds irresistible and from whose evil spell and vision she must now flee. She takes with her their terrifying and exquisite child, one of "a brood of children born knowing, able to stand and talk on the first day."

Rowan's attempt to escape Lasher and his pursuit of her and their child are at the heart of this extraordinary saga. It is a novel that moves around the globe, backward and forward through time, and between the human and demonic worlds. Its many voices--of women, of men, of demons and angels, present and past--haunt and enchant us. With a dreamlike power, the novel draws us through twilight paths, telling a chillingly hypnotic sotry of occult and spiritual aspirations and passion".

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice 
"From the author of the extraordinary Vampire Chronicles comes a huge, hypnotic novel of witchcraft and the occult through four centuries.
Demonstrating, once again, her gift for spellbinding storytelling and the creation of legend, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of witches--a family given to poetry and to incest, to murder and to philosophy; a family that, over the ages, is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being.

On the veranda of a great New Orleans house, now faded, a mute and fragile woman sits rocking . . . and The Witching Hour begins.

It begins in our time with a rescue at sea. Rowan Mayfair, a beautiful woman, a brilliant practitioner of neurosurgery--aware that she has special powers but unaware that she comes from an ancient line of witches--finds the drowned body of a man off the coast of California and brings him to life. He is Michael Curry, who was born in New Orleans and orphaned in childhood by fire on Christmas Eve, who pulled himself up from poverty, and who now, in his brief interval of death, has acquired a sensory power that mystifies and frightens him.

As these two, fiercely drawn to each other, fall in love and--in passionate alliance--set out to solve the mystery of her past and his unwelcome gift, the novel moves backward and forward in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and a château in the France of Louis XIV. An intricate tale of evil unfolds--an evil unleashed in seventeenth-century Scotland, where the first "witch," Suzanne of the Mayfair, conjures up the spirit she names Lasher . . . a creation that spells her own destruction and torments each of her descendants in turn.

From the coffee plantations of Port au Prince, where the great Mayfair fortune is made and the legacy of their dark power is almost destroyed, to Civil War New Orleans, as Julien--the clan's only male to be endowed with occult powers--provides for the dynasty its foothold in America, the dark, luminous story encompasses dramas of seduction and death, episodes of tenderness and healing. And always--through peril and escape, tension and release--there swirl around us the echoes of eternal war: innocence versus the corruption of the spirit, sanity against madness, life against death. With a dreamlike power, the novel draws us, through circuitous, twilight paths, to the present and Rowan's increasingly inspired and risky moves in the merciless game that binds her to her heritage. And in New Orleans, on Christmas Eve, this strangest of family sagas is brought to its startling climax".~Lizzie~

Book Review: BLACKWOOD FARM by Anne Rice

Quinn Blackwood, a true Louisiana southern gentleman and heir to the vast Blackwood estate had a very unusual childhood. From as far back as he could remember he had a doppelganger spirit that no one else could see. Goblin as he called him, always had been a part of his life, which was eccentric to say the least. There was nothing typical about growing up at Blackwood farm. All of the Blackwood’s were filthy rich. The whole family had lived there for many generations even their servants had been with the family for generations. Raised by his loving grandpa Quinn could do or have anything he wanted yet his main focus was his other half Goblin. The family and servants patronized him but in his life only one person really understood him. Quinn’s equally eccentric aunt queen loved him like no one else could, she believed in his doppelganger even though she could not see him. Blackwood manor had a great family history to go along with the heritage home; it was not uncommon for a person to see some of the family ghosts roaming about the house. For Quinn though it was different from everyone else, he saw the ghosts and seemed to attract them.

In the backwater swamps that the Blackwood family owned was a legendary island called Sugar Devil Swamp. No one had ever seen it but Quinn’s great grandfather supposedly had gone there as a retreat for weeks at a time. It was also said at this time that he had built a secret house out there in the swamp. No one had ever dared find the island because it was legend that his elderly great grandfather on his deathbed had taken off and escaped to the island never to be heard from again. Quinn was determined to find the island and when he did he was shocked at what he had found. Finding the island was just the beginning. Crossing paths with a vengeful ghost from his great grandfathers past was terrifying enough but then he crossed the most terrifying and mysterious being he had ever seen; an immortal.

Quinn was not given a choice about becoming a child of the blood, stolen in the night from his eccentric life there was no going back on what happened to him. Immortal now and forever yet Quinn could not turn his back on the home and the people or spirits that loved him the most. He felt he had to return home especially to Goblin yet when he returned home he had found that Goblin had changed and now was becoming a great threat. Quinn did the most logical thing a blood child could do he reached out to none other than the brat prince himself, Lestat. It made perfect sense and since Quinn had read Lestat’s vampire memoirs he knew Lestat’s history with ghosts, spirits, witches and vampires. If anyone was going to be able to help Lestat was the only one with the know how to do it. Quinn’s only hope was teaming up with the notorious brat prince of New Orleans.

4/5 Enjoyed this one but for me it was lacking in the whole historical aspect I enjoy so much. But I must admit that what it lacked for me historically it made up for it in other paranormal ways. This is one of the few books I would not recommend to just anyone because in all honesty you really need to read the whole Vampire Chronicles to fully grasp all that’s going on in this novel. I also would recommend that you read Anne’s other series “The Mayfair Witches” because this novel is a cross over between the two series. I have not read the Mayfair series and found that I did follow the novel along quiet well but I think it would have been much better of a read if I had read the Mayfair series first.

X-Rating sexual encounters
FTC-this novel is from my personal collection

Amazon ~ BLACKWOOD FARM by Anne Rice
~Lizzie~

Book Review: BLOOD AND GOLD by Anne Rice

Marius child of the millennium, one of the oldest vampires in existence finally tells the story of his life. Stolen from his home at the height of the Roman era, Marius was given the dark blood by a captive druid vampire that was forced into living in a tree and only allowed to feed once or twice a year. Escaping the same fate as the druid vampire Marius was called to Egypt on a mission to save the mother and father of all vampires. The caregiver of the king and queen had given up all hope and took the king, queen, and himself into the sun to die. Little did he or anyone else know at the time that if he killed them it would mean instant death to the whole vampire species. Taking his king and queen Marius fled Egypt and instantly became the keeper of "those who must be kept”. The burden of caring for the king and queen would weigh heavily on Marius for centuries to come.

Marius had given the dark blood to his one time mortal love Pandora; both lovingly cared for the king and queen for centuries in Antioch. Their relationship took a dreadful turn when after a fight between the two Marius packed everything up including those who must be kept and fled. At the time Marius had been blinded by his anger and could not see that abandoning Pandora would cause him great pain in the centuries that were to come. Lost in his loneliness Marius was heartbroken that his glorious Rome had fallen. At this point he felt he had no other choice but to leave the beloved city he was born in and start over anew somewhere else.

Constantinople was proclaimed the new Rome and Marius went east with his king, queen, and two other ancient vampires to start all over. His new life in Constantinople did not go as well as he had planned. After a vampire drama fest once again Marius abandoned everyone but his king and queen and fled. Hiding the queen and king in a remote Italian mountain top crypt he spent decades alone. Once again victim to his own loneliness Marius was driven out of the crypt and found himself in full-blown renaissance Italy. The world had completely changed and it was completely to his liking. He found himself enthralled by the art of this new era. Marius was always a passionate artist in his heart of hearts and the idea came upon him that it was time to re-enter the mortal world as he once had done centuries ago in now ancient Rome.

Venice Italy breathed new passions into ancient Marius. He made a new life for himself with a beautiful home and filled it with new friends and servants. Bianca, beautifully mortal Bianca entranced him from the moment he met her. Marius truly loved Bianca but he also loved another named Amadeo. He rescued Amadeo from a brothel in Venice and brought him home to be educated with all the other boys he took under his wing. They would have many adventures together in Venice but like all good things they must come to an end. All would be ruined in one tragic day in Venice that almost took Marius' immortal life. Amadeo was stolen from him, Pandora was forever lost to him, and now Bianca was trying to hold it all together for Marius. For him nothing could or ever would be the same again but he could not just give up because the secret of those who must be kept must always be protected at whatever the cost even if it cost him everything and everyone he ever loved.

5/5 loved it! I finally got Marius' whole story even though I had to wait until book eight in the series to get it. It was well worth the wait though with an ending I never ever saw coming. I am really looking forward to reading "Pandora" even though it is technically part of the new vampire chronicles because it will give a whole new aspect to Marius' story. I would recommend this novel to history lovers alike because all of Anne's vampire chronicles focus not just on the vampires but the history of the era's in which they lived.

PG-13 for mild violence
FTC- this novel is part of my personal collection
Amazon ~ BLOOD AND GOLD by Anne Rice
~Lizzie~