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Tag Archives: historical fiction

Movie Review: The Book Thief

14 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by Ermilia in Eliabeth, Reviews

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

book, book review, books, Germany, historical fiction, Marcus Zusak, movies, review, reviews, The Book Thief, war, WWII

The Book Thief

genre: historical fiction

the-book-thief-movieThe movie stays quite true to the book, which I really appreciated. The cast was not entirely comprised of super models, something I found quite refreshing. Max and Rudy’s father were exactly how I pictured them though Max should have been more scruffy. The reading wall and snowball fight was incredibly well done–two of my favorite moments in the book. It gave a much needed comic relief to an otherwise depressing tale.

There was only one scene where the movie deviated drastically from the book. Liesel keeps Max’s secret through the entire book, but Rudy figures it out in the movie. I had such faith and respect for Liesel in the book that turned to disappointment in the movie. The rest of the changes were subtle and added some tension, especially for any who haven’t read it yet.

Continue reading →

Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

12 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by Ermilia in Eliabeth, Reviews

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

book, book review, books, Germany, historical fiction, Marcus Zusak, review, reviews, The Book Thief, war, WWII

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

genre: historical fiction

Summary from Goodreads

the-book-thiefIt is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery.

So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jewish fist-fighter in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn

31 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by Ermilia in Eliabeth, Reviews

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

book, books, fiction, historical fiction, historical romance, Julia Quinn, Just Like Heaven, novel, review, reviews, romance

Just Like Heaven

by Julia Quinn

genre: historical romance

Just Like Heaven by Julia QuinnI’m closing in on the end of my A-Z author challenge with only five letters to go. Looking through the thread for Q authors, I found historical romance novelist Julia Quinn. After two disappointing novels, Just Like Heaven had me laughing nearly every chapter and hitting the steering wheel crying, “Yes, yes, yes.” Completely cliche, guy falls on top of girl and they kiss moments, but I loved it. You don’t read romance novels for a surprise. Romance novels by definition have to have a happy ending.

Summary from Audible

Honoria Smythe-Smith is:
A) a really bad violinist
B) still miffed at being nicknamed “Bug” as a child
C) not in love with her her older brother’s best friend
D) all of the above

Marcus Holroyd is:
A) the Earl of Chatteris
B) regrettably prone to sprained ankles
C) not in love with his best friend’s younger sister
D) all of the above

Together they:
A) eat quite a bit of chocolate cake
B) survive a deadly fever
C) fall quite desperately in love

It’s Julia Quinn at her best, so you know the answer is…

D) all of the above

Continue reading →

Book Review: Serena by Ron Rash

27 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by Ermilia in Eliabeth, Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

book, book review, books, fiction, historical fiction, murder, review, reviews, Ron Rash, Serena

Serena

by Ron Rash

genre: historical fiction

Synopsis from Goodreads

serenaThe year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains—but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving her husband’s life in the wilderness. Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons’ intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning.

Rash’s masterful balance of violence and beauty yields a riveting novel that, at its core, tells of love both honored and betrayed.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Inferno by Dan Brown

04 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by Ermilia in Ermisenda, Reviews

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

action, adventure, black plague, book review inferno, Dan Brown, historical fiction, overpopulation, reviews, robert langdon, sinsky

Inferno (Langdon #4)

by Dan Brown

genre: thriller, adventure

Venice. Overpopulation. Race against time. This was an entertaining read with a stellar plot and only mildly annoying characters. Find out why I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars!

Summary

UK cover Inferno Dan Brown(Taken from Goodreads)

In his international blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, Brown returns to his element and has crafted his highest-stakes novel to date.

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

Review

Since Eliabeth has already reviewed this novel, I’ll try to keep it short and sweet. Short story, I really enjoyed it. Long story is below. Minor spoilers will be included in this review. Continue reading →

__free book covers 7

20 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by Ermilia in Ermisenda

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

authors, battle, books, cheap book covers, contemporary, cubiertas de libros gratis, diseño de libros gratis, drama, epic fantasy, ermisendadesign, free book covers, free novel cover, freebies, historical fiction, horse, knight, landscape, marketing, photography, romance, self-publishing, sunset, YA

Hola!
Want some free book covers?

I have created some more free book covers using my own photography and free stock images from sxc.hu! Sunset Kisses can fit drama, romance, or contemporary fiction. While The Knight’s Circle could fit historical fiction or epic fantasy.

Authors with all budgets deserve to have a winning cover representing their hard work. This is why I have created free and QUALITY book covers to share with all those writers out there. These graphics can be used for their intended purpose, as a book cover, but can also be used to introduce stories on your blogs, etc.

Visit Ermisenda’s official book cover page on Ermiliablog here to see how you can grab one for your own novel.

I also create unique covers for your novel for an affordable fee, my email address is ermisenda@live.com. I can help with any graphic design job; book covers, website/blog banners, magazine covers, etc. Just send me an email or leave a comment below with your question or request.

Because your novel deserves to look its best. ErmisendaDESIGN.

Freebie Table

Name:
Email:
Freebie of choice: 
Author Name:

Book Title:
Quote: [keep it short]
Comments: [if any]

Traducción en español: Estos cubiertas de libro son gratis por todo el mundo. Hablo español y entonces me pueden enviar un mensaje a mi correo ermisenda@live.com. Alli me puedes decir cual cubierta te gusta mas, el nombre de tu libro, y tu nombre autor. Tambien hago cubiertas por un precio razonable si quieres algo unico.

– Ermisenda Alvarez

Book Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

04 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by Ermilia in Eliabeth, Reviews

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

book, book review, books, drama, historical fiction, Kathryn Stockett, review, reviews, The Help

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

genre: historical fiction

This is my second read; the first time, I thought The Help was nonfiction so I was quite disappointed when the delusion was shattered. I’ve read some other things in between to cleanse the palate and came back to it with a different expectation. Read the full review to find out if the second read was better than the first.

Synopsis from Goodreads

The Help Book CoverThree ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

Continue reading →

Pure Fiction vs Based on a True Story

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Ermilia in Eliabeth

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

based on a true story, fiction, historical fiction, reading, The Help

When you’re reading a book “based on true events,” do you read it differently than a purely fiction novel? I do. I didn’t realize how much it changed the experience for me until I started reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I’ve seen the movie and I don’t know where I got this, but I thought the book was the book they were writing during the movie, the one that’s a collection of stories from the maids. Needless to say, I was rather confused when it changed to Skeeter’s point of view, but I guess I should back up to make sure everyone is on the same page.

The Help is a novel based in the Deep South not long after the civil war. The lead characters are a wanna-be journalist (read white female college graduate) who is told to write about something that bothers her, but no one else. She gets it in her head to interview maids (read black women cleaning white women’s homes and taking care of white babies in Jackson, Mississippi) and tell their story.

Again, I don’t know where I got confused because the synopsis makes it clear, “Stockett creates three extraordinary women.” Suddenly my bubble was burst. What I was enjoying about the novel falls flat. These are no longer clever and brave women, they are puppets of the author. I’m no longer gripped by their fear because it is no longer real to me. And yet, I when I read Ready Player One, I was impressed by the character’s cajones. Though I knew the book was fiction, those characters were flesh and blood, their bravery became real in the story. Their desires, weaknesses, and rational grip me to the point of laughter or tears.

So why can I fall in love with the characters in Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, but the women in The Help have become lifeless words on paper. I’m not sure. I think it was because I thought they were real then found out they weren’t rather than suspending disbeleif from the beginning and allowing myself to become lost in the story.

I was wondering if any of you experienced something similar or have a different diagnosis.

-Eliabeth

__poisoned waters: new book!

06 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by Ermilia in Announcements, Ermisenda

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

1950s fiction, art, book covers, books, crime, ermilia novels, ermisenda design, ermisenda novels, free book, graphic design, historical fiction, mystery, new book, poisoned waters by ermisenda alvarez, suspense, thriller, writing

Hey, everyone! It’s Ermisenda here. In the background I have not only been working on the second novel in the Blind Sight series, but I have written a new book. It’s a thriller/suspense/mystery book with elements of crime.

Here is the synopsis for Poisoned Waters:

Bloody mistakes, ugly scars, and beautiful lies. A tale of corruption.

Helen Gardener is murdered on a trans-Atlantic cruise. The Diamond Royale sails from Southampton to New York with her murderer aboard. Set in the 1950s, Poisoned Waters follows the stories of seven unfortunate characters and how they are affected by her death. Was it merely an accident? Mr Phillips, the owner of the ship, and sponsor of the cruise, rules with an iron fist, in search of something or someone.

Lies spiral out of control as the suspects try to survive the final days on board. Conflicted by their sense of morals, greed, and lust, they realise what kind of people they really are. Who will rise? Who will fall? Who was Helen’s murderer?

Does it sound like a book that would interest you? Well, Ermisenda on behalf of Ermilia, LLC is launching a tour for it’s release in August, 2013. Poisoned Waters is already on Goodreads for you to mark to-read!

Anyone who would like to be a beta reader and post an excerpt/and or review in the first week of August is welcome to. Leave a comment with a way to contact you (preferably email) and I can send you the details and a copy in your preferred format. Continue reading →

Ermilia

Ermisenda and Eliabeth are coauthors blogging about books, life, and everything in between. May Ermilia Blog inspire you today!

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