#culturalHeritageFiction – Rosepoint Publishing

Painting with Fire (Bold Women of the 17th Century Series Book 3) by Amanda Hughes – #BookReview – #culturalheritagefiction

Happy Release Day!

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

From the bestselling author of The Bold Women Series:
Québec 1690—Penniless and covered with burns, Véronique Barbeau sells sex to sailors and voyageurs at a dockside tavern in New France. The daughter of an illustrious artist, she’d once had it all: a loving family, a home in Paris, and a gift for painting, but a spurned lover changed everything. After being slighted by Véronique’s father, the young man sought revenge by setting fire to the family home, killing her mother, her sister, and scarring Véronique for life. Distraught, she immigrated to Québec with her father, but within months he was dead, leaving her alone and destitute in a port city halfway around the world.
Yet she would not be defeated. Véronique would rise again, fighting her way to the top, becoming one of the most celebrated artists in all of France. But she cannot rest until she unearths the horrifying truth about what really happened the night of the blaze.
Join Amanda Hughes as she sweeps you back to a time when monarchs ruled the world, tall ships sailed the seas, and quarrels were settled with swords.

My Review:

Map of New France territory approx 1750. Map attribute: Chalkboard Publishing

The author has done it again with her third book in the Bold Women Series, this one of the 17^th century. I just love these tales from the Renaissance forward. In this entry, we are introduced to New France, the holding of which was a great deal larger than I remembered.

Quebec, Canada. Map attribute: Wikipedia

In 1686 Véronique Barbeau found employment in Québec, New France at the Siren and Serpent Tavern as a fille de joie. Unfortunately, this is her last resort after losing her family, home in Paris, and lover, Rainier Laurent Delacroix. Her father, Monsieur Henri Frederik Barbeau, an artist of some renown, escaped with her from the bloody inferno in Paris that left her deeply scarred for life.

What is left to her is the innate talent of her father. She uses the gift with her limited free time and money to continue the legacy.

While dealing with the clients, Véronique burns with the need to discover the truth of what happened. She is an attractive, strong woman who is determined to find restitution while hiding the evidence (in the voluminous clothing of the day) of the horrific event that changed her life.

Once again, the extent of the research by the author of the time and location is evident in the description of how the ladies dealt with the subjects of disease, birth control, and protection.

When she meets Gilles, a cartographer of questionable sexual proclivities and nobility, her life takes an exciting turn. Gilles, however, is multi-layered and for some time, she only sees one. They leave on an extended mapping quest into unchartered Indian territory, including the Chippewa. (I grew up with tales of a grandmother born on a Chippewa reservation in then “Indian Territory.” Knowing her and looking at her picture, it wasn’t difficult to imagine until our son provided my DNA test proving she was not one-half Native American.)

Besides the beautifully described locations, both in New France and Paris, the history, the period costumes, decorum, vernacular, and Renaissance-driven art concepts, there is the glaring inequality of the sexes and frontier justice.

It is well plotted and paced and creates flights of the imagination. The characters are well drawn and provide portions of resolution and conflict as well as plenty of action and subtle and crafty twists.

Finding inspiration in stories of real persons to populate the era provided many a solid character and realistic backgrounds. The author is a master storyteller. This is Book 3 of the 17th Century Series. I also read Book 1, The Firefly Witch and Book 2, The Sea Bandits. Each of the novels can be read as a standalone, so don’t worry where you come in to the series, whether 17^th, 18^th, 19^th, or 20^th Centuries. They are all engaging and entertaining.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts and it’s heartily recommended.

Book Details:

Genre: Cultural Heritage Fiction, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Lillis and Jaymes
ASIN: B0BCKVW93X
Publication Date: September 12, 2022
Source: Author contact
Title Link: Painting with Fire [Amazon]

The Author: Bestselling and award-winning author, Amanda Hughes is a “Walter Mitty”, spending more time in heroic daydreams than the real world. At last, she found an outlet writing adventures about bold women through the centuries. Well known for her genre-busting books, she is the winner of the Gems National Medal for Writing, featured in USA Today and is nominated for the 2017 Minnesota Book Award. Amanda is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, and when she isn’t off tilting windmills, she lives and writes in Minnesota. Don’t miss these page-turning novels for readers who like historical fiction with a just bit of a love story. All of her books are stand-alone and can be read in any order.

The Bold Women of the 17th Century: The Firefly Witch Book 1

The Bold Women Series of the 18th Century: Beyond the Cliffs of Kerry Book 1 The Pride of the King Book 2 The Sword of the Banshee Book 3

The Bold Women Series of the 19th Century: The Grand Masquerade Book 1 Vagabond Wind Book 2 The House of Five Fortunes Book 3

The Bold Women Series of the 20th Century: The Looking Glass Goddess Book 1

Interested in her new books or a free novelette? Go to http://www.amandahughesauthor.com

Talk: A woman’s search for purpose, treasure, and her Ojibwe heritage by Greg W Peterson – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Talk is the story of Addie Young, a single woman with no known relatives. Her father dies leaving a letter of apology for his failures along with a second letter, cryptic and nonsensical—written by a civil war-era outlaw. The letter may provide directions for finding buried gold. Addie sets out to the small town of Talk, Minnesota, where she meets Jack Larson; together they start out to decode the ‘letter’. In the process, they discover Addie’s intriguing connection to an assortment of early American outlaws and a surprising ancestral relationship with the Ojibwe Nation of American Indians.

His Review:

Minnesota was a very wild area at the end of the 19^th and early 20^th century. Jesse James and Cole Younger terrorized the area with train and bank robberies. Talk is a story of a young woman whose ancestors came from this area and is descended from the Ojibwe people. Greg Peterson has woven an endearing tale of honesty and family heritage wrapped around a treasure hunt.

A classic love story starts with a car skidding off the roadway on a sharp turn. People watch out for each other and their properties in small rural America. The chance meeting of the two is well engineered and the caution in developing the romance is a welcome change from the normal fall in bed on the first date tryst.

The hints to find the treasure are hidden in an overgrown hundred acres not cultivated in nearly eighty years. Also, the discovery of the heroine, Addie’s, roots are engaging and endearing. Not all of the Younger offspring follow the path of their parental examples. Generations later there is much to be discovered.

An old family bible gives some of the information on the roots and family history. I recall wondering about some of my own families’ history as I read Addies’ quest. People often wonder about their ancestors and it was easy to identify with the young lady and her journey.

CE Williams, first review of the year — First book of the year for CE Williams, **Talk** by Greg Peterson

I’ve previously read both the author’s debut novel, Newgate’s Knocker as well as his sophomore release, Lie If You Can, and can recommend both. I recommend this novel to anyone who can identify with family mysteries, the heritage and history they would like to find. 5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Book Details:

Genre: Native American Literature, Cultural Heritage Fiction
Publisher: Independently published
ISBN13: ‎979-8785975835
ASIN: B09NRBTPDD
Print Length: 259 pages
Publication Date: December 16, 2021
Source: Author request
Title Link: Talk [Amazon]

The Author: Greg Peterson is a prior naval aviator, commercial airline pilot, and air traffic control specialist. He holds nearly every fixed-wing flight certificate available and is a certified ground and instrument instructor. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Technology from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, USA.

Although Mr. Peterson has been published in a number of professional magazines. Newgate’s Knocker is his first full-length novel. The story is fictional, however, you may find it interesting that the historical background of the main character, Mac Macintyre is based on Mr. Peterson’s real life, and most of the aviation sequences are also taken from his flying experiences.

Mr. Peterson recently completed his second novel, Lie If You Can. A medical mystery that follows a young college professor on her search to find the person who brutally attacked her. She awakes in a hospital with little memory of the event and soon she begins to experience an unusual brain related anomaly—one which manifests in a new ability to determine a person’s truthfulness. Her condition is believably explained by an actual scientific condition known as Dual Processing. Julie develops a romantic relationship with her doctor and together they search for her attacker.

Greg Peterson is certified in seven different categories by the International Code Council and has owned and operated a professional residential home inspection company since 1999. His home inspection report supplement provides a comprehensive explanation of many common concerns reported in most home inspections. His home inspection supplement, Your Home Inspected-An Addendum For Residential Home Inspection Reports, can be purchased in Kindle, paperback or CD form. He can be contacted by email at: gregpeterson@comcast.net