Wanna Join a Book Club?

Yes Readers,

Today is a day of several posts. And spreadsheets, so many spreadsheets.

I host a book club through Facebook that was born out of the Plagues, Witches and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction - Coursera group, created many moons ago by people who had taken this excellent MOOC. It is hands down one of the best you can take, particularly if you're an avid reader or history buff.

This year, I stopped hosting discussions in March after my father died. I've only recently decided to restart them, but I needed them to change.

Instead of doing one book a month, we're doing one every six weeks. Hopefully this eliminates the issue of not having enough time to read the selections. I've also gone ahead and chosen all nine books for the year, which helps alleviate stress on my end because the previous method of choosing involved polls and voting and a crap load of effort on my end. I'm keeping the discussion questions, though I may not do quite as many, and I am keeping the I Liked and the I Hated threads, because not every reader is going to love every element of every book, and sometimes people like the unexpected aspects of a novel.

Below are the books, discussion dates, and page counts, and I'd love for anyone to join! I can easily add you to the group on FB, but I'll figure out how to make the discussions work in the blogspace or Litsy.

XoXo
BrainyHeroine

Title	Author	Page Count	Discussion Dates
Tulip Fever	Deborah Moggach	288	Jan. 8-14, 2018
The Hamiton Affair	Elizabeth Cobbs	408	Feb. 19-25, 2018
Whispers of the Moon Moth	Lindsay Jayne Ashford	352	Apr. 2-7, 2018
Before We Were Yours	Lisa Wingate	352	May 14-19, 2018
Butterfly Island	Corina Bomann	446	June 25-30, 2018
The Essex Serpent	Sarah Perry	422	Aug. 6-12, 2018
Lincoln in the Bardo	George Saunders	343	Sept. 17-23, 2018
The Witches of New York	Ami McKay	560	Oct. 29 - Nov. 4, 2018
The Cottingley Secret	Hazel Gaynor	383	Dec. 10-15, 2018

My Dear Hamilton Cover Reveal!!

 

Good Morning All!!!

It is Day 3 of my Birthday Week and I am CRAZY excited to be a part of this AMAZING cover launch!!!! I can't fully tell you how much I loved Dray/Kamoie's book America's First Daughter, as a history nerd it is hard to fall so completely in love with any Historical Fiction novel, but I fell for Patsy so utterly that when my own father died this past March their words gave me solace. I am thrilled to bits to show you all the cover of their next book "My Dear Hamilton"!! Tons of fun goodies await you below so get your scroll on and enjoy this gift from them to you...

     

From the New York Times bestselling authors of America’s First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. Haunting, moving, and beautifully written, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza’s story as it’s never been told before—not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal—but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.

We’re celebrating Eliza Schuyler Hamilton’s Birthday today and you get the gift! Don’t miss the beautiful cover below and a special giveaway, and don’t forget to pre-order your copy today!

About My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton (Coming 4.3.2018):

Wife, Widow, and Warrior in Alexander Hamilton’s Quest to Form a More Perfect Union

From the New York Times bestselling authors of America’s First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. Haunting, moving, and beautifully written, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza’s story as it’s never been told before—not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal—but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.

A general’s daughter…

Coming of age on the perilous frontier of revolutionary New York, Elizabeth Schuyler champions the fight for independence. And when she meets Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s penniless but passionate aide-de-camp, she’s captivated by the young officer’s charisma and brilliance. They fall in love, despite Hamilton’s bastard birth and the uncertainties of war.

A founding father’s wife...

But the union they create—in their marriage and the new nation—is far from perfect. From glittering inaugural balls to bloody street riots, the Hamiltons are at the center of it all—including the political treachery of America’s first sex scandal, which forces Eliza to struggle through heartbreak and betrayal to find forgiveness.

The last surviving light of the Revolution…

When a duel destroys Eliza’s hard-won peace, the grieving widow fights her husband’s enemies to preserve Alexander’s legacy. But long-buried secrets threaten everything Eliza believes about her marriage and her own legacy. Questioning her tireless devotion to the man and country that have broken her heart, she’s left with one last battle—to understand the flawed man she married and imperfect union he could never have created without her…

   

Pre-Order on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GooglePlay | iBooks | Kobo

   

To celebrate Eliza Schuyler Hamilton’s Birthday today, we have a surprise for you! Share the cover of MY DEAR HAMILTON and fill out the Rafflecopter below to receive an Exclusive Excerpt!

   

Direct link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/5aedf95d1/? a Rafflecopter giveaway

    New York Times bestselling author, Stephanie Dray is an award-winning, bestselling and two-time RITA award nominated author of historical women’s fiction. Her critically acclaimed series about Cleopatra’s daughter has been translated into eight different languages and won NJRW's Golden Leaf. As Stephanie Draven, she is a national bestselling author of genre fiction and American-set historical women's fiction. She is a frequent panelist and presenter at national writing conventions and lives near the nation's capital. Before she became a novelist, she was a lawyer, a game designer, and a teacher. Now she uses the stories of women in history to inspire the young women of today.      

Stephanie’s Website | Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter

  New York Times bestselling author, Laura Kamoie has always been fascinated by the people, stories, and physical presence of the past, which led her to a lifetime of historical and archaeological study and training. She holds a doctoral degree in early American history from The College of William and Mary, published two non-fiction books on early America, and most recently held the position of Associate Professor of History at the U.S. Naval Academy before transitioning to a full-time career writing genre fiction as the New York Times bestselling author, Laura Kaye. Her New York Times bestselling debut historical novel, America's First Daughter, co-authored with Stephanie Dray, allowed her the exciting opportunity to combine her love of history with her passion for storytelling. Laura lives among the colonial charm of Annapolis, Maryland with her husband and two daughters.    

Laura’s Website | Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter Sign-Up

   

Until next time!!

XoXo

BrainyHeroine

Marching into History; March's Reading Plan

Good Morning Happy Readers!

March is Women's History Month. March is a month with 31 days. Purim will begin on March 11, 2017. On March 12, 2017 we lose an hour of sleep to Daylight Savings Time, there is also a full moon that night. March 17 is St. Patrick's Day and is the day after my best friends birthday. Spring will begin on March 20, 2017. And today, March 1 is Ash Wednesday. Last month I read 17 books, in January I read 30. This month I am determined to read more, to focus that reading on my challenges, and to embrace the distraction of reading as sparingly as possible. With that in mind I have a plan.

For March, a month dedicated to Women's History, I will be reading the following:

• The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (Didn't manage to read this in February)
• Rise of the Rocket GIrls by Nathalia Holt
• Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
• The Shining Girls and Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
• The Accidental Empress and Sisi: Empress on Her Own by Alison Pataki
• Sisters in Law by Linda Hirshman
• When I was Puerto Rican and Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago
• How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In The Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
• Saffron Skies by Lesley Loko 
• The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
• The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

All written by women, some written by women of color, some fiction, some non fiction, all framing history in one context or another. 

I'll get more specific with each as I read them; and I'll let you know what challenges they fit.

Until the next time. 

XoXo

BrainyHeroine

The Joy and Luck of a Book Club

Morning All,

Can we talk book clubs for a moment? I personally belong to two, one that I run and one that I participate in, and then I have a Book of the Month subscription which sort of counts. The club I run is a Historical Fiction book club that was born many years ago thanks to a course on the MOOC site Coursera. Our January book is America's First Daughter by Laura Kamoie and Stephanie Dray. The one that I just participate in is new and one of the Litsy Goes Postal groups (#CoverToCover). #CoverToCover is a little more mysterious, I get to read books selected by 12 other amazing women, write my thoughts in a notebook, send it off to the next person, and get the book and notebook I send out back sometime next year before the cycle starts again.

Now I know the BOTM subscription isn't actually a book club, but A LOT of the books I'm using for the #LitsyAtoZ challenge came from BOTM. Knowing that I have 12 mystery books coming to me means that someone may send me something to fill in a gap on any of these challenges is fascinating to me, and running a club means I get to steer the selection towards something I need if needed. Granted for the HF book club we vote on books, but I'm the one that puts up the selection. February's book is The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict, which I'm using as my "A book I was excited to buy but haven't read yet" book.

There's also just a magic about having a collection of people who are all reading and discussing the same books, especially when one of them is your absolute favorite. I like the conversations that I've had thanks to book clubs, and I love it when people say they hated the book. It is perfectly okay to not like the book! What book club decided that it wasn't?

When you've found your passion about something, regardless of what it is, you want to share it. Books take my breath away, give me far to many emotions, consume me, and sometimes annoy me; and yes I've read books I haven't liked or just couldn't get into, it happens to the best of us.

So find someone to talk to about the books you're reading. I'm sure you'll find it exhilarating and exciting when you see someone else light up the way you did, or when you get into a passionate or loud discussion about why the book was bad in your opinion. Find or create a book club, in person, online, through the mail even! You won't regret it.

TTFN
-BrainyHeroine