Glamorous Illusions

GIVEAWAY!

BERGREN, LISA T.
GLAMOROUS ILLUSIONS


It's the summer of 1913, and Cora Kensington's life on the family farm has taken a dark turn. Not only are the crops failing, but someone dear to Cora is failing as well.


One fateful afternoon, a stranger comes to call, and Cora discovers a terrible secret about her past...a secret that will radically change her future.


Cora is invited to take the "Grand Tour" of Europe, a trip intended to finish of a person's education and solidify an understanding of refinement and ancient culture. As she travels from England to France with kin she's never known, Cora encounters the blessings of a family name, as well as the curses. But when an unbidden love begins to form, she realizes there are far greater challenges ahead...


The first book in the Grand Tour series takes you on a journey of cultural refinement -- but, moreover an inner journey of self-discovery.


MY REVIEW:


Stunning start to a grand new series from one of my favourite authors! Bergren knows how to transport her readers into a different time and place. Using vivid descriptions and compelling characters she creates a breathtaking picture of life among the wealthiest families in Europe. And in so doing throws her heroine smack into the middle of a moral dilemma. And such a dilemma! We should all be forced to live the life of the idle rich to prove our muster! :-) Seriously, it's a great premise and poses some interesting questions both for Cora and her readers.


But be warned: as in her other series, The River of Time, not all loose threads, including the romantic ones, are pulled tight by the end of the book. We will have to wait until Spring 2013 and Fall 2013 before we have a real conclusion. While I'm not usually a fan of run-on series, I gladly make an exception for Lisa T. Bergren. I'll let her whisk me away and keep me dangling for as long as she wants -- providing she promises to come back with more...and more...and more!


GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:


If you would like an opportunity to win a copy of Grand Illusions, please leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you post a comment and add your email address, please use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in the address to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email please remember to put the title in the subject line so that it's easy for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday June 24 2012. Offer open to international readers. Good luck!

Torrent

GIVEAWAY!!!

BERGREN, LISA T.
TORRENT

“Hold tight,” I said. “No matter what happens, do not let us go.”

“We won’t,” my dad said.

“Never,” Mom added.

And with a look at Lia, we laid our hands upon the prints.

Gabriella and Evangelia Betarrini are just two normal American teenagers. Normal except for the fact that they time travel to fourteenth-century Italy, where they’ve lived in castles they’ve seen as crumbling ruins, become swept up in historic battles, and fallen in love with handsome knights willing to do anything to keep them alive.

 They’ve returned to the present to save their father, just short of his tragic death, and now all four return to the place that holds the girls’ hearts, medieval Italy. But remaining there means facing great risk as the battle for territory wages on and the coming Black Plague looms. Can they convince their parents to stay and leave behind everything they’ve worked so hard to accomplish? And will the girls sacrifice their futures in an uncertain past? Or in facing death head-on, will they discover life as it was always meant to be lived?

My Review:

Stunning conclusion to The River of Time series. I was almost afraid to read Torrent because I just couldn't imagine how Bergren could possibly end the series to my satisfaction...but she more than succeeded. I'm not sure that I can find enough adequate words to express the immense pleasure and excitement --- the sheer exhilaration -- this read brought to me. It's like Bergren fine-tuned every ounce of her writer's craft and poured it all into this novel.

Torrent has it all -- drama, romance, comedy, action, suspense -- in a dizzying, page-turning extravaganza that I just couldn't put down. It's hard to write a review without giving anything away. Let's just say that there's more than one swoonworthy hero within these pages -- and the romance...Be. Still. My. Heart. Ooooohhhhh so romantical...beyond my expectations and unlike anything I've read in a long time. How's that for a bit of vague praise?

As larger-than-life heroines, Gabi and Lia continue to enthrall me, as they did everyone else in Sienna. And Bergren puts them through their paces as they face diabolical plots and imminent danger at every turn. The pacing in this novel is incredible -- a steady rush of action and adventure combined with tender and even comedic moments. This is an all round not-to-be-missed-very-good-read.

Giveaway Opportunity:

If you would like to win a copy of Torrent please leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. The draw is open internationally and the winner will be announced on Sunday September 25. Good luck!

Cascade

GIVEAWAY

BERGREN, LISA T.
CASCADE

What if you not only fell back through time...but fell in lover too?

Gabi knows she's left her heart in the fourteenth century, and she persuades Lia to help her to return even though they know doing so will risk their very lives.  When they arrive, months have passed, and all of Siena longs to celebrate the heroines who turned the tide in the battle against Florence -- while their enemies will go to great lengths to see them dead.

Even in the midst of the battles, Gabi's heart is increasingly drawn to Marcello, just as Lia's is to Luca. In medieval Italy, the sisters discover things inside themselves that they couldn't seem to find in the present -- connections with their mom, courage within, and the understanding that a life well lived often means encountering sacrifice. But in a world long past, many things still keep Gabi from giving Marcello her heart forever...and one thing in particular calls all three of the Betarrinis home.

My Review:

I don't think there is an effective way to express how much I love this book...this series! I'm almost at a loss for words!

The action is non-stop, the romance is toe-curling, the heroines are a winning combination of courage, vulnerability and tough-girl humour and the heroes...THUD. Everything you ever dreamed about in a medieval knight and then some. Marcello and Luca prove that chivalry is not dead...at least in the fourteenth century!

Bergren has enough surprises up her sleeve to keep the pages turning faster and the ending...the biggest surprise of all. Never in my wildest imagination did I see it going there! Have I piqued your curiosity yet? I hope so, because this is a book (and a series) that you don't want to miss!

GIVEAWAY: Because I love both Waterfall and Cascade so much and because you won't really appreciate Cascade until you have read Waterfall, I am giving away a copy of both book one and book two in the River of Time series. If you want to be entered in the draw please leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. The draw will be held on Sunday June 26. Open internationally.

Waterfall

BERGREN, LISA T.

WATERFALL

What do you do when your knight in shining armor lives, literally, in a different world?

Most American teenagers want a vacation in Italy, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives among the romantic hills with their archaeologist parents. Stuck among the rubble of medieval castles in rural Tuscanny on yet another hot, dusty archaeological site, Gabi and Lia are bored out of their minds...until Gabi places her hand atop a handprint in an ancient tomb and finds herself in fourteenth century Italy. And worse yet, in the middle of a fierce battle between knights of two opposing forces.

Suddenly Gabbi's summer in Italy is much, much more interesting.

MAGNIFICENT! I'M JUMPING UP AND DOWN OVER THIS YOUNG ADULT NOVEL! I LOVE A GOOD TIME-TRAVEL STORY AND THIS ONE IS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY GOOD! THE HISTORICAL DETAILS ARE INCREDIBLE AND BERGREN HAS DONE A WONDERFUL JOB OF SHOWING THE CONTRAST BETWEEN OUR MODERN DAY HEROINE AND HER MEDIEVAL KNIGHT!

GABI HAS HAD AN UNUSUAL UPBRINGING -- FROM FENCING LESSONS WITH HER DAD TO CONVERSING IN LATIN WITH HER PARENTS TO BEING FORCED TO STUDY CENTURIES OF HISTORY. WHO KNEW SO MUCH OF ALL THAT WOULD ACTUALLY SEEP IN AND SHE'D GET TO USE IT TO FULL ADVANTAGE ON HER SUMMER VACATION?!

THERE'S ACTION AND INTRIGUE, AND STAR-CROSSED LOVERS AND LOTS OF FUNNY MOMENTS AS GABI CONTINUES TO CONFOUND THOSE KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMOR!

I JUST COULDN'T TEAR MYSELF AWAY FROM THE BOOK -- SO TEMPTED TO TAKE A PEEK AT THE LAST PAGE BECAUSE I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW BERGREN COULD POSSIBLY RESOLVE EVERYTHING. SHE DID A VERY SKILLFUL JOB BUT SHE LEFT THE DOOR OPEN (OR SHOULD I SAY TIME PORTAL?) FOR THE NEXT BOOK IN THE RIVER OF TIME SERIES. CASCADE RELEASES IN JUNE 2011 AND TORRENT IN SEPTEMBER 2011. I AM COUNTING THE DAYS!!!!!