Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books

Every Sunday Tanzanite highlights books that will be released during the upcoming week.  She hopes you will find something you will enjoy!

The Wild Princess by Mary Hart Perry.  US and UK release July 31, 2012.

Four of the five daughters of England's Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were regal, genteel, and everything a princess should be. But one was rebellious, scandalous, and untamed.

This is her story. . . .

To the court and subjects of Queen Victoria, young Princess Louise—later the Duchess of Argyll—was the "Wild One." Proud and impetuous, she fought the constraints placed on her and her brothers and sisters, dreamed of becoming an artist, and broke with a three-hundred-year-old tradition by marrying outside of the privileged circle of European royals. Some said she wed for love. Others whispered of a scandal covered up by the Crown. It will take a handsome American, recruited by the queen's elite Secret Service, to discover the truth. But even as Stephen Byrne—code name the Raven—vows to risk his life to protect the royal family from violent Irish radicals, he tempts Louise with a forbidden love that could prove just as dangerous.

In the vein of Philippa Gregory, Mary Hart Perry tells the riveting story of an extraordinary woman—a princess who refused to give up on her dreams, including her right to true love.

Spy for the Queen of Scots by Theresa Breslin.  Young Adult.  UK release August 2, 2012.

As lady-in-waiting to Mary, Queen of Scots, the beautiful Ginette - known as Jenny - is the young queen's closest childhood friend. Growing up in the elegant but ruthless French court, surrounded by enemies and traitors - not least the jealous, manipulative Catherine de Medici, and Mary's own scheming half-brother, James - Jenny has always been fiercely loyal to her mistress. But when she overhears a mysterious whispered plot, closely followed by several unexplained deaths at court, she puts her own life in danger and turns spy for Mary.

Jenny quickly realises not a soul at court can be trusted, and when she and Mary return to their Scottish homeland for Mary to claim her throne, they face even greater peril. Desperate to protect her friend from those who would slit her throat to steal her crown, while battling her feelings for the charismatic nobleman Duncan Alexander, Jenny becomes embroiled in a dangerous web of secrets, betrayals and lies.

The King's Spy by Andrew Swanston.  US and UK release August 2, 2012.

Summer, 1643 England is at war with itself. King Charles I has fled London, his negotiations with Parliament in tatters. The country is consumed by bloodshed. For Thomas Hill, a man of letters quietly running a bookshop in the rural town of Romsey, knowledge of the war is limited to the rumours that reach the local inn. When a stranger knocks on his door one night and informs him that the king's cryptographer has died, everything changes. Aware of Thomas' background as a mathematician and his expertise in codes and ciphers, the king has summoned him to his court in Oxford. 

On arrival, Thomas soon discovers that nothing at court is straightforward. There is evidence of a traitor in their midst. Brutal murder follows brutal murder. And when a vital message encrypted with a notoriously unbreakable code is intercepted, he must decipher it to reveal the king's betrayer and prevent the violent death that failure will surely bring.

Machiavelli by Joseph Markulin.  US and UK release August 1, 2012.

As the author of The Prince, Machiavelli’s name has become synonymous with the work of the devil, with the brutal exercise of power, and with immorality. Nothing could be further from the truth. In this richly told historical novel, the life of the much vilified philosopher comes to vivid life The historical Machiavelli is a diabolically clever but mild mannered, conscientious civil servant who struts upon the same stage as heavyweights like Florence’s Medici family, the nefarious and perhaps incestuous Borgias, the artists Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo and the doomed prophet Savonarola.   His is an adventure story replete with violence, treachery, heroism, betrayal, sex, corrupt popes, noble outlaws, deformed kings, menacing Turks, even more menacing Lutherans, unscrupulous astrologers, untrustworthy dentists—and, of course, true love.

Imprisoned, tortured and ultimately abandoned, Machiavelli nevertheless remains the sworn enemy of tyranny and a lifelong champion of freedom and the republican form of government. Idealistic to the point of impracticality, he pays a dear price for his convictions. Out of the cesspool that was Italian Renaissance politics, only one name is still uttered today—that of Niccolo Machiavelli.