Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: September Statistics

 

Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

September was a very good month. There were 60 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants. There were 51 individual titles reviewed, written by 50 different authors. There were 5 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 13 or just 1.

You may not recall but in May and June this year we had months where there was no book that was reviewed more than once for the challenge! That is NOT the case this month! This is most I have seen for a long time.

There was one book that was reviewed 3 times during the month, which was The Heiress of Northanger Abbey, by challenge favourite Nancy Bilyeau, and it is a sequel of sorts to Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. This book was reviewed by Helen at She Reads Novels, Laura at Reading Books Again and Laura at Laura's Reviews

In addition, there were 5 other books that were reviewed twice.  They were

Cold Sunset by William Boyd - Third book in the William Dax series, reviewed by Helen at She Reads Novels and Cathy from What Cathy Read Next

The Housekeeper by Rose Tremain - An imagining of Daphne du Maurier's life which was read by Helen at She Reads Novels and Cathy at What Cathy Read Next

The Lost Perfumes of Paris by Australian author Christine Wells - This was read and reviewed by Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog and Laura from Laura's Reviews

The Newer World by Sebastian Barry - Reviewed by Helen at She Reads Novels and Cathy at What Cathy Read Next

The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon - Reviewed by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out and myself

The Witches of Cambridge by Alice Hoffman - review by Laura at Laura's Reviews and by Kim on Goodreads

In addition, there were two different books reviewed by Elizabeth Goudge. Both were reviewed by Barbara at Stray Thoughts reviewed both The Scent of Water and The Bird in the Tree which you can read here and here respectively.

If you enjoy reading Historical Fiction why not join us? You can find all the details here.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Hopewell's Library.

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge June Statistics (and for the first 6 months of the year!)

Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

In terms of the books read in June, there were 70 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 20 participants. There were 69 individual titles reviewed, written by 66 different authors. There were 5 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 11 or just 1.

So which book was reviewed more than once in June? 

Last year The Women by Kristin Hannah was the most reviewed book for the whole year. This month, it was reviewed by both Bree from All the Books I Can Read and by myself. This book certainly made both of us feel a lot! 

There were also two other authors who had more than one book reviewed. 

I reviewed The Diamond Eye and Margaret from Books Please reviewed Signal Moon which is a short story. Both are by Kate Quinn.

Bev from My Reader's Block has been working her way through the Redmond and Haze mystery series by Irina Shapiro and reviewed the first three books. They were Murder in the Crypt,  Murder at the Abbey and Murder at the Mill.

I wonder what books will be featured next month!

It is hard to believe but we are half way through the challenge already for 2025, so I thought it would be interesting to look at the stats for the first 6 months and see what stands out. 

So far this year there have been 366 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 32 participants. There have been 335 individual titles reviewed, written by 292 different authors. There are 3 reviewers who have reviewed 25 or more books each with Laura from Laura's Reviews having contributed an astonishing 53 reviews so far! Thank you to everyone who has shared their links with the challenge.

There are 3 books that have all been reviewed 3 times for the challenge. They are The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn, The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry and The Versailles Formula by Nancy Bilyeau.

Agatha Christie tops the list of authors who have been reviewed most with 10 reviews, followed by Kerry Greenwood who has been reviewed 6 times, and Kate Quinn and Patrice McDonough who have both been reviewed 4 times. 

And so far there have been 29 books reviewed that have the words death or murder in the title! What a bloodthirsty bunch of readers we are!

It will be interesting to see what changes over the next 6 months when I do the statistics for the whole year!

If you love historical fiction and reading challenges, it isn't too late to join us! All the details can be found in the sign up post.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April stats

 Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

In terms of the books read in March , there were 61 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants. There were 54 individual titles reviewed, written by 52 different authors. There were 6 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 6 or just 1.

So which books were reviewed more than once in April ? There were actually two books that were reviewed three times each, and then a further 3 books that were reviewed twice!

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry was reviewed by Jenia at Story for Dessert, Barbara at Stray Thoughts and at Laura's Reviews. Interestingly, there was also a short audio story called which was also written by this author, although this time the name it was published under was just Patti Callahan which Barbara also posted about!

The other book reviewed three times was Nancy Bilyeau's new book The Versailles Formula which was reviewed three times by Laura at Reading Books Again, Helen at She Reads Novels and by Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews.

The books that were reviewed twice were A Slash of Emerald by Patrice McDonough reviewed by Kim and Bev at My Reader's Block, Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall which was reviewed by Cathy from What Cathy Read Next and at Laura's Reviews. The third book was The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie which was reviewed by Shellie from Shellie Loves Books and Laura from Laura's Reviews.

There was also another Patrice McDonough book reviewed by Kim which was Murder by Lamplight.

Kerry Greenwood was the other author who was reviewed more than once this month with Bev at My Reader's Block reading both Blood and Circuses and The Castlemaine Murders. I also read a Kerry Greenwood book this month, but the review won't be up until next week...probably!

In other news, the shortlist for the Sir Walter Fiction Prize for Historical Fiction was announced in April, and they shared a cool video announcement

The shortlisted books are:


The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry
The Mare by Angharad Hampshire
The Book of Days by Francesca Kay
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

I know that we have a couple of participants in the challenge who are reading the nominated books. Have you read any of these?

I wonder what books will be featured next month!

If you love historical fiction and reading challenges, it isn't too late to join us! All the details can be found in the sign up post.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Top Ten Tuesday: Just Some of the Most Reviewed Books from the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Bookish Goals for 2024. However, don't really have that many goals, other than tryig to review all the historical fiction novels I read, and I am already behind on that goal! I am therefore going rogue and instead sharing some of the books that were reviewed multiple times during the 2023 Historical Fiction Challenge. On the weekend, I revealed  the book that was reviewed most during the challenge (five times) and the three books that were reviewed  four times. You can see those books here along with other statistics.

Today, I will be sharing the five books that were reviewed three times, and then five (out of the 75) books that were reviewed twice.

First off, here are five books that were reviewed three times:

A Marriage of Fortune by Anne O'Brien - It has been an age since I read any historical fiction with a medieval setting.

Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb - This book tells the story of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor - This sounds like a very interesting story

The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau - Love this cover!

The Romantic by William Boyd - This book was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

And here are five books  that were reviewed twice which I have picked for various reason to share today

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak - I loved, loved,loved this book when I read it a couple of years ago.

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane - This is another book that was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize. She is an Australian author, and I feel like she probably goes under the radar a little bit here.

Weyward by Emilia Hart - This was the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards for Historical Fiction in 2023.

The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson - I really liked this book when I read it last year.

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson - I keep on being reminded that I really need to read this book!

If you love historical fiction and reading challenges, why not join us. t's not too late to join this year's challenge. All the sign up details are here!

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - August statistics

  

Each month I share the statistics for the previous month for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I always find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! This month I have visited all the reviews (or at least I think I have). As a result I think I added at least three books to my TBR!

 

In terms of the books, it was a good month for reviews with 58 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants, which is a bit less than this time last year.  There were 56 individual titles reviewed, written by 52 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each this month. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 7 or just 1. 

Let's move onto the books. There were 2 books that were reviewed twice during August. They were:

Death Comes at the End by Agatha Christie was reviewed by both Helen at She Reads Novels and by Laura at Laura's Reviews. I had no idea Christie had written a mystery set in Ancient Egypt.

The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau was reviewed by Helen and also at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews

There were two authors who had multiple books reviewed this month.

Barbara at Stray Thoughts is a big fan of Roseanna  M White. This month she reviewed two titles (Dreams of Savannah and Yesterday's Tides). Laura also reviewed A Beautiful Disguise.

Cathy from What Cathy Read Next read two books by Madalyn Morgan. China Blue is the third book in the Dudley Sisters series and Chasing Ghosts is the sixth, but is the sequel to China Blue, if that makes sense?

It's not too late to join the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. The sign up post is here, and you can find the September linky to add your reviews here.

I am looking forward to seeing what people share during September. 

I am also sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books that were reviewed three times for the 2022 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week there is no set theme so I am going to focus on books that were reviewed three  times for the 2022 Historical Fiction reading challenge. 

On Sunday I shared the statistics for the 2022 challenge and highlighted five books that were the most reviewed during the year. You can see that post here.

There were, however, 16 books that were reviewed three times each and these are the books that I am going to focus on today. The question was how to get from 16 to 10. I didn't quite manage it, but here are 10 11 books that were reviewed three times for the 2022 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which also begin with the word "The".

The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews - This is the second book in the Belles of London series. The first book, The Sirens of Sussex was also reviewed 4 times.

The Brightest Star by Emma Harcourt - If you are looking for a change from WWII fiction, this book is set in Renaissance Italy.

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont - I wonder if we will ever know what happened to Agatha Christie when she disappeared for 11 days back in 1926.

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave - This book is set in 1518 and talks about the strange phenomenon of dancing women.

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn - It's not really a surprise to see Kate Quinn at the top of the list of books reviewed.

The Fugitive Colours by Nancy Bilyeau - This is the second book in Genevieve Planche series, set in 1700s London. 

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan - I am reading this one at the moment.

 The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews - Set in 1600's England during the Civil War

The Man in the Bunker by Rory Clements - This is the 6th book in the Tom Wilde series of historical thrillers set in WWII

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell - Maggie O'Farrell turns her attention to medieval Italy 

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd - This is the bonus book for this list. In theory, I am reading this at the moment.

It's not too late to sign up for this year's challenge. All the details can be found here. Whether you already love historical fiction or if you want to begin to explore the genre, you are most welcome to join us!

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge May stats

 

 

 

This year as part of the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge I am intending to provide some stats after each month and then at the end of the year I will do an overall wrap up for the year. That's the plan anyway. And today I am sharing a few stats about May.

During May there were 65 reviews shared by 23 participants. This month 6 of you have shared 5 or more reviews which is amazing! Well done and keep it up! 

In terms of the books, there were 58 individual titles reviewed, written by 54 different authors. 

Last month there were only 2 books that There were reviewed more than once. This month it is a differnt story with 6 books reviewed more than once. They were:

Natalie Jenner's Bloomsbuy Girls was review three times this month at Laura's Reviews, The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and at The Book Stop.

Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose by Alison Weir was reviewd at Carpe Librum and at Series Book Lover.

Another book to be review twice was The Fugitve Colours by Nancy Bilyeau. This book was reviewed at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and at She Reads Novels.

Helen at She Reads Novels also reviewed A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin, as did Janette at Witchyreading.

The Resistance Girl by Mandy Robotham was review at both Laura's Reviews and by Denise Newton.

The final book to be reviewed twice this month was from one of my favourites, Susanna Kearsley. Her book, The Vanished Days was reviewed by Helen at She Reads Novels and at Series Book Lover.

Other authors who were also reviewed more than once included Abir Mukherjee, Amor Towles, Joyce St Anthony and Leonard Goldberg.

It's not too late to join the challenge this year. You can find all the sign up details here and if you have a link to add to the challenge the June Linky can be found here.

The Chalice by Nancy Bilyeau

I don't think I have made any secret of the fact that I am a bit Tudored out and so I am being very selective about the books that I read that are set during the Tudor period of British history. When I saw that this book was coming out though, there was no question for me as to whether I would read this or not. Bilyeau's debut novel, The Chalice, which features a novice nun named Joanne Stafford who comes from a disgraced noble family was a good read for me last year but I did have some issues with the pacing.

Everything I enjoyed about The Crown was present, but The Chalice is by far the stronger book of the two. The pacing is strong and consistent, the mystery is interesting, the plot twists and turns, the historical facts are fascinating and the characters are captivating!

After the dissolution of the monasteries, former novice Joanna Stafford is trying to make a home for herself in the town of Dartford in Kent. It is difficult to be out in the community, especially given that the town isn't particularly welcoming to the former nuns and friars. In addition to the former sisters who share her life, Joanna also has custody of a young boy, Arthur, who is the son of her cousin who was executed for committing treason in the previous book.

Joanna knows that she needs to find a way to make a living and so has a plan to start producing tapestries. She just needs her loom to arrive from the low countries and she will be able to start working and live a nice, quiet life with the only dilemma for her being her love life. At the end of The Chalice things were kind of unresolved, which made sense given that Joanne had a religious vocation. She definitely felt a strong connection to Geoffrey Scovill, a constable that she met when he saved her from a mob at the beginning of the last book, and a strong emotional connection to Brother Edmund, the apothecary who is a constant in her life.

When her cousin and his wife suddenly show up in Dartford with an invitation for both Joanna and Arthur to visit with them, it is a surprise to Joanna. She has no intention of being drawn back into the world that comes with being a member of one of England's most infamous families and related to many of the other noble families like the Howards. Only agreeing to accompany her cousin as long as she does not have to attend Court, Joanna goes with them to London.

Despite her protests, Joanna is drawn into a complicated plot that relies strongly on a prophecy that concerns her.  Suddenly her quiet life is a long way behind her as she finds herself faced with the responsibility of trying to restore the Catholic faith to England. The last thing that Joanna wants is to fulfil the terms of the prophecy but  life conspires to bring Joanna to a place where she has very little choice.  The plot is constantly evolving and bringing Joanna into different situations, even having her travelling to Flanders. Joanna is not always blindly following fate, for want of a better word, especially once there are people starting to die around her. There were a couple of times when she did do a couple of things that had me shaking my head, but she is also able to find a resolution to the prophecy that enables her to be who she wants to be. I did find the resolution to be very interesting, especially with the way that Joanna was introduced to both Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard. I would think that Joanne will be back at court with everything that we know is going to happen regarding those two women in the future.

One of the pieces of history that I learned about during reading this book was about a law that was passed by Henry VIII that prevented anyone who had taken religious vows from being able to marry. Once again this left those former nuns and brothers with few options. They could no longer fulfil their religious obligations but they also could not become fully immersed in secular life either and it had very interesting implications for the story.

Once again, the book ends with some ambiguity in relation to Joanna's future. Which just left me with one major question when I finished the book ...when is the next one out?

Rating 4.5/5

Tour Details


Link to Tour Schedule: http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/thechalicevirtualtour/
Twitter Hashtag: #TheChaliceVirtualTour
Nancy Bilyeau's website.
Nancy Bilyeau on Facebook
Nancy Bilyeau on Twitter


Synopsis

In the next novel from Nancy Bilyeau after her acclaimed debut The Crown, novice Joanna Stafford plunges into an even more dangerous conspiracy as she comes up against some of the most powerful men of her era.

In 1538, England is in the midst of bloody power struggles between crown and cross that threaten to tear the country apart. Joanna Stafford has seen what lies inside the king’s torture rooms and risks imprisonment again, when she is caught up in a shadowy international plot targeting the King. As the power plays turn vicious, Joanna understands she may have to assume her role in a prophecy foretold by three different seers, each more omniscient than the last.

Joanna realizes the life of Henry VIII as well as the future of Christendom are in her hands—hands that must someday hold the chalice that lays at the center of these deadly prophecies…