Shelley, looks like we are both going to have great books for our 1st books of the New Year!

I've started Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow as one of my  #6 TBR Books. I'm about a 200 pages into the book & the way it's progressing, I'm going to start 2013 with a 5-star book!

Kelly

Hi, Kelly! I hope you enjoy your book. I've never heard of it, but then again, I'm totally out of the loop around here!  LOL!

Yes, Shelley...you are right. You can start it now as long as you don't finish it before midnight Monday night!  And unless you plan on reading continuously between now and then, I doubt you will finish Lionheart by that time!

Looks like I won't finish Prince by Rory Clements in 2012, so it will likely be my first book of 2013. Not sure which category I'll use it for...Maybe #4 Drawn and Quartered.  There is lots of torture in this series.

I read it years ago and loved it.

Linda

I read Veil of Pearls by MaryLu Tyndall. I am counting it as one from my TBR pile. I was going to cout it for the Ace catergory but apparently Ms. Tyndall was very busy in 2012. She wrote Veil of Pearls in July and another book in August.

Carolyn ~ I read North and South and Love and War in jr high. They were a lot of fun.

I read The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth, but I'm not sure if I'll put it in 4, 5 or 6. LOL Gotta read some more to figure out where this one will go. It was a good read, but not as good as the first book, River of Darkness. I highly recommend the latter to you all.

# 6, book from the TBR.  Received The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen back in September and listed it for the challenge.  Reading bits about the book, I was anxious to read it but waited patiently for 2013. 

Mary Bowser was a real person, born a slave, freed and educated in Philadelphia, she voluntarily returned to slavery in Richmond and became a spy in the Confederate "white house".  For me this novel provided a different look at slavery - slavery within the city of Richmond as opposed to the standard depiction on the plantations of the South.  We see the world of free blacks in Philadelphia - something new for me. 

I enjoyed the novel and would recommend it.  The premise is real - Mary Bowser did spy on the Jefferson Davis household but very little is actually known for sure.  I tend to wonder if the picture of Varina Davis is true, was the the information credited to Mary's spying real??  This being historical fiction one must accept that some of the story is by necessity, fiction.

Linda

i read The Spirit Well by Stephen Lawhead for my ace book. It is the newest in the Bright Empires series. I enjoyed it very much. Wilhemena Klug is one of my favorite characters. She is very sassy and fresh in a British sort of way. The beginning of the book included a really good summary of what has happened so far, and a character list. Very helpful when it has been a year since you read the last book. There is lots of adventure and a really good cliff hanger ending. There will be 2 more books in the series.

For my No. Four book, I read Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. A truly remarkable book that I expounded on more thoroughly in the January reading thread.

This will go down as one of the most memorable World War II books I've ever read - right up there with The Kitchen Boy, Sarah's Key, The Book Thief and older books like those wonderful ones by Leon Uris. In a mere 332 pages, the author crafts a story that is clever, very unique, compelling and heart-wrenching using the close friendship of two women as our beacon of hope and love against the dark misery of war.

Strongest recommendation!

Kelly

I'm using 1356:  Go With God but Fight Like the Devil by Bernard Cornwell for the "ace" card as it is the latest book out by this author.  My review and comments are in the January thread.

I finished my ace selection for the challenge, And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander, the 1st book in her Lady Emily Ashton mystery series.  I've wanted to start this series for a while, and I'll continue reading it.  I found it charming and thought the characters were fully developed and well written.  I rated it a B+.

Just completed 1356 by BC.  For the Ace category.

It was good, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood for never ending battle scenes.

Letty - I admit to skimming a lot of Cornwell's battle scenes.  They usually go on just a bit longer than I'd like.  In fact, I skim the battle scenes in most of the books I read!  All that matters to me is if anyone important died or was taken prisoner and who won.  LOL!

That is the ticket Shelley.

You mean you don't like to replay the scene in the book with toy soldiers like I do?  (Not really!)

For topic 6 in both the challenge and unchallenge, I read The Bughouse Affair by Muller and Pronzini.  I think that this book would fall more into the 'cozy Mystery" category but I really enjoyed it. i found myself laughing out loud at points and even though I figured it out before the end - it was close to the end before I did. i will read more by these authors!

For the "4" category where someone is tortured, I have chosen Martyr by Rory Clements.  It actually could have fit in a couple of categories, but I thought this one the best fit for me.  It was very well written and I was surprised to find that it was a debut book for this author.  Mr. Clemens was a former national newspaper journalist and I have to say it really shows.   Now I'm going to have to put the other books in this series on the wishlist!

LOL, Cheryl!  Perhaps if we ever get together to visit (we do live in the same state afterall), you and I could act out one of our favorite battle scenes with toy soldiers.  We could dig up some Barbies to be the ladies tucked safely away in the castle!

Shelley: My grandaughter has lots of "My LIttle Ponies" that we could borrow for the knights to ride!