History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

The Queen’s Command Author: Sarah Raughley Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense  Publisher: HarperCollins Book Release Date: October 20, 2026 Pages: 378 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : The Inheritance Games meets Bridgerton in the riveting companion novel to The Queen's Spade , where our heroine must play a deadly game and risk everything to get to the truth that’s poisoning Victorian England’s royal court.          Favored by Queen Victoria, Vicky Davies has survived royal courts, financial ruin, and the loss of her mother, Sarah Forbes Bonetta — the famous African princess turned royal goddaughter — but Cheltenham Ladies’ College is about to test her in new and wicked ways.         Every Thursday evening, the senior girls play a secret game and Vicky just became their latest pawn. Truths must be confessed, commands obeyed, and whoever c...

Try Before You Trust: To All Gentlewomen and Other Maids in Love  Author: Constance Briones Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Historium Press Book Release Date: 2024 Pages: 293 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : What if Taylor Swift found herself penning songs about love in Elizabethan England when women were required to be chaste, obedient, and silent?          Isabella Whitney, an ambitious and daring eighteen-year-old maidservant turned poet, sets out to do just that. Having risked reputation and virtue by allowing her passions for her employer's aristocratic nephew to get the better of her, Isabella Whitney enters the fray of the pamphlet wars, a scurrilous debate on the merits of women. She's determined to make her mark by becoming the first woman to write a poem defending women in love, highlighting the deceptive practices of the men who woo them. Her journey to publication is frau...

The Witches of Cambridge  Author: Alice Hoffman Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery & Suspense  Publisher: Scribner Book Release Date: September 8, 2026 Pages: 416 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : The brand-new series from the bestselling author of Practical Magic , following two brilliant young women in 1950s Cambridge, Massachusetts, as they become immersed in a mysterious secret group of witches at Radcliffe known as the Lilith Society.        Once upon a time, women were drowned in the river and the only witnesses were the crows in the trees. The Puritans blamed Eve for the sins of the world. That was when we began to meet in the name of Lilith, Adam’s first wife—banished for refusing to do as she was told.         We Fly Together…          By the 1950s, Cambridge, Massachusetts feels far re...

The Tragic Life of Lady Jane Grey Author: Beverley Adams Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography  Publisher: Pen and Sword History  Book Release Date: 2024 Pages: 224 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : Explores the life and tragic fate of Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day queen of England, examining her role amid the political chaos following King Edward VI's death and her contested claim to the throne.           Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day queen is considered to be one of the most tragic characters in English history. In July 1553 when King Edward VI died at the age of just 15 years old, the Tudor dynasty fell into chaos. The king had no legitimate male heirs and was determined his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth would not inherit his throne, despite his father Henry VIII stating in his will that they should. We are led to believe that on Edward's instructions his cousin Lady Jane Grey was to b...

The Family Behind the Girl Scouts of America: Lives of the Kinzie-Gordon Clan, 1750s-1950s  Author: Melissa Langley Biegert Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography  Publisher: McFarland Book Release Date: July 24, 2026 Pages: 323 Source: This book was given to me by the Publicist in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : In 1912, Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low launched what became one of the 20th century's most successful organizations for girls, eclipsing the generations of male politicians, business leaders, and scoundrels who had brought prosperity and notoriety to her family. Her parents' marriage united two leading American families--the Northern Kinzies and the Southern Gordons--and nearly ruptured because of the U.S. Civil War, yet their unwavering love and support, as well as that of her siblings, helped her to overcome physical challenges and a scandalous divorce battle that shocked Victorian society.        Spanning 200 years across ...

The Queen’s Spade Author: Sarah Raughley Genre: YA, Historical Fiction  Publisher: HarperCollins Book Release Date: 2025 Pages: 415 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : In this riveting historical thriller inspired by true-life events, Belladonna meets Bridgerton as revenge, romance, and twisted secrets take center stage in Victorian England’s royal court when Sally, a kidnapped African princess and goddaughter to Queen Victoria, plots her way to take down the monarchy that stole her from her homeland.        A young lady can take only so many injuries before humiliation and insult forge a vow of revenge. . . .        The year is 1862 and murderous desires are simmering in England. Nineteen-year-old Sarah Bonetta Forbes (Sally), once a princess of the Egbado Clan, desires one thing above all else: revenge against the British Crown and its system of colonial "humanitarianism,...