Whenever I sit down to write these wrap up posts, the first decision to make is what my strategy is going to be in deciding which books and reviews to highlight. This month it is relatively straight forward – the reviews I am going to highlight will be for books that haven’t already been featured in any of the previous monthly wrap up posts.

Before that though, I will mention the other books that were reviewed during the month as there aren’t that many of them. The book that received the most individual reviews was Taking A Chance by Deborah Burrows which was reviewed three times. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman which were both reviewed twice during the month of June.  The other two books that were reviewed were The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth and The Railwayman’s Wife by Ashley Hay.

Which brings us to the books that have been reviewed for the challenge that we haven’t yet featured.

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Heidi from Heidi Reads reviewed Miles Off Course by Sulari Gentill. This author was one that was introduced to me through the challenge last year when she was one of the most reviewed authors for the whole year. Heidi’s exuberant review starts off by saying that “I am recommending the series to even more people than last time” which has to be promising!

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As much as I love hearing about new historical fiction that readers are discovering, it is also great when older books get some attention too. Over at Writereaderly we were treated to a review of Shirley Hazzard’s The Great Fire where it was proclaimed that it “feels like the best book I have read in an age.”

It is a delicate, finely honed novel, with simply gorgeous turns of phrase and contemplation. Somehow, I think of it as dignified.

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Monique at Write Note Reviews read and reviewed The French Promise, which is the sequel to 2012’s The Lavender Keeper by Fiona McIntosh. In summary she wrote:

This book confirms McIntosh as one of my must-read authors in the historical/contemporary adventure romance genre. I have also read and reviewed fantasy standalone The Scrivener’s Tale (fantasy is not really my thing, usually) and for those who love fantasy, check out her works – she writes adventure that packs a punch. In the case of The French Promise, the punch was emotional – the gut-wrenching/heart-breaking variety. A truly beautiful and absorbing book, I want to read it again. Sooner, rather than later.

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A new release this month was Kim Kelly’s  This Red Earth which received a glowing review from Brenda at Goodreads, with particular praise for her description of the setting of the book. In summary, Brenda said:

With its secrets, love and heartbreak, harshness of the countryside and devastation of war, I have no hesitation in recommending this fantastic book to everyone.

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Rochelle Sharp from Inside My Worlds chose to review The Heiresses by Allison Rushby as part of her regular Spotlight Sunday series. This is a young adult book set in the 1920s that sounds like a lot of fun. Rochelle wrote:

What a roller coaster ride this was, so full of twist and turns and surprise after surprise, and the drama, oh the drama!

It seems that this book was actually a series of novellas that has been collected into one story, so it would be interesting to see how that holds together in terms of plot.

lighthouse bay freeman

The final book that meets my criteria for this month was Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman which I reviewed. I am not going to quote from my own review but I will summarise by saying I loved it, and I can’t wait for Kimberley Freeman’s next book to come out.

You can find more of the historical fiction reviews at any time by clicking on the Historical Fiction Weebly page.

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Marg has long been an avid reader of all genres but especially historical fiction. She has very strong memories of reading through the entire collection of Jean Plaidy novels in the school library and still loves to read about all different eras and locations. Marg has been blogging about all different genres and other things at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader for more than 7 years, and was a founding member of Historical Tapestry, a group blog that has been focusing only on Historical Fiction for more than 5 years. You can tweet to her either @margreads or @historytapestry.