It's Friday again. Welcome to Free Bits.
Thanks to Ginger Simpson for letting me join in the fun
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Click on cover to go to KINDLE buy page and read more reviews.
In the early 1800s the penal colony of Botany Bay was an unforgiving and
harsh place. Isabella O'Shea is transported to New South Wales for
wounding a member of the British aristocracy who raped her, so it is
understandable that she loathes members of the upper class and the
system that punished her; sentenced her to seven years transportation.
Tiger Carstairs is rich, ambitious and English-so is it any wonder she is determined to hate her new master. Tiger dreams of making a new life beyond the aptly named Blue Mountains, so called because of the perpetual haze of blue surrounding them.
Mystic Mountains is a story of courage and persistence-traits that were essential for the settlers who carved out a new life in a raw land where suffering and heartbreak were commonplace.
Tiger Carstairs is rich, ambitious and English-so is it any wonder she is determined to hate her new master. Tiger dreams of making a new life beyond the aptly named Blue Mountains, so called because of the perpetual haze of blue surrounding them.
Mystic Mountains is a story of courage and persistence-traits that were essential for the settlers who carved out a new life in a raw land where suffering and heartbreak were commonplace.
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Ignoring the
others as they tossed ribald jokes about the armed soldiers back and forth,
Isabella tidied her hair as best she could with her fingers. How she longed for
a bath; she'd give her right arm to be able to sink herself into a tub of warm
fresh clear water instead of salt water.
"All
right, enough primping," a guard said, smirking as he poked her on the
shoulder. "Up you get and go over to the table when your name's called. No
hustling, an' behave yourselves. You never know, the guvner his self may pick
you." One of his comrades gave him a dig in the ribs and they both
chortled.
Isabella
let the contempt she felt for him show as she picked up her bundle and slowly
rose. If she didn't know she would get clapped in irons she'd spit in his ugly
pig's eyes.
The
women shuffled about, and the baby began to bawl loudly. Isabella spotted
Dougal among the crewmen who'd just unloaded some cargo from one of the
longboats.
Her friend was frowning and she sent him a wan smile. He looked
about, then waved discreetly, mouthing, "You all right?"
Isabella
nodded warily. Would she ever be all right again? Had she ever been all right
in her whole life? At nineteen she sometimes felt as if she'd lived a hundred
years; most of them with an empty stomach, and heavy heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
"I really loved this book (previously published as Blue Haze but
re-published as Mystic Mountains). It was like Pride and
Prejudice...ooops, I mean Arrogance and Obstinacy, meets the Thorn Birds
in 1818 Australia. I love realistically flawed characters--perfect
romance H/h's are such bores--and both of these were so realistically
flawed, the way their life experiences from their past hard-scrabble
youth carried over to lead to inappropriate and sometimes foolish
judgments in their present was so well developed into the plot of this
book. Now I shouldn't love it as much as I did. There were a few
things in this book that I really hated, but I can't say without
spoilers, that should have made me downgrade my rating--however, any
book that keeps me up to 3:30 AM to finish, because I just can't put it
down, definitely rates five-stars. This is also the kind of book that
will make the next few books I read seem like they don't measure up."
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Tricia McGill is an outstanding author who writes with passion and
clarity. I've read many of her books and loved every one."
Great choice of paragraphs Tricia! Happy Easter, have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteWonderful 6, Tricia! Have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeleteYour character sounds like she's in a really tough place. Good choice of paragraphs.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. This is fun. Hope you're having a lovely weekend.
ReplyDeleteI love this book...of course I'm a Tricia McGill fan...even on Pinterest now. :) Good choice and thanks for playing along.
ReplyDeleteA great six! I could feel Isabella's emotional pain...
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I missed a day somehow this week and forgot to post my new freebits yesterday. Forgot it was Friday. Sorry about that Ginger. Will try to be more prompt next week.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this book. Gritty detail and likeable characters. And the setting was fascinating.
ReplyDelete