THE WINNERS! #TuesdayBookBlog #RBRT Bookreview team presents: The Gold & Silver 2016 Book Awards

The Winners!#RBRT Rosie’s Book Review Team presents: The Gold & Silver Rose Awards 2016

 

*Cough* … On behalf of my team, I’m delighted to announce the winners and runners-up in the #RBRT 2016 book awards!

Books were selected from the several hundred submitted to our team for review over the past year, with the 24 finalists voted for by the reviewing team. These finalists were then offered up to the public for voting. Congratulations to the 8 winners and runners up!

A click of the book’s title will take you to Goodreads, where you can see reviews, and also leads to the Amazon, etc, buy links.

 

Fantasy / SciFi/ Horror

Winner: The Prince’s Man by Deborah Jay

Runner-up: Passing Notes by D G Driver

Historical Fiction

Winner: The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James

Runner-Up: Back Home by Tom Williams

Mystery Thriller

Winner: On Lucky Shores by Kerry J Donovan

Runner-Up: Rack & Ruin  by Carol Hedges

Contemporary

Winner: The Disobedient Wife by Annika M Stanley

Runner-Up: Scotch On The Rocks by Lizzie Lamb

 

Congratulations to all the following finalists:

The Black Orchid by Celine Jean-Jean

Blood Of The Sixth by K R Rowe

Flesh by Dylan J Morgan

The Final Virus by Carol Hedges

La Petite Boulain by G Lawrence

When Doves Fly by Lauren Gregory

Jasper by Tony Riches

The Code For Killing by William Savage

Trust Me I Lie by Louise Marley

Wings Of Mayhem by Sue Coletta

Murder at the Lighthouse by Frances Evesham

Trust Me by Earl Javorsky

What Jennifer Knows by Wendy Janes

The Bad Girl by L Donsky-Levine

Silent Water by Jan Ruth

The Brazilian Husband by Rebecca Powell

Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT BACK HOME by Tom Williams @TomCW99 #fridayreads #Histfic

Today’s Team Review is from Judith she blogs at http://judithbarrowblog.com/

Judith has been reading Back Home by Tom Williams

My Review:

This is a brilliant read; a fascinating story tale of mystery in the slums of Victorian London.  And the research done by Tom Williams into the social, business, industrial changes of this era and the study of the environment of both city and countryside is both obvious and admirable

 As this is the third of John Williamson’s story and, as I have yet to read the first two books, I appreciated the explanatory Foreword; a very useful summary for the reader a good account of the protagonist’s previous life and background that immediately brings the character to life. It made it easier for me to begin to understand his motivations and decisions.

 Told in the first person point of view of the protagonist this is a man who has lived for many years in different countries and, although now rich and respected, his return to Britain becomes fraught with many dangers.

 The dialogue, especially the internal dialogue of John Williamson is excellent. Although, in many circumstances, ‘showing’ any action, detailing parts of a story, is a preferable way of writing, in this novel the ‘telling ‘ is essential and adds to rounding out the character. And the dialogue and language of the other characters give a real flavour of the era and their status in society.

 The sense of place is evoked succinctly through both the words of the protagonist and the descriptions; the atmosphere of despair, the bleakness of the world of these characters, the depths of poverty, conspiracies and lack of morals underpins the whole of the book. There is even an appearance of Karl Marx to add authenticity to the times.

I loved everything about Back Home and have no hesitation in recommending this book.

Buying Links:

 Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/1qFA3Xw

 Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/1Vg0kbG

Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT BACK HOME by Tom Williams @TomCW99 #TuesdayBookBlog #HistFic

Today’s Team Review is from Terry, she blogs at http://terrytylerbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/

Terry has been reading Back Home by Tom Williams

BACK HOME by Tom Williams

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber’s Review Team

I loved this book. Although the third part of a trilogy, it is a complete stand-alone (I haven’t read the other parts), with a two page preface that gives exactly the right information about what has happened before; this is so well written that I couldn’t wait to get cracking on the main story.

Back Home is an excellent piece of intricately researched historical fiction, set in the mid-19th century, when affluent, middle class John Williamson returns home from thirty years in Borneo and India to find England a place that has gone through much change. Circumstances take him to London, where he becomes involved with the murky, criminal side of life in order to rescue a friend from danger—and because he is being blackmailed.

I enjoyed every word of this novel. It’s so cleverly written, with low-key humour in parts, the research used subtly and unobtrusively. Williamson’s new life centres around an underground industry; the detail about this is fascinating, as are the eye-opening accounts of life in early Victorian slums. That aside, I loved reading about his impressions of this new London, his observations about the sociological changes and patterns, and the people he meets. Even the mundane domestic detail held my attention a hundred per cent.

I shall be reading the previous book, Cawnpore, very soon, and highly recommend this novel to all lovers of intelligent historical fiction. Really impressed!

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com