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Romance Reader at Heart announces the following new and upcoming releases from Random House. Read what we think about these books in our Novel Thoughts and Ponderings Review webpages!
Coming May 2008:
"THE QUEEN'S BASTARD" by C.E. Murphy FANTASY ISBN: 9780345494641 (DEL REY)
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Belinda Primrose is the queen's bastard—the illegitimate daughter of Lorraine, first queen to sit on the Aulunian throne. Religion has ripped apart the old world order, and with churches vying for power alongside princes and queens, Lorraiue must defend her throne against those who would wrest it away. She selects her most valuable weapon: Belinda, the daughter she has never acknowledged, trained from childhood in the covert art of assassination.
Now, fluent in languages and cold-blooded enough to take lives when she must, Belinda is able to take on any persona that will allow her to infiltrate the inner circles of her mother's enemies. But her spying takes a very different twist when she discovers her birthright has gifted her with magical powers her mother never knew—powers that enable her to attract the love of handsome young Prince Javier, whose throne her mother both fears and desires. And Belinda wonders—for the first time—whether she wants to seize power of her own.
"LAUGHING WITHOUT AN ACCENT" by Firoozeh Dumas FICTION ISBN: 9780345499561 (VILLARD)
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Firoozeh Dumas was born in Abadan, Iran, but moved with her family to California when she was seven. Two years later, her family returned to Iran, only to come back to the United States just a few years later. Perhaps it was this early yo-yo travel experience that sharpened her sense of cultural identity. Dumas's Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America established her reputation as a humorist; in fact, it made Dumas the first American of Middle Eastern heritage to be nominated ever for a James Thurber Award. Laughing Without an Accent brings us up to date on her life on both sides of the hyphen. Humorous, introspective musings.
"THE TENTH GIFT" by Jane Johnson FICTION ISBN: 9780307405227 (FICTION)
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In an expensive London restaurant Julia Lovat receives a gift that will change her life. It appears to be a book of exquisite 17th-century embroidery patterns but on closer examination Julia finds it also contains faint diary entries. In these, Cat Tregenna, an embroideress, tells how she and others were stolen out of a Cornish church in 1625 by Muslim pirates and taken on a brutal voyage to Morocco to be auctioned off as slaves.
Captivated by this dramatic discovery, Julia sets off to North Africa to determine the authenticity of the book and to uncover more of Cat’s story. There, in the company of a charismatic Moroccan guide, amid the sultry heat, the spice markets, and exotic ruins, Julia discovers buried secrets. And in Morocco—just as Cat did before her—she loses her heart.
Almost 400 years apart, the stories of the two women converge in an extraordinary and haunting manner that will make readers wonder—is history fated to repeat itself?
Find one you'd like to read? Find it the easy way, by searching Amazon.com!
