Happy Monday lovelies! It’s that time again!
Calendar Girls Post time!
What is Calendar Girls?
Calendar Girls is a monthly book group, formed by Flavia and Melanie, inspired by the song Calendar Girl by Neil Sedaka. This lovely group votes on a monthly theme to center a blog post around (first Monday of the month) and then discusses these posts on Twitter about two weeks later (third Sunday of the month). If this sounds interesting to you, please give Melanie and Flavia a visit and let them know you would like to join!
For the month of August our theme is Best Historical Fiction Novel. This means that our post today is about our own personal favorites as far as Historical Fiction goes. We will be discussing our choices on Twitter at 8 p.m. est. on Sunday, August 20 with the hash tag #CGBChat.
We will also be having a read along together for a Historical Fiction Novel called My Lady Janeby Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows! This will be hosted by Flavia on on her blog.
Schedule
August 1, 2017 : Start reading!
August 9, 2017 : Chap 1 – 8
August 16, 2017 : Chap 9 – 15
August 23, 2017 : Chap 16 – 23
August 30, 2017 : Chap 24 – 30
Click here to read the announcement and sign-up post! If you will be joining, please be sure to sign up (using the image saying “sing up” which will lead you to a Google Forms sign-up page). Your information will not be shared with anyone, but is mainly for me to keep track of who’s participating, and also who is who regarding blogs, email, and Twitter.
P.s. Just because it’s called Calendar ‘Girls’ doesn’t mean only girls can join!
Best Historical Fiction Novel Contenders:
I’ve decided to try to mention a few contenders each time I do a Calendar Girls Post. The contenders for the August theme are as follows:
Jackaby by William Ritter is a recent read and it was hilariously entertaining. Though it is categorized as a Historical Fiction Novel, it was more supernatural than historical, so it is a contender, but not my first choice.
The Mists of Avalon will always be one of my favorite books. It has an original twist on the story of King Arthur and Lady Morgaine. Though it is a Historical Fiction contender, again, it feels more fiction than historical, as there are still doubts if King Arthur ever existed.
Alex and Eliza was such a cute love story! It is definitely a contender for top Historical Fiction because it is about an actual relationship built during the American Revolution. I adored this book and thought the story was both historically accurate and real feeling.
Saved the best contender for last. Stalking Jack The Ripper is in VERY close second with my top choice. Kerri did an exceptional job with researching the time period and the serial killer and adding as many historical details as possible to the book. The only reason this one is not my top choice is because my top choice has just a bit more historical accuracy to it.
Best Historical Fiction Novel:
And, without further ado, my choice for Best Historical Fiction Novel is…
Good Reads Synopsis: London, April 1812. On the eve of eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall’s presentation to the queen, one of her family’s housemaids disappears-and Helen is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons infiltrating every level of society. Dare she ask for his help, when his reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her intelligence and headstrong curiosity wind up leading them into a death trap?
The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman is a spectacular fantasy/supernatural/historical fiction book! You can find my full review here. The reason for my choice is that Alison spent a tremendous amount of time researching the time period and historical events, and used such elegant prose to portray the imagery of the fashion of the time period. From page one I felt like I was in London of 1812, and even with the fantasy aspects of the story, it felt real! This one had just the right amount of “historical” and “make-believe” to satisfy the reader in me!
My Instagram book group and I (The Literary Piratesses) actually decided to form our group when we agreed to read this book together. It was so good that we immediately jumped in to book 2 and have plans to read book 3 as soon as it is released! We are all lovers of Victorian and Regency London and all agree that the historical aspects of this series far surpass anything we have read before!
Darque Dreamer
Blogger/ Punk Rocker / Quirky Housewife
I love historical fiction and I haven’t heard of The Dark Days Club! It sounds so good! Adding it to my TBR!
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Oh, you will love it! My book group and I have already decided to be Alison’s unofficial street team because we loved the first two books so much!
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Jackaby sounds so good! I added it to my TBR. Also I loved Stalking Jack the Ripper! What an amazing book!! The Dark Days Club has been on my TBR for a while, but I am definitely going to bump it up! I’ve been really into historical fiction lately, and I’m sure to love it!
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Jackaby was HILARIOUS!! I am wanting to bump up all the books in the series because it was so good! SJTR is one of my favorites and if you loved it you will LOVE The Dark Days Club!!
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You chose your top pick for the same reason I chose my top pick – being well researched! Thanks for sharing so many wonderful books I must look into now, I’d not heard of any of these but I want to look them all up.
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You will have to let me know if you pick any of them up! I think committing to the research is a bid part in making a historical fiction novel so great! 🙂
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I added them to my want to read list on goodreads!
Research is huge in historical fiction, I want to write a historical fiction novel but haven’t been able to make myself do the research yet haha.
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Research can be daunting, which is why it is so awesome to find an author that deeply researches their subjects. I think you will get to it when the time is right. 🙂
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Love your choice and the name of your IG read group!!!
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Thanks!! Hopefully they will be emailing me their contact info soon so I can introduce them on my blog!
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There are some gorgeous covers there, with very intriguing stories!
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Have you read any of them?
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This is such a you book! Have you ever read Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle series?
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I have not but I will add it to my TBR now!! Did you love the series?
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I personally didn’t like it very much, but it seems like something you might enjoy.
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Well I will certainly look it up! 🙂
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You have been tagged for the Unique Blogger Award! : ) https://twogalsandabook.com/
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Oh, all 3 books on your list, apart from The Mists of Avalon (which I’ve already read) & Alex and Eiza (which idk I’m not rly interested in), were on my tbr pile for ages!!!! I’m so glad to see you enjoyed them this much so I can bump them up higher :>>>>
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Jackaby and Stalking Jack The Ripper are amazing!! You will not be disappointed!
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Added them both to my tbr pile! Hopefully it won’t take me too long to get to them 😮
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Once you start them you will not be able to put them down!! I can’t wait to see what you think!
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U keep making it more & more appealing!!
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🙂
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ahhhHHH! I smiled so much reading your post! I am dyiiiing! to join in on Calendar Girls so I am patiently waiting for a book I haven’t read yet 😉 I ADORED My Lady Jane & the hours of laughter it gifted me. I also love historical Fiction & seeing it in YA has been so friggin awesome! I’ll be reading Stalking Jack The Ripper VERY soon (like in the next week or so lol). I’ve had The Dark Days Club on my TBR for way too long! it has my name written all over it haha! Wonderful list! ❤ ❤ ❤
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Join us!!! Click on the links at the top to Flavia or Melanie’s page and give them a shout! It’s really not time consuming, but it is so fun and all the girls in the group are incredible!! And there is no pressure to post each month. We write a blog post on the first Monday of each month for our pick of the theme. Next month is best ya contemporary i think. And the 3rd Sunday of each month we chat on twitter at 8 est.
I cannot wait to see what you think of Stalking Jack The Ripper and The Dark Days Club!! OMG they were awesome!! I am enjoying My Lady Jane so far!
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I really need to check this one out. Great feedback!
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Thanks! You should check it out and let me know what you think!
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Ooooo I read a sneakpeek of this back when I started blogging. But something about it didn’t draw me in…despite the time period. Maybe I need to give it another shot!
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I think a lot of people were turned away by the slower pace, but I read it with my IG book group and we loved it because there is so much detail to the time period, and it truly feels like it could be a classic like Pride and Prejudice.
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