Blog Tour Review: Promised to the Crown by Aimie K. Runyan

From the Back Cover:

Bound for a new continent, and a new beginning.

In her illuminating debut novel, Aimie K. Runyan masterfully blends fact and fiction to explore the founding of New France through the experiences of three young women who, in 1667, answer Louis XIV’s call and journey to the Canadian colony.

They are known as the filles du roi, or “King’s Daughters”—young women who leave prosperous France for an uncertain future across the Atlantic. Their duty is to marry and bring forth a new generation of loyal citizens. Each prospective bride has her reason for leaving—poverty, family rejection, a broken engagement. Despite their different backgrounds, Rose, Nicole, and Elisabeth all believe that marriage to a stranger is their best, perhaps only, chance of happiness.

Once in Quebec, Elisabeth quickly accepts baker Gilbert Beaumont, who wants a business partner as well as a wife. Nicole, a farmer’s daughter from Rouen, marries a charming officer who promises comfort and security. Scarred by her traumatic past, Rose decides to take holy vows rather than marry. Yet no matter how carefully she chooses, each will be tested by hardship and heartbreaking loss—and sustained by the strength found in their uncommon friendship, and the precarious freedom offered by their new home.

My Thoughts:

I've read a few novels set in French Canada, or New France, as it was known back then, and it's a setting that really appeals to me, so I was looking forward to Promised to the Crown, especially since the focus is on the little-known story of the courageous women who ventured into the unknown to settle the colony for their king.

The story follows Rose as she decides to leave behind a life of service in a charity hospital in Paris for the chance of a brighter future, and Elisabeth and Nicole, two women she meets on the ocean crossing. All three settle in Quebec City and have each other to rely on as they establish their new lives. They and their fellow brides have no shortage of suitors to choose from, and Elisabeth and Nicole are soon paired off with young men who appeal to their hearts as well as their practical needs. But Rose is not as fortunate, realizing that she doesn't really want to be a wife and mother, and she contemplates a life devoted to God. Over the course of the next seven years, Rose, Elisabeth, and Nicole forge new paths for themselves. Far from their families, they form new ones, both with their husbands and with each other. Though they will face adversity, tragedy, and disaster, the strength of their friendship remains a constant in a shifting new world.

Blog Tour Guest Post from Sherryl Caulfield, Author of Seldom Come By

Please join me in welcoming author Sherryl Caulfield to Let Them Read Books! Sherryl is touring the blogosphere with the first book in her Iceberg Trilogy, Seldom Come By, and today she joins us to discuss this historical romance set in Newfoundland on the eve of WWI. Read on to learn more about the icebergs that inspire Sherryl and her heroine, Rebecca, and enter to win one of five autographed copies of Seldom Come By!






Many people are surprised to discover my novel is set in Newfoundland, a harsh climate on the edge of the Atlantic, frozen and wind-pummelled for many months of the year. In 1914, two years after the sinking of the Titanic, Newfoundland was once again in the news after two nautical accidents claimed the lives of 251 sealers. The place should almost come with its own warning sign. It doesn’t strike you as a romantic place of grandeur or intrigue or conflict in the traditional sense. Yet it is and it was. For off the coast of Newfoundland are icebergs – treacherous icebergs, yes – but magnificent icebergs all the same – white towering peaks piercing the skyline, aqua blue meltwater trailing down glittering sides, mythical creatures revealed in icy magnitude.

For me, and my soon to be fifteen-year-old heroine, Rebecca Crowe, icebergs represent something magical; a sign of lightness in the darkness, a sign of hope and endless possibilities. For Rebecca icebergs are the most exciting spectacle in the months of monotony and mediocrity that mark her year. In the spring of 1914, Rebecca, who lives and breathes longing, is looking out to sea, yearning for an iceberg, multiple icebergs, when she discovers a shipwrecked sailor and her world is never the same again.

Nineteen-year-old Samuel Dalton, near death, with his blonde straggly hair and his out-of-this-world smile and his far-flung experiences and talk of nude Rodin sculptures and the teal waters of the Caribbean, is like no one Rebecca has ever imagined, let alone met. The summer Samuel stays with them, recovering from his misadventure at sea, ignoring requests from his brother, Matthew, to come home to Toronto, is the most exciting summer of Rebecca’s life. And then war breaks out.

Becoming a Writer by M.K. Tod ~ Blog Tour Guest Post: Unravelled

Please join me in welcoming debut author M.K. Tod to Let Them Read Books! M.K. is touring the blogosphere with her very first novel, Unravelled, and I'm pleased to have her here today talking about her decision to start writing. Those of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter already know that I was privileged to work with Mary in bringing this gorgeous novel to publication. It's an elegant and poignant story of marriage and war, and I am proud to say that I contributed to it editorially, and I designed the cover. I'm a bit biased, but I'm in love with it! Read on to discover what inspired M.K. to write this novel and enter to win a copy of Unravelled!

In October 1935, Edward Jamieson's memories of war and a passionate love affair resurface when an invitation to a WWI memorial ceremony arrives. Though reluctant to visit the scenes of horror he has spent years trying to forget, Edward succumbs to the unlikely possibility of discovering what happened to Helene Noisette, the woman he once pledged to marry.

Travelling through the French countryside with his wife Ann, Edward sees nothing but reminders of war. After a chance encounter with Helene at the dedication ceremony, Edward's past puts his present life in jeopardy.

When WWII erupts a few years later, Edward is quickly caught up in the world of training espionage agents, while Ann counsels grieving women and copes with the daily threats facing those she loves. And once again, secrets and war threaten the bonds of marriage.

With events unfolding in Canada, France and England, UNRAVELLED is a compelling novel of love, duty and sacrifice set amongst the turmoil of two world wars.

Becoming a Writer

by M.K. Tod

Summer 2004 changed my life. In July of that year, my husband’s firm asked him to consider a
three-year assignment to Hong Kong. We hesitated only long enough to consult with our children and mothers, then plunged into planning a move, riding the waves of euphoria for the next few months. Everything seemed full of possibilities.

By March 2005 the bite of reality had set in. Excitement had been replaced by loneliness and intense feelings of dislocation. Although I had found a few women to hang out with, my laptop had become my best friend as I wrote newsy notes about living in Asia to those back home and waited anxiously for replies. Friends told me they enjoyed my emails; one of them said I should write a book. A book. Hmmm.