The Coffee Pot Book Club presents: Sword Brethren by Jon Byrne

Book Title: Sword Brethren

Series: The Northern Crusader Chronicles

Author: Jon Byrne

Publication Date: 28th November 2024

Publisher: The Book Guild

Pages: 416

Genre: Historical Fiction (Action/Adventure)

Any Triggers: There are several mild profanities, a non-graphic rape scene and several descriptions of battle and death.

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/01/blog-tour-sword-brethren-by-jon-byrne.html 

Sword Brethren 

by Jon Byrne

1242. After being wounded in the Battle on the Ice, Richard Fitz Simon becomes a prisoner of Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod. Alexander, intrigued by his captive’s story, instructs his scholar to assist Richard in writing about his life.

Richard’s chronicle begins in 1203, when his training to be a knight is disrupted by treachery. He is forced to flee England for Lübeck, where he begins work for a greedy salt merchant. After an illicit love affair, his new life is thrown into turmoil, and he joins the Livonian Brothers of the Sword as they embark on imposing the will of God on the pagans of the eastern Baltic. Here, he must reconcile with his new life of prayer, danger and duty – despite his own religious doubts, with as many enemies within the fortified commandery as the wilderness outside. However, when their small outpost in Riga is threatened by a large pagan army, Richard is compelled to make a crucial decision and fight like never before.

Universal Ebook Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/boVKlV 

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sword-brethren-jon-byrne/1146519606?ean=2940184429601

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/sword-brethren/jon-byrne/9781835740798

Jon Byrne, originally from London, now lives with his German family by a lake in Bavaria with stunning views of the Alps. As well as writing, he works as a translator for a local IT company and occasionally as a lumberjack. 

He has always been fascinated by history and has studied the Medieval world for over twenty years, building up a comprehensive library of books. In his research, he has travelled to all of the locations mentioned in the book (East Anglia, Bremen, Lübeck, Latvia, etc). 

Sword Brethren (formerly Brothers of the Sword) made it to the shortlist of the Yeovil Literary Prize 2022 and the longlist of the prestigious Grindstone International Novel Prize 2022. It is the first book in The Northern Crusader Chronicles.

Website: https://www.jonbyrnewriter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JonByrneAuthor

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Jon-Byrne/author/B0DJC6PL8D

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/52458339.Jon_Byrne 

The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour presents: The Rune Stone by Julia Ibbotson

 

Book Title: The Rune Stone

Series: Dr DuLac series, book #3

Author: Julia Ibbotson

Publication Date: December 8th, 2021

Publisher: Archbury Books 

Pages: 294 (ebook) / 376 (paperback)

Genre: historical romance (timeslip mystery)

Any Triggers: n/a

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/01/blog-tour-the-rune-stone-by-julia-ibbotson.html 

The Rune Stone 

by Julia Ibbotson

A haunting time-slip mystery of runes and romance

When Dr Viv DuLac, medievalist and academic, finds a mysterious runic inscription on a Rune Stone in the graveyard of her husband’s village church, she unwittingly sets off a chain of circumstances that disturb their quiet lives in ways she never expected.

She, once again, feels the echoes of the past resonate through time and into the present. Can she unlock the secrets of the runes in the life of the 6th century Lady Vivianne and in Viv’s own life?

Again, lives of the past and present intertwine alarmingly as Viv desperately tries to save them both, without changing the course of history.

For fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, Christina Courtenay.

Praise for Julia Ibbotson:

(for A Shape on the Air) “In the best Barbara Erskine tradition …I would highly recommend this novel” -Historical Novel Society

(for the series) “Julia does an incredible job of setting up the idea of time-shift so that it’s believable and makes sense” – book tour reviewer

(for The Rune Stone) “beautifully written”, “absorbing and captivating”, “fully immersive”, “wonderfully written characters”, “a skilled story teller” – Amazon reviewers

“Dr Ibbotson has created living, breathing characters that will remain in the reader’s mind long after the book is read … The characters are brought to life beautifully with perfect economy of description … fabulous!” – Melissa Morgan 

“A rich and evocative time-slip novel that beautifully and satisfyingly concludes this superb trilogy. The story is woven seamlessly and skilfully between the past and the present and the reader is drawn deeply into both worlds.  Her portrayal of the 6th century and its way of life are authoritative, vivid and memorable.” – Kate Sullivan

Universal Buy Link:  https://myBook.to/TRS

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She is the author of historical mysteries with a frisson of romance. Her books are evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip/dual-time mysteries. 

Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language/ literature/ history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. 

After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher. Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s. 

She has published five other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone. Her work in progress is a new series of Anglo-Saxon mystery romances, beginning with Daughter of Mercia, where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries. 

Julia’s novels will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful story-telling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.

Amazon Author page:  Author.to/JuliaIbbotsonauthor

Author website & blog: www.juliaibbotsonauthor.com

Facebook (author):  https://www.facebook.com/JuliaIbbotsonauthor

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JuliaIbbotson

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julia.ibbotson

Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/juliai1/

Goodreads author page:  https://www.goodreads.com/juliaibbotson

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/juliaibbotson.bsky.social

The Coffee Pot Book Club presents: The Welsh Warrior's Inheritance by Arianwen Nunn

Book Title: The Welsh Warrior’s Inheritance

Series: The Welsh Warrior Series

Author: Arianwen Nunn

Publication Date: November 21st, 2023

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages: 554

Genre: Historical Fiction

Any Triggers: Some fighting but not overly graphic

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/01/blog-tour-the-welsh-warriors-inheritance-by-arianwen-nunn.html 

The Welsh Warrior’s Inheritance 

by Arianwen Nunn

It is 1109 and the Welsh warrior and firebrand, Owain ap Cadwgan abducts Princess Nest from the castle she shares with her children and her husband, Gerald of Windsor. King Henry of England, furious that Nest, who is also his lover and mother of his son, begins a manhunt to find Owain and return Nest to her husband. In Gwynydd King Gruffydd ap Cynan and his wife risk everything to hide them and get them to safety in Ireland despite the efforts of Gronwy ap Owain, Angharad's vicious brother who would like to see Gruffydd and Owain dead.

King Henry uses Bishop Richard to start kinship warfare in Wales then declares war against the Welsh determining to exterminate them all. Can Gruffydd and his family survive the greatest army ever led against Wales?

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bWkZq7 

Arianwen Nunn was born in Wales but now lives in Australia and writes historical fiction based on the Welsh kingdoms in the Middle Ages. 

Arianwen has written a series of three books, 'The Welsh Traitor's Daughter', 'The Welsh Warrior's Inheritance' and 'Bards Sing of Love and War' which follow the lives of King Gruffydd ap Cynan and his wife Angharad and their family. 

She has also written two children's books, 'The Welsh Warrior's Wonder' and 'Where Dragons Still Roar'.

Website: www.arianwennunn.com

Twitter: https://x.com/Arianwen_Nunn 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091729185630 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arianwen_nunn 

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Arianwen-Nunn/author/B0C69H8RFN 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/35601482.Arianwen_Nunn