Announcing the next Read-Along





 Grab a copy of C.W. Gortner's The Queen's Vow: A Novel Of Isabella Of Castile, which is available now..

We will start our read along officially on July 7th, so this should give you plenty of time to purchase the book online and have it shipped to you, or go find it at your local bookstore if you are so lucky to have one!

If not, Here are some links to buy the novel:

Amazon
IndieBound
Barnes and Noble


Plot description for The Queen's Vow: A Novel Of Isabella Of Castile:

No one believed I was destined for greatness.


So begins Isabella’s story, in this evocative, vividly imagined novel about one of history’s most famous and controversial queens—the warrior who united a fractured country, the champion of the faith whose reign gave rise to the Inquisition, and the visionary who sent Columbus to discover a New World. Acclaimed author C. W. Gortner envisages the turbulent early years of a woman whose mythic rise to power would go on to transform a monarchy, a nation, and the world.

Young Isabella is barely a teenager when she and her brother are taken from their mother’s home to live under the watchful eye of their half-brother, King Enrique, and his sultry, conniving queen. There, Isabella is thrust into danger when she becomes an unwitting pawn in a plot to dethrone Enrique. Suspected of treason and held captive, she treads a perilous path, torn between loyalties, until at age seventeen she suddenly finds herself heiress of Castile, the largest kingdom in Spain. Plunged into a deadly conflict to secure her crown, she is determined to wed the one man she loves yet who is forbidden to her—Fernando, prince of Aragon.


As they unite their two realms under “one crown, one country, one faith,” Isabella and Fernando face an impoverished Spain beset by enemies. With the future of her throne at stake, Isabella resists the zealous demands of the inquisitor Torquemada even as she is seduced by the dreams of an enigmatic navigator named Columbus. But when the Moors of the southern domain of Granada declare war, a violent, treacherous battle against an ancient adversary erupts, one that will test all of Isabella’s resolve, her courage, and her tenacious belief in her destiny.

From the glorious palaces of Segovia to the battlefields of Granada and the intrigue-laden gardens of Seville, The Queen’s Vow sweeps us into the tumultuous forging of a nation and the complex, fascinating heart of the woman who overcame all odds to become Isabella of Castile.
 
Be sure to follow HF-Connection on Twitter and Facebook so you can get reminders of the event and follow along. (There is also an email subscription available through the sidebar link).
 
We will have the discussions in a Chapter format where you can comment right here on the blog, so you can stop in at any time as you read along. This one is half the size of our last read along, so we won't need as many weeks.. and from prior experience Gortner's reads are page turners...
 
Are you joining in? We'd love to have you!

(Here's the post to the schedule)