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Matilda Empress - Book Tour and Giveaway

2/24/2020

84 Comments

 
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Matilda Empress
by Lise Arin
Genre: Historical Fiction 

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Matilda, a twelfth-century Empress of the Holy Roman Empire and daughter of Henry I, is twenty-four years old and a widow. She returns to her father's double realm of England and Normandy and is promptly married against her will to Geoffrey, a minor continental nobleman. When she is absent from England at the time of her father's death, Matilda loses her throne to her cousin Stephen despite their ongoing and secret love affair.

For almost twenty years, anarchy reins, and their passion fluctuates between hatred and obsession. The only hope in sight is Matilda and Stephen's two sons, whose rightful claim to the throne may finally end the bloody and endless war.

In the vein of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl, Matilda Empress follows the real history of the early English monarchs, and what happens when a strong woman at the center of great upheaval refuses to play by the rules laid out for her.



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I am the Dowager Empress Matilda, twenty-four years old and a widow. I travel on a ship bound for England, my homeland. I enjoy the sensation of speed, and relish the early morning fog that surrounds me like a cloak. I always stand upwind from the crew’s stench and stretch my face into the gusts of fresh air that swell our sails and tangle my veil and braids. I inhale deeply of the brisk breeze, for it is the breath of our Heavenly Father. To keep my mind occupied, I chant the blessings of Christ: “Tranquility, amour, purity--discipline, strength, form--rule, custom, terminus--road, counsellor, foundation--heart, blaze, majesty--essence, lion of creation.”
Each day I scan the sky for the sea birds that will herald the coastline, as vultures are the harbingers of a corpse. Death and upheaval are two faces of the same coin. Cancer defeated my husband at Utrecht, revoking my whole future. If I had had a son, I would have reigned in his stead, during his minority. Instead, the Duke of Saxony is elevated to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. Having turned over most of the imperial regalia, all but one seal, I am put forth on the ocean, to a new beginning. Although many forget my English origins, I do not aspire to wed any of the minor German princes who compete for my hand, as a means to remain in my adopted country. Neither do I wish to immure myself in any European convent, to spend the rest of my days outside the ebb and ow of all the world’s affairs.
Over the years, my father’s letters brought me the tragic tidings of the death of my mother, and then of my only legitimate brother, drowned in the English Channel. His Majesty remarried, in the hope of siring another legitimate son. Unfortunately, his second queen has not born any offspring. Lately, the king sleepwalks, troubled by nightmares. He dreams that his peasants desert their furrows and his barons their fortresses, part of some violent revolt; he alone takes the field to reclaim the peace. In truth, his power is well established, yet fears for the future security of his empire plague him.
Now that I return to my native land, His Majesty determines that I shall be queen of England and Normandy. His barons must accept his daughter, if he is to have no son. This new destiny suits my aspiring spirit. Educated to reign, I am well used to wielding authority. I will serve my father’s family, as I did my husband’s. I will be a splendid queen, worthy of praise.
Often, I am spellbound by the waves breaking tumultuously around the prow of the ship. Do their force and crash echo my inner strength? Will I be able to sail into my father’s kingdom, and claim my due? Behind the stern of our vessel, the sea has been flattened so that a white trail of foam stretches out behind us. Need I fear that I am not the boat, but the water, deflated, suppressed, made quiet again?
I berate my own ignorance of astrology, examining the stars in the wide sky above me, but unable to decipher the meaning of the patterns in the firmament. Instead, I count the calls of the swooping gulls, prognosticating my future wealth and fertility. I study the glistening entrails of netted fish presented to me by the rough deck hands, and try to interpret therein the likelihood of my glorious ascendance to the throne.
I do not have complete confidence in what is to come. For who am I? What is my worth? I am the Holy Roman empress; there is none who sits higher, or comes between me and the throne of heaven. But I am my father’s unmarried daughter, to be disposed of according to his will. I can walk among the English court with my head held aloft, with none daring to meet my eyes, and yet I resume my place as an ivory pawn upon King Henry’s chess set. On the other side of Europe, I dispensed the law with an iron st. And now I shall be forced to sheath my mail in silk and manipulation. My face is struck from the imperial coinage. I have lost my currency.
I am the Holy Roman empress, but my greatness tumbles overboard, into the abyss of the ocean. To the world, I am no one, a child, a head without a crown. I must remember that I am stripped of my honors. It will serve me no purpose to cling to my former status, to remember with pride that I was divine. This will be a hard lesson, that of renunciation. How swiftly shall I learn it? ​


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Lise Arin has a PhD in English Literature from Columbia, and an undergraduate degree in History and Literature from Harvard. She has two children, and lives with her husband in New York City. This is her first novel, although it has been in the making for twenty years. Please follow @lisearin on Instagram and Twitter.


Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Amazon * Goodreads
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What are some of your pet peeves?
I have many pet peeves. As I live in a city, littering, spitting and graffiti all torment me on the regular. I go crazy when people talk during the movies, and now only watch things on my iPad, in the peace and quiet of my house, which means I am the last one to see the latest films. So worth it! Phone solicitations should be illegal, and I have had to unplug my landline to stop the incessant, jarring sound of the ring. When my children were small, there was no hell like the school bake sale or field trip chaperone duty. I am not a fan of the Band-Aid floating in the pool, whipped cream suffocating an otherwise lovely dessert or someone spraying smelly, unhealthy aerosol products in the gym locker room. I don’t like to ruin my outfit with a nametag, and prefer that no one offer to help me with my crossword puzzles. If someone tells me a piece of gossip, it had better be true. Typos threaten to unhinge me, especially when I discover them in my own work. I don’t like the meaningless, almost rhetorical question: “How are you?” when I don’t know the person well enough to answer truthfully. I’ve been truthful here ;)

Have you written any other books that are not published?
When I was a small girl, I had a best friend named Christine, and apparently felt compelled to memorialize our banal suburban experiences in a series of novels, The Adventures of Lise and Christine. Although I gave myself top billing, I didn’t hog the limelight within the stories themselves. The books were booklets really, made of folded and stapled yellow legal paper. I also illustrated them, despite a dearth of artistic skills. I had forgotten all about these early literary endeavors until I discovered the cache of them in a box of childhood memorabilia. But it seems I was a writer born, not bred.

What can we expect from you in the future?
I am working on two more novels of historical fiction, one set in the fourteenth century, and one in the tenth. They are both about real women, but these two heroines are far less well-known than my Matilda. It is freeing to be able to imagine more, and keep to the facts a little less, although I would not enjoy having no facts at all to keep in mind. I like a set of rails to skim along, as I make my way through history. I have no intention of writing a book about the world I live in. My experience in the here and now might vary enormously from that of my readers, but my vision of the past cannot be proven false :) I admire, enormously, the authors who perfectly captured their social milieus: Austen, Trollope, Balzac, Henry James. But I don’t trust myself to make the manners and morals, the hypocrisies and tragedies of the current age abundantly clear. The past is a foreign country, so they say, but I am more at home there.

A day in the life of the author?
Dinner is the highlight of my day. Despite the fact that I am an extremely early riser (alarm set at 4:30!), I cannot work once I eat and drink a complete meal. Spare snacks are possible, and a copious amount of coffee is absolutely essential, but my systems all crash after the onrush of a lot of protein, carbs and sugar. Although I certainly pulled all-nighters in college and grad school, and did much homework after bedtime as a teen, the idea of thinking and remembering after dark seems impossible now. Even anticipating and planning dinner puts me off my writing game. It’s as if the physical me and the mental me can’t co-exist.  


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84 Comments
James Robert
2/24/2020 03:08:57 am

Thanks so much for sharing a book description and giveaway also. Sounds great!

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Jeanna Massman
2/24/2020 03:34:17 am

I love the cover. It’s quite haunting!

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Lise Arin link
2/24/2020 01:19:53 pm

Please do judge my book by its cover :) "Haunting" is a wonderful compliment; I hope the image suggests and underscores the themes of my book: ambition, passion, vengeance, persistence, faith.

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Beyond Comps
2/24/2020 05:27:37 am

Great cover!

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Calvin
2/24/2020 12:00:23 pm

Elegant theme to this book, liking it already.

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Lise Arin
2/24/2020 01:23:53 pm

I do hope that you enjoy it in its entirety! "Elegant" is something to aspire to, for sure. I am sitting at my computer, trying to write elegant prose -- even now :)

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Victoria Alexander
2/24/2020 12:45:48 pm

Great cover. thanks for sharing!

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Sherry
2/24/2020 01:13:39 pm

The book sounds really good.

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wendy hutton
2/24/2020 01:41:41 pm

wonderful cover, this book sounds amazing

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Piroska
2/24/2020 02:49:40 pm

The book sounds very intriguing! Love the cover!

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Rita Wray
2/24/2020 04:44:49 pm

Sounds like a great read.

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Susan Smith
2/24/2020 06:03:38 pm

Sounds like a great book. I like the cover.

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Barbara Montag
2/24/2020 06:43:16 pm

Historical Fiction is different for me.
I think I would enjoy this book and the cover is so dramatic.
Thank you for sharing the review.

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Lise Arin
2/25/2020 08:12:45 am

Maybe this will be the one that changes your mind :) I do hope that you enjoy it.

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Kelly D
2/24/2020 07:43:28 pm

I like the cover. The cover looks interesting.

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lynn clayton
2/24/2020 09:05:17 pm

nice cover looks like a great read

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Bea LaRocca
2/25/2020 07:51:34 am

An intriguing book cover and synopsis. This sounds like a good read. Thank you for sharing your book and author details

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Lise Arin
2/25/2020 08:13:51 am

It's my honor and pleasure to do so! This is all a big dream come true for me. I hope that you enjoy the book.

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Nicole Fall link
2/25/2020 08:49:57 am

The character looks so sad!! It's a very interesting cover with an air of intrigue!

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Lise Arin
2/25/2020 01:46:14 pm

Yes - I chose photo for its mix of emotions - and for the power and the resignation that are both suggested here. I hope that you enjoy the book.

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jenn fike
2/25/2020 09:17:58 am

What a great cover

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Amy Jo
2/25/2020 09:18:05 am

The outfit is amazing on the cover- different and unique-I like it.

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Lise Arin
2/25/2020 01:47:20 pm

It's actually an outtake from a Harper's Bazaar photo shoot from many years ago! I loved it at first sight.

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Erin Ellis
2/25/2020 10:00:16 am

Love the cover and I can't wait to read the book!

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Lise Arin
2/25/2020 01:48:43 pm

I'm thrilled to hear that. Suggest it to your book club ;)

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Ann Fantom
2/25/2020 10:00:19 am

I like the cover. It has great graphic.

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Julie Lundstrom
2/25/2020 10:46:39 am

I like the cover.

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beth shepherd
2/25/2020 10:50:25 am

I really like the cover! It def draws me in. Thank you

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Lise Arin
2/25/2020 01:49:39 pm

It draws ME in too ;) Still!

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Shannon Holmes
2/25/2020 11:17:29 am

Gorgeous cover!

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Peggy Nunn
2/25/2020 03:46:45 pm

I really like the lady and the dress on the cover.

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Debbie P
2/25/2020 04:09:28 pm

I love historical fiction and this book sounds like a fantastic read! Nice cover!

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Lise Arin
2/26/2020 02:11:36 pm

If you like the cover, you are my kind of reader :)

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Amy F
2/25/2020 04:16:59 pm

Really like the historical feel of the cover!

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Lise Arin
2/26/2020 02:12:24 pm

I chose the photo for its "atmosphere" as much as for anything else. I am so glad that potential readers respond to it!

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Sandy Klocinski
2/25/2020 04:48:50 pm

Thanks so much for the opportunity to win! The cover is quite awesome. Thank you for sharing the review

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Ellie Wright
2/25/2020 04:49:29 pm

The cover is intriguing and so is the subject matter. I'm looking forward to reading it.

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Lise Arin
2/26/2020 02:12:47 pm

I very much hope that you enjoy it!

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Mary Kirkland link
2/25/2020 05:01:08 pm

This sounds good.

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Terri Quick
2/25/2020 08:18:22 pm

Good cover

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BILL HOFF
2/25/2020 08:18:58 pm

Anybody ever tell you that you look like Sandra Bullock? My daughter would enjoy this book.

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Stephanie Liske
2/25/2020 09:46:41 pm

The outfit is a bit much, and also the makeup and jewelry.

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Lise Arin
2/26/2020 02:23:14 pm

Can't please everybody ;) I actually chose the photo BECAUSE it is so "extra"! My heroine has swagger and immense self-doubt; she is idolized and despised. The real Matilda Empresss was mythic in her own time. I wanted a cover that was as over-the-top as a Queen should/could be, especially in the Middle Ages, but it needed to suggest all these things to the modern reader, so I went with this outtake from a Harper's Bazaar photo shoot. Not an obvious choice, and it doesn't appeal across the board. I appreciate your comment, and the chance to respond.

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brittany doerfler
2/26/2020 07:18:20 am

Love the cover.

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Cynthia C
2/26/2020 07:34:34 am

Historical fiction is enjoyable to me. This one sounds interesting.

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Victoria Scott
2/26/2020 03:29:51 pm

Love the cover! Looks so royal! Thanks for sharing!

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MARCY MEYER
2/26/2020 05:09:01 pm

Gorgeous cover. Very intriguing. Sounds great.

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Rosanne
2/26/2020 07:34:39 pm

She looks like someone from this generation but the costume is middle ages. Very well done

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Lise Arin
2/29/2020 09:52:50 am

Yes! This modern/historical duality is exactly why I chose the photo.

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Wendy Jensen
2/27/2020 11:05:54 am

Great looking book cover.

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Ginger Hafer
2/28/2020 06:42:51 am

Interesting cover. Gives an insight into the story.

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Lise Arin
2/29/2020 09:50:56 am

Yes, I chose it for its atmosphere :)

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Stephanie
2/28/2020 02:02:49 pm

Not that I'm extremely knowledgeable on the subject, but have never heard this thread of history.

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Lise Arin
2/29/2020 09:50:24 am

I wanted to write about a less well-known character, for my own enjoyment. I learned a lot as I researched the novel. The twelfth century in England was both a dark a violent period, but also a time of cultural renaissance. Matilda's story has war and romance, knights and magic, faith and poetry and science. I hope that you are inspired to give it a try.

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Peggy Salkill
2/29/2020 09:29:44 am

Sounds like a good read!

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Kathy Levernier
2/29/2020 10:47:48 am

Fabulous stare--.she is so majestic looks old world but modern like in fabulous dress today.
She would.make it in any time:-)

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Lise Arin
3/1/2020 02:32:59 pm

You sound like my ideal reader :)

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samarcy
2/29/2020 05:08:10 pm

love the cover sounds like an interesting read

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Mary Cloud
2/29/2020 09:17:47 pm

No questions - the cover is nice - thanks for sharing

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Diana Hardt
3/1/2020 02:28:46 am

Beautiful cover. The books sounds very intriguing. Thank you for sharing.

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Paula
3/1/2020 12:09:59 pm

The cover art seems appropriate for the book. Good job.

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Heather MAhley
3/2/2020 11:49:17 am

Love the cover

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Robin Abrams
3/2/2020 09:14:32 pm

The cover looks nice

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Sarah Oswald
3/3/2020 04:25:57 pm

The book cover is ok but the storyline sounds interesting

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Lise Arin
3/9/2020 02:09:56 pm

Well, I can't argue with that ;)

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Victoria Scott
3/3/2020 06:53:42 pm

Thanks for sharing!

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Viki S.
3/7/2020 10:32:08 am

Not sure about the cover. It reminds me of Kristen Stewart.

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Lise Arin
3/9/2020 02:11:17 pm

I am so glad that the model is not KSTEW, or I would never have been able to use the image! They are both beautiful, and do resemble one another.

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Marissa M
3/8/2020 05:34:49 pm

Very different cover!

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Mya Murphy
3/8/2020 10:42:02 pm

I love history, and it's rare when a woman has an extremely strong role like this.. I am captivated!

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Lise Arin
3/9/2020 02:08:34 pm

What's incredible is that she was meant to be the Queen, and even ruled for a short period, but so few people have heard of her! Enjoy the book!

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Nina Lewis
3/9/2020 06:27:44 pm

Great cover! Sounds like a good read! :)

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Jennifer L.
3/9/2020 06:53:17 pm

I love the cover. It's stunning.

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Nancy
3/9/2020 08:22:49 pm

This book cover is unique, attractive, and highly detailed.

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Daniel M
3/19/2020 05:30:44 pm

like the cover

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Julie Bickham
3/21/2020 01:28:49 pm

I look forward to reading this.

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Judy Gregory
3/23/2020 08:34:10 pm

That's a gorgeous dress.

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Sheila B
3/24/2020 02:48:16 am

Historical fiction is not usually my pick but this sounds like I might enjoy it.

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bn100
3/24/2020 10:03:09 am

nice cover

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Heather
3/24/2020 07:30:22 pm

The story sounds nice.

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Candie L
3/24/2020 08:38:37 pm

The cover looks very intriguing.. Thank you

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LEAH SHUMACK
3/24/2020 10:26:22 pm

This is a book that I'm definitely interested in!

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Sand
3/24/2020 10:42:23 pm

Looks like a great cover!

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Jerry Marquardt
3/24/2020 11:50:37 pm

I would like to give thanks for all your really great writings, including Matilda Empress, and wishing the best in keeping up the good work in the future.

Reply



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