In A Gilded Cage by Susan Appleyard

In A Gilded Cage

has RECEIVED a

A PREMIER Readers’ Award

Premier Readers’ Award is honoured to books that receive exceptional high evaluations from Chill Readers.

Finalist in MM Bennetts Award
Finalist in Wishing Shelf Award
B.R.A.G. Medallion Winner

Sisi enjoyed a carefree lifestyle in the hills of Bavaria until she was chosen by Franz Josef to be his wife. At the age of sixteen she became Elizabeth Empress of Austria and moved into the imperial palaces of Vienna, where a hostile court disdained her for her low birth, and strict protocol ruled her every act. She had no other purpose than to adorn the emperor's arm on ceremonial occasions and to make babies who were taken from her at birth to be raised by her domineering mother-in-law. Of too sensitive a spirit, and dazzlingly beautiful, she was often ill and anorexic and had to flee the court to distant places in order to heal. She struggled to adjust to her new life in an alien environment until she found a cause into which she could pour her heart and soul: Hungary. Like Sisi herself, Hungary struggled to find its place in the world, where it would not be subsumed by a soulless empire. Having found her salvation, she also found a man she could love in the great patriot, Count Andrassy.

Genre:  Biographical Fiction

Approx pages:  333


In A Gilded Cage was read and evaluated by Chill's readers against the following...

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The Master's Tale by Ann Victoria Roberts

The Master's Tale

has RECEIVED a

A PREMIER Readers’ Award

Premier Readers’ Award is honoured to books that receive exceptional high evaluations from Chill Readers.

Locked in a place beyond time, only the truth can set Titanic’s Master free.

Haunted by his final voyage, Captain Smith relives his past: the ships he sailed, the women he loved, his rise from humble beginnings to become White Star’s most eminent captain. A lucky man: until an incident with HMS Hawke throws time – and White Star’s plans – into disarray.

Under pressure, Captain Smith agrees to one more voyage. Aboard Titanic the seas are calm but other forces are at work. Fire threatens from below, and ice lies ahead. Amongst the passengers, WT Stead – journalist and psychic – is predicting danger, while a mysterious young woman brings an old love affair to life.

But the past cannot be changed: nor the events of that tragic night in April 1912. Burdened by guilt, Titanic’s Master makes the voyage again, seeking his fatal mistake…

Memories loom out of the mist like the sails of a schooner, skimming past my bridge with a tangible rush and barely a yard to spare…

Uncovering dramatic and little-known events, Ann Victoria Roberts explores themes of time and coincidence in this haunting novel, based on the life of Captain Edward John Smith.


Genre: Historical Literary  

Approx pages:  302


The Master's Tale was read and evaluated by Chill's readers against the following...

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Travel Secrets - Rio De Janeiro by Shar Lemond

Travel Secrets - Rio De Janeiro

has RECEIVED a

Chill with a Book READERS’ Award

Rachel Moore will get fired if she doesn't come back with an exclusive about Rio.

Will the story be about having sex on the beach with her hot, Brazilian tour guide, Otavio, or will it be about the bachelorette party where each of the girls has to do a striptease?

Rachel has to get involved when the song "Fever," one of her favorites, starts up.

Rachel is changing. Maybe that's the exclusive? Otavio is teaching her how to conquer her insecurities. But can she face down her undermining co-workers, and create a new version of herself

Has Rachel come to Rio to find herself? And what else will she find in Rio?

Rebecca S.: “Wow! Couldn’t put it down and loved every minute of it!”

Book Pipeline: “The Brazilian backdrop here feels filmic and the message of empowerment we see in Rachel’s arc is one that feels timely and commercially viable.”

Genre:  Women's Action & Adventure
Approx pages: 319

 Travel Secrets - Rio De Janeiro  was read and evaluated by Chill's readers against the following...

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In the Company of Like-Minded Women by Elaine Russell

In the Company of Like-Minded Women

has RECEIVED a

Chill with a Book READERS’ Award

In the Company of Like-Minded Women explores the complexities of bonds between sisters and family at the start of the 20th century when women struggled to determine their future and the “New Woman” demanded an equal voice. Three sisters are reunited in 1901 Denver following a family rift many years before. Each sister faces critical decisions regarding love, work, and the strength of her convictions. The success of Colorado women in gaining the right to vote in 1893--twenty-seven years before the passage of national suffrage--and their continued fight for women's rights, provides the background as the story unfolds.

Genre:  Historical Fiction
Approx pages: 368

 In the Company of Like-Minded Women was read and evaluated by Chill's readers against the following...

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White Stones by Kit Domino

White Stones

has RECEIVED a

Chill with a Book READERS’ Award

"Walls have ears, but sometimes they have mouths with which to speak." Filton Shields, UPI

Strange forces are at work causing Penny Cornwall to see and hear people from the past and feel all their emotions. More disconcerting is the tune she doesn't recognise play over and over inside the Cotswold stone cottage she shares with Harry Winchester.

The music will not go away, spoiling the rural idyll she and Harry have found. A fruitless search to find the source of the music and its title begins, a quest that rapidly becomes an obsession taking over her life and threatening to destroy all that she holds dear.

Can the intervention of eminent archaeologist Filton Shields prove the music's connection to their cottage before it’s too late and unravel the tragic story of a love bound by the music transcending the barriers of space and time?

Genre:  Occult / Horror
Approx pages: 294

 White Stones was read and evaluated by Chill's readers against the following...

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