About the Book
Book: Beauty Among Ruins
Author: J’Nell Ciesielski
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: January 12, 2021
American
socialite Lily Durham is known for enjoying one moment to the next,
with little regard for the consequences of her actions. But just as she
is banished overseas to England as a “cure” for her frivolous ways, the
Great War breaks out and wreaks havoc. She joins her cousin in nursing
the wounded at a convalescent home deep in the wilds of Scotland at a
crumbling castle where its laird is less than welcoming.
Alec
MacGregor has given his entire life to preserving his home of
Kinclavoch Castle, but mounting debts force him to sell off his family
history bit by bit. Labeled a coward for not joining his countrymen in
the trenches due to an old injury, he opens his home to the Tommies to
make recompense while he keeps to the shadows. But his preference for
the shadows is shattered when a new American nurse comes streaming into
the castle on a burst of light.
Lily
and Alec are thrown together when a series of mysterious events
threatens to ruin the future of Kinclavoch. Can they put aside their
differences to find the culprit before it’s too late, or will their
greatest distraction be falling in love?
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
With a passion for heart-stopping adventure and sweeping love
stories, J’nell Ciesielski weaves fresh takes into romances of times
gone by. When not creating dashing heroes and daring heroines, she can
be found dreaming of Scotland, indulging in chocolate of any kind, or
watching old black and white movies. Winner of the INSPY and the Maggie
Award, she is a Florida native who now lives in Virginia with her
husband, daughter, and lazy beagle. Learn more at www.jnellciesielski.com.
More from J’Nell
Inspiration for Beauty Among Ruins
Once again, blame it on Downton Abbey. This time on Lady Rose. She
was impulsive, spoiled, a free spirit, yet with a good heart. I knew I
wanted to take on the challenge of writing a heroine like her. A
character who starts off one way and by the end of the book has
completely charmed you over. So I started writing and everything was
going great until … it wasn’t. The plot just stopped on me. No matter
how hard I tried the story refused to reveal itself to me which is
incredibly frustrating for someone who doesn’t like to give up once
they’ve started something. But I had to. In the end, I had to put the
story, affectionately titled Love on the Limp, away for several months
while I wrote The Socialite. Then one day the story clicked. It was
meant to be a WWI telling on the classic Beauty and the Beast story.
Everything fell into place and the story and characters burst onto the
page in glorious technicolor.
Lily and Alec took me by surprised with how much I fell in love with
them. Bubbly Lily and brooding Alec. Never had two more opposites been
so perfect for one another (at least in my writing experience). They had
so many obstacles to overcome, many of them self-imposed, that I often
found myself in tears over their heartaches, but golly gumdrops when
they came together, boy o boy were there fireworks!
You may have also noticed that the story is set in Scotland because I
happen to believe that every good story is set there. I had the
privilege of staring at pictures of this breathtaking landscape for
months so I could imagine the characters strolling among the heather
and watching the river twist through the green moors. To me, nothing
rivals the awe inspiring beauty of a certain place, and hopefully
readers will feel that through these pages.
Blog Stops
Through the Fire Blogs, January 27
Fiction Aficionado, January 27
Sara Jane Jacobs, January 27
Wishful Endings, January 28
Genesis 5020, January 28
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 28
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, January 29
lakesidelivingsite, January 29
Reflections From my Bookshelves, January 29
Connect in Fiction, January 30
Connie’s History Classroom, January 30
CarpeDiem, January 30
Artistic Nobody, January 31 (Guest Review from Joni Truex)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, January 31
Rachael’s Inkwell, January 31
Where Faith and Books Meet, February 1
Rebecca Tews, February 1
Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, February 1
Texas Book-aholic, February 2
As He Leads is Joy, February 2
Robin’s Nest, February 2
Older & Smarter?, February 3
Mypreciousbitsandmusings, February 3
Locks, Hooks and Books, February 3
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, February 4
Remembrancy, February 4
Inklings and notions, February 4
Mia Reads, February 5
Joanne Markey, February 5
Splashes of Joy, February 5
Mary Hake, February 5
Betti Mace, February 6
The Christian Fiction Girl, February 6
For Him and My Family, February 6
She Lives to Read, February 7
deb’s Book Review, February 7
The Write Escape, February 7
Simple Harvest Reads, February 8 (Guest Review from Mindy Houng)
Novels Corner, February 8
To Everything There Is A Season, February 8
Blossoms and Blessings, February 9
Pause for Tales, February 9
Lis Loves Reading, February 9
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, J’Nell is giving
away the grand prize of a paperback copy of the book and an audiobook
copy of The Socialite!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
GIVEAWAY
My Thoughts
I really enjoyed this novel. I loved the setting and the characters ended up being pretty unique which I think made it all the better. The banter is fun and while Lily pushed me over the edge a few times with her carelessness by the end I had grown to like her. I really liked Alec's sister and some of the secondary characters. I think there are a couple of slow times in this book but I really enjoyed the over all story line. The thing that made this a four star book for me is the ending. I just can't get my mind wrapped around how quickly and effortlessly the ending plays out. I don't want to give anything away but I found it to be terribly unrealistic and not at all what I was expecting and not really in a good way. That being said I still liked this story a lot and I am excited to read more by this author.
Four Stars.
"I received this book from the publisher for free. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review."
