Book Review: Tales From A Lady's Bower: A Collection by Isabella Berdyna Zysk

 

A young student scribe named Spring is hired to go to Greenholme Keep for two weeks to prepare an inventory of the buildings, contents, and farmsteads which belonged to Lady Emmaline, an elderly widow who had recently passed away. Lady Emmaline's family had owned the property for centuries.

Spring meets the caretakers, Martha and Charlie, and is surprised to find that Greenholme Keep isn't simply a house as she had thought but a fortified property on a hill that includes four homes and other outbuildings. Most of these were closed up and had not been used for twenty years, and the furnishings and such sold off. But in the main house, one particular room fascinated Spring. Lady Emmaline's bower. Among her books and belongings, Spring would uncover connections between her life as an orphan in a distant city and the life of Lady Emmaline.

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REVIEW

Set in medieval times, we met Spring, a young struggling student scribe. When a job opens up to do menial inventory at an old estate at Greenholme Keep, Spring jumps at the chance. In her progression, she is led to the bower of the former mistress of the home Lady Emmaline. In it, she finds stories written by Lady Emmaline and a connection to her past. 

Curious, she must read them as six tales unfold led by award-winning historical fantasy romance writer Isabella Berdyna Zysk. She is joined by Aleksandra Layland (Windflower Saga) and Ronna Eileen Henry (Penruddock Romances) for six romantic fantasy adventure tales set in each author's signature series. Zysk lends two excerpts from her two novellas, Adalindis: A Tale of Generosity in The Tale of Lindy and Kenric and The Cliffs of Darad in The Tale of Prince Ercanbald and the Chieftain Darad. Layland lends two from her epic novel series, the Windflower Saga in The Tale of Brother Kapa'a and The Tale of Kahutane. And Henry also lends two with excerpts from Edmund, A Knight of Selby in Edmund and Ellinor, and Denisa, The Castellans Daughter in Denisa and Karsten.

 Having read all the original titles, my fave out of all the tales is the first two tales, The Tale of Lindy and Kenric (from Adalindis: A tale of Generosity (Zysk)) and The Tale of Edmund and Ellinor (from Edmund, A Knight of Selby (Henry)), the most. Zysk and Henry condensed all the perfect points from these two novellas, making them have a beginning, middle, and end. Historical romance isn't my thing, but I found myself getting lost and engrossed and lost again in both tales all over again. I also liked Layland's two contributions, but readers needed to read the epic Windflower Saga to understand the power of The Tale of Kahutane and The Tale of Brother Kapa'a.

Overall, Zysk, Layland, and Henry all write with stoic grace and superb world-building that is easy to get drawn into. Tales From A Lady's Bower gives a nice tasty morsel from each author's book that will salivate readers' appetites to check out the original works each story is based on. I give Tale From A Lady's Bower 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Isabella Berdyna Zysk was born in Michigan, raised in southern California and central Virginia, attended the University of Florida and Virginia Tech, graduated with a degree in civil engineering, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer (Civil Engineer) in Micronesia, worked for the United States government as an engineer and senior manager, lived in several states and foreign countries where her work took her, and now resides in Florida where she enjoys her retirement years. Her interests include history, horses, dogs, trees, sustainable farming, various arts and crafts, and the writings of Aleksandra Layland, Ronnda Eileen Henry, Jane Austen, and William Shakespeare. 

Isabella published a collection of historical fantasy/romantic adventure novellas titled The Venturous Tales, which was selected as a medalist in the 2020 FAPA (Florida Authors and Publishers Association) President's Book Awards. The novellas in the collection are also available individually. She is currently working on three more collections to be eventually titled The Valorous Tales, The Virtuous Tales, and The Sundara Tales. The Valorous Tales will feature protagonists who exemplify military heroism in defense of their homelands. The Virtuous Tales will stress positive character attributes while combining adventure and romance in medieval-like settings. The Sundara Tales will feature noble and common birth protagonists who are "everyday heroes" in their kingdom while blending adventure and romance into medieval-like fantasy settings. The first of the novellas for The Virtuous Tales and The Sundara Tales have been published as Adalindis: A Tale of Generosity and The Cliffs of Darad. They are featured in this collection as "The Tale of Lindy and Kenric" and "The Tale of Prince Ercanbald and the Chieftain of Darad."