Today is my stop on the book tour for The Rune Stone by Julia Ibbotson. Thanks to ZooLoo’s Book Tours for my gifted ebook to write my honest review.
A haunting time-slip mystery of runes and romance
When Dr Viv DuLac, medievalist and academic, finds a mysterious runic inscription on a Rune Stone in the graveyard of her husband’s village church, she unwittingly sets off a chain of circumstances that disturb their quiet lives in ways she never expected. Once again, she feels the echoes of the past resonate through time and into the present. Can she unlock the secrets of the runes in the life of the 6th century Lady Vivianne and in Viv’s own life?
Lives of the past and present intertwine alarmingly as Viv desperately tries to save them both, without changing the course of history.
For fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, Christina Courtenay.
The third book and another absorbing timeslip story that again immersed me in the life of Dr Viv DuLac, who discovers a Rune Stone that creates a ripple through time back to the 6th century.
This is an absolute gem of a trilogy, and The Rune Stone is a satisfying and fitting conclusion. The characters are, as I said in my previous reviews, so well created. Viv herself, I again felt I could have been with.
This is just as absorbing and captivating as the first two books. There is no drop in the quality of Julia Ibbotson’s writing throughout. The historical detail creates vivid images in my mind as I sit in my home with one foot in Viv DuLacs present day and one with Lady Vivianne in the 6th.
I feel like I have lived in Viv’s worlds over the trilogy, and I can guarantee I am going to miss being a part of her adventures. Julia Abbotson is a skilled storyteller who can weave a historical time slip novel with such expertise that it feels like an almost magical adventure every time I joined Viv DuLac, no matter which book I picked up.
A trilogy that will enthral any historical fiction reader, and all I can say is I loved them, maybe you will too.
Purchase Links
Author Bio
Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She sees her author brand as a historical fiction writer of romantic mysteries that are evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip/dual-time mysteries. Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language/ literature/ history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher. Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books (Endeavour) for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s. She has published five other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone. Her work in progress is the first of a new series of Anglo-Saxon mysteries (Daughter of Mercia) where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries. Her books will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful story-telling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.
Social Media Links
Amazon Author page
Author.to/JuliaIbbotsonauthor
Author website & blog
http://www.juliaibbotsonauthor.com
Facebook (author)
https://www.facebook.com/JuliaIbbotsonauthor
https://twitter.com/JuliaIbbotson
https://www.instagram.com/julia.ibbotson
Pinterest
Goodreads author page:
https://www.goodreads.com/juliaibbotson
(for A Shape on the Air) “In the best Barbara Erskine tradition …I would highly recommend this novel” -Historical Novel Society
(for the series) “Julia does an incredible job of setting up the idea of time-shift so that it’s believable and makes sense” – book tour reviewer
“Dr Ibbotson has created living, breathing characters that will remain in the reader’s mind long after the book is read … The characters are brought to life beautifully with perfect economy of description … fabulous!” – Melissa Morgan
“A rich and evocative time-slip novel that beautifully and satisfyingly concludes this superb trilogy. The story is woven seamlessly and skilfully between the past and the present and the reader is drawn deeply into both worlds. Her portrayal of the 6th century and its way of life are authoritative, vivid and memorable” – Kate Sullivan
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 
Thank you so much, Sharon, for yet another great review! So glad you enjoyed the series.
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Thank you for being a part of the tour today x
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