BLOG TOUR: Beneath a Burning Sky by Jenny Ashcroft - REVIEW

Today is rather exciting as it's day one of the blog tour for Beneath a Burning Sky, the beautiful new historical romance novel from Jenny Ashcroft.

When twenty-two-year-old Olivia is coerced into marriage by the cruel Alistair Sheldon she leaves England for Egypt, his home and the land of her own childhood. Reluctant as she is to go with Alistair, it's in her new home that she finds happiness in surprising places: she is reunited with her long-estranged sister, Clara, and falls - impossibly and illicitly - in love with her husband's boarder, Captain Edward Bertram.

Then Clara is abducted from one of the busiest streets in the city. Olivia is told it's thieves after ransom money, but she's convinced there's more to it. As she sets out to discover what's happened to the sister she's only just begun to know, she falls deeper into the shadowy underworld of Alexandria, putting her own life, and her chance at a future with Edward, the only man she's ever loved, at risk. Because, determined as Olivia is to find Clara, there are others who will stop at nothing to conceal what's become of her...

When I was told about this book, I was instantly drawn in by the cover. It's captivating. Just like the book itself, which is set in Egypt in the late 19th century.

After a troubled childhood, Olivia is twenty-two when she's forced into marriage, and has to leave her home in England and head to Egypt - a place she already knows having spent her childhood there with her now-deceased parents and the sister from whom she was separated. Having to endure the cruelty of her new husband, there is some positivity in returning to Alexandria; seeing her sister Clara again. And, unexpectedly, meeting and falling for a charming Captain.

However, things change when Olivia's sister disappears. Olivia is determined to find her, even to the point of putting her own life, and love, at risk.

Beneath a Burning Sky may be described as a historical romance, but it's much more than a that; it's full of intrigue and mystery that makes it such a great read. It has aspects of a thriller, with Olivia's determination to find out what's happened to her sister. This is Jenny Ashcroft's debut novel, and it is a wonderfully written book that's very hard to put down. I don't read a lot of historical novels, but found myself completely immersed in Beneath a Burning Sky. 

Rating: 5/5

Check out the other stops on the Beneath a Burning Sky blog tour!