RT ~ 4 Star Review for FORBIDDEN!

I'm so excited - Romantic Times gave Forbidden a 4 star review! Much squealing ensued between my CPs and me and plenty of wine will be consumed at the Oz conference in a couple of weeks in celebration!!!

Here's a snippet of the review: "Set in the time of the Roman Empire, Phillips’ wonderful story of the romance between a Roman soldier and a Celt is more than entertaining"

My current book is racing towards the end now, and I was so totally in the zone this morning it was a real wrench to break off for lunch. And then of course I never managed to get back into it, what with Real Life intruding and all that!!!

RT ~ 4 Star Review for FORBIDDEN!

Chariot Racing in Camulod

Forbidden is set in AD 50 in Cymru (present day Wales). The book I'm working on at the moment starts off in Cymru, but Morwyn and Bren travel to Camulod (Roman Camulodunum), present day Colchester in the East of England. During the very early years of occupation Camulod was the capital of Britannia, and Londinium (London) only became the capital after the Boudiccia rebellion razed Camulod to the ground in AD 61.

Colchester has a unique heritage with visible remains of the Roman walls, the Temple of Claudius, the Roman theatre and other sites. In a bid to preserve another piece of recently unearthed Colchester Roman history, a consortium is trying to buy the Victorian Sergeants Mess building on the former Cavalry barracks - and the gardens under which lie the starting gates of Britain's only discovered chariot racing circus. This is the only one in the Roman Empire discovered north of the Alps.

I found out about the circus from this site, and there's a lot of fascinating bits of information over there. If only I could go visit Colchester and explore all the ancient sites. Why didn't I appreciate this history more when I was living in England??

Chariot Racing in Camulod