WELCOME TO RACHEL’S FICTION WRITING AND REVIEWS BLOG
This is where Rachel keeps you up to date with her novels and stories and also shares reviews, highlights and extracts from other authors.
LADY OF THE CASTLE WINS ANOTHER AWARD!
I’m thrilled to share that Lady of the Castle has won first place in Historical Fiction at the Firebird Book Awards!
Book two of the Nicola de la Haye series follows Nicola through marriage, power struggles, and the long shadow of the Third Crusade, as she fights to hold Lincoln Castle in a world that expects a woman to step aside.
When I set out to tell the story of the woman Sharon Bennett Connolly names “the woman who saved England,” I hoped readers would come to love her as much as I do.
In only a month since publication, it’s already won several awards and reached #1 bestseller status on Amazon.
To see the second book recognised like this, after Lady of Lincoln also won many awards, really is humbling. But Nicola deserves to be recognised!
Lady of Lincoln Wins Gold in the 2026 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards
’m delighted to share some wonderful news: Lady of Lincolnhas won the Gold Medal in Fiction – Historical – Personage in the 2026 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest!
It’s a particularly lovely award to receive because Lady of Lincoln began with a real woman whose story had, for centuries, been pushed to the margins of history. I’m honoured that my writing is bringing her to the fore.
A prestigious award
Readers’ Favorite is one of the world’s largest book-review and award organisations. Its annual competition attracts thousands of entries from around the world, from independent authors to major bestsellers, with books judged within more than 140 individual categories.
And this year, Lady of Lincoln took Gold in Historical – Personage! (One of only two historical categories).
I’m really very, very thrilled!
LADY OF LINCOLN scoops up another Gold Medal Award!
Lady of Lincoln, the historical novel about Nicola de la Haye, has won the Reader’s Choice Gold Medal Award
Another Accolade for LADY OF LINCOLN!
Besides winning a gold medal and ‘Book of the Year’ from the Coffee Pot Book Club, a ‘Notable Book’ Award from BlueInk Review (their highest accolade), and Five Stars from Reader’s Favorite, LADY OF LINCOLN has now been shortlisted for the Chaucer Award by the Chanticleer International Book Awards!.