Book Extract: Shadows In The Spring by Christina Courtenay

I’m so happy to be welcoming Christina Courtenay back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest book, Shadows In The Spring. 

Two souls bound together but lost in time. Until now.

AD 80

Duro of the Iceni tribe escaped life as an enslaved gladiator and is now finally home in Britannia with one thing on his mind: vengeance. For 20 years he has sought the Roman legionary who destroyed his family. What he didn’t expect was Gisel: a fierce Germanic woman with long white-blonde hair, forced into slavery by the Romans. Hypnotised by her spirit and her beauty, Duro frees Gisel and slowly tries to win her trust as they work together to complete his quest.

Present Day

Mackenna Jackson returns to Bath with a broken heart, thanks to rockstar Blue Daniels. Luckily she can still count on Blue’s former bandmate Jonah Miller as a listening ear. But Jonah has secretly been fighting stronger feelings, drawn to Mac’s quiet confidence and gorgeous white-blonde hair. As they explore the area, memories they can’t quite explain flood them both.

Is the spark between Mac and Jonah in fact a sign of something much deeper – a love enduring through millennia – or can it all be an illusion?

Christina has shared an extract from Shadows In The Spring with us today. We hope you enjoy it. 

*****beginning of extract*****

Prologue

Germania Barbaricum (north-east France), mid-May AD 80

The jolting of the cart over a particularly large bump in the track woke Gisel. Her head felt as if someone had speared her skull with a knife and her gaze was unfocused. Only a sliver of light filtered in under the material that covered the wagon where she lay trussed like a fowl ready for the roasting spit. Everything was dim, and she wasn’t sure whether it was reality or merely a bad dream.

Then she remembered.

The ambush. The uneven fight. Blood. Gut-wrenching screams. Grabbing hands, and then the harsh commands in the Roman language. She had feared for her chastity and her life, but they had caught her easily when she tried to run. Someone had thumped her on the head with a hard object and she’d passed out. When she came to, her hands were tied behind her back and she was being thrown into this stinking cart. The smell that permeated its planks hinted at past use for manure and animal transport. Now she was the animal, as a captured slave would be treated no better than cattle.

The goddess Nerthus help her.

She tried to move her head and saw that she wasn’t alone. A couple of legionaries sat at the back of the cart, their spears pointing skyward as they kept guard. They had removed their helmets, but still had swords and large daggers strapped to their belts. On her other side were the remnants of the group she’d been travelling with, all ruthlessly secured like her. And in the corner, the one man she wouldn’t have minded if they’d killed: Eberulf, his dark blue gaze fixed on her, intense and penetrating.

She shuddered and closed her eyes. It would seem that even in captivity, she couldn’t escape him.

*****end of extract*****

About Christina Courtenay –

Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip/dual time and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK.

Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings.

Christina is a Vice President and former Chair and of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. 

Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

Her latest novel, Shadows in the Spring is a dual time historical romance and was published by Headline Review on 24th April 2025. Click to buy on Amazon, Waterstones, Apple, Google Play, WHSmith, Hive, Blackwells, UK.Bookshop and eBooks.com. 

Connect with Christina Courtenay via her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Bluesky. 

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.