Having grown up at Wedderburn Castle in the serene Scottish Lowlands, Orin Hume is thrust into the dazzling realm of London society and Court circles as Poet Laureate of Britain. But at the height of his fame a former tragedy and his ties to a lass he once loved lead him home to Berwickshire again. When his return is further marred by lost love letters and scheming kin who conspire to keep the pair apart, can Lady Maryn Lockhart, now Duchess of Fordyce, forgive him? Or will the shadows of the past and the complexities of the present rewrite their love story? [back cover copy]
A MATTER OF HONOR by Laura Frantz is a charming read. A novella, and though shorter and thus having fewer characters and complexity than a full length novel, is every bit as engaging and delightful a journey to her promised happily-ever-afters as are her full-length works.
The story is set in Berwickshire (an area of the Scottish Borders), and the setting comes alive under Frantz’s pen—whether a misty spring morning on the Hume estate.
A windy overlook near Fast Castle ruins along the coast.
Or strolling one of many gardens. Reading this is actually more like watching a movie!
Though we’ve met many of the characters previously in Frantz’s novel THE ROSE AND THE THISTLE, readers need not be concerned if they haven’t read that. The characters are 24 years older, and Frantz presents each one with sufficient clarity and well-chosen detail that we immediately feel acquainted:
Lovell sent Orin a sharp look. “… Why has no English lass turned your head? You’ve been in London for years, ever since the—”
The unfinished sentence held the lash of a whip. “Ever since the accident, aye.” … He’d rather talk of anything but the accident. (p 12)
Summoning every shred of courage she had, and disguising her disfigurement as best she could, she said a prayer and sallied forth. She, who had hidden in a cottage for years, was being forced into the open like a hothouse flower. How she chafed at this new role. But determination to get off on the right foot with Grandfather’s tenants came first. (p 65)
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the person young Orin Hume has become—a kind, contemplative man of great honor and compassion. And his life-long friend, Maryn, who was to become his wife until a cruel accident, and then even crueler kinfolk, interfered. Frantz deftly reveals the depth of caring these two have for each other and the interference they’ve experienced. She deftly peels away layers of subterfuge and shows us the consequences—until it seems all but impossible they can untangle the schemes against them and find their way back to each other.
Should [Orin] seek his brother’s counsel … The laird was a very practical man. Suppose Everard tried to dissuade him? …. In truth, what mattered most was the Almighty’s opinion. Only [Orin] hadn’t asked Him.” (p72)
Would [Maryn] have done anything differently? The facts remained and trumped any fine feeling. She was part invalid. She could not do her own hair, could not dress without help. She could no longer ride a horse nor play the pianoforte … She could not even pick up a child …. Did that not preclude her from marriage? (p 78)
But as each makes decisions to move on with their life, and give of themselves to make the lives of others better, their view of each other changes. They grow and are emboldened to take risks in sharing their hearts. Their journey to each other is WONDERFUL reading—packed with beauty, honor, delightful scenes, and surprises a-plenty.
He looked as magnificent as she felt disheveled. Clad in a blue and black tartan coat and dark breeches, every inch of him was finely tailored but not overplayed. Time had done nothing to diminish his presence. (p 93)
You can purchase A MATTER OF HONOR on Amazon. And meet Laura online at her website or from there on social media.
A lost treasure. A riddled quest. The healing power of friendship.
Legends are tucked into every fold of the Colorado mountains surrounding the quaint town of Mercy Peak, where residents are the stuff of tall tales, the peaks are taller still, and a lost treasure has etched mystery into the very terrain.
In 1948, when outsider Mercy Windsor arrives after a scandal shatters her gilded world as Hollywood’s beloved leading lady, she is determined to forge a new life in obscurity in this time-forgotten Colorado haven. She purchases Wildwood, an abandoned estate with a haunting history, and begins to restore it to its former glory.
But as she does, her every move tugs at the threads of the mountain’s lore, unearthing what became of her long-lost pen pal Rusty Bright, and the whereabouts of the infamous Galloping Goose Railcar No. 8, which vanished years ago–along with the mailbag it carried, whose contents could change the course of countless lives. Not to mention the fabled treasure that–if found–could right so many wrongs.
Among the towering mountains that stand as silent witnesses, the ghosts of the past entangle with the courage of the present to find a place where healing, friendship, and hope can abide amid a world forever changed. [back cover copy]
From the opening lines of Born of Gilded Mountains, Amanda Dykes drew me into her Rocky Mountain hamlet. No. In all honesty, I have to say she accomplished that with the light-sparked cover!
Meeting four boys “orbiting 10 years old” was like a reunion with cousins I knew well. And meeting the rest of the characters was as just as smooth and comfortable. As pages turned I joined old friends, and we walked paths to new places with expansive woodland vistas. Encountered new challenges and old roadblocks. Heartrending loss. Heartwarming sacrifice. Boundless gifts. And the pathway is strewn with glimmering surprises and beautiful turns of phrase.
We meet Mercy Windsor on the downhill slope of her Hollywood career. I find it remarkable how, in only a few pages of prologue, Amanda introduces Mercy to us. This excerpt from a newspaper account is an example:
“She arrived on a train and was on her first Hollywood set three hours later. In a world where aspiring actresses give up by the dozens each day … Mercy Windsor’s rags-to-riches … is the stuff of legends. ,,, Who would take on a 10-minute black-and-white scene in the last silent film? … [Owen Haskell] the famously severe film critic was moved until words evaded him. ‘Go and see it,’ he said simply.
‘The single tear that flooded the world.’ they called it. This unknown actress with the face of a waif … Dared to be understated [rather] than the overwrought twisting hands she was urged to employ. To let a single tear splash upon her hand, so empty of her child’s grip….
Soon, the film was everywhere…. The people’s message ‘Give us more of her!’ …and a star was born…. They loved her … The spotlight grew. Roles followed as Cinderella, Guinevere … She didn’t just live on their screens—she lived in their hearts….
Pinnacle Studios … to the press. ‘Mercy Windsor was a gem … but after an unpleasant set of circumstances, Pinnacle has found it unavoidable to prematurely end its relationship with Miss Windsor, who is, in fact, in breach of contract.’ The Mighty Mercy has fallen … and there does not seem to be anyone to catch her.”
In this marvelous tale characters forge unbreakable bonds as we accompany them through various adventures, explorations, and celebrations, all as we wend our way thru a setting as unique, engrossing, and wonder-filled as Oz, Middle-earth, or Narnia.
I ache to tell you detail of the physical adventures or adventures of the soul ~ but fear I cannot without spoiling some of Amanda’s clever surprises—which are glittering gemstones tucked in every fold of this tale.
But I can say I loved the characters and their relationships; the settings are beautifully rendered and real. I felt queasy at the heights, refreshed by cool breezes whispering through pines and over sparkling streams. I loved the journey. I love the heart in this story. It is packed with beauty, humor, kindness, light, compassion, faith, hope, and is a delight to savor!
ABOUT AMANDA: Amanda Dykes is a spinner of hope-filled tales who spends most days chasing wonder and words with her family. She’s the winner of the 2020 Christy Award Book of the Year, a Booklist 2019 Top Ten title, and the winner of an INSPY award for her debut novel, Whose Waves These Are. She’s also the author of Set the Stars Alight (a Christy Award finalist), Yours is the Night (recipient of the Kipp Award, Christy Award finalist), All the Lost Places (Christy Award finalist, starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Foreword), and three novellas. Find her online at amandadykes.com. Or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authoramandadykes or on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amanda_spins_stories/.
Photo credit: Boys – section of Snap the Whip by Winslow Homer, 1872. Woman with Tear – from Photoplay Magazine, September 1915, Woodland gallery – Mary K. Moody.
EMBERS IN THE LONDON SKY is a superb story from an author who delights us with every book.
As the German army invades the Netherlands in 1940, Aleida van der Zee Martens escapes to London to wait out the Occupation. Separated from her three-year-old son, Theo, in the process, the young widow desperately searches for her little boy even as she works for an agency responsible for evacuating children to the countryside.
When German bombs set London ablaze, BBC radio correspondent Hugh Collingwood reports on the Blitz, eager to boost morale while walking the fine line between truth and censorship. But the Germans are not the only ones Londoners have to fear as a series of murders flame up amid the ashes.
The deaths hit close to home for Hugh, and Aleida needs his help to locate her missing son. As they work together, they grow closer and closer, both to each other and the answers they seek. But time is running short—and the worst is yet to come. [back cover copy]
EMBERS IN THE LONDON SKY is jammed with drama and hard choices—even before factoring in the war!
Sundin is a marvelous storyteller, skilled at creating a sense of place. We feel as if we’re there, whether on a road through the low countries teeming with frightened people fleeing before the German invasion, walking in London over wet cobblestones below a fleet of barrage balloons or heels sinking in muddy parkland, or through smoke-filled streets amid noise of planes, bombs, sirens, cries. And the roar of a fire.
Sundin’s characters, achingly real, appealed to me immediately. Aleida, despite losing her son and arriving in England with very little, has gumption, grit, and hope. And Hugh, despite his upper-class status is working for the BBC, broadcasting from Dunkirk and among the ravaged buildings and populace of London, has warmth, equanimity … and a secret. A cast of vibrant and interesting secondary characters are also very involved.
Weaving these vivid locations and vibrant characters into the inherent drama of war — bombings, people living on top of one another, families separated, danger, illness, politics, espionage—would be a good story. But Sundin, with great skill, goes well beyond, creating a plot that twists and turns like a living thing, giving readers a satisfying story on every level.
But pointing to the various elements Sundin provides to give us a great story falls short of revealing how good this powerful story of love, courage, and sacrifice is. I think one aspect I love about Sundin’s writing is her ability to reveal something about a character in a tiny detail. A small action. A concise bit of prose.
On page 91, for example: Hugh and Aleida have become acquainted and Hugh goes to her apartment unexpectedly to give her a list, promised her by Hugh’s uncle, of homes and institutions to check in her search for Theo. Aleida isn’t home so he waits for her on the street and takes glee in surprising her when she returns. They go inside.
“Hugh paused inside the door, and his smile collapsed. On the coatrack hung Theo’s little gray cap and blue coat.
‘When I find him,’ she said, ‘I’ll be ready.’”
We learn so much about Hugh’s sensitivity and Aleida’s love, hope, and determination despite already searching 6 months for Theo. If Sundin can pack that into just 29 words, imagine the story packed into 369 pages!
Photo credit: Barrage balloons, London damaged bldg- Wikipedia, London Blitz; plane-wallup.net; Building with flowers: Ray Bullen; Elephant-World Wildlife Fund
Most people familiar with the 1924 devotional Streams in the Desert know little about the author Lettie Cowman. Overflowing Faith describes how personal heartbreak and a need to fill her thirsty soul led to Lettie penning the devotional.
Still in print 100 years later, with untold millions of copies sold, Streams in the Desert continues to speak to weary hearts, particularly to those dealing with personal grief and despair in a world gone mad.
Biographer Michelle Ule traces how a girl from Iowa grew up to prompt the final gospel crusade through Eastern Europe before WWII. Using Streams in the Desert as an opening, Lettie Cowman worked tirelessly to share the gospel before the Iron Curtain sealed off believers from the western world for 50 years.
This story of a remarkable woman’s earnest desire to share the gospel provides insight and encouragement for modern Christians facing a hostile, unbelieving society. [back cover copy]
Do you find peeking into the lives of people from another era interesting?
Well Michelle Ule’s Overflowing Faith:Lettie Cowman and Streams in the Desert is beyond a peek and beyond interesting.
Ule explores and shares Lettie’s life from her early days in Iowa to her world travels as transportation went from buggy to train, ship to plane. And what a ride! I learned so much about Lettie ~ but even more about God, Who seemed to have his hand on Lettie’s life from the beginning. (Doesn’t Scripture tells us that He does for every one of us. But do we often see it so magnificently?)
Lettie was raised as a pampered daughter of a well-to-do farm owner and at 15 met Charlie Cowman, the young man who would become her husband. Or she thought she met him at 15. It turned out that they’d met about 12 years earlier when Charlie’s family was traveling west and had stopped for the night to camp on the farm of Lettie’s parents.
Ule’s unfurling of Lettie’s story is packed with such “coincidences,” such as how God used health challenges Lettie faced to position the Cowman’s for the next step in their ministry.
Early in the Cowman’s marriage, they had moved to Chicago because Charlie received a promotion. Lettie’s unusual attendance at a revival meeting led to her soon being saved and purposing to follow God’s guidance. Throughout the Cowman’s ministry together and her eventual 40+ years of leading ministry as a widow, Lettie was diligent about waiting for guidance and backing it up with Scripture. She expected God to guide His work. And He did.
Their ministry was bold, The Cowman’s traveled to Japan and with Juji Nakada started Oriental Missionary Society (OMS), a Bible Training Institute, and began an outreach campaign called the “The Great Village Campaign wherein teams of Western teachers and Japanese trainees systematically visited EVERY home in Japan (10.2 million!), sharing the Gospel and leaving a tract and/or portion of Scripture with the family. One missionary said they wore out a pair of shoes every month!
Charles died in 1924, and though Lettie grieved terribly, she soldiered on, eventually shepherding the OMS to reach new countries, new groups of people, even expanding to new continents.
Following Lettie’s life captured me. Seeing (Hearing, really. It was an audiobook!) her simple faith and the powerful consequences presented so clearly struck me. Lettie’s life, this book recounting it, tapped me on the shoulder time after time as God whispered, “You can trust Me like that too.” Ule related numerous instances that caused my jaw to drop. Let me share just one with you:
WW II interrupted most of OMS official business in the Far East, missionaries were interred or left the country, etc. Lettie traveled to many places in Europe. During a trip to Wales, she met a Finnish couple who asked her to help them evangelize Finland, which she did. After WW II, OMS was being rebuilt in China and in Oct. 1948 Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek requested 1.1 million New Testaments written in Chinese. OMS desired to provide them, but there was a worldwide paper shortage, and OMS still struggled at times to pay the bills.
Ule tells us, “Finish Christian farmers donated enough trees for paper pulp to make 15 tons of paper. TREES! If I’d relied on my reasoning, I’d have tried for extra funds to buy rare paper to print resources. God went to tree farmers. The paper was turned into tracts and Scriptures for Europe, Asia, and South America.” Imagine that! I can hardly.
Some of Lettie’s travels, at the time, seemed to make no sense. Some said she stretched herself too thin, beginning outreach to South America, England & Wales, Finland, Eastern Europe. But all the while God was weaving a tapestry.
I consumed Overflowing Faith in audio form, the story read by the author. Typically I don’t find an audio book the best form for me, especially for texts with lots of dates or numbers. I like to read, highlight certain passages. But this story kept my interest and had very few spots with numbers that pulled me out of the story. Ule’s reading was superb. Her tone and pitch varied. She even changed voices a bit for characters’ speech (But have the volume a tad louder because sometimes Lettie’s voice is whispery and needs a bit of volume.). She also did something that made the story relevant in another way. When speaking about money, she also converted it into 2022 amounts.
Overflowing Faith is a powerful telling of the compelling life of a partnership of Lettie Cowman and God. I highly recommend it.
THE SEAMSTRESS OF ACADIE is yet another of the stellar works by Laura Frantz.
As 1754 is drawing to a close, tensions between the French and the British on Canada’s Acadian shore are reaching a fever pitch. Seamstress Sylvie Galant and her family–French-speaking Acadians wishing to remain neutral–are caught in the middle, their land positioned between two forts flying rival flags. Amid preparations for the celebration of Noël, the talk is of unrest, coming war, and William Blackburn, the British Army Ranger raising havoc across North America’s borderlands.
As summer takes hold in 1755 and British ships appear on the horizon, Sylvie encounters Blackburn, who warns her of the coming invasion. Rather than participate in the forced removal of the Acadians from their land, he resigns his commission. But that cannot save Sylvie or her kin. Relocated on a ramshackle ship to Virginia, Sylvie struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. When her path crosses once more with William’s, they must work through the complex tangle of their shared, shattered past to navigate the present and forge an enduring future. [back cover copy]
The Acadian expulsion from Nova Scotia is an event that is seldom used as novel settings. It’s a sad chapter in history, and Frantz makes great use of every opportunity for drama in this engaging story. And while the true events are tragic, Frantz in her typical way creates a story worth reading and easy to stick with. (I have started some books that were so disturbing, I could not make myself finish them. This is not such a book.)
Frantz gives us characters we root for, who grow and change through their trials, and are so appealing and interesting we just have to keep reading.
The settings come alive such that you may shiver in the cold, slip your shoes off thinking they are sopping wet, mop the sweat from your brow, or startle at a creak thinking it is a twig snapping as someone creeps up on you. I admire how well Frantz depicts her settings. I am drawn in every time.
We meet the Acadian families in their natural setting and enjoy their lives and celebrations.
But as British ships amass in the bay, the people who, for over a century, have lived simply, worked the land, fished the waters, and found ways to live peaceably with their neighbors sense their way of life is being threatened. Deceit and treachery abound and we are shocked along with them when they are piled aboard dilapidated vessels, forced to leave almost everything behind, then find families are broken apart.
Hardships multiply—filth, disease, storms, Disaster strikes—even to sinking ships. And we hope that those who survive will find peace and wholeness in the new land.
But humanity is there and humanity brings its own kind of wickedness, and hanging on to integrity and hope can be a very long battle. Add the clash of cultures, few friends and new foes—discerning who is friend or foe becomes critically important.
After reading a Frantz tale, I often try to figure out what it is that makes her novels superior quality. She gives us intriguing plots with many surprises, characters who, though flawed, possess integrity, honor, and kindly ways; and settings that come alive. But something beyond that makes her stories ones where I pause and re-read a scene because it’s so compelling. She has a way of imbuing characters with significance—especially those from less valued echelons of society—children, minorities, the elderly.
Another admirable skill Frantz demonstrates is her ability to choose the perfect, tiny action to focus on to elicit powerful emotional responses from her characters and thus from readers. For example, how often have you been brought to tears watching someone wash a shirt? Or from noticing the wallpaper in a new room you enter? Tiny, almost inconsequential actions that have a profound impact in the story as she tells it.
I suspect there are many other skills Frantz employs that I have not yet identified. But identifying them is not necessary to enjoying this captivating story. And we can be assured that Laura Frantz will always end on a hope-filled note.
You can purchase THE SEAMSTRESS OF ACADIE anywhere books are sold. And meet Laura online at her website or from there on social media.
Ryan Eames is a policewoman and single mother dedicated most of all to her lonely, uniquely gifted son. Stretched thin by double shifts and grappling with an out-of-season coastal wildfire, Christmas cheer feels as far away as a distant carol on a winter night. Until duty draws her into the life of a stranger.
Ethan Lange is alive because Ryan reached his canyon home before the blaze. Christmas is only days away, and Ethan has lost everything. A man reckoning with a painful past, it’s not the first time he’s been forced to start over. At least now it’s in the redeeming embrace of Miramar Bay.
Forging an animal rescue operation, Ryan and Ethan first unite by their cause and the rally of a close-knit community. But it’s Ryan’s extraordinary child who draws them into something deeper and surprising. Something to be thankful for. Now with every beat of their hearts, Christmas in Miramar Bay looks to be a season of love, healing, and sweet mercies that will be remembered for a lifetime. [back cover copy]
Davis Bunn’s writing usually grabs me and THE CHRISTMAS HUMMINGBIRD is no exception. From the beginning when Ryan Eames rescues Ethan Lange from a wildfire licking at his canyon home I was in the story.
Having lived through a nearby wildfire and worked on a team assisting those who’d lost their homes and/or businesses recover, everything about the setting resonated. Like the way the color of the sky tells you that fire is consuming your world, or ash flutters out of a blue sky like snow for weeks
depending on the way the wind blows. And the smell of “burned” comes and goes on the wind currents. The moonscape aftermath. And the yearning of everyone for dew, rain, or an ocean breeze. But this story captivated me for so much more.
The tentative romance developing between two hurt people is a thing of beauty. Here’s a snippet:
“As [Ryan] stowed her groceries in the trunk and settled in beside her son, she was tempted to call and cancel. Not have to go through the process of introducing another strange man into their home life. It would be so easy to tell Ethan they needed to keep their relationship totally professional.
But the truth was, it felt so good. She liked him. She liked the way others saw him. She liked the flavor of hope. It tasted like a spice from some long-forgotten dream. “
The characters are well-drawn, relatable, and flawed, but a joy to get to know. And Bunn’s descriptions are superb—as this one where Ethan sees Ryan across the room:
“Ethan guessed her age at early thirties …. She held herself very erect, very aware. Like a bird of prey waiting for the reason to launch herself into flight.”
I liked also the storyline where the rescued becomes a rescuer—and a hummingbird is just one of those rescued. Hummingbirds are vulnerable to heat and smoke. (Did you know their hearts beat 1000+ times per minute?) The details of what goes into rescuing the hummingbird population from the fire zone are fascinating, and offer an opportunity for Ethan to bond with Liam, Ryan’s remarkable son. Liam is an interesting character—he marches to the beat of his own drummer which involves a lot of drawing and a lot of silence. Unusual for an eleven-year-old.
These three become a powerful triumvirate who work to resolve numerous issues for each other and the larger community. THE CHRISTMAS HUMMINGBIRD is a marvelous depiction of something I often write about—help from unlikely places. Add in mysteries solved, bonds formed, and Christmas and you have a keeper of a storyI highly recommend.
Davis Bunn is Writer-in-Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University. He has won 4 Christy Awards and his books have sold in excess of eight million copies. You can learn more about his at his website.
I love books that stretch perspectives, give new insights…. Here are tidbits of some of the many books I’ve read that haven’t made it to reviews on my blog mainly because of time and health and family issues. Not because they didn’t deserve to be featured. I’m including some of my favorite covers because the art & beauty deserve a second glance too. Dive in. Hopefully you’ll discover some new reads that appeal to you.
I must begin with WORDS by Ginny Yttrup because it really captured me. So much about this novel is unusual and compelling and I just loved it. For one thing, I like a story that draws me completely into a new perspective of a character I like.
WORDS by Ginny Yttrup
WORDS is a unique and thoroughly engaging story.
Yttrup is superb at immersing us in a child’s perspective in this story that shows how perspective leads to persistent beliefs,
The back cover begins: “I collect words. I keep them in a box in my mind. There, he can’t take them.”
Definitely intriguing, isn’t it? Thus we meet 10 year-old Kaylee Wren who is surviving then escaping neglect and abuse.
Yttrup is masterful at showing us Kaylee’s painful world through the selective vision and magical thinking of a youngster. Kaylee engages not only the reader, but other adults in the story who scatter light and hope across the pages.
WORLD WAR II STORIES
WW II stories are numerous and I read a lot of them. Many are already reviewed on this blog, but I’m also including some which aren’t and highlighting some set in a wide variety of less-covered locations: Denmark, The Netherlands, Russia, England’s Lake District, Pyrenees & Spain, Germany, North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Russia.
I begin with one set in France, a fairly common WW II setting, because I loved Sarah Sundin’s UNTIL LEAVES FALL IN PARIS and can hardly believe I never posted a review of it!
When the Nazis march into Paris in 1940, American ballerina Lucie Girard must make the decision of her life ~ stay in France or leave? She stays and buys her favorite English-language bookstore, thus enabling the Jewish owners to escape. Challenges abound when she discovers the resistance uses the store to pass secret messages and Lucie must decide which customers she can befriend and which to be wary of. Surely the charming four-year-old daughter of one patron is safe to befriend. The dramatic story unfurls with unexpected twists, potential heartbreak, danger, and surprises galore. Who would imagine that lives might be impacted by an imaginary friend named Feenee?
THE SOUND OF LIGHT by Sarah Sundin
In April 1940, everyone in Denmark had a decision to make. Within 2 hours of the Germans marching in, they defeated Denmark. Henrik must disappear from Denmark, and Else stays to continue her research. Yet each faces challenges that spring ceaselessly from their work. As time passes, pressure increases and their undercover activities become more difficult to keep secret, and when a romance blossoms, the consequences of each decision multiplies. …continue reading review here
IN LOVE’S TIME by Kate Breslin
The title of IN LOVE’S TIME declares it’s a romance. What it doesn’t tell you is that it’s also packed with mystery, intrigue, heroes and villains. And like any good detective story, it’s loaded with surprises and twists throughout. (In fact, one of the biggest caught me totally off guard just pages from the end.) I thoroughly enjoyed searching for clues and guessing which were real and which were misdirection.
But let’s return to the beginning. The book opens amidst a dangerous search for not only the Russian tsarina and her son but also information about a plot to assassinate Lenin. The high stakes story is always engaging and keeps you turning pages. It’s well-balanced ~action never overpowers the romance, and the love story, filled with its own complications, never eclipses the war-time drama. (Continue review here)
UNTIL WE FIND HOME by Cathy Gohlke
“For American Claire Stewart joining the French Resistance sounded as romantic as the storylines she hopes will one day grace the novels she wants to write. But when she finds herself stranded on English shores, with five French Jewish children she smuggled across the channel before Nazis stormed Paris, reality feels more akin to fear.” Set in England’s Lake District in 1940, this is a compelling tale that explores how people respond when their values and expectations collide with evil and conditions they cannot accept—or easily change.
SECRETS SHE KEPT by Cathy Gohlke
“Secrets a mother could never share ~ consequences a daughter could not redeem.”
Hannah Sterling sets herself a task: to untangle the conundrum that was her mother. A woman who lived simply and was generous to a fault yet saved tin foil and rubber bands and never seemed happy. Following Lieselotte’s death, Hannah determines to unlock the secrets of her mother’s mysterious past and is shocked to discover a grandfather living in Germany. Thirty years earlier, Lieselotte’s father is quickly ascending the ranks of the Nazi party, and a proper marriage for his daughter could help advance his career.
Marvelous plot twists just continue to darken the shadows and confuse Hannah further.
CG makes the characters come alive and their feelings become ours. And she has a way of sprinkling her writing with gems that glisten, making every story a gift.
NIGHT BIRD CALLING by Cathy Gohlke
A rich and complex story that starts off with some hard good-byes, then hard decisions. As one character said: “Wishing comes easy. Change don’t.”
And so we join Lilliana Swope in a journey to healing, hope, and North Carolina. A journey filled with interesting folk who become friends. Or perhaps enemies?
CHASING SHADOWS by Lynn Austin
“A powerful novel from Lynn Austin about three women whose lives are instantly changed when the Nazis invade the neutral Netherlands, forcing each into a complicated dance of choice and consequence. The Nazi invasion propels these women onto paths that cross in unexpected, sometimes-heartbreaking ways. Yet the story that unfolds illuminates the surprising endurance of the human spirit and the power of faith and love to carry us through.” A captivating tale with Austin’s customary excellence.
THE WISH BOOK CHRISTMAS by Lynn Austin
Best friends Audrey Barrett and Eve Dawson are looking forward to celebrating Christmas in postwar America, thrilled at the prospect of starting new traditions with their five-year-old sons. But when the 1951 Sears Christmas Wish Book arrives and the boys start obsessing over every toy in it, Audrey and Eve realize they must first teach them the true significance of the holiday.
Searching for healing after tragedy, the story includes the joy, innocence, and exuberance of young children and a dog; the encouragement of a supportive community; and the possibility of new love relationships.
THE PARIS DRESSMAKER by Kristy Cambron
Based on true accounts of how Parisiennes resisted the Nazi occupation in World War II—from fashion houses to the city streets—comes a story of two courageous women who risked everything to fight an evil they could not abide.
Paris, 1939. Maison Chanel has closed, thrusting haute couture dressmaker Lila de Laurent out of the world of high fashion as Nazi soldiers invade the streets and the City of Light slips into darkness. Lila’s life is now a series of rations, brutal restrictions, and carefully controlled propaganda. Lila is drawn to La Resistance and is soon using her skills as a dressmaker to infiltrate the Nazi elite. She takes their measurements and designs masterpieces, all while collecting secrets in the glamorous Hotel Ritz.
Paris, 1943. Sandrine Paquet’s job is to catalog the priceless works of art bound for the Führer’s Berlin, masterpieces stolen from prominent Jewish families. But behind closed doors, she secretly forages for information from the underground resistance.
Told across the span of the Nazi occupation, The Paris Dressmaker highlights the brave women who used everything in their power to resist darkness and restore light to their world.
THE PAINTED CASTLE by Kristy Cambron
THE PAINTED CASTLE is a riveting braid of three stories from three centuries. Each captures the reader … and reveals the answer to a mystery or adds layers to the puzzle. Cambron masterfully entwines the tales, carrying the reader effortlessly along. Each story so engages that when a chapter ends and a new era begins the next, one experiences a brief moment of shock, as if rousing from a daydream. Then delight at returning to another circle of friends and the attendant mystery to be resolved.
THE PAINTED CASTLE is a tremendous read with engaging characters, intriguing multiple mysteries, and plenty of plot twists and romance. As usual, Cambron is masterful in creating a fascinating story that is a joy to read.
THE WINTER ROSE by Melanie Dobson Grace Tonquin is an American Quaker who works tirelessly in Vichy France to rescue Jewish children from the Nazis. After crossing the treacherous Pyrénées, Grace returns home to Oregon with a brother and sister whose parents were lost during the war. Though Grace and her husband love Élias and Marguerite as their own, echoes of Grace’s past and trauma from the Holocaust tear the Tonquin family apart. More than fifty years after they disappear, Addie Hoult arrives at Tonquin Lake, hoping to find the Tonquin family. For Addie, the mystery is a matter of life and death.
Dobson’s skill is on full display in this dual-time tale that ranges from France to Spain to the U.S Pacific Northwest.
CHATEAU OF SECRETS by Melanie Dobson
A rich, intriguing book that draws the reader into this astonishing place, exploring a labyrinth of emotions. Dobson weaves present and WWII stories into an intricate, well-balanced tapestry.
I often find split-time novels slightly disappointing when the story or people of one era are not as interesting as the other, or following storylines is confusing. Chateau never falls into those but is always clear, crisp, and compelling.
I’m drawn to stories set during the 1940’s, have read many, and seen movies of even more. Yet Chateau introduced me to startling and new things I’d never learned about WWII. In telling this story, the “Sophie’s Choice” type decisions people faced are so real, I ached for them. (Continue reading review …)
YESTERDAY’S TIDES by Roseanna White
YESTERDAY’S TIDES is a gripping tale of fierce love, loyalty, and sacrifice that spans two world wars and half the globe.
Set largely on Ocracoke Island of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, it reveals some fascinating and new (new to me—but perhaps not to North Carolinians) historical episodes. And while the history is intriguing, the story and characters Roseanna weaves are even more so.
YESTERDAY’S TIDES is a dual-time novel and one of the best technically that I’ve read. The story is chock full of interconnections, immersing the reader in both stories such that each new detail reverberates in both eras. One tip I’ll give readers: tolerate the ambiguity. Even embrace it. Any “holes” you notice aren’t holes but really partial revelations with more to come.
Roseanna writes great stories with well-developed, memorable characters and twisty, involved plots in a wide variety of settings. They always surprise and delight me. (Read more of this review here.)
THE MEMORY HOUSE by Rachel Hauck
The inspirational story of two women whose lives have been destroyed by disaster but find healing in a special house.
When Beck Holiday lost her father in the North Tower on 9/11, she also lost her memories of him. Eighteen years later, she’s a tough New York City cop burdened with a damaging secret, suspended for misconduct, and struggling to get her life in order. When a mysterious letter arrives informing Beck that she’s inherited a house along Florida’s northern coast, she discovers something there that will change her life forever.
THE CHRISTMAS HUMMINGBIRD by Davis Bunn
Bunn draws clear and complex characters who exhibit courage and spunk in the face of opposition, life-altering opposition, with their freedom and lives on the line. And he displays a tenderness that respects his characters, making it easy for readers to have compassion toward them even when they make choices we’d prefer they don’t. … His stories are captivating and rich in detail while flowing right along, never lagging or lacking. Miramar Bay and The Hummingbird Christmas are more in a long line of successes and I highly recommend them both.
THE MEANS THAT MAKE US STRANGERS by Christine Kindberg
Home is where your people are. But who are your people?
A fascinating coming-of-age tale of a white girl, Adelaide, whose family lives in Ethiopia. She’s lived there her entire life and they are the only white people she knows. When in 1964 her father must return to the U.S., Adelaide goes through culture shock and doesn’t have any idea where to sit at lunch! As she forges a life and friendships, she will need to decide where she belongs when she graduates high school ~ the village where she promised to return or the U.S. where she’s begun to carve out a place for herself.
Labeled a YA tale, the story indeed focuses on a teen-agers, but the themes of identity, family, belonging, and race relations in a changing society are compelling and possibly perspective-shifting and will engage many readers of all ages.
A LONG TIME COMIN’ by Robin W. Pearson
“Granny B had had it hard, and there was no way her granddaughter could ever separate her from an ounce of her pain and suffering, not that anyone could. Evelyn believed that every morning, before Granny B got dressed, she put on this suit of armor—not her full armor of God because that never came off. Her past. And she buttoned it up tight. It protected her from all kinds of nasty things. Robin is a mighty wordsmith and captures the essence of her characters and their challenges in a compelling way.
FORGIVING PARIS by Karen Kingsbury
Ashley Baxter Blake is having her first professional art showing in Paris, a city filled with tormenting memories of foolishness and bad decisions she made when she was an intern there twenty years earlier. But revisiting remembered sites and encountering old acquaintances changes Ashley’s perspective radically and starts her on a journey of healing that where she learns some positive influences she had on others and how much God loves and protects her.
TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY by Karen Kingsbury
Karen Kingsbury’s well-drawn characters take the reader on an emotional roller-coaster.
While Tommy and Annalee navigate their first—and planned forever—love, difficulties roll at them like a bowling ball to pins. Annalee faces a huge health challenge,[??] and Tommy supports her in every way he can also confronts opposition to his chosen career path upon graduation.
In the mix of romance and family drama, we see love and faith defined and refined.
WHERE THE FIRE FALLS by Karen Barnett
Stunning Yosemite National Park sets the stage for this late 1920s historical romance with mystery, adventure, heart, and a sense of the place John Muir described as “pervaded with divine light.”
This is a engaging hike with photographer and guide through the singular place of Yosemite National Park. I have loved traveling there many times, and enjoyed seeing it through new eyes and learning more of its history.
SHADOWS OF THE WHITE CITY by Jocelyn Green
Set in Chicago’s World’s Fair, this is a tightly woven tale that explores holding on or letting go ~ and discerning which to choose when you hit a turning point. Green draws realistic characters, well-nuanced and layered. We care about them. The reader walks with them until there is no turning back. The journey may begin as a stroll, but soon we’re swept up in the mysteries replete with surprises until the satisfying let-out-your-breath finish.
The settings came alive. Clearly Green has done her research. She handles the ethnic variations in character and various neighborhoods well.
THE BEST IS YET TO COME by Debbie Macomber
Hope Goodwin wants a new beginning in a coastal village in Washington state to recover from grief after the death of her twin brother. Immersing herself in her teaching job is a start but not enough. Volunteering at an animal shelter introduces her to Shadow, a dog believed to be beyond rescue and destined to be put down. Hope invests time and energy into the dog, and as he begins to trust humans again, so does she—which draws the attention of another wounded person, ex-marine, Cade Lincoln, with whom a romantic relationship gradually grows. A story of wounded people learning to grieve yet trust and hope again.
A DANCE IN DONEGAL by Jennifer Deibel
“All of her life, Irish-American Moira Doherty has relished her mother’s descriptions of Ireland. When her mother dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1920, Moira decides to fulfill her mother’s wish that she become the teacher in Ballymann, her home village in Donegal, Ireland.
After an arduous voyage, Moira arrives to a new home and a new job in an ancient country. Though a few locals offer a warm welcome, others are distanced by superstition and suspicion. Rumors about Moira’s mother are unspoken in her presence but threaten to derail everything she’s journeyed to Ballymann to do. …”
Saturated with Irish atmosphere. You’ll feel as if you spent a few days on the Emerald Isle!
Reviews for books by LAURA FRANTZ, KATE BRESLIN, AMANDA DYKES, SARAH SUNDIN, ROSEANNA WHITE are numerous on my blog. Simply enter your favorite author’s name in the search bar in the upper right corner of my page and reviews for that writer will appear.
When the Germans march into Denmark, Baron Henrik Ahlefeldt exchanges his nobility for anonymity, assuming a new identity so he can secretly row messages for the Danish Resistance across the waters to Sweden. American physicist Dr. Else Jensen refuses to leave Copenhagen and abandon her research—her life’s dream—and makes the dangerous decision to print resistance newspapers.
As Else hears rumors of the movement’s legendary Havmand—the merman—she also becomes intrigued by the mysterious and silent shipyard worker living in the same boardinghouse. Henrik makes every effort to conceal his noble upbringing, but he is torn between the façade he must maintain and the woman he is beginning to fall in love with.
When the Occupation cracks down on the Danes, these two passionate people will discover if there is more power in speech . . . or in silence. [back cover copy]
In April 1940, everyone in Denmark had a decision to make. Within 2 hours of the Germans marching in, they defeated Denmark. Under surrender terms, they allowed Parliament and King Christian to remain in place and the Danish government “asked the people to behave, obey the law, and treat the Germans correctly.”
The 2 main characters, Baron Henrik Ahlefeldt and Dr. Else Jensen, look closely at what is important to each of them and choose opposite paths: Henrik must disappear from Denmark, and Else stays to continue her research. Yet each faces challenges that spring ceaselessly from their work. As time passes, pressure increases and their undercover activities become more difficult to keep secret. As a romance blossoms, the consequences of each decision multiplies.
Sundin peppers the story with fascinating historical details as she weaves an ever-tightening net of intrigue. A net both Henrik and Else could have avoided if they’d left Denmark before the German occupation. Indeed, both still could leave.
Their choices to remain and work in Occupied Denmark are clear and understandable. But the costs of the increasing sacrifices they’re called on to make become much higher, become more agonizing—and more risky. The cast of secondary characters is rich and well-drawn.
I enjoy learning new things from a good story, and this one abounds in interesting new information about Denmark and The Danish Resistance. And I love being immersed in a good story. THE SOUND OF LIGHT drew me in immediately and kept me turning pages. The main characters evoked caring.
As the German net tightens, the readers will be surprised at Sundin’s completely believable plot twists. Even the title holds intrigue. I thought perhaps it referred to some fact from a physicist’s work about light also carrying sound. But another surprise awaited me as to what The Sound of Light referenced. I highly recommend this book to readers who like inspirational historical fiction.
In two world ward, intelligence and counterintelligence, prejudice, and self-sacrifice collide across two generations.
In 1942, Evie Farrow is used to life on Ocracoke Island, where every day is the same–until the German U-boats haunting their waters begin to wreak havoc. And when special agent Sterling Bertrand is washed ashore at Evie’s inn, her life is turned upside down. While Sterling’s injuries keep him inn-bound for weeks, making him even more anxious about the SS officer he’s tracking, he becomes increasingly intrigued by Evie, who seems to be hiding secrets of her own.
Decades earlier, in 1914, Englishman Remington Culbreth arrives at the Ocracoke Inn for the summer, never expecting to fall in love with Louisa Adair, the innkeeper’s daughter. But when was breaks out in Europe, their relationship is put in jeopardy and may not survive what lies ahead for them.
As the ripples from the Great War rock Evie and Sterling’s lives in World War II, it seems yesterday’s tides may sweep them all into danger again today. [back cover copy]
YESTERDAY’S TIDES by Roseanna White is a gripping tale of fierce love, loyalty, and sacrifice that spans two world wars and half the globe.
Set largely on Ocracoke Island of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, it reveals some fascinating and new (new to me—but perhaps not to North Carolinians) historical episodes. And while the history is intriguing, the story and characters Roseanna weaves are even more so.
YESTERDAY’S TIDES is a dual-time novel and one of the best technically that I’ve read. The story is chock full of interconnections, immersing the reader in both stories such that each new detail reverberates in both eras.
One tip I’ll give readers: tolerate the ambiguity. Even embrace it. Any “holes” you notice aren’t holes but really partial revelations with more to come. Similar to meeting new neighbors, you don’t learn everything about them immediately. They’re revealed slowly, in layers, over time. That is also true for the characters, complex and believable, that we meet in YESTERDAY’S TIDES.
White shares with readers the characters, settings, and drama of the war and families and sacrifice with a deft hand and a breezy style as fresh as the seashore. A couple of quotes will show you:
“She turned his hand so his palm was up and dropped in a handful of screws. ‘There. I knew you’d prove useful.’
‘Oh, yes. Four years at Cambridge prepared me excellently for being a bowl.’” [p53]
“Habit. That’s what it was. What kept her here. Habit, trussed up with names like ‘duty’ and ‘responsibility.’” [p 285]
I highly recommend YESTERDAY’S TIDES. But be warned ~ I suspect you’ll enjoy meeting this Ocracoke family and be drawn into the story so thoroughly that you’ll postpone bedtime night after night.
Roseanna White is a Christy Award winning author who’s written “a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books.” Find out more or connect with her at http://www.roseannamwhite,com.
In 1715, Lady Blythe Hedley’s father is declared an enemy of the British crown because of his Jacobite sympathies, forcing her to flee her home in northern England. Secreted to the tower of Wedderburn Castle in Scotland, Blythe quietly awaits the crowning of a new king. But in a house with seven sons and numerous servants, her presence soon becomes known.
No sooner has Everard Hume lost his father, Lord Wedderburn, than Lady Hedley arrives with her maid in tow. He has his own problems–a volatile brother with dangerous political leanings, an estate to manage, and a very young brother in need of comfort and direction. It would be best for everyone if he could send this misfit heiress on her way as soon as possible.
In this whirlwind of intrigue, ambitions, and shifting alliances, Blythe yearns for someone she can trust. But the same forces that draw her and Everard together also threaten to tear them apart. [back cover copy]
THE ROSE AND THE THISTLE captured me from the first.
Lady Blythe is instantly appealing because she has character, values, and spunk which shine against the plight that engulfs her from her father’s political choices. When she returns to England, she faces losing everything and is sent packing to old family friends in the Scottish Borders. And who wouldn’t instantly care about the braw Scotsman preparing to carry the weight of his large family and the laird’s tenants while grieving his father. This new laird, who learns that for some experiences there’s just no schooling or training that prepares you.
All the characters are strong, compelling, yet flawed and completely realistic. In the scene below, only hours after his father’s death and fewer since he went to bed, Everard is awakened from a deep sleep to news of unexpected visitors.
Below, half a dozen people stood near the castle entrance, all looking up at him … Plus a pair of bedraggled women. … He faced the woman he guessed to be the duke’s daughter. She was dressed, or barely. A flattened gown without hoops, hair in a frayed braid, her face ashen. She appeared to wear no stockings, just slippers….Her eyes were wild. Weary.
‘Who are you and why are ye here,’ he asked …
‘I am Lady Blythe Hedley, the Duke of Northumbria’s daughter. And this is my lady’s companion.” She straightened as if gathering her misplaced dignity, the lift of her chin a rebuke to his bluntness. “And you, sir?”
Hardly the chivalrous behavior one expects from nobility, but understandable considering his circumstances.
Frantz is skilled, at portraying people, places, personalities, landscapes, conveying a person’s viewpoint, thoughts, feelings, assumptions, and struggles with only a few well-chosen details. And she is masterful at weaving into the story tiny threads that hint at a possible romance.
The chancy times mean the characters face plenty of dilemmas with pressure to make alliances—but wrong choices could cost them everything: money, friends, title, lands, even their lives. And Frantz is exceedingly clever at tossing in varied personal challenges as she paints the broad strokes of this troubled history with the fine detail of individual dramas.
All these heavy issues could make for a very dark story. But Frantz sets the story in landscapes come alive and laces it with humor, loveliness, sacrifice, and dashes of pure delight.Some favorite methods she uses are below. (And please feel free to mention your favorites in the comments. I’d love to hear them.)
Sparkling epigraphs
Silence, maiden, thy tongue outruns they discretion. [p 102]
Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked and never well mended. [169]
The path to heaven passes through a teapot. [p 221]
What worries you, masters you. [p 227]
Names:
Mrs. Candlish, the housekeeper, (perhaps I should write it Candle-ish) because she spreads light wherever she goes.
And pets Wallace, the puppy, and Pepys, the sparrow who sings treasonous tunes.
Endearing Characters/Nobleness of Spirit:
A loyal servant referring to a snobbish woman: “Her Royal Loftiness doesna have much to do with it.”
Pure Beauty:
Like tangled gold, [her hair] fell free in all its glory.
Tender Moments:
Frantz gives us plenty of these, though I think the one on page 127 as she closes the funeral chapter may be the best… But it would be unfair of me to tell you about it rather than let you discover it for yourself.
I appreciate how Frantz imbues the humblest of things and people of lowest status with great importance.
An example is Lady Blythe intruding belowstairs to check on Mrs. Candlish’s well-being because the housekeeper has appeared harried and tired. Lady Blythe brings a gift—a simple bowl of fresh blackberries, a humble token of appreciation and honor from a Lady to a servant, but a grateful guest to another woman.
All of these skills and plenty of others are on display throughout THE ROSE AND THE THISTLE. I find it impossible to say that one element is most important, but the rich story that results from her weaving them all is a joy to read. In reviews, we are encouraged to say what we liked and what we didn’t. I can’t determine anything in this story I did not like. (I mean—a couple characters were scoundrels but a good story must have conflict.) The only thing I could suggest is to make the epigraphs in a larger or easier-to-read font. I give it 5 stars and plan to read it again!
Laura Frantz is a Christy Award winner and the ECPA bestselling author of numerous historical novels. You can connect with her on her website and Facebook. She is active on Instagram ~ and right now is participating in a big book giveaway.
