Category: Historical Fiction

#BookReview The Riviera House by Natasha Lester @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForeverPub #ReadForever2021 #NatashaLester #TheRivieraHouse

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#BookReview The Riviera House by Natasha Lester @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForeverPub #ReadForever2021 #NatashaLester #TheRivieraHouse Title: The Riviera House

Author: Natasha Lester

Published by: Forever on Aug. 31, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 480

Format: Paperback

Source: Forever

Book Rating: 10/10

The New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Secret weaves a lush and engrossing novel of World War II inspired by a true story and perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Pam Jenoff.
 
Paris, 1939: The Nazis think Éliane can’t understand German. They’re wrong. They think she’s merely cataloging art in a Louvre museum and unaware they’re stealing national treasures for their private collections. They have no idea she’s carefully decoding their notes and smuggling information to the Resistance. But Éliane is playing a dangerous game. Does she dare trust the man she once loved with her secrets, or will he only betray her once again? She has no way to know for certain . . . until a trip to a stunning home on the French Riviera brings a whole new level of peril.
 
Present Day: Wanting to forget the tragedy that has left her life in shambles, Remy Lang heads to a home she’s mysteriously inherited on the Riviera. While working on her vintage fashion business, she discovers a catalog of the artworks stolen during World War II and is shocked to see a painting that hung on her childhood bedroom wall. Who is her family, really? And does the Riviera house hold more secrets than Remy is ready to face?

Natasha Lester brilliantly explores the impossible choices ordinary people faced every day during extraordinary circumstances, weaving fact with fiction and celebrating women who push the boundaries of their time.

Review:

Sincere, absorbing and expressive!

The Riviera House is a rich, engaging tale set in France during WWII, as well as present-day, that takes you into the lives of two main characters; Éliane Dufort, a young woman who, through determination and resilience, uses her knowledge of art to help survive the war; and Remy Lang, a vintage fashion entrepreneur who inadvertently stumbles across her true parentage when she travels to her inherited home in the Riviera for solace and quiet in order to grieve the unexpected loss of her husband and daughter.

The prose is eloquent and well-turned. The characters are strong, lonely, and brave. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel seamlessly into a heartfelt saga of life, loss, secrets, surprises, heartbreak, betrayal, survival, danger, friendship, and love.

Overall, The Riviera House is an evocative, sentimental, moving tale with compelling characters that I devoured from start to finish. I’m a huge fan of Natasha Lester’s writing, and this novel didn’t disappoint. If you enjoy well researched WWII time-slip stories with a fresh perspective and a dab of romance, then I highly recommend it.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

            

 

 

Thank you to Forever & Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Natasha Lester

Natasha Lester is a USA Today, internationally best-selling author. Prior to writing, she worked as a marketing executive for L’Oreal, managing the Maybelline brand, before returning to university to study creative writing.

Her first historical novel, the bestselling A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald, was published in 2016. This was followed by Her Mother’s Secret in 2017 and The Paris Seamstress in 2018. The French Photographer is her latest book (note: this will be published as The Paris Orphan in North America in September 2019).

Natasha's books have been published in the US, the UK, Australia and throughout Europe. She lives in Perth, Western Australia with her 3 children and loves travelling, Paris, vintage fashion and, of course, books.

Photograph courtesy of Goodreads Author Page.

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#BookReview What Passes as Love by Trisha R. Thomas @_TrishaRThomas @OverTheRiverPr @AmazonPub #WhatPassesasLove #TrishaRThomas #LakeUnion

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#BookReview What Passes as Love by Trisha R. Thomas @_TrishaRThomas @OverTheRiverPr @AmazonPub #WhatPassesasLove #TrishaRThomas #LakeUnion Title: What Passes as Love

Author: Trisha R. Thomas

Published by: Lake Union Publishing on Sep. 1, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8/10

A young woman pays a devastating price for freedom in this heartrending and breathtaking novel of the nineteenth-century South.

1850. I was six years old the day Lewis Holt came to take me away.

Born into slavery, Dahlia never knew her mother—or what happened to her. When Dahlia’s father, the owner of Vesterville plantation, takes her to work in his home as a servant, she’s desperately lonely. Forced to leave behind her best friend, Bo, she lives in a world between black and white, belonging to neither.

Ten years later, Dahlia meets Timothy Ross, an Englishman in need of a wife. Reinventing herself as Lily Dove, Dahlia allows Timothy to believe she’s white, with no family to speak of, and agrees to marry him. She knows the danger of being found out. She also knows she’ll never have this chance at freedom again.

Ensconced in the Ross mansion, Dahlia soon finds herself held captive in a different way—as the dutiful wife of a young man who has set his sights on a political future. But when Bo arrives on the estate in shackles, Dahlia decides to risk everything to save his life. With suspicions of her true identity growing and a bounty hunter not far behind, Dahlia must act fast or pay a devastating price.

Review:

Multilayered, atmospheric, and alluring!

What Passes as Love is a vivid, captivating tale that sweeps you away to Virginia during the 1850s and into the life of Dahlia Holt, a young woman of mixed race who struggles to find her true place in a world where her skin is too light to be comfortable amongst her fellow slaves and a little too dark to be confident in her own home with a husband who mistakenly believes she is white.

The prose is clear and precise. The characters are determined, impulsive, and lonely. And the plot told from dual POVs unravels quickly into an intriguing tale of life, loss, love, friendship, injustice, jealousy, guilt, self-identity, loneliness, family drama, and survival.

Overall, What Passes as Love is an immersive, tender, engaging story by Thomas that doesn’t pack quite the emotional punch of some of the other Antebellum-era novels I’ve read recently but is still nevertheless an absorbing, satisfying tale.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Trisha R. Thomas

Trisha R. Thomas has been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine’s Books That Made a Difference. Her work has been featured and reviewed in Cosmopolitan, the Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Essence, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Her debut novel, Nappily Ever After, is now a popular Netflix original film. She is also a reviewer for the Los Angeles Review of Books. Trisha is a recipient of the Literary Lion Award from the King County Library System Foundation, was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, and was voted Best New Writer by the Black Writers Collective.

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com.

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#BookReview The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman @StMartinsPress #TheLivingAndTheLost #EllenFeldman #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman @StMartinsPress #TheLivingAndTheLost #EllenFeldman #SMPInfluencers Title: The Living and the Lost

Author: Ellen Feldman

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Sep. 7, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

From the author of Paris Never Leaves You, a gripping story of a young German Jewish woman who returns to Allied Occupied Berlin from America to face the past and unexpected future

Millie Mosbach and her brother David escaped to the United States just before Kristallnacht, leaving their parents and little sister in Berlin. Now they are both back in their former hometown, haunted by ghosts and hoping against hope to find their family. Millie works in the office responsible for rooting out the most dedicated Nazis from publishing. Like most of their German-born American colleagues, the siblings suffer from rage at Germany and guilt at their own good fortune. Only Millie’s boss, Major Harry Sutton, seems strangely eager to be fair to the Germans.

Living and working in bombed-out Berlin, a latter day Wild West where the desperate prey on the unsuspecting; spies ply their trade; black markets thrive, and forbidden fraternization is rampant, Millie must come to terms with a past decision made in a moment of crisis, and with the enigmatic sometimes infuriating Major Sutton who is mysteriously understanding of her demons. Atmospheric and page-turning, The Living and the Lost is a story of survival, love, and forgiveness, of others and of self.

Review:

Thoughtful, moving, and immersive!

The Living and the Lost is an intriguing, poignant tale that sweeps you away to Berlin, post-WWII and into the life of Millie Mosbach, a young Jewish woman who, after escaping to America with her brother in 1938 and graduating from Bryn Mawr College, returns to war-torn Germany in 1945 to work for the de-Nazification program, removing Nazis from the publishing industry, and to hopefully find her missing parents and little sister who were taken as prisoners before they were able to get away.

The prose is nuanced and attentive. The characters are scarred, strong, and brave. And the plot using flashbacks and a back-and-forth style is an enthralling tale about life, love, strength, deception, bravery, injustice, hope, guilt, grief, loss, shame, survival, and the aftermath of war.

Overall, The Living and the Lost is an intriguing, heart-tugging, pensive tale by Feldman that does a lovely job of reminding us that nothing is as ever clear cut or as black and white as it may, on the surface, appear to be.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

               

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Ellen Feldman

Ellen Feldman, a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow in fiction, is the author of Scottsboro, which was shortlisted for the UK’s prestigious Orange Prize, Next to Love, The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, which was translated into nine languages, Terrible Virtue, The Unwitting, and Lucy.

In addition to her novels, she writes articles on social history and has published numerous book reviews and blogs. She has lectured extensively around the country and in Germany and England.

She grew up in northern New Jersey and attended Bryn Mawr College, from which she holds a B.A. and an M.A. in modern history. After further graduate studies at Columbia University, she worked for a New York publishing house.

She lives in New York City and Amagansett, New York, with her husband and rescue terrier Charlie.

Photograph by Laura Mozes.

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#BookReview One Summer in Crete by Nadia Marks @Nadia_Marks @panmacmillan @PGCBooks #OneSummerinCrete #NadiaMarks

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#BookReview One Summer in Crete by Nadia Marks @Nadia_Marks @panmacmillan @PGCBooks #OneSummerinCrete #NadiaMarks Title: One Summer in Crete

Author: Nadia Marks

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Sep. 1, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 368

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 7.5/10

From the author of Among the Lemon Trees comes another gloriously sunny and deeply moving read, a must for any beach bag.

On the run from heartbreak, she might just end up finding happiness.

Calli’s world has fallen apart – her relationship is suddenly over and her chances of starting a family are gone. So when she’s sent to write a magazine article about the Greek island of Ikaria, it seems the perfect escape.

Travelling to Crete, where her family is from, Calli soon realises there is more to discover than paradise beaches and friendly locals. When her aunt Froso begins to share the story of her own teenage heartache, will the love, betrayal and revenge she reveals change Calli’s life forever?

One Summer in Crete is a gloriously sunny book of family secrets, lost loves, and self-discovery.

“If you don’t think you’re about to get to Crete this is the next best thing we’ve never needed books of this kind more.” -Vanessa Feltz

Review:

Compelling, nostalgic and heartwarming!

One Summer in Crete is an atmospheric, uplifting tale that sweeps you away to the picturesque Greek Islands and into the life of Calli, a magazine writer who, after heading to the Mediterranean to complete an article for work and mend a broken heart, discovers a new place to call home that’s filled with family, food, culture, long-buried secrets, kindness, support, and love.

The prose is sweet and descriptive. The characters are complex, passionate, and sympathetic. And the plot, using a back and forth, past/present style, is a touching mix of life, loss, deception, betrayal, friendship, compassion, self-discovery, and new beginnings.

Overall, One Summer in Crete is a light, charming, escapist tale by Marks that reminds us that life is comprised of all the messy, complicated, challenging, heartbreaking moments, as well as all the special, lovely times that happen in-between.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

           

 

 

Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Nadia Marks

Nadia Marks (ne Kitromilides,) was born in Cyprus, but grew up in London. An ex creative director and associate editor on a number of leading British women’s magazines, she is now a novelist and works as a freelance writer for several national and international publications. She has written for the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Express, the Independent, the Royal Photographic Society Journal, Psychologies, In Style magazine and others. For Europe and abroad she has contributed to Italian Vanity Fair, Brazilian Vogue, Greek and Australian Marie Claire, to the biggest Greek Sunday newspaper Vima, and the glossy Greek Cypriot lifestyle magazines Omikron and Must.

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#BookReview The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer @jsantlofer @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheLastMonaLisa #JonathanSantlofer #bookmarkedbylandmark

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#BookReview The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer @jsantlofer @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheLastMonaLisa #JonathanSantlofer #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: The Last Mona Lisa

Author: Jonathan Santlofer

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Aug. 17, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 400

Format: Hardcover

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 9/10

August, 1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincent Peruggia. Exactly what happens in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, and more than one historian has wondered if the painting now in the Louvre is a fake, switched in 1911.

Present day: art professor Luke Perrone digs for the truth behind his most famous ancestor: Peruggia. His search attracts an Interpol detective with something to prove and an unfamiliar but curiously helpful woman. Soon, Luke tumbles deep into the world of art and forgery, a land of obsession and danger.

A gripping novel exploring the 1911 theft and the present underbelly of the art world, The Last Mona Lisa is a suspenseful tale, tapping into our universal fascination with da Vinci’s enigma, why people are driven to possess certain works of art, and our fascination with the authentic and the fake.

Review:

Rich, absorbing, and remarkably atmospheric!

The Last Mona Lisa is an alluring, fascinating tale predominantly set in Paris during 1911, as well as present-day Florence, that takes us into the lives of Vincent Peruggia, a young man who, after losing his wife suddenly to illness, will do whatever it takes to earn enough money to be reunited with his son, as well as his great-grandson Luke Perrone, an art historian who is consumed with all things Mona Lisa who heads to Italy to find his great grandfather’s long-lost journal to discover once and for all why he stole the painting, where it was kept for the two years before it was returned, and ultimately, before everyone who knows about the journal, including himself, ends up dead, finally discover whether the original or merely a fake is now actually hanging in the infamous museum.

The writing is polished and descriptive. The characters are flawed, vulnerable, and driven. And the plot, alternating between timelines, unravels and intertwines quickly into an ominous tale of life, loss, family, self-discovery, secrets, lies, deception, greed, friendship, heartbreak, addiction, obsession, murder, as well as the beautiful, intricate details involved in creating, forging, and restoring artwork.

Overall, The Last Mona Lisa is an evocative, immersive, thrilling novel by Santlofer that’s not only a love letter to Renaissance art and the cities of Florence and Paris but a suspenseful tale steeped in historical fact and compelling fiction that I absolutely devoured and highly recommend.

This book is available now. 

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

            

 

 

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with a copy in an exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jonathan Santlofer

Jonathan Santlofer is a writer and artist. His debut novel, THE DEATH ARTIST, was an international bestseller translated into 17 languages, a People Magazine "Page-Turner of the Week" and is currently in development at Fox, along with his second and third novels. His fourth novel, ANATOMY OF FEAR, won the Nero Award for best crime novel of 2009. Jonathan created the Crime Fiction Academy as The Center for Fiction. As an artist, Jonathan has been making replications of famous paintings for wealthy clients for more than 20 years.

Photo by Clarke Tolton.

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#BookReview The Show Girl by Nicola Harrison @NicolaHAuthor @StMartinsPress #ShowGirlNovel #NicolaHarrison #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Show Girl by Nicola Harrison @NicolaHAuthor @StMartinsPress #ShowGirlNovel #NicolaHarrison #SMPInfluencers Title: The Show Girl

Author: Nicola Harrison

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 10, 2021

Genres: General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

It’s 1927 when Olive McCormick moves from Minneapolis to New York City determined to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Extremely talented as a singer and dancer, it takes every bit of perseverance to finally make it on stage. And once she does, all the glamour and excitement is everything she imagined and more–even worth all the sacrifices she has had to make along the way.

Then she meets Archie Carmichael. Handsome, wealthy–the only man she’s ever met who seems to accept her modern ways–her independent nature and passion for success. But once she accepts his proposal of marriage he starts to change his tune, and Olive must decide if she is willing to reveal a devastating secret and sacrifice the life she loves for the man she loves.

Review:

Stylish, dramatic, and absorbing!

The Show Girl is a captivating, passionate, coming-of-age tale that takes you into the life of Olive McCormick, an unwed, determined young woman, who after being tricked into sexual relations and having to regretfully give up her baby girl for adoption, moves from Minneapolis to Manhattan to reinvent herself, forget the past, and hopefully, achieve her dreams of becoming a famous performer for a successful, vaudeville-inspired show running in NYC.

The prose is eloquent and fluid. The characters are well-drawn, genuine, and endearing. And the story sweeps you away to New York during the 1920s when women were gaining independence and cutting their hair short, prohibition was in full force, and the Ziegfeld Follies was the place to be with its lavish sets, elaborate costumes, high-class productions, and beautiful chorus girls.

Overall, The Show Girl is ultimately a story about friendship, loyalty, familial relationships, secrets, prosperity, ambition, life, loss, and love. It’s a vivid, rich, engaging tale by Harrison that has just the right amount of drama, romance, and intrigue to be a satisfying, highly entertaining treat for historical fiction lovers everywhere.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Nicola Harrison

Born in England, Nicola Harrison moved to CA where she received a BA in Literature at UCLA before moving to NYC and earning an MFA in creative writing at Stony Brook. She is a member of The Writers Room, has short stories published in The Southampton Review and Glimmer Train and articles in Los Angeles Magazine and Orange Coast Magazine. She was the fashion and style staff writer for Forbes, had a weekly column at Lucky Magazine and is the founder of a personal styling business, Harrison Style.

Photo by Erwin List.

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#BookReview All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #AlltheLittleHopes #LeahWeiss #bookmarkedbylandmark

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#BookReview All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #AlltheLittleHopes #LeahWeiss #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: All the Little Hopes

Author: Leah Weiss

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Jul. 27, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 368

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 9/10

From the acclaimed author of If the Creek Don’t Rise comes a Southern story of friendship forged by books and bees, when the timeless troubles of growing up meet the murky shadows of World War II.

Deep in the tobacco land of North Carolina, nothing’s the same since the boys shipped off to war and worry took their place. Thirteen-year-old Lucy Brown is curious and clever, but she can’t make sense of it all. Then Allie Bert Tucker comes to town, an outcast with a complicated past, and Lucy believes that together they can solve crimes. Just like her hero, Nancy Drew.

That chance comes when a man goes missing, a woman stops speaking, and an eccentric gives the girls a mystery that takes them beyond the ordinary. Their quiet town, seasoned with honeybees and sweet tea, becomes home to a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp—and more men go missing. The pair set out to answer the big question: do we ever really know who the enemy is?

Lush with Southern atmosphere, All The Little Hopes, is the story of two girls growing up while war creeps closer, blurring the difference between what’s right, what’s wrong, and what we know to be true.

Review:

Poignant, optimistic, and intriguing!

All the Little Hopes is a mysterious, heartwarming tale that sweeps you away to North Carolina in the early 1940s when war is raging overseas, “real bad men” seem to be disappearing in the small town of Riverton, and two thirteen-year-old girls from different backgrounds, Lucy Brown, an inquisitive young girl who yearns to be an amateur detective just like her favourite literary character, Nancy Drew, and Allie Bert Tucker, a young, poor girl with no formal education who is sent to live with her aunt after her mother dies during childbirth become the best of friends.

The prose is rich and expressive. The characters are quirky, curious, and vulnerable. And the plot is a heartfelt, coming-of-age tale about life, love, loneliness, heartbreak, war, loss, grief, guilt, hope, family, and friendship.

Overall, All the Little Hopes is a beautifully written, informative, absorbing tale with intriguing characters that I devoured from start to finish. It’s the first book I’ve had the chance to read by Weiss, but it definitely won’t be my last, and it is undoubtedly the perfect choice for anyone who loves the historical fiction genre.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

            

 

 

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Leah Weiss

Leah Weiss was born in North Carolina and lives in Virginia. She retired in 2015 from a 24-year career as an Executive Assistant at Virginia Episcopal School and published her debut novel, IF THE CREEK DON’T RISE in August, 2017; it has sold over 100,000 copies. ALL THE LITTLE HOPES will be released in July 2021. Leah writes full time, enjoys meeting with book clubs and speaking about finding the story and the characters to tell it.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy @christi_clancy @StMartinsPress #ShoulderSeason #ChristinaClancy #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy @christi_clancy @StMartinsPress #ShoulderSeason #ChristinaClancy #SMPInfluencers Title: Shoulder Season

Author: Christina Clancy

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 6, 2021

Genres: General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

The small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is an unlikely location for a Playboy Resort, and nineteen-year old Sherri Taylor is an unlikely bunny. Growing up in neighboring East Troy, Sherri plays the organ at the local church and has never felt comfortable in her own skin. But when her parents die in quick succession, she leaves the only home she’s ever known for the chance to be part of a glamorous slice of history. In the winter of 1981, in a costume two sizes too small, her toes pinched by towering stilettos, Sherri joins the daughters of dairy farmers and factory workers for the defining experience of her life.

Living in the “bunny hutch”—Playboy’s version of a college dorm, surrounded by a twelve-foot high barbed-wire fence (to keep the men out, and the girls in)—Sherri gets her education in the joys of sisterhood, the thrill of financial independence, the magic of first love, and the heady effects of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But as spring gives way to summer, Sherri finds herself caught up in a romantic triangle––and the tragedy that ensues will haunt her for the next forty years of her life.

Shoulder Season follows Sherri from her fledgling days as a bunny, when she tries to reinvent herself before she even knows who she is, to the woman she becomes years later. From the Midwestern prairie to the California desert, from Wisconsin lakes to the Pacific Ocean, this is a story of what happens when small town life is sprinkled with stardust, and what we lose—and gain—when we leave home. It’s about the brief but intoxicating experiences of our youth, and how they have the power to shape the rest of our lives. With a heroine to root for and a narrative to get lost in, Shoulder Season is a sexy, evocative tale, drenched in longing and desire, that captures a fleeting moment in American history with nostalgia and heart.

Review:

Engaging, dramatic, and informative!

Shoulder Season is an absorbing, intriguing tale that takes us to East Troy, Wisconsin during the 1980s when The Lake Geneva Playboy Club was the place to be, girls were excited for more than just marriage, and Sherri Taylor would quickly change from a naive, small-town girl to a bunny whose eyes would be opened wide to a world of sex, drugs, fortune, and fame.

The writing is vivid and expressive. The characters are young, impressionable, and impulsive. And the plot takes us from the 1980s to the present day and tells the story of a life filled with loss, love, loneliness, grief, coming-of-age, friendship, discontent, insecurity, and sexual awakening.

Overall, Shoulder Season is a captivating, candid, heartbreaking tale by Clancy that isn’t exceptionally exhilarating but is nevertheless an insightful tale that takes us back to a different era and does a wonderful job of reminding us that everyone who enters our lives, no matter how briefly, impacts, shapes, and defines it.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Christina Clancy

CHRISTINA CLANCY is the author of The Second Home. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Sun Magazine and in various literary journals, including Glimmer Train, Pleiades and Hobart. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and lives in Madison, WI with her family.

Photo by James Bartelt.

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#BookReview The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood @TraceyEnerson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheWarNurse #TraceyEnersonWood #bookmarkedbylandmark

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#BookReview The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood @TraceyEnerson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheWarNurse #TraceyEnersonWood #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: The War Nurse

Author: Tracey Enerson Wood

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Jul. 6, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 304

Format: Hardcover

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 9/10

She asked dozens of young women to lay their lives on the line during the Great War. Can she protect them?

Superintendent of Nurses Julia Stimson must recruit sixty-five nurses to relieve the battle-worn British, months before American troops are ready to be deployed. She knows that the young nurses serving near the front lines of will face a challenging situation, but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos that awaits when they arrive at British Base Hospital 12 in Rouen, France. The primitive conditions, a convoluted, ineffective system, and horrific battle wounds are enough to discourage the most hardened nurses, and Julia can do nothing but lead by example―even as the military doctors undermine her authority and make her question her very place in the hospital tent.

When trainloads of soldiers stricken by a mysterious respiratory illness arrive one after the other, overwhelming the hospital’s limited resources, and threatening the health of her staff, Julia faces an unthinkable choice―to step outside the bounds of her profession and risk the career she has fought so hard for, or to watch the people she cares for most die in her arms.

Based on a true story, The War Nurse is a sweeping historical novel by international bestselling author Tracey Enerson Wood that takes readers on an unforgettable journey through WWI France.

Review:

Evocative, affecting, and incredibly absorbing!

The War Nurse is an immersive, fascinating tale set in German-Occupied France during WWI that takes you into the life of Julia Stimson, a young woman who recruits, trains, mentors, and guides sixty-four American nurses as they embark on a mission for the American Red Cross to take over the day-to-day duties of the Rouen base hospital from the departing British Expeditionary Force.

The prose is seamless and vivid. The characters are driven, courageous, and dependable. And the plot is an insightful, moving tale of life, loss, insecurities, self-discovery, heartbreak, determination, innovation, emerging medical practices, hope, loyalty, survival, and friendship.

Overall, The War Nurse is an alluring, rich, compelling novel by Tracey Enerson Wood that does a spectacular job of highlighting her incredible knowledge and research into this pioneering, historical figure whose remarkable life and contribution to the nursing field of medicine are often unknown, overlooked, or unfortunately long forgotten.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or one of the following links.

            

 

 

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Tracey Enerson Wood

Tracey Enerson Wood has always had a writing bug. While working as a Registered Nurse, starting her own Interior Design company, raising two children, and bouncing around the world as a military wife, she indulged in her passion as a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She has authored magazine columns and other non-fiction, written and directed plays of all lengths, including Grits, Fleas and Carrots, Rocks and Other Hard Places, Alone, and Fog.

Her screenplays include Strike Three and Roebling’s Bridge.

Other passions include food and cooking, and honoring military heroes. Her co-authored anthology/cookbook Homefront Cooking, American Veterans share Recipes, Wit, and Wisdom, was released by Skyhorse Publishing in May, 2018, and all authors’ profits will be donated to organizations that support veterans.

A New Jersey native, she now lives with her family in Florida and Germany.

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#BookReview The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris @littlebrown @HBGCanada #TheSweetnessofWater #NathanHarris

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#BookReview The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris @littlebrown @HBGCanada #TheSweetnessofWater #NathanHarris Title: The Sweetness of Water

Author: Nathan Harris

Published by: Little Brown and Company on Jun. 15, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: HBG Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

In the spirit of The Known World and The Underground Railroad, a profound debut about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever.

In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry—freed by the Emancipation Proclamation—seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm, hoping through an unexpected friendship to stanch their grief. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys.

Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. The young men, recently returned from the war to the town of Old Ox, hold their trysts in the woods. But when their secret is discovered, the resulting chaos, including a murder, unleashes convulsive repercussions on the entire community. In the aftermath of so much turmoil, it is Isabelle who emerges as an unlikely leader, proffering a healing vision for the land and for the newly free citizens of Old Ox.

With candor and sympathy, debut novelist Nathan Harris creates an unforgettable cast of characters, depicting Georgia in the violent crucible of Reconstruction. Equal parts beauty and terror, as gripping as it is moving, The Sweetness of Water is an epic whose grandeur locates humanity and love amid the most harrowing circumstances.

Review:

Evocative, tragic, and incredibly affecting!

The Sweetness of Water is a powerful, riveting, emotionally-charged tale that sweeps you away to Georgia at the end of the civil war and takes you into the lives of a handful of people, including a lost father, a grieving mother, a returned soldier with a lot of aggression and a secret he will protect at any cost, two brothers recently enslaved who are slowly adapting to their newfound freedom, and a myriad of other southern people struggling to survive and accept the repercussions, fallout, and new way of life caused by their recent defeat by the Union Army.

The prose is sensitive and expressive. The characters are multi-layered, resilient, and vulnerable. And the plot, set during the mid-1860s, is a profoundly moving tale about war, familial relationships, heartbreak, loss, guilt, grief, shame, suspicion, secrets, desperation, resilience, hope, courage, resentment, emancipation, unlikely friendships, and forbidden love.

Overall, The Sweetness of Water is the perfect blend of historical facts, compelling fiction, and palpable emotion. It’s a beautifully written, impactful, stunning debut by Harris that does a remarkable job of highlighting the indomitable spirit of humanity to endure, survive, conquer, forgive, and even love under even the harshest of circumstances.

This book is available now. 

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

            

 

 

Thank you to HBG Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Nathan Harris

Nathan Harris, a native of Oregon, is a Michener Fellow at the University of Texas. He was awarded the Kidd Prize, as judged by Anthony Doerr, and was also a finalist for the Tennessee Williams Fiction Prize. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Photo courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

Goodreads