Monday, March 18, 2024

The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay (Austenprose PR Book Tour)

 


Title:  The Berlin Letters

Author:  Katherine Reay

Narrated by:  Saskia Maaleveld, Anne Marie Gideon, P.J. Ochlan

Publisher: Harper Muse

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 48 minutes

Source: Audiobook review copy from NetGalley.  Thank-you Harper Muse and Austenprose for the review copy of the physical book.

Do you like to send or receive letters? I love to send letters. My best friend and I still write letters to each other, although sometimes I am slow on getting my letters out!

The Berlin Letters is a compelling novel about the Cold War. In 1961, as the Berlin wall was going up, Monica Voekler threw her young daughter Luisa over the barbed wire to her parents on the west side. She was unable to cross herself. Luisa grew up in America, believing that that her parents died in a car accident. She works at the CIA cracking codes in secret. After her grandfather’s death, she finds a secret stash of letters from her father. Reading them, she discovers that her grandfather and father had been sending each other coded letters. Her father is still alive, and she will stop at nothing to rescue him.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       The first chapter was gripping and pulled me right into the novel. I never thought about how sudden the wall went up and how families could be separated forever. 

·       This was a page turner and I kept wanting to read/listen to this book to find out how it would all end.

·       The story kept me engaged throughout.  I liked the narrative with the chapters alternating between Luisa in the present, and Haris (her father) in the past leading up to the present (1989).

·       This story had everything – mystery, suspense, family drama, codes to crack, spies and even a bit of romance.

·       The characters were all compelling and I particularly identified with Luisa and her story.

·       I thought it was remarkably interesting to read about how the communists were very unhappy when John Paul II became the pope as they had spies in the Vatican before that time. 

·       Also interesting was a tidbit that the Soviet Union was on the verge of invading Poland until President Reagen was shot and the United States put itself on alert. The Soviets decided to back down at that point.

·       I always find it so strange how different east and west Berlin were from each other.  Haris has a time where he is walking the streets looking at buildings that were bombed out during World War II and how they still are not repaired after almost forty years.  He thinks about how there are certain areas that tourists are allowed and how they are kept looking nice.

·       Speaking of the present, I was a child of the eighties and felt old remembering the events of 1989 and 1990 in this historical fiction novel.

·       As I have been doing with a lot of books this month, I started this one as a physical book and then switched to the audiobook as I have had a lot of driving time to listen to audiobooks.  I really liked the different narrators in this book to narrate. I especially liked P.J. Ochlan’s accent as Haris Voekler.

·       I enjoyed the author’s note at the end of the novel that detailed her research into this time period.

·       There are also terrific book club discussion questions at the end of the book.  I think this would provide a book club plenty of good tidbits to discuss at a group meeting.

·       I would love to see this book made into a movie.

Overall, The Berlin Letters is a fascinating historical fiction book on the Cold War.  The story of father and daughter, Haris and Luisa put a face on the heartbreak that so many people had to endure during that time period.


BOOK DESCRIPTION

 

Bestselling author Katherine Reay returns with an unforgettable tale of the Cold War and a CIA code breaker who risks everything to free her father from an East German prison.

 

From the time she was a young girl, Luisa Voekler has loved solving puzzles and cracking codes. Brilliant and logical, she’s expected to quickly climb the career ladder at the CIA. But while her coworkers have moved on to thrilling Cold War assignments—especially in the exhilarating era of the late 1980s—Luisa’s work remains stuck in the past decoding messages from World War II.

Journalist Haris Voekler grew up a proud East Berliner. But as his eyes open to the realities of postwar East Germany, he realizes that the Soviet promises of a better future are not coming to fruition. After the Berlin Wall goes up, Haris finds himself separated from his young daughter and all alone after his wife dies. There’s only one way to reach his family—by sending coded letters to his father-in-law who lives on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

 

When Luisa Voekler discovers a secret cache of letters written by the father she has long presumed dead, she learns the truth about her grandfather’s work, her father’s identity, and why she has never progressed in her career. With little more than a rudimentary plan and hope, she journeys to Berlin and risks everything to free her father and get him out of East Berlin alive.

 

As Luisa and Haris take turns telling their stories, events speed toward one of the twentieth century’s most dramatic moments—the fall of the Berlin Wall and that night’s promise of freedom, truth, and reconciliation for those who lived, for twenty-eight years, behind the bleak shadow of the Iron Curtain’s most iconic symbol.

 

AUTHOR BIO

 

Katherine Reay is a national bestselling and award-winning author who has enjoyed a lifelong affair with books. She publishes both fiction and nonfiction, holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University, and currently lives outside Chicago, Illinois, with her husband and three children. You can meet her at katherinereay.com.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Finding Jane Fairfax by Robbin J. Peterson (Austenprose PR Book Tour)


Title:  Finding Jane Fairfax

Author:  Robbin J. Peterson

Narrated by:  Noah Wall

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 8 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com.  Thank-you Covenant Corporation and Austenprose for the review copy of the physical book.

Have you ever wanted to know the back story of a secondary character in a novel?  If so, which character and novel?

I have always been intrigued by Jane Fairfax in Emma by Jane Austen.  She was an orphan that was raised by her father’s wealthy friend from the military.  Although she was raised with his daughter as a lady, she has no dowry or prospects of her own.  In Emma, she is quiet, beautiful, and accomplished, all of which makes Emma dislike her.  How does Jane’s secret engagement to Frank Churchill come about?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I LOVED this regency romance.

·       The story was told through Frank and Jane’s alternating viewpoints.

·       Frank and Jane have a great friends to lovers’ vibe and also have some great witty banter.

·       I’ll admit that I liked them both much more in this novel than I did in the original Emma novel.

·       Jane and Frank were both raised by others.  Frank still has a father, but he gave him to rich relatives to raise after his mother died.  They are both troubled by their situations in life and how they are not in control of their own destinies.

·       While Jane was raised well by a happy family, Frank was raised by a distant aunt and uncle who taught him to look down on people.

·       I enjoyed how Jane and Frank bonded over poetry.

·       I also enjoyed getting to know Mr. Dixon and Cassandra (Miss Campbell).  They were both delightful secondary characters, although I felt so bad about their unrequited love story.  Cassandra loved Mr. Dixon, but he loved Jane.  There was hope at the end though that Mr. Dixon would grow in his love for Cassandra.  She was much more suited to him.

·       I thought it was interesting to see the anti-Irish sentiment against Mr. Dixon.

·       The overall question in this novel was should you marry for love or for wealth and security?  This was an all-important question in this time period.

·       This prequel really made me see how this romance between Jane and Frank will work and how much they have in common.

·       I want this to be a trilogy.  Book two can take place during the events with Emma through their marriage.  Book three can take place after their marriage and be a romance between one of their children and the children of the Dixons or Knightleys.

·       I enjoyed the author’s note about the song “The Irishman” that was used in the story.

·       As I have been doing lately, I started this physical book and then finished it on audiobook as I have had a lot of driving time for work.  This story worked well in both formats.

Overall, Finding Jane Fairfax by Robbin J. Peterson is a riveting prequel to Emma that finally gives Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill the story they deserve.


BOOK DESCRIPTION
Jane Fairfax knows she is truly fortunate. Most orphans face lives of hardship, whereas she was adopted by doting surrogate parents who elevated her place in Society and love her as their own. Yet even they cannot shield her from the grim realities of life without a suitable marriage. In moments of despair, Jane comforts herself with a well-worn memory: that of a young man whose kind words when they were children once soothed her heartbreak. But now that boy has grown into a dashing gentleman―and their lives could not be more distant.

Frank Churchill is a prisoner of his station. His inheritance is held in the balance by his demanding aunt, and the weight of her expectations is suffocating him. But when a chance encounter brings the lovely Miss Fairfax back into his life, he discovers what it is to truly live. As the pair secretly become acquainted amid the confines of Society’s strict rules, their friendship blossoms into love. But in a world ruled by unyielding traditions, endeavoring to build a life together would mean inviting a scandal that would shake the very foundation of the ton.


AUTHOR BIO
Robbin J. Peterson is the author of Going Home, Conviction, and 13 Days of Girls Camp. She earned her degree in English literature from Utah State University and her associate of arts degree from Snow College. She has six kids, plays the viola, and works as an elementary school librarian.








Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Hidden Yellow Stars by Rebecca Connolly (Austenprose PR Book Tour)



Title:  Hidden Yellow Stars

Author:  Rebecca Connolly

Narrated by:  Caroline Hewitt

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 59 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com.  Thank-you Shadow Mountain and Austenprose for the Review copy of the physical book.

 

Would you risk your life to save another?

Hidden Yellow Stars by Rebecca Connolly is based on the true story of two women who hid Jewish children throughout Belgium during WWII to save them from the Gestapo. Andree Geulen is an aethest who was raised Catholic.  She was a teacher who did not like the treatment of the Jewish children in her classroom.  She teams with Ida Sterno, a non-practicing Jewish woman who works for the Committee for the Defense of Jews (CDJ) in Belgium. Will they be able to keep their own lives as they save the lives of others?

My thoughts on this book.

·       Hidden Yellow Stars is an emotional read.  It was so hard for parents to give up their children without knowing what the future will hold.  How will they ever be reunited?

·       The novel was suspenseful with many near misses as the children are taken away for safety. 

·       This book was thought provoking as I kept thinking about if such a thing happened in modern times, what would I do?  So many Belgian families helped out others during this terrible time at great risk to their entire family.  I would hope that I would do the same.

·       Hidden Yellow Stars is told through alternative view points of either Andree or Ida.  I thought it was a good way to get different perspectives.

·       Quotes at the start of the chapters included some particularly vile lines about Jews from Nazi childrens books.  I can’t believe they were in children’s books.

·       There was a great afterword and author’s note at the end of the book about the real history.  Three thousand children were hidden in Belgium during WWII.

·       I really enjoyed getting to know the stories of Andree Geulen and Ida Sterno and the important work that they did.  This is a perfect read for Women’s History month.

·       Andree Geulen’s ability to remember every child was amazing.


·       As I’ve been doing lately, I started reading this book physically, but then switched over to audiobook as I had a lot driving time for work.  Both ways are a great way to enjoy this book.

Overall, Hidden Yellow Stars finally brings to light the story of two WWII heroes that I had never heard about before, Andree Guelen, and Ida Sterno.  It’s a story that you will not soon forget.

Author Rebecca Connolly also had in the author's note how she was able to find out her own family history through writing this book which was inspiring.


BOOK DESCRIPTION

Based on the true story of two World War II heroines who risked everything to save Jewish children from the Gestapo by hiding them throughout Belgium.

Belgium, 1942

Young schoolteacher Andrée Geulen secretly defies the Nazis in Belgium, who are forcing Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. Andrée is not Jewish, but she feels a maternal connection to her students, who are living in constant fear, and decides to take action. No child should have to suffer under such persecution. But what can one woman do against an entire army?

Ida Sterno is a Jewish woman who works with the Committee for the Defense of Jews in Belgium, a clandestine resistance group tasked with hiding children from the Gestapo. She wants to recruit Andrée because her Aryan appearance can provide crucial security measures for their efforts. Andrée agrees to join and begins work immediately by adopting a code name: Claude Fournier.

Together, Andrée and Ida, and their undercover operatives, work around the clock to move Jewish children from their families and smuggle them to safety through the secret channels established by the resistance. As each child is hidden, Andrée commits to memory their true name and history. Someday, she vows, she will help reunite as many of these families as she can.


But with the Gestapo closing in and the traitorous Fat Jacques who has turned from ally to enemy and is threatening to identify and expose any Jew he meets, Andrée and Ida must work even harder against increasingly impossible odds to save as many children as possible and keep them safely hidden—even if it might cost them their own lives.


AUTHOR BIO


Rebecca Connolly is the author of more than two dozen novels. She calls herself a Midwest girl, having lived in Ohio and Indiana. She's always been a bookworm, and her grandma would send her books almost every month so she would never run out. Book Fairs were her carnival, and libraries are her happy place. She received a master's degree from West Virginia University.

While doing research for this book, she discovered information about her own family history, including the fates of several unknown family members who perished in the concentration camps of World War II.

Monday, March 11, 2024

The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 


Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @eccobooks for the review copy of The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez.

Are you a mood reader? Or do you make elaborate plans before you choose reading?  I do make elaborate plans on what I’m going to read, but I do veer off with varying moods.  The Great Divide was a late book added into my March reading and I veered into reading it as I was greatly intrigued by the premise.

In 1907, people are all gathering in Panama to work on one of the wonders of the world, the Panama Canal.  Ada left her home in Barbados to look for a job to earn money to pay for medical procedures to help her sister.  John Oswald hires her to be a caregiver to his wife, Marian.  Marian and John had traveled to Panama from Tennessee.  John is a scientist that is working on the cure for malaria.  Marian is a scientist herself.  Omar does not want to be a fisherman like his father and has set off on an adventure of his own.  How will these characters’ stories intertwine?  And how will they intertwine with the many other characters in this novel?

My thoughts on this story:

·       The Great Divide gave a great overall sense of how many people from all different places and walks of life that it took to build the Panama Canal, and how it impacted the people that lived there.

·       Sickness was very prevalent and terrifying.  Malaria killed so many people that were working on or supporting the work on the canal.

·       There were a lot of characters in this story, and it took awhile to build up the story and figure out how they were all together.  I liked learning the connections.  It was like an interwoven tapestry of life.

·       As there were a lot of characters, I wish there would have been a character list and family trees at the start of the book for me to reference as I was first getting into the book.

·       This was a great character driven novel and I found it to be intriguing.  It was not plot driven, so it was a slower read for me.

·       The description of the location made me feel like I was there.  I would love to visit Panama someday.

·       I wish there would have been details about the engineering and construction of the canal.  I’m an engineer and I was first attracted to this book because the back of the cover described the Panama Canal as a major historical engineering feat.  That is about as much engineering as you will get with this book.  It’s all about the characters.

·       The Great Divide made me think about how many people it takes to build such great engineering marvels and how they are the unsung heroes that don’t usually get their story told.

·       Speaking of unsung heroes, I don’t want to spoil a plot point, but I thought it was interesting when a female character passed away and how her obituary only really discussed her husband.  It makes you wonder how many stories we don’t know about people after they passed, especially women.

Overall, The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez was historical fiction as its best, telling the interwoven stories of many people at a key point in history.

 This book was published on March 5, 2024.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

An Unlikely Proposition by Rosalyn Eves (Austenprose PR Book Tour)

 


Title:  An Unlikely Proposition

Author:  Rosalyn Eves

Narrated by:  Hannah Curtis

Publisher: Recorded Books

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 30 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com.  Thank-you Farrar Straus Giroux and Austenprose for the Review copy of the physical book.

 

Lady’s maid, companion, or Lady?  If you lived during the Regency time period, which would you be?  I always imagined myself as a paid companion or governess if I lived during that time period. 

Eleanor is a young widow of only seventeen.  She has come to London to enjoy herself, make sure her late husband’s mathematical work is published, and ensure that she is not pestered by men looking for marriage. She hires a companion, Thalia, to accompany her around town.  Thalia herself had a failed first season and dreamed of becoming a published poet.  Will Eleanor and Thalia both find the happiness they crave?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Eleanor’s back story reminded me of A Little Princess.  What happens when your parent stops paying for your schooling, and you have no where to go?  In this case, the much older Mr. Lockhart rescued the sixteen-year-old Eleanor through marriage.

·       I enjoyed the characters.  They were fun and had relatable problems.  I felt for Thalia as she struggled to have her poems taken seriously and be published because she was a woman.  Eleanor’s search for a place of her own in the world was also relatable.  I wanted to be their friend.

·       This novel includes a fake engagement, and friends to lovers storyline.  I enjoyed both tropes and loved the double romance.

·       I didn’t know until I read on Goodreads that this is considered the second book in a series.  It’s a parallel novel in the Unexpected Seasons series.  I need to check out the first book, An Improbably Season as well.  An Unlikely Proposition worked as a standalone novel.

·       I have also seen this described as a young adult book, but I loved reading it as an adult!

·       This is a good clean read and only includes kissing.

·       The novel was told from two point of view, Eleanor’s and Thalia’s.

·       This was a great escapism read.

·       I started reading this as a physical book, but I had a lot of driving to do so I switched to the audiobook.  I enjoyed both the physical book and the audiobook.

Overall, An Unlikely Proposition is an enjoyable, witty Regency Romance.  If you are looking for an escapism read, I highly recommend this novel.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Rising Courage by Heather Moll (Book Tour) and GIVEAWAY!

 


Have you read any books that feature kidnapping?  The book I always think of that featured kidnapping was The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney, which I read in middle school.  I always enjoy the suspense of kidnapping, and especially enjoy when the main character escapes and is able to return home.

Rising Courage is a Pride and Prejudice variation which asks the question, what if Elizabeth and Darcy were kidnapped after his first proposal?  How will forced proximity alter their romance?

My thoughts on Rising Courage:

·       I love that instead of reading a response letter from Darcy after her refusal of his first proposal, she learns everything directly from him while they are held hostage.

·       I REALLY loved the forced proximity.  I felt like they really got to know each other better than a typical couple would during Regency times.

·       The romance was tender and romantic.  The novel does get steamy.

·       I chuckled when I realized that of course Lady Catherine was the cause of all the problems.

·       I thought it was an interesting side note that Darcy didn’t use sugar due to the slave trade and I loved learning about his bees and beekeepers.

·       I enjoyed the action in this novel as well, although I was worried about what the kidnappers would do.  It was thrilling.

·       I enjoyed the child Kirby in the story.  He had a difficult life, and I liked the humanity that both Darcy and Elizabeth showed him.

·       Author Heather Moll has a great writing style and really captures the personalities of Elizabeth, Darcy, and other Pride and Prejudice characters.  I especially like the inside jokes that Elizabeth and Darcy had with each other.

·       Elizabeth makes a decision towards the end that I did not agree with, but I did enjoy the suspense.

·       Isn’t the cover of this novel beautiful?  I love it.  Darcy is very dreamy.

Overall, Rising Courage was an enjoyable romantic suspense story with a great forced proximity storyline.  This is a great read for all lovers of Austenesque fiction.

Book Source:  Review copy from author Heather Moll as part of the Book Tour. Thank-you!  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Thursday, March 7, 2024

A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure by Angela Bell (Austenprose PR Book Tour)

 


Title:  A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure

Author:  Angela Bell

Narrated by:  Beverley A. Crick

Publisher: Recorded Books

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 28 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com.  Thank-you Bethany House and Austenprose for the Review copy of the physical book.

A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure is a historical fantasy novel set in 1860s London.  Clara feels the weight of the world on her shoulders.  Her engagement is broken, and her fiancé has been spreading the rumor that madness runs in her family.  Her family is …eccentric.  When her Grandfather Drosselmeyer sets off on a European trip on his flying owl, he leaves her clues to find him.  She sets off on an adventure around Europe with her mother, and her Grandfather’s apprentice, Mr. Arthur.  Will they be able to find her grandfather before it is too late?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       The adventure, clues, and travel made this a very fun read.

·       Clara’s eccentric mother was a hoot.  She was an animal activist before her time.  There was no creature too small for her care.

·       Mr. Arthur has a sad back story of his own and is really Mr. Theodore Kingsley.  He is a former soldier that struggles with a leg disability and with PTSD.  His family had shunned him because of this.   There was little support for veterans during the Victorian age.

·       Clara and Theodore had wonderful enemies to lovers’ romance.

·       I enjoyed the Christian message in the novel that Clara and Theodore needed to give their worries to the lord and move on with their lives.  The message was a part of the plot, and it was a larger focus in the second half of the novel.

·       This was a wonderful debut novel, and I can’t wait to see what author Angela Bell works on next. 

·       This novel is a clean romance.

·       I loved the steampunk vibe with the automatons that grandfather invented including the giant owl that he flies around Europe on.  He also invents an automaton that hatches from an egg and other neat items.  This leant a fantasy/sci fi element to an otherwise historical fiction novel.

·       The only weakness in the novel to me was the villain.  His back story and actions didn’t quite make sense to me. 

·       I read the first half of this book physically and finished it on audiobook as I had a lot of driving to do for work.  I enjoyed both formats!

Overall, A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventures is a fun, unique adventure and I highly recommend it.