The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay (Get Red PR Book Tour)

 

Title:  The Harvey Girls

Author:  Juliette Fay

Narrated by:  Cassandra Campbell

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 47 minutes

Source: Thank you, Partner @getredprbooks and Gallery Books for the review copy of physical book copy of The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay.  Thank-you to @simonaudio for the audiobook and @netgalley for e-book review copies.

What is your favorite restaurant?  I have a lot of favorites but tend to favor local restaurants that are family owned.

Two young women from very different backgrounds start work as “Harvey Girls” in the 1920s.  Harvey Girls were well paid female employees that worked for a chain of restaurants that spread through the west every one-hundred miles or so and served quality, inexpensive meals.  Charlotte was born into a wealthy blue-blooded family, but after she ran away to marry her husband, she feels she has no where to turn to escape him when he turns abusive.  She changes her name and strikes out on her own as a Harvey girl.  Billie needs the money to support her family with eight younger siblings.  She pretends to be older than her years to get a job as a Harvey girl and sends her money back to her family.  As both girls are assigned to a restaurant in the Grand Canyon, will they be able to keep their secrets and their jobs?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Cassandra Campbell is an audiobook narrator that I enjoy, and I thought she did a great job narrating this book.  It was enjoyable to listen to.

·       I loved how a large part of the book took place at the Grand Canyon as it developed into a tourist destination.  It was interesting.

·       Both main characters had very interesting love stories in this novel, and I enjoyed them.  The book was told through their dual POVs.

·       Violence against Catholics was portrayed in the book as Billie attended mass with Hispanic friends who are attacked.  She is also dismayed when she is assigned to work at the Grand Canyon and discovered there is not a Catholic church in the area for her to attend.  She also has much to decide when she realizes that her potential beau is not Catholic.

·       This novel also took a hard look at abusive marriage.  It was hard to divorce at that time and to support yourself as a woman.  When a woman was trapped in an abusive marriage, what could she do?  A job as a Harvey girl was a very well-paying job at the time for a woman.

·       Charlotte as a learning moment as well as she realizes her inadvertent racism towards Native Americans at the Grand Canyon.

·       The novel has an interesting Part II which flashes forward to 1996 and the reader learns what happened to the characters in the novel.

·       There is a great foreword and Author’s Note at the end which give details about Fred Harvey’s empire and other historical details in the novel.

Overall, The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay was an interesting historical fiction novel about a unique time and place in American history.

The Communist’s Secret by Suzanne Parry (Get Red PR Book Tour)

 

What is the most action-packed book that you have read lately?

Katya Karavayeva has a secret.  In a moment of weakness, she complained about her husband at work.  Little did she know that this information would be used to arrest her husband and throw their entire family out of the communist party.  Katya joins the war effort to prove her loyalty.  Her camp is attacked, and she escapes with Svet, a young woman also working at the camp.  Will they be able to survive in the wild and keep themselves save from the Nazis?  Will Katya be able to forgive herself for the betrayal of her husband?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       The author of this novel, Suzanne Parry was a former Pentagon arms control negotiator and studied Russian in Moscow.

·       This historical fiction novel was action packed.  It pulled me into the story right away and kept me enthralled throughout the book.

·       This is book two in the Leningrad series.  I haven’t read the first novel.  This can be read as a stand-alone.  I need to read the rest of this series!

·       I always enjoy stories of living off the land, but also trying to hide from the Nazis and keeping yourself on the right side of your own government really pushed up the thrill level of this book.

·       There were themes of betrayal and forgiveness throughout this novel.

·       Katya really grows as a character throughout the story to realize that her own government isn’t perfect and doesn’t treat its citizens with care.  It also looks at the communist system.  For example, a successful farmer had their farm taken away and it no longer produces as well under the new communist system.

·       The ending was perfect.  It was unexpected and hopeful.

·       This book really got me thinking – how did families that were split up in WWII find each other again?  Katya’s daughter and mother-in-law were in Leningrad while Katya was all over the place.

·       It also made me think - what would I do to stay alive?  Katya has a relationship with a Nazi commandant at one point in the novel.  Would you be friendly with the enemy?

The Communist’s Secret by Suzanne Parry was a unique and very engaging WWII story set in Russia with an unforgettable main character in Katya.   

Book Source: Thank-you to She Writes Press for a review copy of this novel as part of the Get Red PR Book Tour.

The Bootlegger’s Bride by Rick Skwiot (Get Red PR Book Tour)

 

Describe the last book you read in less than 3 words.  For this book I would chose love, death, legacy.

The Bootlegger’s Bride by Rick Skwiot starts with A.J. Nowak ice skating one winter and finding the body of his mother trapped beneath the ice.  Was it an accident or who killed his mother?  Hazel Robinson was a schoolteacher when she met the enigmatic Jan Nowak.  He had made his money as a bootlegger during prohibition but continued building his wealth afterwards through “banking.”  The two fall in love and get married.  Their life seems perfect until World War II interferes.  Will A.J. be able to find out the truth about his parents and move on with his own life?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I would almost rather call this book The Bootlegger’s Son.  I feel like it was really A.J.’s story as he pieces together the truth about his parents.  They weren’t perfect people but were caught in tragedies of the times they lived through.

·       Jan Nowak was a fascinating character.  He was the son of Polish immigrants and made is own way in the mean streets of St. Louis as a youngster involved in bootlegging.  He must make hard choices in order to keep himself alive and wealthy.

·       Hazel was a woman who loved to read and loved Jan.  When tragedy strikes, she is unable to move on with her life.  It was really sad reading about her decline into alcoholism and despair.

·       The novel flashed through time and different character points of view.  It was mostly told through A.J.’s, Jans, and Hazel’s point of view, but there were some others in there as well that helped to advance the story.  The time period was roughly the 1920s through the 1970s.

·       I loved the family home on Long Lake.  It sounded so peaceful.  Hazel’s sister Helen and brother-in-law, Raymond were the rock stars of this novel and took care of A.J.

·       It took me a bit to get into the book, but once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down.  Love, revenge, depression, family, and more were themes that kept me riveted.  This book was a good mixture of family drama and historical mystery.

Overall, The Bootlegger’s Bride by Rick Skwiot was an engrossing historical fiction story with mystery, romance, and compelling characters.

Book Source:  Review copy from Blank Slate Press as part of the Get Red PR Book Tour.  Thank-you!