Tag Archives: WW11

From Sand and Ash [Book Review] #throwbackthursday

September 3, 2020

From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon
#throwbackthursday

From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon (cover) Image: a young woman in profile looking reflectively over a city

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WW11, Jewish, Catholic, Love Story

I’m linking up today with Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog for #throwbackthursday.

This year as part of Blog Audit Challenge 2020 I’m going back to update older review posts. On Thursdays, I’ll be re-sharing a few of these great reads, and today I’m sharing my review of From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon, a thoughtful story of love, survival, life, death, faith, and sacrifice…

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

…faith, sacrifice, and survival…

My Summary:

“In 1943, Italy’s Jewish population is in imminent danger from the forces of hatred and prejudice. Raised like brother and sister, Eva and Angelo enjoy childhood best friend closeness which later blooms into a romance. Although they are devoted to each other, Eva, an accomplished violinist, is Jewish and Angelo chooses to follow a calling to become a Catholic priest. As the Gestapo arrests Jewish residents of Florence, Angelo convinces Eva to follow him to Rome to hide in a convent under his watchful eye while he serves nearby at the Vatican. Eva discovers that the Catholic Church is hiding hundreds of Jews and facilitating their escape when possible. Angelo has made a promise to Eva’s family and feels a duty to keep her safe, which is complicated by romantic feelings. This page turning story follows Eva and Angelo as they face trials, take risks, and make agonizing choices.”

Continue here for my review of From Sand and Ash …

QOTD: Have you read From Sand and Ash or is it on your TBR?

We Were the Lucky Ones [Book Review] #throwbackthursday

August 20, 2020

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
#throwbackthursday

I’m linking up today with Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog for
#throwbackthursday.

This year as part of Blog Audit Challenge 2020 I’m going back to update older review posts. On Thursdays, I’ll be re-sharing a few of these great reads, and today I’m sharing my review of We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter, an engaging and heartfelt story about family and faith…

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter (cover) Image: a black and white photo of a man and woman sitting in metal garden chairs with backs to the camera

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WW11, Jewish

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

…family and faith…

My Summary:

“In the spring of 1939, the extended Kurc family is living a modest and happy life in Radom, Poland. In the midst of joyful family celebrations, however, there is increased talk of the mistreatment of Jews. Soon the entire close-knit Kurc family faces separation, makes attempts to flee, and desperately focuses on safety and survival. Family members share a will to survive and seeing one another again is their greatest goal. Through cleverness, determination, faith, hope, and hardship they endure.”

Continue here for my review of We Were the Lucky Ones …

QOTD: Have you read We Were the Lucky Ones or is it on your TBR?

Paris Never Leaves You [Book Review] #blogtour

August 4, 2020

Paris Never Leaves You by Ellen Feldman

Paris Never Leaves You by Ellen Feldman (cover) Image: a young woman in a dressy white dress sits looking pensively to the side, the Eiffel Tower is seen through an open window

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WW11, France

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour celebrating the release of #parisneverleavesyou by Ellen Feldman. Thanks, Maria Vitale, #stmartinspress, and #netgalley for a complimentary e ARC. All opinions in this review are my own.

Paris Never Leaves You Blog Tour Banner

Summary:

Survivor’s guilt ….

Charlotte, a young French widow, lives through WW11 while working in a Paris bookstore with her friend, Simone. Charlotte has an eighteen-month-old daughter which she brings to the shop with her. Conditions are difficult: food is rationed, the food lines are long, the possibility of stocking banned books is worrisome, and the German soldiers are intimidating. Charlotte makes decisions that allow her to survive but these decisions haunt her long after she has escaped Paris and left the war years behind. Told in dual timelines, the story alternates between the war years and Charlotte’s current life in New York City (the 1950s). She keeps many secrets because she still fears being charged as a collaborator as a result of the decisions she made to survive. In addition to her fears, she also experiences survivor’s guilt as she remembers her past. Paris never leaves you.

My Thoughts:

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The Book of Lost Names [Book Review]

July 21, 2020

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel (cover) Image: a young woman with her back to the camera stands on a bridge overlooking the Eiffel Tower holding an old book behind her back

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WW11, France

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Summary:

Inspired by true stories from WW11, a young Jewish woman who flees Paris with her mother after the arrest of her father finds herself committing to a forgery ring whose primary goal is to create documents that will help hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis. The story is told in dual timelines from the present-day perspective of Eva who is a semi-retired librarian living in Florida and the young Eva as she flees Paris and joins an underground forgery operation in a small mountain town near the Switzerland border. The Book of Lost Names becomes an important link between the two timelines.

My Thoughts:

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Top Ten Tuesday: 10+ Highly Rated and Favorite WW1 and WW11 Reads

June 23, 2020

Top Ten Tuesday: 10+ Highly Rated and Favorite WW1 and WW11 Reads

10+ Favorite WW1 and WW11 Reads (Image: a tall stack of books on a painted wooden blue table)

Top Ten Tuesday celebrating 10 years (image: a birthday cake with 10 candles)

*I’m linking up today with That Artsy Reader Girl for Top Ten Tuesday’s 10th Anniversary Celebration: Update an Old Post. Today I’m updating a post that was originally published in April of 2018.

If you’ve clicked over from That Artsy Reader Girl, Welcome! Please look around and enjoy your stay.

I read a lot of histfic and one of my favorite sub-genres is WW1 and WW11 histfic. Listed below are 10 of my highest-rated and favorite histfic reads that have also received high star ratings on Goodreads. In addition, I included some honorable mention because there are more than 10 reads that are memorable to me for various reasons. Not all titles are reviewed because I read them before publishing this blog (in which case I’ve provided the Amazon link). *This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Listed in order of their Goodreads star rating (6/22/20).

The Nightingale

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

WW11

 Amazon Information Here

My Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads Rating: 4.58 Stars

The Medallion by Cathy Gohlke (cover)

The Medallion by Cathy Gohlke

WW11

Full Review Here

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Goodreads Rating: 4.54 Stars

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer (cover)

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

WW11

Full Review Here

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Goodreads Rating: 4.51 Stars

From Sand and Ash

From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon

WW11

Full Review Here

My Rating: 5 Stars

Goodreads Rating: 4.38 Stars

we were the lucky ones

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

WW11

 Full Review Here

My Rating: 5 Stars

Goodreads Rating: 4.40 Stars
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Red Sky Over Hawaii [Book Review] #BookTour

June 9, 2020

Red Sky Over Hawaii by Sara Ackerman

Red Sky Over Hawaii by Sara Ackerman (cover) Image: a young woman in a blue dress stands with her back to the camera overlooking a Volcano landscape....four planes in the sky

Genre/Categories: Romance Historical Fiction, WW11, Hawaii, Women’s Fiction

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for Red Sky Over Hawaii by Sara Ackerman. Thanks for the invitation!

Thanks, #netgalley #harlequin for a complimentary e ARC of #redskyoverhawaii by Sara Ackerman. All opinions in this review are entirely my own.

Summary:

WW11 + Hawaii + Saving Neighbors + a Side of Cowboy Romance

The attack on Pearl Harbor during WW11 sets the events in motion. Lana has recently learned of the passing of her father. Even though they were estranged at the time of his death, Lana is saddened by his death and left with unanswered questions. As the government begins to arrest her German and Japanese neighbors as suspected sympathizers, she takes two young German girls and a Japanese fisherman and his son to a secret property hidden away in the remote rain forest of Kilauea volcano. Lana struggles to keep her secrets and those in her care safe. Would you save your neighbors in a time of crisis?

My Thoughts:

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Code Name Helene [Review]

April 24, 2020

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon

Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhom (coveer)

Genre/Categories: Biographical Historical Fiction, World War 11, French Resistance Movement

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Summary:

Real-life socialite spy, Nancy Wake….

Told in multiple timelines, Code Name Hélène is the thrilling and intense story of real-life socialite spy, Nancy Wake. Helene is only one of her four code names. When Nancy Wake first meets the love of her life, wealthy Henri Fiocca, in 1936, she is a freelance reporter and an Australian ex-pat living in Paris. As the Germans invade France, she begins her spy career by using her socialite status to smuggle documents and people across borders. Eventually, she is forced to escape France and leave Henri behind. At this time she is trained for Special Operations by the British and returns to France to work in the French Resistance Movement. Known for her innovative thinking and leadership, profanity, and red lipstick, she secures weapons from the allied forces for the French Resistance fighters. This is complicated because she is also a hunted woman with a bounty on her head.

My Thoughts:

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The Last Train to London: A Review

March 13, 2020

The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton

The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton (cover)

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WW11, Jewish, Nazi-Occupied Europe

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Summary:

Rescuing children, her life’s work…

The Last Train to London shares the story of real-life hero Truus Wijsmuller, a member of the Dutch resistance who risked her life smuggling Jewish children out of Nazi Germany. (She was honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. )

The mission known as Kindertransport carried thousands of children out of Nazi-occupied Europe. In addition to hearing about Tante Truus as she was known, the author imagines the lives of children such as Stephan (budding playwright), his younger brother. and Zofie-Helene (mathematics protegee).

Auntie Truus (headshot)

Tante Truus: Image Source: Wikipedia

 

Auntie Truus statue in Amsterdam

Tante Truus statue in Amsterdam: Image Source: Wikipedia

My Thoughts:

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The Winemaker’s Wife: A Review

February 26, 2020

The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristin Harmel

The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel (cover)

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WW11, France

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Summary:

Told from multiple perspectives and in a past and present timeline, The Winemaker’s Wife is a story of secrets, survival, guilt, and love.

Through the perspectives of Inès and Céline, we experience the intrigue of their daily lives before and during the German invasion of France during WW11; we learn details of the champagne production at the (fictional) Maison Chauveau in northern France near the city of Reims; and we also hear a little about the French resistance (hiding munitions and Jews). An alternate present-day timeline shares the story of Liv who is mysteriously whisked away from her home in New York to France by her eccentric grandmother. There are secrets from the past to be revealed.

My Thoughts:

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Lady Clementine: A Review

January 10, 2020

 Lady Clementine: by Marie Benedict

Lady Clementine review

Genre/Categories: Biographical Historical Fiction, WW1 and WW11, England

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Thanks #netgalley #sourcebooks #sbkslandmark for a free e ARC of #ladyclementine in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Summary:

Clementine Churchill is the devoted wife, partner, and best friend of Winston Churchill. Lady Clementine is brilliant, ambitious, innovative, and fascinating, and she devotes all her energy and loyalty to her husband and country.

My Thoughts:

An underappreciated woman in history….

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