Review: Simple Faith by Anna Schmidt

Paperback, 320 pages

Published March 1st 2014 by Shiloh Run Press

ISBN: 162029141X (ISBN13: 9781620291412)

series: Peacemakers #2


From Goodreads:



After losing her beloved husband and daughter and surviving Hitler’s Sobibor death camp, Quaker widow Anja Steinberg dedicates her life to helping others and keeping her son safe. As a member of the resistance, she helps displaced Allied airmen get back to their units in England. The journey is rigorous and filled with danger and there is no time for romance. Anja knows that Mikel, her fellow resistance worker, loves her. He would make a good husband and father for her son, but she doesn’t share his feelings. Is friendship enough? Then American Peter Trent parachutes into her life. She must face facts—her heart did not die with her late husband and true love could be hers again. But marrying Mikel may be the only way she can save Peter.

My thoughts: Combine a love for WWII fiction, Christian fiction, and  stories of courageous people, Simple Faith ticked all the boxes perfectly. What a wonderful story this is! I was engaged immediately with the characters. I could feel my heart rate speed up at the very beginning and just knew this story would really grab me by the heart and not let go.


Schmidt was at the top of her game with this book;  her sense of place was done to perfection and  it was as if I were right there with these very likeable characters. Never once did the narrative lag nor did it ever disappoint me.  Even though this is the second book in a trilogy, it read as a stand-alone. I loved it!  5*****

Anna Schmidt, the author of numerous books, can be found on her Goodreads page and on her website.


Highly recommended for fans of romance, Christian fiction, WWII stories, ordinary people doing extraordinary deeds and tales of courageous women.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Barbour Publishing  in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review & Giveaway: The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons

Paperback, 368 pages

Published December 27th 2011 by Plume (first published April 1st 2011)

more details...

ISBN: 0452297648 (ISBN13: 9780452297647)

edition language : English

original title: The Novel in the Viola

From the publisher:

It's the spring of 1938 and no longer safe to be a Jew in Vienna. Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau is forced to leave her glittering life of parties and champagne to become a parlor maid in England. She arrives at Tyneford, the great house on the bay, where servants polish silver and serve drinks on the lawn. But war is coming, and the world is changing. When the master of Tyneford's young son, Kit, returns home, he and Elise strike up an unlikely friendship that will transform Tyneford-and Elise-forever.

My thoughts:  I.  Loved. This. Book.  Loved it! ♥ The descriptions of the house and the surrounding area made me long to be there, wartime or not. The sounds of the booming sea with the waves crashing on the shore along with a large stone manor house almost had a gothic feel to it. I was hooked immediately and settled in to be mesmerized by Elise's story from her privileged life in Vienna, "where even the wind waltzes"  to a servant's life in England.

Elise's memories are almost haunting in their poignancy. It's like an old friend telling you her life story as she remembered it with all her feelings still vividly at the forefront even after many years. This is not just Elise's story or a war story but also an intricate look at British life prior to and during WWII. I really enjoyed the "upstairs, downstairs" relationships.  But, then, sometimes the line between masters and servants becomes blurred.

"I'm sorry, Elise. Really I am. Sometimes I forget. That . . . . you know... you're not one of us."

"A few months before in Vienna, I had been one of them. Now I wasn't sure what I was. The other servants barely spoke to me. They knew I wasn't one of them either. I belonged nowhere."

Solomons really brought all the characters to life; so much so that one character made me want to slap the supercilious, smug smirk from her face at the way she treated Elise. Others made my heart ache with their pain. Throughout the book, I was totally engaged emotionally.

The House at Tyneford is an absolutely magical story of love, wartime, loss and family memories as seen through the eyes of Elise. Written in beautifully descriptive, almost lyrical prose, this is one book that is hard to put down. With a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, I turned the last page. This is only the 2nd 5 * book of the year! Do not miss this one!!

Be sure to read the authors note at end; it's fascinating that the setting for the book is based on a true village that was taken over by the government during the war.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Penguin in exchange for my honest opinion.

Due to the ever so generous Penguin, I am able to offer a giveaway of two copies of this book. Open to US & Canada. Be sure to leave an e mail address in your comment. Deadline to enter is May 3rd at 5 PM (est). Bonus entries are as follows:

+4 for following on Networked blogs. Just remind me under what name.
+3 for blogging (sidebar is fine) or tweeting about the giveaway. Leave me a link, please.

If you cannot comment you can still enter by sending me an e mail with The House at Tyneford in the subject line. Include your name and e mail and send to florida982002[at]yahoo.com

Good luck!

 

Mini review: Restoration by Olaf Olafsson

Paperback, 336 pages

Published February 7th 2012 by Ecco

more details...

ISBN: 0062065653 (ISBN13: 9780062065650)

edition language: English

From the publisher:

Raised within a cosseted circle of British ex-pats in Florence, Alice shocked her family and friends when she married Claudio. Despite the protests of both families, they found a crumbling villa on a windy Tuscan hilltop, called San Martino, and they poured themselves into the house and the land–and what they built together bound them together. They had a son. They finished the house. They were happy.

But away from her family and the ease of life to which she was accustomed, Alice begins to slip into a vast and encompassing loneliness. She stumbles into an ill-advised affair with a childhood sweetheart that increasingly takes her away from San Martino and into the social swirl of wartime Rome. She is with her lover when her young son dies from meningitis…and her unbearable sorrow is compounded by terrible guilt. Her indiscretion is noticed by a careful pair of eyes–those of Robert Marshall, the master restorer and dealer of renaissance art. In exchange for his silence, he demands Alice hide a priceless Caravaggio at San Martino, a national treasure that he has sold to the Germans. Neither knows, however, that the Caravaggio is, in fact, a fake, painted by Marshall’s assistant as revenge for Marshall’s scorning her as a lover and returning to his pregnant wife. Kristin had merely hoped to privately humiliate Marshall. But his sale of the forgery has placed him in far great danger than she anticipated.

Compelled to make things right, she travels to San Martino in an attempt to destroy the painting. Meanwhile, inconsolable at the death of his son and at his wife’s betrayal, Claudio retreats first into silence, and then into an actual absence. He has left, without saying good-bye, without offering the grieving Alice a chance to redeem herself for her ghastly sin. As WWII moves towards its inexorable conclusion, as the front lines sweeps closer and closer to San Martino, Alice and Kristin not only have to confront the onslaught of soldiers and the destruction of everything they hold dear, but also the consequences of their past mistakes.

My thoughts: There are some wonderful characters in this book in the sense that readers will feel as if they know them well. Even the nefarious, two-faced Robert Marshall whose dealings will the Germans, Alice and especially Kristen showed his true nature. I found him dispicable.

Alice's perspective in the story is written in first person as if she were talking to her husband through her diary. Alice's character was very well fleshed out; it was easy to see how she felt guilty about her actions and longed for forgiveness. Of course, nothing will bring back her son, Giovanni, and her absence from home on the night he died will haunt her forever as will the way Claudio kept asking her, "where were you, where were you?"

Kristin, a young and very talented Icelandic art student makes her way to Rome and becomes a restorer in Marshall's studio. Her long term involvement with him leads her purposefully to Alice's door just as the war is beginning to encroach closer and closer. I did like the way Olafsson intertwined their stories into a very entertaining whole using the art as a common bond.

Olafsson's way with descriptions took me right into the heart of Italy at war. The title is an interesting choice in itself; referring to the restoration of the villa, the art work or even restoring a little peace within oneself.  The premise of the book is wonderful; what's not to like about WWII stories, purloined art, broken hearts, recrimination and guilt all in a Tuscany setting?

However, my one quibble is I felt that the abrupt shifts in perspectives and time frames took away from the flow of the book. At times I wasn't too sure who was speaking or to whom. Even so, if the flow had been better, this would have been a 4 or 4.5* read but since it felt a little choppy to me, it earns a 3.5* rating.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Ecco (an imprint of HC) in  exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: The Golden Hour by Margaret Wurtele

Paperback, 320 pages

Expected publication: February 7th 2012 by NAL Trade

ISBN: 0451237080 (ISBN13: 9780451237088)

From the publisher:

In this stunning debut set in the summer of 1944 in Tuscany, Giovanna Bellini, the daughter of a wealthy aristocrat and vineyard owner, has just turned seventeen and is on the cusp of adulthood. War bears down on her peaceful little village after the Italians sign a separate peace with the Allies-transforming the Germans into an occupying army.  

But when her brother joins the Resistance, he asks Giovanna to hide a badly wounded fighter who is Jewish. As she nurses him back to health, she falls helplessly in love with the brave and humble Mario, who comes from as ancient and noble an Italian family as she does. They pledge their love, and then must fight a real battle against the Nazis who become more desperate and cruel as the Allies close in on them...

My thoughts:   I call this one WWII lite -  There are no gut-wrenching, heartbreaking concentration camp scenes, no in-your-face heinous acts of senseless cruelty but the presence of war is the backdrop for the main story - the coming of age  and eventual love story of Giovanna Bellini.

At seventeen years of age, I found Giovanna to be very naive and protected. At first, when the Germans occupied her little town, Giovanna thought they looked dashing in their uniforms. When Giovanna was caught in a budding flirtation with a German officer by her mentor, Sister Graziella, she was forced to do something else with her time other than work at the school where they shared space with the occupying Germans.  It was a little hard to believe Giovanna was so oblivious to the plight of the Jews. In short order, Giovanna had to grow up quickly, leaving behind foolish romantic notions with the enemy as the brutality of war shows it's ugly face.

She does decide she wants to do something to help the war effort and when her brother Giorgio seeks her help in feeding his little group of partisans, Giovanna does not hesitate to do what it takes to comply. Under cover of working for a local clinic and at great risk to her personal safety, Giovanna becomes very involved in helping the group. It's here that she meets Mario, a wounded partisan. In tending to him, Giovanna is forced to make some very difficult decisions. Of course, the two start to fall for each other.

" I sat still for a long time, watching Mario breathe. Who was this man for whom I had possibly just sacrifed a life, maybe two? I couldn't explain the urgency I had felt, the compulsion to rush to his aid, the magnetism that drew me then and that kept me now at his side, hanging on his every breath as if my own depended on it."

 Even though, this was predictable, Wurtele did a great job in developing their relationship and all the characters in general. They were very well fleshed out and managed to evoke numerous emotions in me. I was proud of Giovanna when she stood up to her father whose ideals differed greatly from her own. I couldn't stand her whiny, self-centered father. Her mother just made me want to shake her out of her apathy and tunnel vision. Wurtele also excelled at description; I felt I had been transported to Italy and set down in the midst of the action.

I think this would make a good book club selection as there are numerous issues that could make for some interesting discussions. A reader's guide is included at the end.  Even though this was a little different in tone and location from the WWII books I have read, I enjoyed it very much. 4****

For more about the author, please visit her website.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by NAL in exchange for my honest opinion.

Book Spotlight: The Katyn Order by Douglas. W. Jacobson

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published May 1st 2011 by McBooks Press (first published April 19th 2011)
ISBN1590135725 (
ISBN13: 9781590135723)
primary languageEnglish

From Goodreads:

The German war machine is in retreat as the Russians advance. In Warsaw, Resistance fighters rise up against their Nazi occupiers, but the Germans retaliate, ruthlessly leveling the once-beautiful city. American Adam Nowak has been dropped into Poland by British intelligence as an assassin and Resistance fighter. During the Warsaw Uprising he meets Natalia, a covert operative who has lost everything—just as he has. Amid the Allied power struggle left by Germany’s defeat, Adam and Natalia join in a desperate hunt for the 1940 Soviet order authorizing the murders of 20,000 Polish army officers and civilians. If they can find the Katyn Order before the Russians do, they just might change the fate of Poland.

Sounds like another compelling and emotional read from Douglas W. Jacobson. In October of '09 I read and  reviewed  his book, Night of Flames, and just loved it. If you have an interest in books set during WWII this book will definitely captivate you.

Douglas W. Jacobson is an engineer, business owner and World War Two history enthusiast. Doug has traveled extensively in Europe researching stories of the courage of common people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. His debut novel, Night of Flames: A Novel of World War Two was published in 2007 by McBooks Press, and was released in paperback in 2008. Night of Flames won the “2008 Outstanding Achievement Award” from the Wisconsin Library Association. Doug writes a monthly column on Poland’s contribution during WW2, and has published articles on Belgium’s WW2 escape organization, the Comet Line and other European Resistance organizations. Doug’s second historical novel, The Katyn Order, which will be released in May, 2011 focuses on one of history’s most notorious war crimes, the Katyn massacre.

Pump Up Your Book is currently touring The Katyn Order until June 30th. For more sites on the tour please visit here.  There  you will find the dates of  reviews, spotlights, interviews and giveaways.

Review: The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney

From Goodreads: “And there’s a legend—she had only vague details—that all couples who are meant to marry are connected by an invisible silver cord which is wrapped around their ankles at birth, and in time the matchmaking gods pull those cords tighter and tighter and draw the couple slowly toward one another until they meet.” So says Miss Kate Begley, Matchmaker of Kenmare, the enigmatic woman Ben MacCarthy meets in the summer of 1943.

As World War II rages on, Ben remains haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his wife, the actress Venetia Kelly. Searching for purpose by collecting stories for the Irish Folklore Commission, he travels to a remote seaside cottage to profile the aforementioned Matchmaker of Kenmare.

Ben is immediately captivated by the forthright Miss Begley, who is remarkably self-assured in her instincts but provincial in her experience. Miss Begley is determined to see that Ben moves through his grief—and a powerful friendship is forged along the way.

But when Charles Miller, a striking American military intelligence officer, arrives on the scene, Miss Begley develops an intense infatuation and looks to make a match for herself. Miller needs a favor, but it will be dangerous. Under the cover of their neutrality as Irish citizens, Miss Begley and Ben travel to London and effectively operate as spies. As they are drawn more deeply and painfully into the conflict, both discover the perils of neutrality—in both love and war."

Steeped in colorful history, The Matchmaker of Kenmare is a stirring story of friendship and sacrifice. New York Times bestselling author Frank Delaney has written a lush and surprising novel, rich as myth, tense as a thriller, and like all grand tales—harrowing, sometimes hilarious, and heartbreaking."

My thoughts:

Ben McCarthy is the narrator in the book, recounting  to his two children how he looks back on his friendship with Miss Begley, the matchmaker of Kenmare. He begs their forgiveness for his habit of digression. And digress he does! Sometimes to the point of exasperation but when he reminisces about their dangerous adventures during the war, I was enthralled.

From a historical point of view, the issue of Ireland's neutrality was interesting. Ben and Kate discuss their own feelings of neutrality towards each other and the war itself. Ben said it best when he admitted to himself:

" How tired I am from this swinging, this side-to-side movement of my allegiances; on this side for a time, then on that side; supporters of "our" armies because I met "their" soldiers, and "their" ordinary countryside people.  Neutrality, or is it indecision, and worse, cowardice? I'm tired of it."

These thoughts made me wonder how I would  feel about neutrality during wartime. Is it possible from a personal point of view?

I really wanted to like this one so much and had high hopes of being enmeshed with the characters and not wanting to put the book down.With a WII timeframe, a setting in Ireland, a love story and a matchmaker, this story had the potential to be a stellar 5 star read.

Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed in how slowly the book started. The narrative felt choppy and did not flow smoothly for me until almost page 100. This is when the book started to get interesting although some of the scenarios where Kate and Ben roam around France and Germany looking for Charles Miller had me questioning the plausibility of these actions.

On the positive side, the author does give the reader a real sense of place; I felt as if I were in Ireland listening to some of the matchmaker's discussions in her windswept cottage by the sea. By the end of the book, the reader definitely knew the characters well,  their thoughts, feelings, flaws and all.

Taking all into account this was a hard book for me to rate as I really liked parts of it and other parts had me bored and guilty of skimming through Ben's journal entries. This is just my feeling for the book - you need to make up your own mind and may love it! For me it was a 3* read at best.

Frank Delaney is also the author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, including Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show, (prequel to The Matchmaker of Kenmare). Mr. Delaney can be found at his blog or at his Facebook page.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Random House in exchange for my honest opinion.