book review

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Book Review-Through the Shadows (& Give Away)

I did receive this book complimentary from Litfuse Publicity Group for my review. These thoughts are my own.

I was really excited to pick up this book because it is not my typical historical fiction era. I don’t know much about the west coast development, so I was intrigued by the setting of this book alone.

This book is part of a series, which I did not realize until about a third into the book. I think it very much can stand alone since each book is written from a different character’s perspective. The only reason I realized that it was the third book in the series is because I looked the author up on Goodreads to see what else she had written because I was enjoying it so much. Because “The Golden Gate Chronicles” didn’t tip me off…whoops.

Like I said I really enjoyed this book. It was based in San Fransisco at the turn of the 1900s a couple years after a devastating earthquake. It follows the King family, but most specifically Elizabeth King the youngest sibling.

Throughout the book, you see Elizabeth trying to figure out who she is and get over some secrets of her past. She is trying to make up for past transgressions by getting involved in a mission that houses Chinese girls who were rescued from the slavery of the time. I really liked her spunky attitude and how she defied the role of a woman at that time to do something she believed in.

Charles McKinley is the other main character, who is also trying to make a name for himself as a new lawyer in town. He is attempting to change the crooked politics of the city but obviously hits road blocks along the way.

Charles and Elizabeth’s stories intertwine throughout the pages, and you can’t help but root for them in their quest to change the status quo. I think it is a great read about characters (especially for that time) fighting against inequalities and corruption.

There are a lot of things that went well for this story line. It is quippy and there are many references to faith. Barnett doesn’t give you all the pieces to the story at once, so that sense of mystery keeps you turning the pages. It was like she would give you little nibbles in the midst of this great buffet of information that made you want to come back for seconds and thirds. I was drawn in quickly with the believable plot and how the characters related. I wanted to know more, and I would think about the book when I wasn’t reading it. This is why I give this book a 5/5 rating.

If you want to read a book that gives you hope and is a little different than your mainstream historical fiction, this is a great read!

Lucky enough for you there is a giveaway going on for the book!

Follow this link to check it out:  https://promosimple.com/ps/99f1

What have you been reading lately?

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Book Review-Sit Stay Love

I did receive this book complimentary from Litfuse Publicity Group for my review. These thoughts are my own.

A book about dogs, baseball, and romance? I mean really, how could I say no to this book?

This was a fun light read. It was very easy to get into, and I read it in a few days.

This story is about a professional baseball player who inherits an elderly dog after his mom passes away. He hires a dog sitter since he wants nothing to do with the animal (how dare he!). Tippy, the dog, is a comedic thread throughout the story. She brings the sitter and the baseball player together even though their worlds are miles apart. Here is a simpleton dog sitter trying to maneuver through this very public sports figure’s world.

The characters are highly relateable. The author touched on loss and how your past can negatively impact your present. Sometimes things happen to us that cause this dark cloud to remain over us if we let it. We see how these two characters come to rely on each other and Tippy to move to a better place. I thought how they spoke to each other was real and honest. I felt really connected to Gina, the dog sitter. Some of her thoughts could have been my own. She was a girl after my own heart. I laughed out loud a lot reading her perspective on things.

The only part that I didn’t like was how the author described their physical reactions to each other. Note it was nothing real in depth or highly sexual. I just thought it was slightly awkward how she would describe them as distant and having known each other for only hours/days, and then the next page he was stroking her face or hair. I felt that their physical intimacy was weird with the other context of how she wrote their personalities. It just didn’t seem to make sense all the time.

Other than that tidbit, this was a great little afternoon read that I thought was funny and a nice change of pace.

I rate it a 3/5 on my meter. Good but not great. If you love baseball and dogs, I would recommend it. I love that I read this right around opening day!

 

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Book Review: I Shall Be Near To You

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I really enjoyed this book. (Obviously-historical fiction is my jam.) I will give this book a 4/5.

Here is a synopsis from Goodreads:

Rosetta doesn’t want her new husband Jeremiah to enlist, but he joins up, hoping to make enough money that they’ll be able to afford their own farm someday. Though she’s always worked by her father’s side as the son he never had, now that Rosetta is a wife she’s told her place is inside with the other women. But Rosetta decides her true place is with Jeremiah, no matter what that means, and to be with him she cuts off her hair, hems an old pair of his pants, and signs up as a Union soldier.
Rosetta drills with the men, prepares herself for battle, and faces the tension as her husband comes to grips with having a fighting wife. Fearing discovery of her secret, Rosetta’s strong will clashes with Jeremiah’s as their marriage is tested by war. Inspired by over two hundred and fifty documented accounts of the women who fought in the Civil War while disguised as men, I Shall Be Near To You is the intimate story, in Rosetta’s powerful and gorgeous voice, of the drama of marriage, one woman’s amazing exploits, and the tender love story that can unfold when two partners face life’s challenges side by side.

I have read a lot of historical fiction books, and this book was fairly accurate from what I know. Obviously there are some liberties taken, but I thought she did a great job honoring the integrity of the time. She does write in the dialect that you would hear at that time, which can sometimes be hard to wade through because there are some things that have changed in the English Language, but I find that kind of stuff interesting. She also based this on actual people. There is some added historical facts at the end of the book that I found really interesting. I was not aware of how many women actually chose this life to be with their husbands. What is even more mind-boggling is that they were rarely caught even when they were pregnant! I could not imaging trying to hide my female identity let alone trying to hide a pregnancy on the FRONT LINES. That is remarkable.

As a former military wife, fighting alongside my husband was something that never crossed my mind. Granted the circumstances are much different now, but it does make you think about what they would experience together. That could either make them even closer or push them apart because of the danger. Either way I think I would be highly distracted if I fought with Tom. I would be more concerned about his well-being than anyone else’s including my own that I don’t think my judgement would be clear in all cases. Watching their marriage on the front lines definitely made me think a lot about our own sacrifices we made as a military family. It also made me sooo thankful of the modern amenities and technologies our military has now.

There were parts that were predictable, but she did a good job of writing a story that you wanted to keep reading through despite some obvious plot twists. I also appreciated that she didn’t gloss over the horrendous way the Civil War was fought and the gravity of it all. It may be hard to read, but I think it this was a moving tribute.

Anyway this is a good love story set in historical fiction that I really enjoyed reading.

I did receive this book complimentary from Blogging for Books for my review. These thoughts are my own.

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Book Review: The Methuselah Project

I did receive this book complimentary from Litfuse Publicity Group for my review. These thoughts are my own.

Methuselah-Project

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I will give this book a 4/5.

I liked it, but it wasn’t a love love for me. It was a fun quick read though that a put a different spin on historical fiction. That element is why it gets a 4 instead of a 3. I like to see something new!

The plot follows two main characters:  Captain Roger Greene who is an American pilot in WWII, and Katherine Mueller who is part of present day. The chapters bounce back and forth between Greene and Mueller. I thought this was a unique perspective to have two different time periods telling this story.

And part of that is because of an experiment that Captain Greene is part of, well captured for. The experiment was conducted by the Nazis to create a Methuselah man, or someone who would live MUCH longer than the average. The experiment is deemed a success with Greene, but then he is kept in a cage (not aging) for over 70 years while they try to figure out why and how after the creator of the project died in a bombing. The first half is the build up of his captivity, and then you hit the climax of the book where he manages to escape but he is now in a world that is so foreign to him since he hasn’t seen daylight in 70 years. Not to mention that his captors had been lying to him that the war was still waging between the Nazis and the rest of the world. Katherine’s twist on the story is that she is connected to the group that has been holding Greene captive, but she has had some doubts of her own destiny within the organization. So when their stories collide it is an intriguing plot line.

I have done a lot of research on WWII, and crazy medical experiments ran rampant during that era since the Nazis felt that they had “lab rats” at their disposal. They did things to humans that were despicably inhumane. So this story of keeping someone captive for 70 years is something, while seemingly far-fetched, is believable if the fountain of youth were actually possible. I think the Nazis would have done anything in the name of Hitler if given the means.

This book is really fast paced. The chapters are rarely more than a few pages long, and as I said you are jumping back and forth between Greene and Katherine. There is a lot of action on each page that keeps you enthralled in the story.

I am generally not a fan of science fiction, but the way that Barry wove other elements into the story, I was sucked in. It’s like Jason Bourne meets time travel meets historical fiction, definitely a different way to tell a story. It doesn’t really fit into any typical type of genre. You want to cheer Captain Greene on from page one, so you keep coming back to see what his fate is as a Methuselah man.

I recommend this book if you want something a little different and fun to read. It’s a page turner which in my book is always a good thing!

You can purchase a copy: http://bit.ly/1GcsGbS

Are you into science fiction? Do you have any historical fiction books to recommend?

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Book Review: Through Waters Deep

I was really excited about this book. Historical fiction with romance and mystery! Yes please.

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I will give this book 3.5/5. I liked it, but I didn’t love it like I wanted to.

This story follows Mary and Jim during 1941 right before the US joined WWII. Jim is in the Navy and Mary works at the Boston Navy Yard. There are some suspicious events that occur that point to sabotage, and the story follows the mystery and a love story that unfolds between the two. Amidst the mystery and romance, you read about the anxiety that was abound before we joined the war efforts.

I will be honest that the first fourth of the book, I thought was really slow. I had a hard time investing in it. But about half way through I was hooked and read the last half in just a couple bedtimes. The chapters are pretty short, so it was a pretty quick read anyway.

Sundin changes perspectives every chapter, so you get to see Mary and Jim’s thoughts throughout the story. I like this style a lot because I think you get to see the full picture. I found myself screaming (in my head) at each of the characters when they obviously weren’t seeing signs of love that the other was holding back.

There was a Nancy Drew feel to the mystery aspect. Mary used intuition to find clues and keep tabs on the happenings of the Navy Yard. As she discussed what she found with Jim, they developed a connection before he went off to the sea. It’s a pretty light-hearted story with some dramatic flair thrown in.

The other part I enjoyed is the focus on scriptures and prayer. You don’t see a lot of books that do this, so it was refreshing to read fiction that really focused on following God’s plan and remembering to pray for strength.

Also I think if I was to be born in the correct era, it would have been the 40s. The style is just impeccable, so generally I love most fiction about this era.

This was a fun quick read, that I enjoyed. It is the first in a series, and I may pick up the next to see how it fairs for me. You know I love them series!

There is a giveaway going on for this book promotion right now. You could win the book and some other cool things.

Through Waters Deep I did receive this book complimentary from Litfuse Publicity Group for my review. These thoughts are my own.