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Published on 1 Comment on The Southern Side of Paradise
The Southern Side of Paradise Book Cover The Southern Side of Paradise
Peachtree Bluff
Kristy Woodson Harvey
Fiction
Gallery Books
May 7, 2019
Advanced reader copy
400
Free from publisher

From internationally bestselling author and “rising star of Southern fiction” (Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author) Kristy Woodson Harvey comes the third novel in her Peachtree Bluff series, in which a secret threatens the tight-knit bond between a trio of sisters and their mother. With the man of her dreams back in her life and all three of her daughters happy, Ansley Murphy should be content. But she can’t help but feel like it’s all a little too good to be true. Meanwhile, youngest daughter and actress Emerson, who is recently engaged and has just landed the role of a lifetime, seemingly has the world by the tail. Only, something she can’t quite put her finger on is worrying her—and it has nothing to do with her recent health scare. When two new women arrive in Peachtree Bluff—one who has the potential to wreck Ansley’s happiness and one who could tear Emerson’s world apart—everything is put in perspective. And after secrets that were never meant to be told come to light, the powerful bond between the Murphy sisters and their mother comes crumbling down, testing their devotion to each other and forcing them to evaluate the meaning of family. With Kristy Woodson Harvey’s signature charm, wit, and heart, The Southern Side of Paradise is another masterful Peachtree Bluff novel that proves she is a “Southern writer with staying power” (Booklist).

My review:

Ansley and her three daughters are back in this third book in the Peachtree Bluff series. This is the conclusion to the series (or is it?) and things wrap up well. As in the first two books (which I do recommend reading in order, to experience the most complete immersion into the family), this book focuses on one of the sisters told in alternating chapters with mother Ansley. This is youngest daughter Emerson's story. Of course she is facing a dilemma and the family has to rally around to help her solve it. I enjoyed the independence of Emerson and her drive to further her career, but alas that usually comes with some cost. The words in Kristy's books seem to flow across the page. Great descriptive places, southern phrases, and likeable characters immerse you into the story. This book was my second favorite of the series. Nothing will compare to Slightly South of Simple as that featured one of my all-time favorite characters Caroline! Of course we still got some good quips from my girl in this one, along with the rest of the family chiming in at every turn. And let's not forget that the big secret the reader knows in book one is revealed in this part, creating yet another drama to weather. And for those who became fans of "coffee Kyle" in the last book, you will definitely want to find out what happens to him in this one!

A lovely series with lots of southern charm! I can highly recommend, especially for fans of southern writers Mary Alice Monroe and Mary Kay Andrews.

Published on Leave a comment on Lost Roses
Lost Roses Book Cover Lost Roses
Martha Hall Kelly
Fiction
Ballantine Books
April 2, 2019
Advanced reader copy
448
Free from publisher

The runaway bestseller Lilac Girls introduced the real-life heroine Caroline Ferriday. This sweeping new novel, set a generation earlier and also inspired by true events, features Caroline's mother, Eliza, and follows three equally indomitable women from St. Petersburg to Paris under the shadow of World War I. It is 1914 and the world has been on the brink of war so many times, many New Yorkers treat the subject with only passing interest. Eliza Ferriday is thrilled to be traveling to St. Petersburg with Sofya Streshnayva, a cousin of the Romanovs. The two met years ago one summer in Paris and became close confidantes. Now Eliza embarks on the trip of a lifetime, home with Sofya to see the splendors of Russia. But when Austria declares war on Serbia and Russia's Imperial dynasty begins to fall, Eliza escapes back to America, while Sofya and her family flee to their country estate. In need of domestic help, they hire the local fortuneteller's daughter, Varinka, unknowingly bringing intense danger into their household. On the other side of the Atlantic, Eliza is doing her part to help the White Russian families find safety as they escape the revolution. But when Sofya's letters suddenly stop coming she fears the worst for her best friend. From the turbulent streets of St. Petersburg to the avenues of Paris and the society of fallen Russian émigrés who live there, the lives of Eliza, Sofya, and Varinka will intersect in profound ways, taking readers on a breathtaking ride through a momentous time in history.

My review:

The precursor to Lilac Girls, where we follow one of that book character's mother Eliza. I had already read Lilac Girls (and loved it), but I've seen people question if there is an order to read these if you have not read either. I would say no. Other than Caroline (from Lilac Girls) being referred to as a child in Lost Roses, the books are their own stories and can be read as such. This book shed more light on the history of World War I, which seems to not have many historical fiction books written about (or maybe I'm just not seeking them out?). I found this book to be harder to engage in at the beginning. It may be because I had little knowledge of the Russian side of the war, and there were a lot of characters to keep track of (particularly in the aristocratic family). Once I got over what I thought was a slow start, this ended up being an engaging read. Told in alternating chapters by the three main characters (much as in Lilac Girls), the writing was captivating, well researched, and the story flowed well. It was interesting how my perspective changed with some of the characters as the story progressed. Did anyone else think Eliza was kind of a crappy parent to Caroline at the beginning? I loved learning about the work that was done to try and make a life here in the U.S. for the Russian immigrants. There were definitely some intense moments in this one to make you flip pages!

I'm going to admit that I still prefer Lilac Girls, but by all means read this one as it definitely has merit unto itself.

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Published on 2 Comments on The Last Year of the War
The Last Year of the War Book Cover The Last Year of the War
Susan Meissner
Fiction
Berkley
March 19, 2019
Advanced reading copy
400
Publisher via NetGalley

From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and As Bright as Heaven comes a novel about a German American teenager whose life changes forever when her immigrant family is sent to an internment camp during World War II. Elise Sontag is a typical Iowa fourteen-year-old in 1943--aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity. The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences. But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her. The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who we've always been is called into question.

Leave it to Susan Meissner to take an aspect of WWII that little is known about, and bring it to the forefront in this wonderful novel! If you have read many stories from this time period, you are probably aware of the displacement of the US Japanese residents after the attack on Pearl Harbor. But were you aware that there were German Americans also sent to internment camps by virtue of their heritage? Elise's parents had been in this country for decades, yet various people conspire to have her father arrested as a threat to war security. Soon the entire family is shipped off to a barbed wire enclosed "camp" to spend their days, presumably until the war ends. It is within the camp that Elise meets a Japanese American girl and they develop a strong bond of friendship. While the majority of the book centers on the last year of the war, there is a modern day component as Elise tries to find out what happened to her best friend, as ultimately they both get sent from the camp. I loved the characters in this book, even the minor ones like Elise's mother, who never forgives herself for the role she plays in them being sent to the camp. This is a novel of unjust behavior, of perseverance,  and of forgiveness, but mostly it is a novel of friendship helping you through bad times.

Ms. Meissner is an auto-buy author for me, I have thoroughly enjoyed all her books. I always learn something from history that I rarely knew about before reading. I would highly recommend this title, as well as any of her back titles.

Published on Leave a comment on The Huntress
The Huntress Book Cover The Huntress
Kate Quinn
Fiction
HarperCollins
February 26, 2019
Advanced reader copy
560
Free from publisher

From the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel, THE ALICE NETWORK, comes another fascinating historical novel about a battle-haunted English journalist and a Russian female bomber pilot who join forces to track the Huntress, a Nazi war criminal gone to ground in America. In the aftermath of war, the hunter becomes the hunted… Bold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans. When she is stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, and only Nina’s bravery and cunning will keep her alive. Transformed by the horrors he witnessed from Omaha Beach to the Nuremberg Trials, British war correspondent Ian Graham has become a Nazi hunter. Yet one target eludes him: a vicious predator known as the Huntress. To find her, the fierce, disciplined investigator joins forces with the only witness to escape the Huntress alive: the brazen, cocksure Nina. But a shared secret could derail their mission unless Ian and Nina force themselves to confront it. Growing up in post-war Boston, seventeen-year-old Jordan McBride is determined to become a photographer. When her long-widowed father unexpectedly comes homes with a new fiancée, Jordan is thrilled. But there is something disconcerting about the soft-spoken German widow. Certain that danger is lurking, Jordan begins to delve into her new stepmother’s past—only to discover that there are mysteries buried deep in her family . . . secrets that may threaten all Jordan holds dear. In this immersive, heart-wrenching story, Kate Quinn illuminates the consequences of war on individual lives, and the price we pay to seek justice and truth.

My review:

As a fan of The Alice Network, I was excited to dive into this next offering from the author. I found this novel to be just as engaging and captivating as the previous one, with one exception that I will get to farther along in this review. This one is set up rather like its predecessor (they are free standing books and not tied together) in that there are three main characters telling the story. At first they don't seem related, but it doesn't take long to find out how they come together (the blurb pretty much handles it). The writing is superb and the research seems very well done, although I can't say that I knew much about the time periods represented to nit-pick details. I particularly knew nothing about the Russian female air squadron so could appreciate that addition to the book. However, as much as I loved learning about the air squadron, I felt that Nina's sections were very tedious to read. I felt that I gleaned enough about her part in the story by following her escapades with Ian, and got bored with all the bombing raids. This in no way reflects on how well the story was written, it just ended up being my least favorite part until the end of the book when her connection with Ian is detailed. I loved the Jordan parts up until the obligatory romance was thrown in. It could have been left out and I wouldn't have missed it, but it was such a small part of the book that I can overlook it.

Another great story by Ms. Quinn. While I had a couple problems with two characters stories, they were overshadowed by the overall compelling writing and overall history and intrigue.

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Published on 1 Comment on The Wartime Sisters
The Wartime Sisters Book Cover The Wartime Sisters
Lynda Cohen Loigman
Fiction
St. Martin's Press
January 22, 2019
Advanced reader copy
304
Free from publisher

The next powerful novel from the author of The Two-Family House, about two sisters working in a WWII armory, each with a deep secret.  Two estranged sisters, raised in Brooklyn and each burdened with her own shocking secret, are reunited at the Springfield Armory in the early days of WWII. While one sister lives in relative ease on the bucolic Armory campus as an officer’s wife, the other arrives as a war widow and takes a position in the Armory factories as a “soldier of production.” Resentment festers between the two, and secrets are shattered when a mysterious figure from the past reemerges in their lives.

I was a huge fan of this author's last book (The Two Family House). I was so excited to pick this one up and it did not disappoint! I will caution readers going in expecting a story about WWII, that it is much more of a character driven story set during that time period. While there is mention of the war, and I loved the insight into the war munitions production facilities, this is more about the two sisters. We have insight into their early life, where one sister resents the other's beauty and opportunity. Then on the flip side, the sister with the comfortable lifestyle seems to have the upper hand later in life. Both sisters are keeping their own big secret, and they are an important turning point in the book when they are revealed! I thought the writing was crisp and the story flowed well, without lots of extraneous information thrown in. I also enjoyed the foray into the snotty officer's wife,  who  was not very welcoming to an outsider in her midst.

A well done character story about sisters who must learn to get past perceived transgressions to improve the quality of not only their relationship, but their lives.