Summary A WWII novel of courage and conviction, based on the true experience of the men who fought fires as conscientious objectors and the women who fought prejudice to serve in the Women's Army Corps. Since the attack on Pearl Harbor, Gordon Hooper and his buddy Jack Armitage have stuck to their values as conscientious objectors. Much to their families' and country's chagrin, they volunteer as smokejumpers rather than enlisting, parachuting into and extinguishing raging wildfires in Oregon. But the number of winter blazes they're called to seems suspiciously high, and when an accident leaves Jack badly injured, Gordon realizes the facts don't add up. A member of the Women's Army Corps, Dorie Armitage has long been ashamed of her brother's pacifism, but she's shocked by news of his accident. Determined to find out why he was harmed, she arrives at the national forest under the guise of conducting an army report . . . and finds herself forced to work with Gordon. He believes it's wrong to lie; she's willing to do whatever it takes for justice to be done. As they search for clues, Gordon and Dorie must wrestle with their convictions about war and peace and decide what to do with the troubling secrets they discover. Positives THIS. BOOK. First off, the smokejumper thing is cool. I’ve never read a book with smokejumpers in it, and I didn’t know there were CO smokejumpers before this book either. The descriptions drew me in. Dorie is amazing. While some of her antics made this introvert cringe, I also liked her fire and her refusal to be kept down. Gordon was also fantastic in his own way, and I appreciated that a quiet, peace-loving character like him finally got his chance in the spotlight. I related a lot to his struggle to know when to step up and act and when to stand down and wait. The mystery definitely kept me going. I had no idea who it could be, all the ones I had figured out got knocked out one after the other. Never would have guessed the true culprit. I really appreciate how much she explores viewpoints in her story. She didn’t set one up as the good guy and the other as the bad guy. She took a look at ALL angles of an issue. She showed bad guys who believed good things and good guys who believed bad things. That alone would be enough for me to recommend this book. We need more books that make us think instead of hitting us over the head with morals. (Personal opinion, for what it’s worth. ;) ) She also didn't try to talk her main character out of his opinion. It was nice to see someone stand firm in the beliefs they know to be true, the things that matter, even as they grow and change. On the other hand, it was balanced out with the characters' willingness (or eventual willingness) to admit when and where they were wrong and make amends. Negatives None. Conclusion The Lines Between Us did not disappoint after her debut novel. It made me think about my own lines while it quickly made a line to my bookshelf.
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In a land where being the fairest maiden is a curse . . . A young queen trying to stay alive until she comes of age to rule, and a prince turned into a pauper. Queen Aurora of Mercia has spent her entire life deep in Inglewood Forest, hiding from Warwick’s Queen Margery, who seeks her demise. As the time draws near for Aurora to take the throne, she happens upon a handsome woodcutter. Although friendship with outsiders is forbidden and dangerous, she cannot stay away from the charming stranger. Only two months away from completing his royal testing, Prince Kresten of Scania is ready to be finished with the poverty and hardships of being a woodcutter. When he meets a beautiful peasant woman, he doesn’t plan to fall in love, especially when he must soon leave and return to his homeland. As Queen Margery’s forces close in, Aurora finds herself in mortal danger. Kresten knows a future with Aurora is impossible, but he is desperate to save her and bring an end to the queen’s threat. To do so, he joins the ultimate battle against the evil queen, risking everything, including his chance at true love. Positives Both Aurora and Kresten are much more outgoing and open to people than I am. The skeptical side of me of course was thinking, “You just met each other and you’re telling each other all this? Especially after Aurora was almost killed by her aunt?” But it quickly quieted. The author did a fantastic job of taking character’s with very different personalities than mine and making me understand and like them despite that. I also love that Aurora and Kresten think about each other. Yes, they’re cute and in love and everything. But they actually think about how their actions will affect each other—a rarity in romance. I was warned before I started reading that the ending wasn’t as out-of-nowhere-awesome-plot-twist as Beholden. But this is still my favorite book in the series. While the ending wasn’t exactly unheard of for a Sleeping Beauty retelling, it was still a beautiful ending. If anyone ever tells you that tropes don’t work . . . Plus, it was just so satisfying to see all the threads from across the trilogy come to a close. Negatives None. Conclusion Besotted finishes out the trilogy with a sweet familiarity for fans of fairy tale retellings. Summary
In a land where being the fairest maiden is a curse . . . A princess rejected and hunted by her mother, and a prince who lives as a shunned outcast. Princess Pearl flees for her life after her mother, Queen Margery, tries to have her killed during a hunting expedition. Pearl finds refuge on the Isle of Outcasts among criminals and misfits, disguising her face with a veil so no one recognizes her. She lives for the day when she can return to Warwick and rescue her sister, Ruby, from the queen’s clutches. Amidst his royal testing on the Isle of Outcasts, Prince Mikkel of Scania has kept his identity a secret. Captured by a warring band of outcasts and condemned to die, he finds himself making friends with an intriguing but feisty young veiled woman. Intending to win her trust and gain her help to escape, he soon finds himself coerced to wed her. Mikkel reluctantly agrees to the union to save his life, and Pearl hopes the marriage will provide protection for her and Ruby. But the queen is more determined to kill her daughter than either Pearl or Mikkel realizes and has a sinister reason neither expects—one that could rip their new love apart forever. Positives Pearl’s love for her sister really touched me. She was willing to risk everything to get Ruby back. As an older sister, I related a lot. The misfits were a very interesting reimagining of the dwarves. I loved how they all hung together and worked together. It wouldn’t have been good for the rest of the book, but I’m almost sorry I didn’t get to see a little bit more of the Isle of Misfits. The worldbuilding of the tensions between the two groups was very interesting. Negatives I have come to the conclusion that there is no perfect ratio of arguing in an enemies-to-lovers romance. I personally got a little tired of Pearl and Mikkel arguing in this one. It could have maybe been cut back by a couple scenes and not seemed as repetitive. As it was, it continued up to the climax and I wasn’t quite sure if they were ever going to get started on the climax mission. They also seemed to fall in love very fast. Considering Mikkel was in jail, and Pearl was trying to use him for her devices, when things got lovey-dovey, I got a bit skeptical. Maybe I was supposed to. The book did awesome, though, in making them test those feelings of attraction later on in the book. I also personally am not a huge fan of the “they are forced into marriage to save themselves” trope. Not to say it wasn't pulled off brilliantly here, just tends not to be my jam. Conclusion Out of the three Fairest Maidens, Beguiled wasn’t my top favorite. But don’t let it fool you—it’s still an amazing book and more than worthy of being read. After all, don’t judge a book by its cover. Or its review. Or . . . I think you get the idea. Summary In a land where being the fairest maiden is a curse . . . A beautiful noblewoman with a terrible secret, and a prince subjected to slavery. Upon the death of her wealthy father, Lady Gabriella is condemned to work in Warwick’s gem mine. As she struggles to survive the dangerous conditions, her kindness and beauty shine as brightly as the jewels the slaves excavate. While laboring, Gabriella plots how to avenge her father’s death and stop Queen Margery’s cruelty. Prince Vilmar of Scania enslaves himself in Warwick’s gem mine as part of a royal test to prove himself the most worthy of three brothers to become the king’s successor. Amidst the hardships, he doesn’t anticipate his growing compassion for the other slaves, especially tenderhearted Gabriella. As the annual summer ball looms nearer, Gabriella sets into motion her plan to end Queen Margery’s evil. When Vilmar learns of Gabriella’s intentions, he resolves to come to her aid and fight against Warwick’s queen. But doing so may require him to give up his chance of becoming Scania’s next king, perhaps even cost him his life. Positives This is a very different and unique Cinderella retelling. I had an extremely vague idea of the twist from my sister reading it, but when it came around, I was still surprised. It became kind of a game to pick out the Cinderella elements in this story. And I was definitely turning pages to figure out if it would end like a Cinderella story . . . or not. (Or have some twist that I could have never seen coming.) Another thing I really loved about it was how Gabriella and Vilmar sacrificed for each other. In a lot of romance plots, especially in young adult fiction, the couple don’t do anything for each other. They simply kiss a few times, flirt ALL the time, and declare it a love story. It was nice to see two leads who, while they had their own struggles, were kind to the people around them and to each other. On the topic of those struggles—those were strong and relatable as well. Gabriella’s need for revenge was an interesting quality to hand to a Cinderella character. Vilmar’s struggle to best his brother as well also packed the emotional punch needed. The author did a good job making me feel the emotions, even if their emotional responses weren’t quite the same as mine would be. Negatives None. Conclusion But who will truly become king? And how much is this like a Cinderella story? You’ll have to read to find out. Summary Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent as determined to prove her worth in a male-dominated profession as she is to expose the growing tyranny in Nazi Germany. To do so, she must walk a thin line. If she offends the government, she could be expelled from the country--or worse. If she fails to truthfully report on major stories, she'll never be able to give a voice to the oppressed--and wake up the folks back home. In another part of the city, American graduate student Peter Lang is working on his PhD in German. Disillusioned with the chaos in the world due to the Great Depression, he is impressed with the prosperity and order of German society. But when the brutality of the regime hits close, he discovers a far better way to use his contacts within the Nazi party--to feed information to the shrewd reporter he can't get off his mind. Positives My favorite thing about this book was how she depicted Evelyn’s struggle in the journalism world as a woman. The “jokes” that Evelyn lived through brought to mind some teasing and not so teasing remarks I have received. Not only did this have me rooting for her character, but it encouraged me as well as I watched Evelyn excel at what she did and prove them all wrong. The plot was brilliantly done. It never got boring between their missions of espionage, the threat of being expelled if they spoke the wrong word, and their escape from Germany. (Several times I found myself wondering how the author had crafted such a smooth plot.) The inclusion of Peter as Evelyn’s informant drew me in even more. I loved how much Peter had to sacrifice throughout the book. So many stories (I’m looking at some of my drafts, too) leave that element out. It really does make for a brilliant book when the characters have to give up something they love dearly to make a better choice. Negatives While handled extremely tactfully, those teasing remarks I mentioned above are still cruel jokes about a woman nonetheless. I was slightly confused by Peter at the beginning. At first, he just seemed like a guy with a lot of hurt in his past he was struggling to overcome. Then it seemed like I was smacked with the fact he bought into Nazi ideology in the next chapter he appeared in. But, to be fair, first chapters aren’t easy, and there was a lot of ground to cover. Meaning this could have easily been pushed to the next chapter. The important thing was I did figure out his beliefs early in the story and it didn’t confuse me for long. Truly, my only real complaint is . . . the title has nothing to do with the story. Unless I missed something. But I asked someone who is an even greater fan of Sarah Sundin than I am, and she was confused as well. It is a beautiful title, though. Conclusion All that to say, When Twilight Breaks still remains a shining star in World War II fiction. Alright. It is finally time for me to ramble about one of my most anticipated reads of 2021! Summary Peter Pan has crash-landed back on Neverland. But this is not the island he remembers. Desperate to rescue Claire and the fractured Lost Boys, Peter must unravel what truly tore his dreamland apart. But with each step, he is haunted by more of his own broken memories. Not even Pan himself is what he seems. Claire Kenton is chained to a pirate ship, watching the wreckage of Neverland rocked by tempests. When she finally finds her brother, Connor is every bit as shattered as the island. Claire may have pixie dust flowing in her veins—but the light of Neverland is flickering dangerously close to going out forever. To rescue Neverland from the inescapable shadow, the boy who never grew up and the girl who grew up too fast will have to sacrifice the only thing they have left: each other. Positives Where. Do. I. Begin? I’ll try to do this as spoiler-free as possible. If you had any inkling of disliking the characters in the first installment, worry no more! The characters face the darkness each one of them has lurking in their past . . . sometimes darkness that they caused. I loved seeing how it emphasized responsibility for our own actions. The character arcs close out beautifully (and sometimes brutally) leaving us with a whole host of heroes. (Or villains who are even worse than before . . . ) The new characters that were added shone and each lent their unique presence to the story. I could not put this book down. Truly. I read it all the first day I got it and then went back and read it again. The world of Neverland is so unique and beautifully developed. I could see it all in my mind and loved all the different elements that made it so. It’s no secret that Claire does find her brother Connor. And that he’s nothing like she remembered. His story was one of my favorite bits of the entire book. The development of his struggle with his shadow, his fall to villainy, and his battle against his hurt—oh my goodness. The message in this book was exactly what I needed to hear. It illustrates crystal clear the light in darkness, that we are more than our shadows. The characters do struggle, and their struggles don’t necessarily end when all seems to be going right. But that’s life. And there is light—both in this novel and in real life. Negatives Occasionally, the descriptions contained a lot of adjectives. Maybe they could have been improved by showing a bit more instead of the multiple descriptors, maybe not. It wasn’t enough to jerk me out of the plot, however, and did nothing to slow the story down. Conclusion Shadow did not disappoint. It was all I was hoping for and more. Definitely one of my favorite reads from this year, and an especially timely encouragement to me. I highly recommend it. Like I said above—there’s light, and this novel carries it from Neverland to the real world and back again. Summary
In spring 1918, Lieutenant Colin Mabry, a British soldier working with MI8 after suffering injuries on the front, receives a message by carrier pigeon. It is from Jewel Reyer, the woman he once loved and who saved his life--a woman he believed to be dead. Traveling to France to answer her urgent summons, he desperately hopes this mission will ease his guilt and restore the courage he lost on the battlefield. Colin is stunned, however, to discover the message came from Jewel's half sister, Johanna. Johanna, who works at a dovecote for French Army Intelligence, found Jewel's diary and believes her sister is alive in the custody of a German agent. With spies everywhere, Colin is skeptical of Johanna, but as they travel across France and Spain, a tentative trust begins to grow between them. When their pursuit leads them straight into the midst of a treacherous plot, danger and deception turn their search for answers into a battle for their lives. Positives The inclusion of Colin’s disability was very interesting. I really only noticed it when Colin did—when he brought up his gloved hand, it was like “Oh, right, he has a prosthetic hand.” While some of the plot was his struggle to overcome his injury, it was also nice to see a disability not treated as an oddity or something to be overcome. The portrayal of his PTSD was so well done, showing how it really is while also showing the light at the end of the tunnel. I liked Joanna from the very first scene. (Come on! She rides a motorcycle! How often does that happen in historical fiction?) Her interest in motorcycles, pigeons, and her inability to be completely put together helped her stand out from the mold and caught my attention. This espionage story had so many twists and turns. It had me suspecting every character that came along, wondering if Colin and Joanna could really trust them or not. The characters I expected to be allies betrayed them. The characters I thought were evil turncoats turned out to be their closest allies. And a few characters here and there were exactly what they were supposed to be, to throw me off the trail. Colin and Joanna faced both success and fallbacks in their journey to find Jewel. Negatives None. Conclusion This spy story was definitely worth it—unique characters, spies, plot twists, and pigeons. I mean, who could ask for more? Dressmaker Lila de Laurent flees into the forest wounded. She’s just come from a hotel where the murder of an important German official just took place. She’s been playing a dangerous game and the officials are onto her. And she’s about to run into the person she thought she killed—a person playing a dangerous game of his own. But Lila wasn’t always a spy. In fact, she used to be an up-and-comer on the Paris fashion scene along with her friend Amelie. Forced into assisting with the sorting of art by the Germans and rescuing what she can, Sandrine intercepts an unusual crate alongside her assistants. Inside the crate is a blush-colored couture gown. No one knows what it means—only that it means something. But Sandrine didn’t always sort art undercover. She once said goodbye to a husband headed for war. A husband who she can’t believe is dead. A husband she believes has a connection to the dress. How did they get where they were? And how will Lila, Sandrine, and the other spies in Paris cross paths in these years of war? Oh. My. Goodness. I had heard Kristy Cambron speak at a conference about outlining this book, and was excited when it came to our church library (where I volunteer) with glowing reviews from the lady who purchases for our library. I processed it quickly and will neither confirm nor deny that I was the first person to check it out. I was not disappointed. This. Book. Is. Brilliant. First off, there are four different plotlines going throughout The Paris Dressmaker. Each of them brilliant in their own way and juggled masterfully. (It blew my mind. Really. How on earth did she do it?) Even when I would groan because I couldn’t figure out what happened to the spies until a few chapters later, I would still hurry ahead to get another clue to unlock the protagonists’ pasts. Truly, I had no idea what had happened or what would happen until I reached the last page. I’m hoping to buy my own copy so I can comb my way through it two or three more times and get the full picture. It’s not a light read. Juggling four plotlines as well as Cambron’s gorgeous poetic prose keeps the brain active. And, as if it needed any more points in its favor, the cover is beautiful, too! I loved all the characters so much—I was rooting for the spirited women who led the pages as well as the side characters who lent their own spark to the story. Amelie and Lila’s relationship broke my heart for reasons that I can’t describe without spoilers. The plot was incredible. I was engrossed in a world of espionage and never knowing what might be lurking around the next corner. (Including the death of a character that I very much loved . . . sniff.) The Paris Dressmaker has quickly made one of my top reads for this year. I’m eager to try more of Kristy Cambron’s books as well as get my own copy of this novel. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. It’s not every day that you get hired to protect the President.
Or the First Lady, for that matter. But that’s where Nathaniel is at. Security at the White House is abysmal and tensions are rising. Never mind that Nathaniel would rather be hunting down counterfeiters . . . or his past failures to protect those who meant the most to him. If he’s to protect this president, every rule has to be followed to the letter. Unfortunately, no one warned him about Caroline Delacroix, the one person who can put up/deal with the particular First Lady. And the one person who seems determined to break every rule she knows exists. Whether that be challenging Nathaniel’s new expectations . . . or hiding her brother’s criminal past from Nathaniel’s investigations. I’d heard a lot about Elizabeth Camden, and it seemed she wrote books much the same as Roseanna M. White’s—historical plots usually involving espionage or some other mayhem with a romance on the side. I wouldn’t say this book was quite to a Roseanna White level for me (although, really, what is?), but it was definitely a good read. Yes, I did read the second book first . . . I found it at a bookstore and wanted to give it a try. Now I’m hoping to get the rest of the trilogy. I understood Nathaniel’s desire to protect. I feel like it’s something that runs in oldest children (which I am one), but also something that can be understandable to many other people. I loved how the author let me see him break . . . and come back together. Those truly were some of the most powerful scenes in the book to me. Man, Caroline could get under my skin. But on the other hand, she was strong and ready to fight for what mattered to her. I had so many suspects! I had no idea who I was supposed to trust and who I wasn’t. Even though I knew it was a book about the McKinley assassination, I was on the edge of my seat whenever the McKinleys went out in public like “Is this it? Is it going to happen? Or are they going to stop it somehow?” The whole plot with Caroline’s brother had my head spinning, too. Very interested to see how it plays out. It broke my heart how much Luke wanted to do the right thing and how much it hurt when he was broken for it. While not quite as fast-paced as I expected, A Gilded Lady is an excellent addition to a bookshelf. Ariadne comes from a stellar family background. Her mother is verbally abusive and left her father for reasons Ariadne still doesn’t know. Her grandfather is just the same, and all too willing to marry Ariadne off to a man who drinks too much and regularly beats any women he comes across. There is the bright spot of Theo—the adopted son whom Ariadne’s mother always hated. At her father’s wish, he accompanied Ariadne when her parents split. And despite beatings from Ariadne’s grandfather, he has stayed with her. And he is the one who helps disguise Ariadne as a boy, helps her escape her grandfather, and brings her to her father’s home in Corinth. But once in Corinth, Ariadne discovers her father isn’t the hero she always thought. Or at least not in the way she always thought. Her father is the infamous Honorable Thief, known for robbing nobles in the name of justice and writing humorous letters exposing them to be read in public. Ariadne was a very interesting character. Outspoken and daring, she made her own decisions and moved the plot forward in the book. She didn’t have any of the normal hobbies of girls—instead being drawn to athletics—but she was still shown to have her feminine side. As well as another side broken by the divorce of her parents and the abuse she has suffered. The family dynamics were so intertwined and kept the story tangled up in knots I was interested to untie, while also being sensitive to hurting families in real life. It explored each character’s perspective and the hurt they suffered, but never excused their wrong and sometimes downright evil actions. I was super intrigued by Theo and wanted to know more about his backstory and how he was processing his own hurt. I was rooting for him in the love triangle. And I mean, really, that shocker secret at the end of the book? He has to have his own novel sometime. The climax rocked. All I can say without spoiling it, but that villain got what he deserved but in all the right ways. And the protagonists were clever in all the right ways. Not as much of the book as I thought was actually about the thief thing, though. Which was a little disappointing. That was the premise I had picked the book up on and the one I was hoping to see carried out. Or maybe I’d just watched Aladdin way too close to picking up this book. But that’s really the only complaint I have about this book (especially since Biblical fiction isn’t something I read as often as other historical fiction). Thief of Corinth is not a thief of your money, nor your time, nor your reading pleasures. |
Rachel's Reads
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