This has been one of my favorite WWll stories that I have ever read. It was nice to read about what happened during the time when they were trying to free France from the Nazis. This book made me laugh and cry. Nellie and Jean Paul each learn what they need to live and stay safe during this trying time. I liked how the author treated what was happening with the children and how they were affected also. This book has a lot of action and some romance. I received a copy of this book from Barbour Publishing for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a five out of five stars.
PUBLISHER DESCRIPTION
A Photojournalist Risks Her Life to Save a Very Special Child Full of intrigue, adventure, and romance, this series celebrates the unsung heroes—the heroines of WWII. Journalist Nellie Wilkerson has spent the bulk of the war in London, photographing mothers standing in milk lines—and she’s bored. She jumps at the chance to go to France, where the Allied forces recently landed. There she enlists Jean-Paul Breslau of the French underground to take her to the frontlines. On the journey, they stumble upon a great tragedy, leaving a girl with special needs being orphaned. Can Nellie and Jean-Paul see the child to a safe haven while being pursued by the Nazis, who are pressed by the advancing Allies and determined to destroy all they can before they flee?
You are not going to want to miss reading this wonder book. The title of the book tells you what you need to know. Coraline and Nathan both need to learn what they really want in life. They both get to learn in one way when Nathan is hired to take Coraline up to the summit of Mount Rainier. Coraline and Nathan both need to learn to stand up for themselves in many ways. I loved the descriptions of the climb up this mountain. I did not want to put this book down. I received a copy of this book from Revell for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a five out of five stars.
PUBLISHER DESCRIPTION
Reluctant socialite Coraline Baxter longs to live a life of significance and leave her mark on the world. When her local suffragette group asks her to climb Mount Rainier to raise awareness of their cause, she jumps at the chance, even though she has absolutely no climbing experience. If she can do it, any woman can do it. And after her mother issues an ultimatum–that Cora marry the man of her mother’s choosing if she is not successful–Cora must do it. But she can’t do it alone.Noted mountain guide Nathan Hardee initially refuses to help Cora, but has a change of heart when he sees what is at stake. He knows enough about the man Cora’s mother has chosen to know that the headstrong young woman should have nothing to do with him, much less marry him.Climbing Rainier will require all of Cora’s fortitude and will lead her and Nathan to rediscover their faith in God and humanity. These two loners make unlikely partners in righting a wrong and may just discover that only together is the view most glorious.
This was an enjoyable mystery. I like that it was set during the time of the prohibition. I loved Josie and Porter. It is always interesting to see how police solved murders before all the technology that we have today. This book talks about some of the new techniques that were starting to be used during this time. I received a copy of this book from Celebratelit for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
Josephine Jacobs was just doing her job, serving at an exclusive party, so why is she now being accused of shooting TG Taggert?
At a party full of suspects in the murder of Taggert, Josie served the food giant everything but an eternally “parting shot.” Who really killed TG Taggert? His wife? His son, Jack? What about Harper Davis? Rumor has it, she was having an affair with him—motive for her or Taggert’s wife! The list of those who seemed to hate him keeps growing, including a chemist and a chef!
With her long-time friend, Office Porter O’Brien, Josie sets out to find out who really killed “the giant,” and clear her name.
Find out in this next book in the Ever After Mysteries, combining beloved fairy tales and mysteries. A Giant Murder offers a retelling of “Jack and the Beanstalk” with enough clues and suspects to keep you looking over your shoulder. We’d recommend Kevlar… but it hasn’t been invented yet!
Marji Laine is a graduated home-schooling mom of four with two college students staying in the nest for a little longer. She and her hubby of 34 years also share their North Texas home with a rescue pup named Rosie. When Marji isn’t editing or publishing the books for her authors at Write Integrity Press, she indulges in penning her own mystery, suspense, and romance novels. She loves acting in musical comedy, has directed many stage productions, leads a high school Bible study and sings in her church choir. She prefers mountains to beaches, dogs to cats, NASCAR to football, Magnolia pie, white roses, green, and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries. You can find her at her website: MarjiLaine.com
More from Marji
I so enjoyed researching the history of downtown Dallas as I crafted my story, A GIANT MURDER. The house that I chose for Josie and her mom is actually still there on Haskell Avenue. The photo with the wrought iron is about twenty years old, but the house was built circa 1914. The photo with the wooden fence is from last year, after a big remodel. This house was also the setting of another of my books. It and the field that used to be next to it was an after-school child care center in AIN’T MISBEHAVING.
Thinking about what life might have been like in this house in the twenties, I can’t help but think about my grandparents. They were teenagers at the time of my story – 1926 – and while my grandfather grew up in, what was then, a little farming town called Paris, Texas, my grandmother grew up in Oak Cliff, just across the bridge over the Trinity River from this house in downtown Dallas.
Makes the research that I did on this era even that much more special. Having come through COVID, I realize that my great-grandparents had to nurture their preteens and teenagers through the Spanish Flu that devastated whole communities. The more things change, the more they stay the same?
All of this reminiscing sent me to an old recipe book that had been a wedding present for me from my mom almost thirty-five years ago. In the dessert section near the back, I found a precious recipe for Date Candy that had come by way of my great-grandmother, Carrie Ethel Leatherwood Morin. I never met her, but I do remember hearing from my mom that she was a woman of faith, and I have a poem she wrote late in life, about growing up in the country.
I would say this is a 1920s recipe, but who could tell? She was a middle-aged mom at that point, so it’s a good bet.
Date Candy
1 box – light brown sugar
4 T – corn syrup
½ pt – whipping cream
1 cup – dates
1 cup – pecans
1 t – vanilla
Mix sugar, syrup, and cream. Cook until almost a hard ball. Just before removing from pan, put in dates and stir until they melt. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Beat until almost hard – then add pecans. Wet a cup towel. Pour mixture onto cup towel and roll into a roll. Let it cool – firm – then slice.
Let me know if you decide to make my great-grandmother’s candy. I’d love to find out how it turned out!
This is a novella that is part of Dangerous Pursuits. This is the first of 15 stories by different authors. I hope the other stories are as good as this one. It will take a lot to beat this one. This is a prequel for this authors new Fallout series. There is a lot of action and some romance in just a few pages. I cannot wait to read the first book, Survival. I loved Chase and Hope. I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a five out of five stars.
Check out Dangerous Pursuits which comes out on October 12. Then get Survival on October 26. Looking forward to the Fallout series.
I really enjoyed this first mystery that I have ever read by this author. I am really looking forward to getting to know all of these characters so much better. I love stories based around a bookshop especially in England. Each of these characters are wonderful. We are even getting some romance. I loved Molly, her mum, her Aunt Violet, Kieran and the two cats in the bookshop. The mystery was well done. I received a copy of this book from Minotaur for a fair and honest review that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a five out of five stars.
Librarian Molly Kimball and her mother, Nina, need a change. So when a letter arrives from Nina’s Aunt Violet in Cambridge, England requesting their help running the family bookshop, they jump at the chance.
Thomas Marlowe—Manuscripts and Folios, is one of the oldest bookshops in Cambridge, and—unfortunately—customers can tell. When Molly and Nina arrive, spring has come to Cambridge and the famed Cambridge Literary Festival is underway. Determined to bring much-needed revenue to the bookstore, Molly invites Aunt Violet’s college classmate and famed poet Persephone Brightwell to hold a poetry reading in the shop. But the event ends in disaster when a guest is found dead—with Molly’s great-aunt’s knitting needle used as the murder weapon. While trying to clear Violet and keep the struggling shop afloat, Molly sifts through secrets past and present, untangling a web of blackmail, deceit, and murder.
Each book in this series seems to get better than the last. I loved the romance and all the action. There were many twists and turns taking place every time you turned around. I love how she brought Kate and Abram together fairly slowly even though it was in a very short period of time. I did not want to put this book down. I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a five out of five stars.
PUBLISHER DESCRIPTION
From USA TODAY bestselling author Dana R. Lynn
A deadly undercover assignment…
in the Amish community she left behind.
After a woman in witness protection disappears from Kate Bontrager’s Amish hometown, the now Englisch police officer goes undercover–and enters a killer’s sights. Partnering with Abram Burkholder, the man she’d hoped to marry nearly a decade ago, is the only way to solve the case. But can they face the past and heal their still damaged hearts…before they both end up dead?
From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.
AN AMISH COUNTRY JUSTICE ROMANCE
Book 1: Plain Target Book 2: Plain Retribution Book 3: Amish Christmas Abduction Book 4: Amish Country Ambush Book 5: Amish Christmas Emergency Book 6: Guarding the Amish Midwife Book 7: Hidden in Amish Country Book 8: Plain Refuge Book 9: Deadly Amish Reunion Book 10: Amish Country Threats Book 11: Covert Amish Investigation Book 12: Amish Christmas Escape
If you want to read this latest Phoebe mystery than I recommend reading the first two books in the series to get a better understanding of all the main characters that surround Phoebe. I was very glad that there was a list of the main characters and how they were related to Phoebe and her family and friends. I enjoyed the mystery and all the interaction between the characters. I enjoy this time period of the mid 1840s in the south. I liked the bit of romance that is throw in also. I received a copy of this book from Tooman Tales for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a four out of five stars.
“Is she dead?”
While hosting a party, Phoebe’s father discovers a golden-haired stranger unconscious on his parsonage doorstep. None of his guests know who she is, but the couple who provide her a place to recover soon suspects she is hiding a secret. Mix in a wealthy industrialist seeking a wife, an English earl masquerading as a commoner, and a handful of Jane Austen’s readers, and what do you get? Murder!
Join Phoebe, a young woman with a knack for eliciting confidences, as she sifts through clues to uncover the culprit.
This one definitely leaves you hanging as to what is going to happen with Mae and Hank. I can’t wait to read the next book in this wonderful series. As always we get to see all of the Laundry Club Ladies and Mae is a little off since Hank is back in town. It was a great read. I love the characters and this town. Nice Murder. I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a five out of five stars.
PUBLISHER DESCRIPTION
Let me be the first person to welcome you to Normal, Kentucky located in the heart of the Daniel Boone National Forest. I’m Mae West the owner of Happy Trails Campground.
Over the past few months my love life has been on what you’d call a slippery slope. Just this past week I’d resigned to the fact that me and Hank Sharp was caput! Done with. No more!
And when I got a phone call during Bobby Ray’s meeting with his birth mother from Hank, I felt like I was wrapped up between a nightmare and a dream. Let me cut to the chase. Hank’s best friend Jerry Truman is a local private investigator and he’s got a HUGE case that includes a dead body. Of course I’ve not stuck my nose in it because honestly it has nothing to do with me. Those are the kinda murders I like, but now that Hank has told me he’s back and helping Jerry, and get this…they need me to use my sleuthing skills to help them, it’s now my business. One, because I love to snoop and two because by the sound of things, Hank Sharp misses me as much as I miss him. You see, this case will be a double win! At least that’s what I thought until I’m the one staring into the barrel of a shot gun when I found out a little too much information.
If you like to read stories of self discovery than you will enjoy this one. Harley lost her dad years before when he was in the Himalayas. She needs to discover for herself how he died and what she needs to do next. There are great descriptions of India and the Himalayas. I really like Harley and how she handles herself. I received a copy of this book from Smith Publicity for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a four out of five stars.
PUBLISHER DESCRIPTION
Can Harley solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance and find her own path in life? A remote ice cave holds the stunning secret.
“This book touched upon some very important topics that most people would benefit from. Stepping out of your comfort zone to reach goals, forgiveness, guilt, and reaching for your dreams are just a few of them.” —Manhattan Book Review (5 out of 5 stars)
Harley Green is ready to seize her own future. But after her father vanishes in the Himalayas, leaving behind a mysterious golden key, the twenty-year-old Columbia University student packs her bags for India to clear up her dad’s mysterious fate… and to discover more about his last, unknown companion.
Taking the bus from New Delhi to the sacred Ganges River, the daring Ivy Leaguer teams up with Rajou, a young local capable of keeping up with her philosophical exploration of the meaning of life. But as they advance towards the fateful glacier, Harley’s shocked when a surprise revelation uncovers evidence that could change how she sees the world forever.
The Golden Key of Gangotri is a soul-stirring, gripping adventure story about a father lost in ice, secrets shrouded by time, and a perilous expedition into the heart of the mountains. A tale as timeless as the holy Ganges river itself about a young woman’s inspirational journey of self-discovery to uncover the answers she is so desperately seeking.
If you like brave heroines, remarkable inspiration, and stunning twists, then you’ll love Harley’s mountainous journey.
Buy The Golden Key of Gangotri to unpick the truth today!
This may be The authors first Contemporary Romance but I know it will not be her last. I have always loved her Amish books and I felt this was as great. Brianna needs to learn that her fiancé, Taylor, just is not the right guy for her. Scott and Brianna grow together over months. I am looking forward to reading many more books by this author. I love her ideas of romance. I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
PUBLISHER DESCRIPTION
Bestselling author Amy Clipston transports readers to a picturesque lakeside town in this heartwarming contemporary romance.
Brianna is the youngest of the three Porter sisters and the only one who chose to stay in the small town of Splendid Lake, North Carolina. She followed in her father’s footsteps and became an expert boat mechanic, helping him run their small resort with cabin rentals, a convenience store, and a marina.
When Brianna’s father unexpectedly dies, Brianna is steeped in grief and guilt—then left alone to clean up the mess. To make matters worse, a constant stream of real estate brokers begins marching through her property, offering to buy the family land. In particular, she keeps running into handsome real estate mogul Scott Gibson.
As Brianna struggles to keep it all together, Scott finds his way into her heart. And as the two fight against their feelings, they just might find themselves forging a surprising and exciting new love at Splendid Lake.
“A touching story of grief, love, and life carrying on, The Heart of Splendid Lake engaged my heart from the very first page. Sometimes the feelings we run from lead us to the hope we can’t escape, and that’s a beautiful thing to see through the eyes of these winning characters. Amy Clipston deftly guides readers on an emotionally satisfying journey that will appeal to fans of Denise Hunter and Becky Wade.” —Bethany Turner, award-winning author of Plot Twist
“The Heart of Splendid Lake offers a welcome escape in the form of a sympathetic heroine and her struggling lakeside resort. Clipston proficiently explores love and loss, family and friendship in a touching, small-town romance that I devoured in a single day!” —Denise Hunter, bestselling author of The Bluebell Inn series Sweet and thoughtful contemporary readStand-alone novelBook length: 93,000 wordsIncludes discussion questions for book clubs
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