historical fiction

Book Review: Embers in the London Sky

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Embers in the London Sky
Allegiance Under Pressure #1
by Sarah Sundin

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

While fleeing the Netherlands that has just been invaded by the German army, Aleida’s abusive husband sends their son with strangers, shortly before losing his own life to the Germans. Once in London, she starts a long, difficult search for her son. There, she meets Hugh Collingwood, a BBC radio correspondent trying to inform the public and boost morale while reporting on the Blitz. When his uncle and friend are murdered, it looks like the bombs falling on the city every night aren’t the only danger.

In a way, this book almost seems like two different stories. The first is a combination of Aleida searching for her son while also trying to shine light on the way some of the kids are treated as they’re evacuated out of London during the Blitz and Hugh trying to maintain integrity in his reporting while struggling against the threat of censorship. This main part of the story kept me engaged, and I liked seeing these different sides of London during this part of history. Then the book turns into a murder mystery as Aleida and Hugh, both apart and separately, try to solve a series of murders. I’m a fan of mystery, and the rest of the story was interesting enough that I didn’t need the mystery angle to be expanded on. Still the pacing of the mystery being in the background for a long time to then suddenly jump into the foreground threw me off just a little. 

I appreciated the development of the relationship between Aleida and Hugh and that it didn’t come across as the main point of the story. I prefer a subtle romance, and Aleida and Hugh developed a great foundation of friendship first. Though some of the drama involving their relationship felt too much like it was thrown in there just to prolong the inevitable declarations of love. I look forward to the next book, which appears to be about Aleida’s cousin, who is still in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, and I recommend this one to anyone who likes historical fiction from this time period in the Christian romance genre.

Thank you to Netgalley and Revell for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: The Juliet Code

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The Juliet Code
Frederick & Grace Mystery #3
by Pepper D. Basham

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Historical Christian mystery

In Italy for their honeymoon, Lord and Lady Astley, Frederick and Grace, become entangled in an investigation involving stolen art and a purported treasure that can only be found by deciphering a code in the missing artwork.

Due to my issues with the first book in this series, I went into this one really uncertain about how it would go. I did like it a little more than the other, mostly because the mystery was a little more involved. Though Grace is ready to dive head-first into the case, Frederick drags his heels a little bit before accepting that their usefulness could be needed by their detective friend who has been brought in to investigate. This may have provided the most enjoyable parts of the story, but overall, Grace’s character was just too immature and silly for my taste. The mystery is convoluted, with so many people involved and suspected, so many different times when people get hurt and the motive is uncertain, that it was difficult for me to follow. When the truth is revealed, it’s a bit anti-climactic for me.

The first book in the series is super steamy for a Christian book, and I was worried about how one would go. It’s maybe toned down a little, but there are still a lot of references to them enjoying each other and teasing each other for later. Then at about 80% into the story, another romance sort of starts to develop, but it’s almost completely about physical attraction as well. This section of my review alone is enough for me to say I have no desire to read any other books in this series, and I’ll be cautious about other books by this author in the future. If you are interested in the genre and aren’t bothered by the issues mentioned, please check out the link below to see what others thought. You certainly might like it more than I did.

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Book Review: Al Capone Does My Shirts

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Al Capone Does My Shirts
Tales from Alcatraz #1
by Gennifer Choldenko

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade historical fiction

Moose Flanagan’s family moves to Alcatraz in 1935, where his dad will be working as a prison guard. Now Moose has to get used to a new school, keep his sister out of trouble, and deal with strict rules imposed by the prison warden, whose own daughter does whatever she can to break them.

I’d heard of this book and seen it around for a long time before deciding to read it. I expected something pretty light, maybe a little goofy or immature. And while it’s not exactly heavy, it’s definitely deeper than I expected. Moose’s sister, who is a few years older than him, is autistic, in the days before it had a name and when kids with autism were given a lot of different diagnoses. She tends to live in her own world, and sometimes that means fits of anger that can’t be controlled. Moose is left with Natalie now and then, and eventually his mother asks him to take her everywhere he goes. On top of that, his mother grasps at every possibly cure for Natalie that she hears about, in a way that is detrimental to her own mental health.

The author did a great job of making me feel connected to the characters in such a way that I felt a lot of emotions while reading the book. I was annoyed with the warden’s daughter, her schemes, and her dad’s refusal to see the truth about her. I both felt for the mom who didn’t know how to deal with having a daughter with mental issues and wanted to give her a stern talking to sometimes. And Moose himself is just trying to be a kid in very unusual circumstances. Though Al Capone is kind of obsessed over throughout the book, it seemed like he was to be more of an abstract figure than anything. But without giving any spoilers, he actually does have a more active part by the end, in a moment that actually made me let out a gasp and made me really intrigued about the next book. I’ve already recommended this book to my 13-year-old daughter, who might be on the top end of the age group for it, but I think she’ll like it. I also recommend it for other pre-teens and young teens as well as any adults who enjoy younger-audience books.

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Book Review: A Noble Scheme

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A Noble Scheme
The Imposters #2
by Roseanna M. White

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical mystery

Gemma Parks keeps to the shadows in her capacity as newspaper columnist writing about high-society functions, which is also useful for the investigative team she’s part of, the Imposters. The Imposters normally work for the wealthy, charging a lot of money for their services, but when a working man begs their help to find his kidnapped son, they can’t refuse. Unfortunately, this case puts Gemma in close proximity with Graham Wharton, one of the other Imposters, with whom she used to have a relationship before something went terribly wrong, and she’s been avoiding for almost a year since. Graham, for his part, hopes that this case will end both with a return of the boy to his parents and a return of Gemma to his side.

I loved this second book as much as the first, with the focus turning from Marigold and Merritt to Graham and Gemma. Marigold’s brother Yates, leader of the Imposters, again provides the third POV for the book, and I was happy to continue seeing his side of things. In the first book, we’re given allusions to something causing a rift between Graham and Gemma, but no details. I knew that would be brought out in this book, then, and I was a little annoyed when the “why” was danced around for over 1/4 of the book. Little hints were dropped, maybe even big ones, but I definitely missed the big picture until it was plainly stated (actually, I was spoiled by a review on Goodreads, so be careful what you read). When I did realize the full story, I understood completely why it was held back for so long. It broke my heart and made the journey for these two so much more than I imagined (I suppose what I imagined was an almost humorous tiff that just needed a quiet moment together to put to rights). The progression of their story brought tears to my eyes more than once, and I love the way their views of God were just as big a part of it as were their feelings for each other. Rather than a twisted idea that Graham’s reunion with God was somehow dependent on him (re)gaining the love of a good woman, which I’ve sadly seen in other Christian books, I felt this book had its priorities straight. That’s all the more I’ll say on this subject to avoid spoilers.

Like in the previous book, the case the Imposters work on isn’t a huge mystery, at least in regards to the culprit(s) involved. However, there were certainly facets to the villainy that were kept back and revealed at moments that allowed for suspense and even more emotion. The climax maybe got a little over-dramatic for my taste, but not even enough for me to lower my rating, because of how much I loved the book as a whole. I’m excited to see the next book in the series has already been announced; I love the synopsis so much, and I think that giving us little glimpses of Yates on the way to “his” book really heightens the anticipation of that third book. I highly recommend this book for fans of Christian historical mystery (this is set during the Edwardian era in London).

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Escape from Warsaw

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Escape from Warsaw
by Ian Serraillier

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Middle grade historical fiction

I thought this book might be a sort of introduction to fiction set during WWII and the Holocaust for my daughter, since these are subjects I’ve been very interested in since I was a teenager. However, while the book isn’t bad, it’s very shallow overall. Most of the story takes place after the war has ended, jumping forward 2 years from when the children’s mother is arrested early in the book. And the title implies that the children struggle to escape their home city, but the story is more of a journey across a war-torn landscape, through multiple countries from Poland to Switzerland, where they’re sure their dad is waiting. It’s a story of survival and relying on the kindness of strangers, of family helping each other at all costs, and of children who are displaced by the war. It’s almost a series of vignettes, which makes sense, since the author used real accounts of things that happened to people around this time period, piecing them together into a mostly cohesive story of one family trying to reunite. However, at 13, I would say my daughter is already too old for this book, though I can see it being a decent one for younger kids. As a side note, apparently the book was originally published under the title The Silver Sword, which I think was a much more apt name for the story (especially considering that the actual escape from Warsaw was quick and not super difficult).

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Book Review: The Mistletoe Countess

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The Mistletoe Countess
Frederick & Grace Mystery #1
by Pepper D. Basham

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Historical Christian romance

When Gracelynn’s older sister can’t fulfill her obligation to marry an English earl, threatening to scandalize both families involved, Grace offers to save all parties and marry Lord Astley herself. The earl, Frederick, takes some convincing, but soon enough, they’re on their way from America to England as husband and wife—and virtual strangers. Grace will rely on her extensive reading background to infuse some romance into their marriage and also to try to solve the mystery of why so many accidents happen around her new husband, whose elder brother, the first earl, died of slightly questionable circumstances.

I read this book because I like mysteries and historic fiction, but the mystery was just relegated to too small a part of the story. It was solved a little too easily and wasn’t hard at all to figure out. And it was bogged down by the building of the relationship, both emotional and physical, between the main characters and the author’s drawn-out writing style. We’ve all heard the adage “show, don’t tell” for authors, but if you’ve ever wondered if it’s possible for too much show and not enough tell, this is that book. It’s okay to sometimes just say someone smiled instead of saying that the corners of their mouth turned up (or something like that) every single time someone smiles.

I can’t believe I’m at a point where I feel like there needs to be “steam” levels given for a Christian romance novel. Marriage of convenience stories in particular seem to make authors feel like it’s okay to describe the physical relationship between the main characters far more than would otherwise seem acceptable in Christian fiction. This is one of the worst I’ve read, with a lot of description given as the couple ramped up to their first time together as husband and wife, as well as subsequent desires and flirtations. I realize the couple is married, so what they are doing is okay for them…not for me to be part of. And even outside of the graphicness of the physical aspects of their relationship, there’s such a focus in general on kissing (especially from Grace’s naïve perspective) and repetitiveness in the descriptions of what each thought of the other, especially physically speaking and smells…okay, Frederick smells like amber…we get it… 

Moving past these issues (which is hard to do, because they permeate the story), the characters were okay. I liked Frederick’s understanding that the poor choices he’d made in the past would affect his future with his wife. He had a sort of redemption arc, though the focus seemed to be more on being redeemed by Grace’s love than Jesus’s sacrifice. Grace, on the other hand acts like a 15-16-year-old, so I was surprised to find out about a quarter into the book that she’s almost 19. I’m not sure if we’re ever told Frederick’s age, but the difference felt weird to me. Grace is a heavy reader and tends to live her life as if she’s living out a story, to what felt like an unrealistic degree. She reminds me a lot of Anne of Green Gables, except that where Anne matured as she grew up, apparently Grace didn’t. It smooths out a little later on, but she really just seemed so childish. 

This is the first book in a series marketed as mysteries. I’m hoping that the newlywed intensity of this first book will smooth out, though given that the next two books involve the couple trying to go on or actually going on their honeymoon, my hopes are low. Still, I’ll give the series another try. As for recommending this book, if you are interested in the genre and aren’t bothered by the mostly personal-preference issues above, please check out the link below to see what others thought. You might like it more than I did (experience tells me that you will). Though don’t expect much of a Christmas atmosphere to this book, because it’s only barely related to the season.

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Book Review: The Lassoed by Marriage Romance Collection

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The Lassoed by Marriage Romance Collection
by multiple authors (see details below)

My rating: 3.25 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance, short stories

This book contains short stories from 9 different authors, taking place in the late 1800s, mostly in the western USA. Each story contains a marriage-of-convenience-type romance, which is my favorite kind, when done well. My overall rating for the book is an average of my ratings for each story, shown below. Below the ratings is a brief review for each story.

“Substitute Bride” by Angela Bell – 5 / 5
“Bridal Whispers” by Angela Breidenbach – 4.5 / 5
“Mule Dazed” by Lisa Carter – 2 / 5
“Sweetwater Bride” by Mary Connealy – 1 / 5
“A Highbrow Hoodwink” by Rebecca Jepson – 4 / 5
“Not So Pretty Penny” by Amy Lillard  – 2.5 / 5
“All’s Fair” by Gina Welborn – 3.5 / 5
“The Colorado Coincidence” by Kathleen Y’Barbo – 3 / 5
“Railroaded into Love” by Rose Ross Zediker – 3.5 / 5

“Substitute Bride” (5 / 5) is the only story that takes place in England, diving right into a story patterned after Jacob and Leah (from the Bible). It’s short enough not to get too much into the deceit that brought Elliott and Gwen together, but if too much time had been spent dwelling on it, it might have gotten annoying. The culmination of Gwen’s self-perception and Elliott’s odd hobby was very well done and the only moment in this book that brought tears to my eyes.

“Bridal Whispers” (4.5 / 5) is full of bad assumptions and misunderstandings, but not so much to make me roll my eyes (and that’s considering I have a low tolerance for these things). In fact, they were probably completely understandable in this story of a widower marrying the cousin of his late wife. I have to say, though, that the long shadow of the first wife would have been a huge problem for me, especially when Burton took her portrait into his bedroom so it wouldn’t hang over his new wife.

“Mule Dazed” (2 / 5) contains one of the worst male leads in the book, the local sheriff forced to marry a woman he was locked in his own jail with overnight. He spends most of the story lusting after his wife, Hattie, while still meanly telling her that he can’t wait to be rid of her when the judge returns and they can annul their marriage. Then he blames her for his own rash outburst in bidding higher than necessary at a basket auction. He’s just a jerk!

“Sweetwater Bride” (1 / 5) has the one male lead that’s worse than the one in the previous story. He’s not quite so rude overall, but he hogties an isolated woman who lives alone in a secluded valley so that he can take her to his parents, because she’s afraid to leave her valley, even though he first offered to bring his parents to her. Then he kisses this girl that he knows is innocent and naive and knows nothing of men or the world in general. How creepy! On top of that, this woman who has barely seen anyone but her dad for years somehow knows that the eyes of the guy who kidnapped her are an unusual color, plus she stops talking like someone who’s been stunted socially far too quickly. Add the author’s writing style that is full of poor grammar and confusing dialogue, and it’s my least favorite in the collection.

“A Highbrow Hoodwink” (4 / 5) is nice and sweet with an overall theme of forgiveness and leaving the past behind. I wasn’t a huge fan of the plan to lie and say that Katie’s son was Henry’s, rather than his brother’s, in a Christian setting, since at no point do they regret or repent of this. But I did like the way everything ended up with this small family.

“Not So Pretty Penny” (2.5 / 5) is not bad, but not great either. The romance part wasn’t bad, but the rest of the plot was weak. Wash, the male lead, was wrongfully convicted of killing his sister, framed by the actual killer. And Wash’s plan now is to find Wash and somehow get him locked up for the crime, neat and simple, even though the man had already convinced everyone that Wash was the guilty one based on only his own testimony? There was a major unexplained coincidence in the climax, and I just do not buy this happy ending.

“All’s Fair” (3.5 / 5) is the first story in this collection that I felt like would have been better with room to expand. A quickie marriage of a man and woman on opposite sides of a family feud to keep members of both side out of prison calls for a bit more depth than this story was able to get into, and there really wasn’t much resolution. On the other hand, though the story starts with an incident that leads to strong hatred between the two MCs, and by the time the bulk of the story starts 4 years later, it’s been mostly resolved on both sides (independently of each other), so the only obstacle to this couple’s happiness is weak and feels contrived.

“The Colorado Coincidence” (3 / 5) was an overall forgettable story for me. I struggled to remember much about the story for the review. So it wasn’t bad, but since I’m not a fan of major coincidences and this story hinges on one, it wasn’t destined to be a favorite. I was at least relieved that Mack didn’t trick Gloree into marrying him by letting her believe that he was the man who’d been sent by her late husband to marry her. I also liked Gloree challenging Mack to ask God to show up.

“Railroaded into Love” by Rose Ross Zediker – (3.5 / 5) is another one where I feel like there needed to be at least a little more time to explore part of the story. I like the way that Molly took to the street urchin, and he clung to her kindness. But since Molly’s brother’s guilt or innocence was a big part of both the marriage of convenience and the rest of the plot, it didn’t get enough resolution, in my opinion. I think this feeling in more than one of these stories is due to the fact that I always prefer a romance be more in the background of a solid plot, and by necessity, the romance in stories as short as these tends to be pushed to the front.

In the end, though my overall rating for this collection isn’t great, there were a few gems in there that I’m really glad I read. The Old West setting isn’t my favorite, and I’m not a huge fan of short stories, but my husband brought the book home from the library for me, thinking I’d like it, and I always give his random book finds a try. I’m glad I did in this case, and I think that others who enjoy Christian romance from this time period will probably like more of these stories than I did.

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Book Review: A Winter by the Sea

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A Winter by the Sea
On Devonshire Shores #2
by Julie Klassen

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

When Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent and Strathearn, and his family come to spend the winter in Sidmouth, the Summers sisters’ guest house becomes host to three members of the prince’s staff. Emily Summers finds herself drawn to the duke’s private secretary, even though she is still holding out hope for a renewal of a relationship she’d left behind when the family first moved to Sidmouth. Meanwhile, Sarah Summers has to deal with the duke’s junior chef invading her kitchen, and the third guest harbors secrets that may lead the sisters into danger.

It’s a little difficult to boil this book down to a succinct summary, because there’s so much going on. Each book in the series so far has given insight into more than one of the sisters living at Sea View, while focusing in on one sister. In the previous book, we see Viola fall in love, and this time, the spotlight is on her twin sister Emily (and Viola is mostly in the background, comparatively). My favorite thing about this book is the way the author includes the real history of the duke’s family visiting Sidmouth and what transpires during that visit. The brief quotes from real history books at the beginning of each chapter give hints into what will be coming in each chapter, and sometimes they can be seen as spoilers, but I liked the way they ground the book in reality. Though I will admit that the inclusion of the fortune teller was a bit more than I would have preferred in a book of this genre, considering the weight Emily gives to the woman’s predictions, despite being warned against paying any attention to her by a woman who uses the Bible as her reference.

One of my biggest issues with this book, though, is the length. While in the previous book, there were 3 perspectives shown (Viola, Sarah, and Emily), there were only 2 in this book, yet it is just as long as the previous. I often felt like too much detail was included about things that aren’t important, and the book could have been considerably shorter without hurting the main story or any of the side plots. Though I also question if all of the side plots were needed as well. I read and enjoyed the Tales from Ivy Hill trilogy by the same author, which was a similar kind of series with an ensemble set of main characters, but this one hasn’t worked as well as the first one did, for me. I don’t know if I can really explain why, but I think part of it is that a trope I noticed in the earlier series is simply wearing on me more in this series. That being that when one of the female MCs has a dramatic moment or is in come compromised state, despite the fact that there is a house/town full of people, it just so happens that the potential love interest for that character is in the area, and usually the only one in the area, so that they can have a moment. It’s the kind of forced coincidence that I can let slide a few times, but it happens so often that it’s now become boringly predictable.

There are a few threads that have gone through both of the books in this series that could be tied up in the third book, and at least one of them I very much hope to see expanded on, so I definitely plan to read the third book in the series and see what comes of those threads. After that, I may stick to stand-alone books by Klassen, because I have loved those I’ve read by her, but I’m a bit more rocky with these ensemble-cast series. Based on past experience, though, I have good reason to believe that most fans of Regency-era Christian romance will enjoy this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: A Beautiful Disguise

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A Beautiful Disguise
The Imposters #1
by Roseanna M. White

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical mystery

Lady Marigold Fairfax and her brother Yates, an earl, may have inherited a grand estate, but their father left no money to keep it running. He blew it all on entertainment, which fortunately included circus acts that gave Marigold and Yates the training they needed to earn money as private investigators. When Sir Merritt Livingstone brings them a case involving possible espionage and treason, the investigation brings the Fairfaxes a little too close to home. Marigold’s carefully cultivated disguise of wealthy, vapid noblewoman might just blow up in her face.

This book drew me in right away, and I loved it all the way to the end. The story alternates between 3 POVs—Marigold, Yates, and Merritt. I worried it might be too much at first, but I really appreciated all 3 of these perspectives. I enjoyed the balancing act that both Yates and Marigold had to perform as anonymous investigators hired by Merritt and as acquaintances in social settings. While there’s a subplot of romance, it is not a focal point of the book, in my opinion. In fact, I feel like there’s more of a friendship base before anything further develops than normally happens in a book where the romantic pair start off as strangers.

The mystery that Merritt brings to The Imposters, Ltd. is not super complex, yet was not easy for me to unravel on my own. It actually seemed a little too simplistic at first, but then it became more complex as it went. Overall, it kept me engaged, as did the unique lifestyle of the Fairfax siblings, living on their estate with circus performers, complete with a monkey, a peacock, and Marigold’s lion friend.

It is never difficult for me to explain what I don’t like about a book (and I’m usually the outlier, struggling with books that most others loved), but it is often difficult to put into words what I enjoy about a book. What I have expressed above doesn’t adequately explain my love for this book, but I liked it so much, I’m going to immediately add previous books by this author to my TBR list, plus I’m so excited to see the next book in the series has already been announced! I highly recommend this book for fans of Christian historical mystery (this is set during the Edwardian era in London), but be aware the romance is a fairly slow burn.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Shiloh

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Shiloh
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic historical fiction

Another classic about a boy and his dog. While it was nice to have the happier ending than other such classics I’ve read recently, the story didn’t impress me overall. The main character, Marty, lies to everyone he cares about to take care of the dog that isn’t actually his, and his reasoning is that protecting Shiloh makes it okay. He feels bad about the lying and taking food that his family could use in order to feed the dog, but he does it anyway and gets away with it. I am not condoning animal abuse, but that doesn’t mean I condone lying and stealing to stop it. I’m not entirely sure what message Naylor was attempting to get across in this book, maybe that there’s not always an easy answer to a difficult question, but I think it could have been done better. I also think that a dog person might appreciate or enjoy the story more than I did. I wouldn’t really recommend this book for kids, other than perhaps to discuss the ethical questions presented within.

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