I'll Be Seeing You

I'll Be Seeing You by Suzanne Hayes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rita Vincenzo and Glory Whitehall have become pen pals..their men are off fighting in World War II. As different as night is to day, Rita and Glory, manage to connect, share, learn, and support each other as only women can do, especially faced with the uncertainties of war..

This wonderful story is told from the correspondence between the two women as the United States enters the war. If you love books set in this particular era, this is a must read. I am looking forward to the two author's new writings...

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Take Me Home

Take Me Home by Dorothy Garlock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A quiet, sleepy town far away from the war…

When Billy Tate is ready to ship off to war, he asks his best friend Olivia Marsten to marry him. Even though Olivia is not in love with Billy, she says yes… because how could she say no? When stranger Peter Becker arrives in town and saves Olivia from being hit by a drunk driver, she really regrets her answer to her best friend, but she can’t let him down. Peter finds himself falling in love with Olivia but is afraid to tell her the truth about his identity and the fact that he’s an escaped German POW. When Olivia’s family is put in terrible danger, the truth finally comes to light.


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The Time Between

The Time Between by Karen White
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Eleanor's favorite times and worst times were on Edisto Island, where she grew up with the sweetgrass and salt marshes and memories of her loving, piano playing father. Eleanor's guilt holds her prisoner - guilt over her sister Eve's accident on Edisto...guilt over how she feels about her brother-in-law, Glenn. When Eleanor's boss offers her a job taking care of his Aunt Helena on that same island, she jumps at the chance to go back and relive her memories, not realizing that Helena carried her own guilt-ridden secrets.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy Karen White's writing. A favorite line from her book that Aunt Helena, who had suffered and lost so much says, "That adversity in life does not rob your heart of beauty. It simply teaches it a new song to sing."

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For Such a Time

For Such a Time by Kate Breslin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The bible story of Esther saving her people retold in a new way....Hadassah, a beautiful Jewish woman who looks Aryan, has been saved from immediate death by a high-ranking SS Kommandant to be stationed at Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. Hadassah, who goes by the fake identity of Stella Muller, will be the Kommandant's new secretary at the transit camp. According to her Uncle Morty, who she finds at the camp barely alive, Hadassah will somehow save her people. But how can she do that when death dogs her every step?

Difficult to read of the suffering of many but beautifully written to align with the bible story of Esther and Mordecai...

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We Band of Angels

We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese by Elizabeth M. Norman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Once I found out that one of the women captured during World War II by the Japanese in the Philippines was from my own small town of Lonaconing, it was a given that I would read this book. Ninety-nine Navy and Army nurses who were never before exposed to the brutal conditions of war did not realize what was in their future when they signed up for the almost exotic life of hospital nursing, tennis matches, and cocktails. How these women survived is an amazing feat of heroics. The book contains excerpts of diaries, snippets of interviews, and many American and Japanese photos of the nurses on duty before the war, open jungle hospitals, internment camps and starvation, and later ceremonies honoring the women. The author continued the story long after their release from the POW camp. A must read for anyone going into nursing or interested in World War II facts and information.

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The Angel of Bastogne

The Angel of Bastogne by Gilbert Morris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ben Raines, a jaded newspaper reporter, had always been irritated and embarrassed by his dad, Willy. Mr. Raines, who now lived at the Veteran's Hospital, had been seriously hurt in World War II at the Battle of the Bulge and had trouble holding a job due to his injuries. Ben as a young lad was talented at sports, but had to step up to the plate and help the family earn an income. Soured and disillusioned, Ben has held that against his father for years. Even Christmas has no appeal for him, so he plans on getting away for a vacation in Spain, only to find out that a co-worker has suffered a heart attack and Ben must stay and write the paper's one big Christmas story. Knowing his father claims that an angel dressed as a lieutenant saved him and his comrades in France, Ben is determined to debunk the mystery and lay it to rest in the article he's writing. To his surprise, as Ben digs deeper into the men that served with his father, he learns more of Willy's heroic deeds and questions his own disbelief.


Quick read. Inspirational.

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Small Town Girl

Small Town Girl by Ann H. Gabhart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Small Town Girl continues the story of Angel Sister with the same beloved characters but introduces a newcomer, Jay Tanner. Jay, a bit of a roamer and ladies' man, comes to town to be his best and only friend Pastor Mike Champion's best man at his wedding and ends up staying and liking the small town of Rosey Corner. Jay also has his eye on Mike's sister-in-law, independent Kate Merritt but is afraid to commit to a relationship because of his background.

Set on the verge of World War II, Small Town Girl is a sweet, historical and inspirational novel whose vulnerable characters wrap themselves around your heart and won't let go...

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The Storyteller

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sage carries many scars - one very noticeable scar on her face but many more hide internally. The scars lead her to hide as a baker, kneading and baking the most aromatic rolls and breads through the dark nights for the little bakery and also "allows" her affair with a married man. As Sage tries to work through her grief in a group setting, she meets an old retired 90something teacher, Josef Weber, that frequents the bakery with his beloved dog. Their friendship deepens until Josef asks for a favor - a unbelievable favor that astounds and enrages Sage and makes her immediately think of her Jewish grandmother.

An amazing book with a deep, complex plot told narratively by several characters, including Sage and Josef. It was a book I couldn't put down, staying up night after night until the wee hours - questioning myself about the moral complications that were woven throughout the Storyteller. It left me quite unsettled...still..

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Amandine

Amandine by Marlena De Blasi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tiny Almadine, born with a defective heart and a defective royal family, is left at a French convent in 1931. Also left with her is a large sum of money to ensure the silence of those who take care of Almadine. Solange is chosen to care for the infant and the entire Carmelite convent falls for the adorable Almandine, all except for Mater Paul. As Almadine grows older, more astute and more healthy, she enters the convent school but is shunned by her peers, until she wins them over by embarrassing Mater Paul. However when Almadine is almost murdered, Solange decides to leave the so called safety of the convent and take her to her own family home across war torn France. New friends called resistantes, enemies, and danger meet them at every point along the way.

A book full of sadness, hope, history, and the fragility of life...








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Finding Zasha

Finding Zasha by Randi Barrow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book opens with 12 year old Ivan, his mother, and a few neighbors coping with the horrific 1941 Siege of Leningrad. When his mother's job sends her to work in the Ural Mountains, Ivan is not allowed to join her, but is sent with his "Auntie" to supposedly safety in the Russian north country. After a harrowing trip across the ice road of Lake Ladoga, Ivan's place of safety is occupied by the Germans and Ivan, by circumstance, ends up entertaining the Nazi commander Major Axel Recht. To his delight he also is told to take care of the commander's two beautiful German Shepherd puppies, Zasha and Thor. When Ivan, now a partisan, sees his chance of escape - he take the pups with him and Recht gives chase. Can Ivan ever find safety?

Notes in the back and an overview help fill in places and dates of World War ll. Finding Zasha is a prequel to Saving Zasha.

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The Secret Keeper

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sixteen year old Laurel Nicolson, hiding in her favorite spot - the family treehouse - witnessed something that she will never forget - her sweet, happy young mother plunging a cake knife into an unknown man's chest. Everything changes after that, everything....now 50 years later, Laurel - an accomplished actress - is still looking for answers to how her mother, now 90 and nearing death, could have committed such a horrible crime and then covered it up with a lie.

Oh my, such a great book - of mysteries and coverups, love and great loss, set in again one of my favorite time periods, pre-WWII to the Blitz and back to current times in England. Sometimes circumstances can change your entire life...this book should be your definite next read!

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The Cove

The Cove by Ron Rash

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Such a beautiful, quiet, haunting book....of wrongdoings, bittersweet love, fear and judgment, brave heroes and shameful cowards, and life-changing secrets.

Set in the mountains and coves of North Carolina, the main character, lovely, lonely Laurel Shelton, is thought to be a witch by the superstitious people of Mars Hill - her birthmark proves it according to them. Laurel lives in a backwoods cove, so deep that the sun only dapples it occasionally, with her war hero brother Hank. While walking through the cove and listening to birdsong, she comes across a young man playing a silver flute. Laurel stays hidden, visiting him almost daily, but never revealing herself until the day she finds him, unresponsive, stung by yellow jackets. Somehow she manages to help him home to her cabin where she enlists Hank's help. Going through the young man's dirty, threadbare clothing that needs washed, Laurel discovers a note - her foundling's name is Walter: he is mute and trying to get to New York. As Walter heals slowly and begins to help her brother on the land, Laurel begins to finally dream, feeling her life is about to change for the good.

An amazing piece of work - being of the mountains myself, the descriptions of the cove and birdsong Ron Rash weaves into the story are almost ethereal in their beauty. Highly recommended and I believe I will check out Rash's earlier novel, Serena...



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Unbroken

Unbroken: A World War II Story Of Survival, Resilience, And Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


How could anyone survive the horrors and degradation of body and soul of World War ll POW camps? Although many men and women did just that, this book focuses on the true story of Louie Zamperini, a troubled youth, an Olympic contender, a bombardier on a B-24, and a survivor of both a plane crash in the Pacific and Japan's POW camps. To top it off, Louie survived the after effects of war on return to the US - flashbacks and PTSD and goes on to create camps for other troubled youth.

I had actually seen an article in Guideposts on the power of the human will and forgiveness and it mentioned Zamperini's experience and piqued my interest. Written by the same amazing author that penned Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken is a goldmine for information on World War ll - a time period in which I've always had an interest. I'm not sure how to put into words the effect this biography had on me. The power of the human spirit is phenomenal....




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The House by the Fjord

The House by the Fjord by Rosalind Laker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The book opens with war-bride Anna Vartdal ready to visit her late husband's family and beloved country of Norway, ravaged by World War II. It's Midsummer's Eve of 1946, the ship is docking, and Anna will soon join her friend Molly, who had married her late husband's best friend and who also was a pilot for the Royal Air Force of Norway. On that same day Anna is met by the Harvik family lawyer who is rather insistent on Anna accepting the family home and property. Anna tarries in the town of Jessheim with her war-bride friends until Christmas when she finally meets with her father-in-law in the town of Molde.


This work of historical fiction paints beautiful pictures of Norway's fjords, mountains, and valleys and made me eager to visit. It also filled me in on how Norway's stalwart citizens coped with the war and resisted the Nazi regime. A lovely book....



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Once Upon a Town

Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An amazing look at a small town - North Platte, Nebraska - and the true sacrifices made to support the troop trains of World War II that trundled in and out, 5am - midnight, every day for years. North Platte offered its canteen as a homey rest stop, complete with hot coffee, delicious home cooked food, sandwiches, boiled eggs, cake made from scratch and more for millions of mostly young, weary men - many away from home for the very first time.

Included are oodles of interviews, from the once young and grateful men and people of the town and surrounding farmland who gave of their very own goods or used ration cards to supplement their precious offering.

An uplifting, enjoyable read...



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Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Books about the Holocaust draw me and I had read some wonderful reviews on the young adult novel, Between Shades of Gray. I agree that it was so well written that I know my review will fall short of capturing the haunting loveliness of the indomitable human spirit and compassion that can be shown even in the most ugliest of times. Although this book is fictional, true accounts of refugees have went into the writing of it. For most parts I have read books about the capture and genocide of the Jewish people, but this books goes at it from a different angle - the possession and slavery of the people of the Baltic States.



Lina is a fifteen year old girl living comfortably in Lithuania with her family - mother, father, and younger brother and is on the verge of entering a prestigious art school. Soviet soldiers appear at their door one day and order Lina, her mother and brother to pack a bag and leave with them to board a rail-car, with others from their town. There Lina finds out that her father is on another train car and they are being taken to the Russian countryside to be used as free labor workers in the beet fields. Losing track of Lina's father, they continue on until they actually reach the Arctic Circle and disembark as winter approaches. The small caravan must throw anything they can find together to make a suitable shelter while the Soviets live in warm cabins and eat a wealth of stockpiled food. Lina watches in horror as her friends and family become starved, sick, fevered, and fall prey to death.



If you read one teen book or any book this year, make it this one.



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Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts--Abroad and Within

Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts--Abroad and Within by Nate Self

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I brought this book home for my 14 year old son, Eli to read. I thought the combination of loyalty and honor to one's family and country would be a great read for him. It didn't take long for him to finish it, so I picked it up. The open, revealing story of Nate Self, a Captain in the famous Army Rangers who fought for his country and with his men on the Robert's Ridge rescue in Afghanistan. Brutally candid, Self bares his thoughts before, during, and after the rescue that leaves him fighting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now that I'm finished, my husband has picked it up to read!



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Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts--Abroad and Within

Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts--Abroad and Within by Nate Self

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I brought this book home for my 14 year old son, Eli to read. I thought the combination of loyalty and honor to one's family and country would be a great read for him. It didn't take long for him to finish it, so I picked it up. The open, revealing story of Nate Self, a Captain in the famous Army Rangers who fought for his country and with his men on the Robert's Ridge rescue in Afghanistan. Brutally candid, Self bares his thoughts before, during, and after the rescue that leaves him fighting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now that I'm finished, my husband has picked it up to read!



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Beside a Burning Sea

Beside a Burning Sea by John Shors

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After I read the wonderful novel The Wishing Trees, I knew that I had to read John Shors’ earlier works. Beside a Burning Sea is the enduring story of how love and forgiveness can overcome all things. Set in the South Pacific, during World War II a US hospital ship named the Benevolence is afloat with hundreds of men, women, and the injured. Unknown to its occupants, a traitorous American officer is aboard, a man who has sold out to the enemy and who knows that within minutes the ship will be bombed and sunk to the bottom of the ocean floor. Only nine survive the horrible explosion, including the betrayer, the captain of the ship, two nurses, an injured Japanese soldier and a child. Managing to barely swim to a lovely island, not yet destroyed by fighting, they do not yet know that the Japanese fleet is headed their way. Amidst the guilt, revenge, and horrible, tragic memories, love and a hope for the future survive.




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Children of the Flames

Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz by Lucette Matalon Lagnado

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Difficult to read and understand the depth of the horror twin siblings had to face in Auschwitz at the hand of Dr Josef Mengele. Written in 1991, by the widow of one of the Auschwitz twins, Alex Dekel, and collaborated on with Lucette Lagnado, Children of the Flames is an extremely moving book about the surviving twins and the Angel of Death who destroyed their families and made them suffer horrendous experiments.



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