Somewhere in France

Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lady Elizabeth wants more than the stuffy boredom of being an Earl's daughter. Not content to languish doing needlepoint until married off, Elizabeth, on the sly, learns to drive...unheard of for most women in that period..moves out of her family's wealthy home and becomes a clippie. When she finds out from her brother that the War Office is creating new women's corps to ferry officers and supplies, "Lilly" signs up to be an ambulance driver near the Western Front in France. There she confronts the War and the days become a nightmarish blur.

Being born in 1960, when women were fighting for equal pay, it still surprises me how women were kept in the dark about so many things..as if their brains could not fathom the truth...perhaps it was only the wealthy for the poor had too much realism in their face everyday...

Excellent reading guides included..

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A Quilt for Christmas

A Quilt for Christmas by Sandra Dallas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Eliza Spooner is running the farm alone with her two children. It's 1864 and her husband, Will, has left with many of the men of the area to join up with the Kansas Volunteers, eager to fight for the Union. While he's away, Eliza works on a very special quilt for Will and also quilts with the other war wives left behind. When Eliza is ask to risk her family's safety for the sake of another, Eliza's faith and morals are put to the test.

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A Light in the Wilderness

A Light in the Wilderness by Jane Kirkpatrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Letitia is a freed slave with papers that she keeps keeps hidden for proof. For companion sake and safety, "Tish" sets up housekeeping with Irish Davey Carson. Davey, who loves her in his own way, gets the itch to set out for the Oregon Trail, where he believes Tish will be safer. The two with their good friends and families strike out with death and danger along the way.

Tish's character is fully fleshed out and my heart breaks for her and her several female friends during the long, hard journey. Each woman seems to be at the mercy of their husbands and the time period they lived in.

From Tish: *“Maybe that was what freedom meant, being in a place where one didn’t fear.”

Note: The book is based on the real-life woman Letitia Carson!

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A Moment in Time (Lone Star Brides #2)

A Moment in Time by Tracie Peterson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second book of the series, Lone Star Brides, picks ups with Marty Wythe and Alice Chesterfield becoming closer as economic troubles force them to lose their beautiful home and move into the local orphanage to help. Alice takes a job in a local diner to earn a small income but is threatened once again by Mr. Smith. As things worsen, against Marty's wishes, she and Alice move back to Texas to reunite with Jake, who had left to work as a ranch-hand. Marty fears for Jake's life as her late husband had died from his injuries on the ranch she had sold to her brother and her faith is stretched to the breaking point when he is injured. Alice learns to love the beauty of Texas and starts to have feeling for a new character, neighboring rancher, Robert.

I didn't enjoy book #2 as I did the first in the series. Certain aspects was dragged out too long to make it not work well. I do look forward to book #3 to see if it is an improvement.

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A New York Christmas

A New York Christmas by Anne Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Independent, young Jemima Pitt, daughter of London Special Branch policeman Thomas Pitt, is crossing the ocean in 1904 as a companion to "Phinny" Cardew..soon to be married into the wealthy Albright family of New York City. Upon arrival Jemima is told that Phinny's mother, who abandoned her when she was a small child, could possible appear and make a scandal at the high society wedding of the year. Could Jemima help find the woman and steer her clear of the event? Little does Jemima realize that she's being setup and will soon find herself behind bars...


I love these little Christmas morsels and eagerly eat them up way too quickly! Set against the bleak, cold, snowy backdrop of New York City, love and the humanity of man is found again...

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The Mistletoe Promise

The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The holiday season is soon approaching but Elise Dutton carries no excitement for what lies ahead. Guilt-ridden, Elise's past has jaded her to the beauty of Christmas. When a rather handsome stranger from her place of work approaches her with a proposition for the weeks ahead, Elise stiffly agrees with a sense of foreboding. However, the platonic relationship turns out to be fun until someone from her past appears..

*I believe the main goal of Evan's small Christmas novella is for people to stop judging others mistakes...that in reality a person carries so much crippling guilt and self-loathing from serious mistakes in the past...let us who is without sin cast the first stone...

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