Book Reviews, Writing, Thoughts, and Photos. Indie Authors Welcome Here!
Author: BonnieReadsAndWrites
I love to read and write book reviews in my free time. I review advance review copies of books on Netgalley for various publishers. I am also a reviewer for Historical Novels Review Magazine, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society. I review books from publishers of all size, large to small. I have a special place in my heart for indie authors. I will sometimes post a little writing that I might dabble in occasionally. I also am lucky enough to live in the Smoky Mountains, so I'll be sharing photos of the beauty around me from time to time.
Here we are in August already. It’s the last real month of summer and the beginning of Fall, in my opinion. It’s been a summer that has been rainy at times and sunny at times, and so has life. We lost a family member unexpectedly and remembered that life is so, so short and fleeting. We are praying for another family member who has been diagnosed with cancer. On the sunnier side, we also had good times with the grandkids, and we are enjoying the beauty of the mountains and produce from our garden.
A while back, Doug simply scattered some sunflower seeds on a bank in front of our house. Below is the result:
My favorite author is back with the second book in her Smallhope and Pennyroyal series, which is in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s world. See my review below.
Book Review
Smallhope and Pennyroyal are back, and the action starts immediately. The title, A Family Affair, is very appropriate, as they are thrown by news relating to Pennyroyal’s sister and rocked by an event that will send them on separate paths. Also keeping with the family theme, Smallhope’s beloved nephew George is threatened, and familiar adversaries find a way to invade Starlings.
This was a twisty, turny, and somewhat shocking ride, as the very trust between Smallhope and Pennyroyal is threatened. I love that we get to see Dr. Bairstow from St. Mary’s, and he is, as always, steady as a rock. Major Ellis from the Time Police also appears, and we even get a little news about Grint!
This is Book Two in this series, and it can stand alone, but I would definitely recommend reading the first and getting the full story of Smallhope and Pennyroyal, with a lot of St. Mary’s and the Time Police thrown in. You won’t regret it. I loved every minute of this book, even though it sometimes broke my heart. As often happens in a Jodi Taylor book, it ends with a bang and a cryptic message loaded with questions. I can’t wait for the next one to find out the answers.
I received a free copy from the publisher via Netgalley. I also purchased the ebook and the audiobook. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
About the Author
Jodi Taylor is the internationally bestselling author of over thirty novels and more short stories than you can shake a stick at. Her Chronicles of St Mary’s series follows a bunch of disaster-prone individuals who investigate major historical events in contemporary time. Do NOT call it time travel! She is also the author of the Time Police books. Set in the same world as St Mary’s, this spinoff charts the highs and lows of an all-powerful, international organisation tasked with keeping the Timeline straight no matter what the cost. Efficient and disciplined, obviously they’re nothing like St Mary’s. Except when they are. And when a short story set in the same world accidentally grew into a full-length novel, the Smallhope & Pennyroyal series was born, following the adventures of two unlikely partners in crime. Jodi is also known for her gripping supernatural thrillers featuring the mysterious Elizabeth Cage, together with the enchanting Frogmorton Farm series – a fairy story for adults. Born in Bristol and now living in Gloucester (facts both cities vigorously deny), she spent many years with her head somewhere else, much to the dismay of family, teachers and employers, before finally deciding to put all that daydreaming to good use and write a book. And then another twenty-nine after that. And she hasn’t finished yet.
As I’ve said on here many times, I have been reading Jodi Taylor’s books since she first published them, and I drop everything when she has a new book out so I can devour it in one sitting. I hope you try them and enjoy them as much as I do.
Thank you to Zooloo’s Book Tours for a spot on the tour, which was supposed to be yesterday. Here is my late review of a special novella.
Book Description
Book Review
In this unique novella, Major League Baseball in 2039 receives a special gift. A young man shows up who looks just like Hall-of-Famer Lou Gehrig. He just wants to play baseball, and when they finally let him, they find out he swings like Gehrig too. He has a message for everyone. Be kind to each other. Appreciate life. Stop staring at your phones and talk to each other. And he has a goal. To win the World Series that year with the Yankees.
Immediately, this book had vibes of Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella, which was made into the hit movie, Field of Dreams. Throughout The Luckiest Man Returns, the magic of baseball and the message of appreciating life and your fellow “teammates” on this earth resounds. The love of the game versus the business the game has become is a major theme too. The major question everyone is asking is, “Is he a fraud, a copycat, or the real Lou Gehrig, returned over a hundred years later?” For the answer, follow Gehrig in this magical story as he pursues his goal of winning the World Series, while reminding everyone, players and fans alike, to appreciate baseball for itself and what it has always been, not just for money or personal glory.
*This is another book that I reviewed for The Historical Novel Society’s May issue. The August issue is coming out soon, and I will share more reviews then. I must note that the German flag graphic I used on the image above is not correct. Back during WWI, Germany used a black, white, and red flag, but I couldn’t find a graphic of it. At the time, the US flag was also different, having only 48 stars.
Book Review
In Fall 1916, prior to America entering The Great War, Josephine Therese Marzynski travels to Germany from Boston to study music. She is met with suspicion and even strip-searched before being allowed into the country, but they never find the American flag sewn into the hem of her skirt. She is living with family friends, the Müllers, who have made it possible for her to pursue a career as a professional opera singer, a dream she thought had died with her father in America. Josephine begins her training, but by April 1917, America and Germany are at war, and Josephine has been summoned to the police station and put under regular monitoring. This is a fictionalized version of Marzynski’s memoir, WithOld Glory in Berlin, which may have been ghostwritten by the author’s grandfather. It is the compelling story of a Jewish American student trapped in WWI Berlin. Josephine’s musical training lasted about a year, but the story is centered less on music and more on Germany’s war-centered culture at the time, including propaganda, oppression, and rationing. The author has blended more music into it by effectively adding snippets of operas that relate to Josephine’s experiences. The chapters are laid out as an opera would be, with an overture, acts, scenes, an intermission, and a finale. After America enters the war, the novel is focused mostly on Josephine’s monitoring by the police and her attempts to leave, using influential contacts. The original work is available in the public domain, and it is interesting to compare the two. The author has taken a simple retelling and breathed new life into it by adding emotion, dialogue, and music. The result is a well-woven tale of a talented young woman attempting to escape a perilous situation. My rating is 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 on sites with no half-star option. Recommended.
About the Author
Splitting her time between Cape Cod, NH, NJ, and snowbird destinations, a tablet becomes Janis Robinson Daly’s library and desk, packed for reading and writing, wherever she might land. Inspired by the discovery that an ancestor founded the Woman’s Medical College of PA, Daly’s first novel, The Unlocked Path, celebrates pioneering women doctors at the turn of the 20th century. Its sequel, The Path Beneath Her Feet, honors the work of the American Women’s Hospitals in rural America during the 1930s. Her third book with Black Rose Writing, Under Two Flags, is a retelling of a memoir of a young Boston woman who travels to Berlin in 1916 to study opera. Daly’s grandfather, Eliot H. Robinson, Sr. ghost-wrote the original memoir in 1918.
Daly graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Wheaton College, at the time, a women’s college. At Wheaton, she developed a heightened awareness of female-centric issues. Her annual literary citizenship program, #31titleswomeninhistory, has gained recognition as an innovative way to celebrate Women’s History Month in March.
A presentation of how her genealogy research inspired her to begin writing has made Daly a sought-after speaker for book clubs, women’s groups, libraries, and writers’ groups. Her monthly newsletter includes updates on her writing, book reviews and recommendations, tips for book clubs, upcoming events, and a book giveaway. Learn more at her website, JanisRDaly.
Amazon just restored my reviews and my reviewing abilities after looking at my appeal, weeks later. They provided no details as to why this happened in the first place. But I’m back reviewing on Amazon…unless it happens again! If I reviewed your book on Amazon in the past, the review should be restored within 24 hours.
Today’s topic is: Books that live rent-free in my head. They can be books that you love or hate, books that scared you, etc. Basically, they are books you can’t forget. I listed four series and one book, and that adds up to many more than ten books.
The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Series: The characters in these books have become old friends, with many, many re-reads. One of my favorite quotes: “He was calm and soothing and had a reasonable explanation for everything. No woman should have to put up with that.”
The Chronicles of Narnia: Quotes from these books still stay with me after all these years. One I really like is from The Horse and His Boy: “Child,” said the Lion, “I am telling you your story, not hers. No one is told any story but their own.” Another one is: “Do not dare not to dare.”
The Time Police. Again, I will list the whole series. This is a spinoff of Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St. Mary’s. There is a whole spiel around the “f” word, because timid Jane can’t say it, so she says “fire truck,” and everyone starts doing it throughout the series. It’s hilarious.
The Harry Potter Series: I love these books and revisit them often. The world-building was so good it actually became part of our world. Quidditch became a real sport. There are Muggle Quidditch leagues all over the world (no flying that I know of. 😉 “Muggle” was added to the English Oxford Dictionary. And there are many other examples.
The Door Into Summer: This was when I first became interested in time-travel fiction. This quote about trusting people stayed with me: “I had taken a partner once before—but, damnation, no matter how many times you get your fingers burned, you have to trust people. Otherwise you are a hermit in a cave, sleeping with one eye open.
Orbital Drop is the first book in the Union Empire series. It is fast-paced science fiction that fans of space operas and military-oriented interplanetary adventures will enjoy. This novel is of the same world as McHugh’s Wardens Series. It would be better to start with Blackcoat, a novella that is a prequel to the Union Empire series, and introduces Celine Moro, a Warden and the main character in Orbital Drop.
An orbital drop involves jumping from a spaceship in orbit to the ground, and that’s what Celine has been tasked to do, in order to find out why the child of a Union councillor was targeted for kidnapping.
My favorite character was Gigi, a synth, or robot, who has been given some human characteristics. Gigi provides a bit of humor to this battle-heavy book and becomes an important part of Celine’s team.
This is a story of intense action, betrayal, and revenge, with monsters to boot, and things are not always as they seem. The ending promises more books to come. Fans of McHugh’s Wardens series will enjoy this one and look forward to more.
As an aside for readers of this blog, while this type of science fiction is not my usual go-to, I see that the author has written some historical fantasy, which I am of course all about, and I definitely want to check that out, especially Infamous Reign, which addresses the mystery of the Princes in the Tower.
I was provided a free copy of this book via Zooloo’s Book Tours. My review is voluntary, and the opinions expressed are my own.
About the Author
Steve McHugh is a bestselling author of urban fantasy, historical fiction, and science-fiction. He has now published over 30 books, with his novel Scorched Shadows being shortlisted for Best Novel at the Gemmell Awards.
Steve was born in the town of Mexborough, South Yorkshire, but now lives with his wife and three daughters in Southampton.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is “Books with the Word ____ in the Title.” I was free to pick the word, and of course I picked “time,” loving time travel fiction as I do. Below are Ten Books with the word Time in the title.
I’ve read all of these except The Time Traders, which I now have in my Kobo app to read later, and The Time Ships, which is an authorized sequel to The Time Machine. Doing Time is the first in Jodi Taylor’s Time Police Series, all of which have the word “Time” in the title.
If you were participating in this challenge, what word would you choose?
1940. Olivia Belle Ash is a romance writer who has lost her voice. Famous as “Via Belle” for 20 years, she is now faced with a deadline she cannot meet. Awash in grief, she struggles to write again after the death of her husband three years ago. She also mourns the daughter she lost in infancy. Then, after an invitation to a university literary conference, she meets Simon Farrow. Ultimately, she begins a whirlwind relationship with this younger man, but things are not as they seem.
2006. Harper Rayne is a caterer and aspiring screenwriter looking for a story that will make her career. She ultimately decides to research the story of Via Belle, her late mother’s favorite author, who suddenly vanished in the 1940s.
Some parallels to the real life of a famous Christian romance author, Grace Livingston Hill, are present in the story. Hill was happily married to a minister before his death in 1899. She became a famous author in the early 20th century, and then suffered a very unhappy marriage to a younger man. This book appears to be inspired by Hill’s story, and the author also dedicated The Lost Story of Via Belle to Grace Livingston Hill.
The 1940s timeline is compelling, and the secrets and deception are well written. Simon is as unlikeable a character as many of the villains in the books of Grace Livingston Hill, who usually created very clear heroes and villains in her novels. The 2006 timeline is not as gripping at first, but it does grow in complexity by the end of the book. Fans of Christian fiction and of Hill’s books will enjoy this novel.
I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale Fiction via The Historical Novel Society. My review is voluntary, and the opinions expressed are my own.
Additional Comments
This is another review I did for The Historical Novel Society. You can see it on their website here. As mentioned above, it is very loosely based on the life of Grace Livingston Hill, an early 20th Century Christian romance writer. My grandmother started reading Grace’s books to her kids in the 1930’s and 40s, and my Mom passed them on to me. They are very old fashioned–Grace frowned on makeup, for example. But they’re wonderful Christian stories for their time period. My favorite is The Substitute Guest, which I talk about a little bit here.
About Grace Livingston Hill
Grace Livingston Hill (April 16, 1865 – February 23, 1947) was a prolific early 20th-century American novelist best known for her Christian romance and inspirational fiction. She wrote over 100 novels and numerous short stories, often under her own name or the pseudonym Marcia Macdonald (her mother’s maiden name). Her works typically featured young Christian women (or characters who convert to Christianity) facing moral challenges, romance, and redemption, with clear themes of good versus evil and faith restoring lives.
Grace’s Two Marriages
Reverend Thomas Guthrie Franklin Hill: Grace married “Frank” in 1892, and they were married until he died in 1899 from complications of appendicitis. They had two daughters, settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and collaborated on Christian Endeavor materials. After his death, Grace began writing full-time to support her daughters.
Flavius Joseph Lutz: Grace married Lutz, a music teacher for her daughters and 15 years her junior, in 1904, against the advice of others. It was a very unhappy union. Lutz did not contribute to the household financially, not even from music lessons, and was verbally abusive. He often left to stay with his parents, and in 1914, Grace told him not to come back. There was no divorce, but there are rumors that the marriage was later annulled. Grace continued writing into the 1940s and died in 1947.
You must be logged in to post a comment.