“Out of the ashes” Kara Thomas

Rated 4 stars **** ebook. Thomas & Mercer.2023.

As soon as she could, Samantha escaped her dead-end town of Carney, New York and moved to Queens. There she made a life for herself as a nurse, always trying, and failing, to bury the tragedy of the murder of her parents, uncle, and little sister twenty-two years earlier. When her uncle’s death brought her back to Carney, Travis Meacham from the N.Y. State Police told her he’d been working on her case and had new leads.

Samantha was skeptical because a local police officer had it in for her family, so she didn’t trust the police. She was sure he had murdered them, especially when she heard more stories of crimes he’d committed on the job. She didn’t think Travis could add anything to the case. When she found out her former best friend was missing, she began questioning her old friends. As a result, another person disappeared, and one was murdered. Someone is not happy Samantha is asking a lot of questions about her family and the missing girls.

This was an interesting book, with a surprise ending.

Recommended for Adults.

“Wild, beautiful, and free” Sophfronia Scott

Rated 5 stars ***** ebook. Lake Union Publishing. 2023.

Jean Bébinn loved a slave more than Madame, his wife. After she died, he raised their child alongside his daughter Calista. The two grew up as sisters on his 50,000-acre plantation, where they learned to read, write, and love the land. Despite the hatred she felt from Madame, Jeannette was loved by her papa and sister. In 1851, when she was twelve, he fell ill and died. Though he had promised that she and Calista would inherit Catalpa Valley, Madame had other plans. She had always seen Jeannette as nothing better than a slave, so immediately sold her into slavery.

Jeannette had to learn to travel the painful path her mama had travelled before her, while missing her Papa and the happy life she’d known. As the years passed thoughts of returning home kept her going forward when life seemed darkest. Her only chance to return is to escape, but everyone knows the fate of runaways. Jeannette must chance it, as it’s her only hope.

From the beginning I was caught up in Jeannette’s story, as the author did a good job presenting her as a believable character and as a strong woman.

Recommended for Adults.

“Crossroads of granite” Michael Reit

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Michael Reit. Orphans of war #3. (Includes “Author’s notes”). To be published September 1, 2023.

In this third and final installment of the Orphans of war series, alternate chapters describe life for Christiaan, Lisa and Nora after we left them in “They bled orange.”

Once Christiaan returned to the Netherlands to restart the Resistance he was captured. Since he refused to reveal he was a spy he was taken to Mauthausen, a camp where prisoners were worked to death, murdered, and tortured. There he meets Floris, now an SS guard. Floris believes Christiaan is the ticket he needs to return to his former life of power and will make sure Christiaan reveals the secrets he didn’t reveal when he was first captured.

As Christiaan struggles to survive the mental, physical, and emotional stresses of Mauthausen he believes Lisa and Nora are safe. He doesn’t know Lisa is headed to the front lines with General Patton’s army, nor that Nora was captured when she returned to the Netherlands. With both Christiaan and Nora in concentration camps, and Lisa on the front lines, life becomes even more dangerous for them as the noose begins to close around the German army.

I read the book in one sitting, as the action had me eagerly turning pages to find out what would happen next to Lisa, Christiaan, and Nora. The Author’s notes explain how the events in Mauthausen were based on true accounts from prisoners and from the story of David Hersch, a Hungarian Jew imprisoned there who escaped two death marches.

Recommended for Adults.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“Las Madres” Esmeralda Santiago

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Borzoi Books (Alfred A. Knopf). To be published August 8, 2023.

Luz is 57 years old and is a shadow of the vibrant girl and star ballerina she used to be when she was fifteen and lived with her loving parents in Puerto Rico. After a car accident killed them and left her with a devastating brain injury, life forever changed. Over time her brain healed enough to allow Luz to regain many functions, but an inability to remember her past and regressing into daily coma-like fugues became her new norm.

Luz’s memories appear in flashes she quickly forgets. After the accident she was taken care of by her grandparents as well as Ada and Shirley, two women who worked for her grandfather. When both grandparents died, they cared for her as if she was their daughter. When she was 16 years old, they moved to New York where she later married and had a daughter. When Marysol was 5 years old her father was killed and Luz was shot, so Ada and Shirley took care of her just like they’d done for her mother.

“Las Madres” is a story of love and strength from 1975 to 2017. It’s a woman desperately trying to remember who she was. It’s a daughter trying to connect to a mother with attacks that render her almost comatose. It’s an unbreakable bond between Ada, Shirley, their daughter Graciela, and Marysol. It’s the story of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Their stories, and what it means to be Puerto Rican, will resonate with readers long after the last page is turned.

Highly recommended for Adults.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“The winter orphans” Kristin Beck

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Berkley. (Penguin Random House). Published September 13, 2022.

During World War II, Switzerland sent Red Cross workers to care for homeless children and teenagers, some of who were housed at Chateau de la Hille in France. Many of these homeless children and teens were Jewish, sent away by parents hoping for their safety during a time of upheaval. The Director at Chateau de la Hille, Rosli Naf, was a no-nonsense person who loved all the children in her care and worked hard to provide for them. When 40 of her teenagers were picked up during a raid and sent to a deportation camp, she immediately headed there and refused to leave until her children were released. Her superior, Maurice Dubois, threatened to pull all Red Cross workers from France if the teenagers weren’t released, even though it wasn’t in his authority to do so. His bluff worked, and they were released into Rosli’s care.

Rosli and another Red Cross nurse named Anne-Marie Piguet believed it was their duty to smuggle the teens into Switzerland – though the Red Cross issued a directive that made this plan illegal. This book is the story of Rosli, the resistors who helped her, and the brave children who once called Chateau de la Hille their home.

At the end of the book the author’s note states that when Rosli was named Righteous Among the Nations in 1989 by Yad Vashem, she initially declined the honor because she felt she could have done more but accepted the award in 1992 when another of her collaborators was honored. Though she had saved so many, Rosli spent her life mourning the 12 teenagers who were caught and sent to Auschwitz. She was as humble as she was fierce in the love she felt for her children at Chateau de la Hille.

Highly recommended for Adults.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

“The last Karankawas” Kimberly Garza

Rated 2 stars ** ARC. ebook. Henry Holt and Company. (Macmillan). To be published August 9, 2022.

The population of Galveston, Texas in 2008 was a mixture of native-born islanders, Filipinos, Mexicans and other immigrants. Through chapter after chapter individuals detail their hopes, dreams and fears, as well as their reasons for being on the Island. Eventually some abandoned the Island in favor of new horizons, while others forever called it home.

Central to the book’s theme is the question of whether or not anyone could be related to the Island’s indigenous Karankawas, who disappeared centuries earlier. Carly believes the tribe died out years ago, but her grandmother Magdalena insists they are descendants. Sure that her grandmother is suffering from dementia, Carly spends the entire book denying her birthright.“The last Karankawas” is a look at life on Galveston, leading up to the Hurricane of 2008 and its aftermath. In alternating voices characters tell their stories, but the sheer number of them is overwhelming. I thought Garza should have let Carly and Magdalena tell their stories without the distraction of the other voices.

I feel more should have been written about the Karankawas, including their influence on the Island and its people. Proof that they still exist through their descendants should have also been part of the narrative. A Smithsonian magazine article showed the Taínos of Puerto Rico, from which I’m descended, still exist. Though many thought they died out when Europeans decimated their population, I still carry marks of my Taíno ancestors.

I hard a hard time following along with the many different voices, and couldn’t get into the storyline, so gave it just 2 stars. I will still recommend it for Adults who want to know more about the Island and the 2008 hurricane, but be prepared to be disappointed if you want to read about the Karankawas.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“How Maya got fierce” Sona Charaipotra

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Feiwel and Friends. (Macmillan). To be published July 12, 2022.

Seventeen-year-old Maya spent years admiring the remarkable lives of women and teens in Fierce magazine. Their stories gave her courage to dream of a different future than her parent’s expectations to run the family’s garlic farm. She has to attend Cow Camp in New Jersey for the summer with other Punjabi kids from her area to learn about farm life, make alliances and find a good husband from another garlic farm. However, the possibility of sneaking off to visit Fierce in nearby N.Y.C. keeps her from being too upset.

When her cousin’s girlfriend takes her to visit Fierce, Maya applies for an internship but lands a job as Assistant Features Editor. To work there she has to quit Cow Camp, lie to everyone she knows, and let her coworkers think she’s 26 years old. The stress and guilt she feels is dwarfed by the happiness of living her dream to write stories of brown girls like herself. Each day brings its share of complications, including the fact she and a very handsome winery heir have feelings for each other. Neither know what the future holds, but each wants to believe their lives can be more than what their parents expect for them.

I loved this story of women who were brave enough to strike out on their own after finding their own voices. In passing I have to add that I doubt a 17-year-old could pull off a job meant for a 26-year-old, but the author did a great job showing how she did it.

Recommended for ages 16 and older.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“Long way home” Lynn Austin

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Tyndale House Publishers. To be published June 21, 2022.

Losing her mother at a young age was hard for Peggy. Jimmy, her next-door neighbor, was always available to dry her tears, and taught her to depend on God for strength. He was like a big brother, so it broke her heart when he attempted suicide a month after coming home from war in 1946. Peggy is committed to bringing back the positive thinking man who’d gone to war as a Medic and returned full of pain. She won’t stop until she brings light to his darkness, just as he’d done for her.

November 9, 1938 was Gisela’s 16th birthday. She lived with her sister and parents in Berlin, but disaster fell after Kristallnacht when her father was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. It took months to get his release while the family sold everything they owned to board the St. Louis with over 900 other Jewish passengers. Everyone was excited to start a new life in Cuba, but hopes were dashed when the government refused to let them land. Though the ship’s Captain and other agencies tried their best, neither America nor Canada would let them land. They had to return to Europe, where the Nazis were rapidly overtaking every country and rounding up Jews in all of them.

In alternating chapters Peggy, Jimmy and Gisela’s stories intertwine and are unveiled for readers, mixing the horrors of war with the love of God and the kindness of strangers to those in need. The age-old question “where is God when there’s evil in the world?” is pondered and seen through the lens of the Jewish and Christian faiths, giving readers much to contemplate.

Highly recommended for Adults.

I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“The Italian ballerina” Kristy Cambron

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Thomas Nelson (HarperCollins Christian Publishing.) To be published July 12, 2022. (Includes “Further reading,” and “Discussion questions.”)

Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Courtney Coleman joined the Army to become a Medic. In 1943 he was badly injured in Italy when he braved Nazi fire to save a five-year-old Jewish girl whose parents had been murdered in front of him and his friend A.J. With Courtney injured, they wound up at Fatebenefratelli Hospital where they assumed new identities and named the little girl Calla. There doctors and staff kept Nazis at bay by pretending patients, escapees from a local Jewish ghetto, had a fake disease called Syndrome K. As Court healed, he and A.J. began working with a British ballerina and local partisans to help patients escape and to find Calla’s family. Though Courtney had spent his life running away from responsibility, Calla softened his heart and helped him to finally see the plan God had for his life.

Through flashbacks readers are taken from the past to the present through Courtney and Calla’s grandchildren. With each of the narrated stories, faith, hope, love, forgiveness and friendship intertwine to bring hope when least expected. “The Italian ballerina” will remind readers of a time when people laid down their lives for others, and will encourage you to help those less fortunate.

Recommended for Adults.

I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“After Alice fell” Kim Taylor Blakemore

Rated 2 stars ** ebook. Lake Union Publishing. 2021. (Includes “Book club questions.”)

Marion felt tied down by the responsibility of caring for her younger sister Alice, so left her in the care of her brother Lionel and became a nurse for the Union army. In late 1865 she returned home and discovered Lionel had committed Alice to an insane asylum and now she was dead. Marion refused to believe Alice committed suicide, so spent each day trying to find evidence she had been murdered. As she begins to find out what happened to Alice in the months and days before she died, a cesspool of secrets involving her brother, sister-in-law, the doctor, the hospital, its nurses and even Marion herself are ever-so-slowly revealed to readers.

If I had to sum up this book in one word it would be “slow.” The plot was slow, while transitions between scenes were abrupt. Marion spent a good part of the book pondering her life with and without Alice, wishing she could turn back the clock, wondering what had happened, etc. It seemed to take forever before readers received a small flicker letting us know there was some life in the book.

“After Alice fell” could appeal to Adult readers who like lots of details and no action before some activity actually takes place. It was too slow for me, but may be your cup of tea. So, as the title of my blog states, I will leave it up to you to decide if you want to read it or not.

Available on Kindle Unlimited.