“The storm we made” Vanessa Chan

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Marysue Rucci Books (Simon & Schuster). To be published January 2, 2024.

Malaya had been a colony of Great Britain for many years, treating its people like second class citizens while exporting its iron-ore and rubber. By 1934 Cecily had grown tired of the race and class divides between her people and their conquerors. Over the years her husband Gordon had worked up to a high position in the British administration. Through his connections she met General Fujiwara. Cecily was thrilled to learn of Japan’s hopes for a united Asia, where Asians wouldn’t be judged by the color of their skin. It would be a dream come true if Malayans could rule themselves.

Bored with her life, Cecily found excitement in her role as a spy and in her amorous feelings for Fujiwara. Gordon’s work provided them with plenty of material which helped Japan force out the British. Instead of a united Asia Malayans found themselves in terrible situations. The Japanese forced young girls into sexual slavery, boys were kidnapped and sent to railroad slave camps, while traitors were tortured and killed. As terrible things happened to Cecily’s family over the next 10 years, she blamed herself. She had given Malaya over to their enemy, so she had to pay the price of her betrayal.

This is the first time I had ever read about Malaya’s conquest, and the crimes of Japan in that country during World War II. Cecily, her daughters, and her son share the narratives from 1934 through 1945 through flashbacks and real time. Through them readers learn of the brutality of war, and the strength of its survivors. “The storm we made,” is an excellent choice for a book club as themes of good versus evil, relationships, sisterhood, and more will lead to important discussions.

Highly recommended for Adults.

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

“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.

“They bled orange” Michael Reit

Rated 4 stars **** ARC. ebook. Michael Reit. Orphans of war #2. To be published April 5, 2023.

Christiaan and his girlfriend had to leave Amsterdam or risk capture. They made their way to England and, within a short time, he accepted Queen Wilhelmina’s request to return to the Netherlands to unite members of the Resistance. Christiaan knew this would be an extremely dangerous undertaking but believed it could be done.

When Floris escaped, Nora had to flee for her life. She wanted to be reunited with Christiaan in England, but had to find a way out of the Netherlands to France where she would have to cross the Pyrenees Mountains on foot, and get visas from both Spain and Portugal. Once in Portugal she could make her way to England. Nora is determined to see Christiaan again and will climb any barrier set before her to do so.

Forced to fight against the Russians on the Eastern Front to avoid a prison sentence, Floris finds life as a soldier to be extremely difficult. Germany had suffered many casualties, and the Russians had overrun their lines many times. Morale was low, but the Nazis still found time to execute thousands of Jewish prisoners in cold blood.

In this second installment, readers are introduced to a bloodier side of the war where torture, death and murder are described in detail. However, the execution of Jewish prisoners on the Eastern Front stood out in stark detail. There was something about this that bothered me. I will talk about it at the end of this review as a spoiler alert. So, if you don’t want to see it, stop reading here. Otherwise, scroll down after you read the book and let me know if you also question this turn of events.

Recommended for Adults.

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

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Floris has always been a cold-hearted lover of the Reich and hater of all things Jewish. The author hinted he began having a change of heart when his life was saved by a Jewish man. However, I found it hard to believe a true Nazi lover like him had mercy for the Jewish prisoners executed in cold blood. Perhaps the author could enlighten me about why Floris suddenly developed a conscience.

“The Beantown girls” Jane Healey

Rated 5 stars ***** ebook. Lake Union Publishing. 2019. (Includes “Historical notes.”)

During World War II, the Armed Forces of the United States asked the American Red Cross to recruit single, over 25-year-old women with good personalities to lift the spirits of its soldiers. They became known as Clubmobile girls. Once accepted into the program the women would be sent to Great Britain and to bases throughout Europe to play popular music from their trucks while encouraging GI’s and serving them coffee, doughnuts, cigarettes, lifesavers and gum. During the summer of 1944, Fiona, Viv and Dottie had their own reasons for leaving their homes in Boston and signing on to the program. Viv and Dottie wanted adventure, but Fiona was seeking information on her fiancé, who had been reported as missing in action for several months.

Though many officers thought their presence was a waste of time, Viv, Dottie, Fiona and their fellow Clubmobile women worked hard to help thousands of soldiers across the war zones. Their presence, encouragement, and willingness to listen served as a reminder that there was life after the war awaiting these soldiers at home. Viv, Dottie and Fiona’s relationships with soldiers and the fun they all had jitterbugging with the big band music of the era are intertwined with the events of what these brave women endured during their service. While reading “The Beantown girls,” readers will learn of another role held by women during World War II and, like I did, will research to find out more information about them.

Highly recommended for Adults.

Available on Kindle Unlimited.

“Broken angels” Gemma Liviero

Rated 5 stars ***** ebook. Lake Union Publishing. 2016.

Elsi lived with her mother and little sister in the crowded Jewish Ghetto of Lodz Poland. Despite their bleak circumstances Elsi believes things can be different, but things go from bad to worse. On the day her life is about to end, Willem Gebhardt comes to her rescue.

Willem Gebhardt’s father was a high-ranking Nazi, who expected his son to follow in his cold-hearted footsteps. However, Willem was not what his father expected him to be. Unlike his father, his heart remained soft, so he was horrified when he was forced to perform experimental surgeries on female Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz. In many ways he could not disobey his father, but he could bend the rules in other ways.

Nine-year-old Matilda lived with her brothers and mother on a lavender farm in Romania. Her Aryan looks, as well as her ability to speak and write German, resulted in her being taken from her family and place in a German training center. There she was soon beaten, starved and isolated for perceived misdeeds.

In time these character’s lives become intertwined. Liviero’s portrayal of Willem was especially insightful. Before and during World War II the Nazis inflicted many atrocities on millions, so it’s impossible to feel any sympathy for them. However, through his portrayal of Willem, Liviero manages to wring out some positive emotions specifically for him.

Recommended for Adults.

“The dressmaker’s gift” Fiona Valpy

Rated 5 stars ***** ebook. Lake Union Publishing. 2019.

When Harriet was a young girl her mother committed suicide. As a result she resented her father for remarrying, her stepmother for not being her mother, and herself for not being enough to keep her mother alive. Harriet had always had a love for fashion so, when she found a photograph of her grandmother Claire and two other women in front of a dressmaker’s shop in 1941 Paris, it cemented her desire for fashion to become her career choice.

After getting an internship to the shop where her grandmother once worked, Harriet’s flat mate Simone reveals that Mireille, her grandmother, is one of the women in Harriet’s photo. Harriet didn’t know anything about her mother’s side of the family, so was astounded to learn their grandmothers were members of the French Resistance. The dressmaker shop where they worked was their cover as they undertook dangerous missions and, through their stories of bravery in the midst of horror, Harriet’s mind is opened to what inherited trauma really means.

Told through flashbacks and the present time, “The dressmaker’s gift” reveals the hazardous life of those who chose to resist the German occupation of France as members of the French Resistance. These brave men and women helped turn the tide of the war, and are remembered in the author’s dedication.

Recommended for Adults.

“Everybody sees the ants” A.S. King

Rated 3 stars *** Little, Brown and Company (Hachette Book Group). 280 p. 2012. (Includes “An interview with A.S. King,” and a Discussion Guide.)

Nader McMillan has bullied fifteen-year-old Lucky Linderman since they were both seven years old. Neither his parents nor any other adult have ever stood up for him, so he gave up trying to get help. Over the years of bullying Lucky learned to become introspective, spending hours dreaming of rescuing his POW grandfather who’d been MIA since the Vietnam War. Time spent in the jungle was his escape from reality, as he felt bound to honor his dying grandmother’s wish to find his grandfather and bring him home to his still grieving father. In his dreams he could be bigger and tougher, fighting the Nader McMillan’s of the jungle for his grandfather.

When his mother unexpectedly takes him to Arizona for an extended visit, Lucky leans to think of himself in different terms. He starts to learn that he can remake himself, has a say in his own life, and doesn’t have to wait for others to make decisions. However this new knowledge may mean giving up on his grandfather, and Lucky doesn’t know if he’s ready for that kind of change.

“Everybody sees the ants” was everywhere. Lucky bounced around from his memories, the present, fantasy land in Vietnam and back again, while his own personal set of ants had personalities to give him guidance. I wasn’t a fan, but gave it an extra star because I know some readers ages 14 and older may need to hear how Lucky turned his life around and may understand about the ants a lot better than I did.

“We are not free” Traci Chee

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. HMH Books for Young Readers. To be published September 1, 2020. (Includes “Further Reading.”)

After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in June 1941, all Japanese in America (especially those on the West Coast) were considered suspicious. Though having had to endure prejudice over the many years they’d lived in the United States, lives would be forever changed. In 1942 President Roosevelt signed an order that forced over 110,000 Japanese into concentration camps. Included were Japanese who’d lived in the United States for years but were not allowed to become citizens, and their American citizen children.

“We are not free,” tells the story of 14 Japanese American teenagers who’d grown up together in San Francisco’s Japantown. Descriptions of what it was like to leave behind everything to be imprisoned for more than 3 years in unsanitary conditions, surrounded by soldiers and barbed wire, are shared with readers. Mixed with despair is the love they feel for each other that stretched across the ocean when some left to prove their loyalty through service in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team – which became one of the most highly decorated units in military history.

Traci Chee weaves family memories with historical events in this powerful book that highlights a low point in American history. It’s important to be made aware of our past, no matter how bad, so that we can learn from it. I hope we realize how prejudice and discrimination has had a foothold in this country for too many years, and think about what we need to do to change the mindsets of our fellow Americans.

I’m writing this review on the Fourth of July and “We are not free” reminds me, yet again, that our country needs to live up to the words enshrined in our Declaration of Independence “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal.”

Highly recommended for ages 14 and older.

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

“The book of lost names” Kristin Harmel

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster.) To be published July 21, 2020.

In 2005, Eva Abrams sees an article in the New York Times seeking the owner of a rare book that had been looted by the Nazis. Eva knows it’s her book that she’d thought was lost long ago, and that it contains a secret she’s waited 60 years to find. With single-minded purpose she books a trip to Berlin to claim it, hoping it might contain a message from her long lost lover who died in 1944.

From Florida 2005, readers are taken to 1942 Paris where we’re introduced to Eva Traube. She and her parents don’t believe there’s going to be a roundup of Jews but, when her father and thousands more are taken, she and her mother escape to Free France where they planned to continue on into Switzerland. Instead, against her mother’s wishes, she becomes involved with the French Resistance. In the hidden library of a Catholic church her artistic skills are put to use forging identity documents for hundreds of Jewish children escaping to Switzerland. There she and Rèmy, a fellow forger, develop a secret code based on the Fibonacci sequence and use a rare book to record the real names of the children to whom they were giving false identities.

Through flashbacks between the past and present readers learn of the difficulties Eva faced by falling in love with a Catholic, the battles she had with her grieving and bitter mother, and the hard work she did to save the lives of many children. We see the ways in which the Catholic church was involved in saving lives, the love she held for Rèmy, and how she’d hidden her true self for many years. It is a story of love, hope and faith, in the midst of despair, that rings true to its time and place.

Highly recommended for Adults.

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

“Beyond the moon” by Catherine Taylor

Rated 5 stars ***** ARC. ebook. Published June 25, 2019. The Cameo Press.

Louisa, devastated at her beloved grandmother’s death, was drunk and a little confused at the top of a cliff during a foggy evening. Unsure of her footing, she fell partway down. The doctors were convinced she was suicidal, and admitted her to a psychiatric hospital against her will. A ruthless and uncaring staff ran the hospital, with patients left to fend for themselves.

During a smoke break a friend showed her how to sneak into the abandoned part of the hospital, which dated back to Victorian times. There Louisa discovered Robert, a soldier recovering from World War I injuries. She’s shocked to discover that when she’s with him it’s 1917, but when she leaves his presence she returns to her own time period – one hundred years later. It doesn’t take long before the two of them fall in love but how can their relationship work when they’re separated by time, and only Robert sees her?

After an unpleasant parting back to her own time period, Louisa somehow manages to travel back in time again. Her name is now Rose, a VAD nurse caring for wounded soldiers in France. Her desperate work as a nurse, and her hopes to be reunited with Robert are interspersed with his story as a British Prisoner of War in Germany as the author weaves seamlessly from 2017 to 1917 and back as she tells their wartime love story.

I was absolutely enthralled with this book, and couldn’t put it down. I loved reading about World War I, and was really upset at the way psychiatric patients were treated in 2017. The head nurse Louisa and her friends nicknamed Nurse Enema reminded me of Nurse Ratched from the movie “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest.” If you’re interested in historical fiction, time travel and romance, then this book is for you.

Highly recommended for Adults.