Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for HOME THIS CHRISTMAS by Sue Roberts on this Bookouture blog tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, the author’s bio, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Ruby hasn’t been back home since she made the heart-wrenching decision to leave her childhood sweetheart, Nathan, for a career in London. But when she’s invited to judge the charity gingerbread competition, she decides it’s time. And it seems there’s Christmas mischief at work. Because Nathan is joining her as a gingerbread judge.
But it’s clear he would rather she’d stayed away, from his icy silence when they are alone, to the snarky comments and his accusing glare as they prepare for the event with other members of the community. And all Ruby wants to do is get back to London.
Then bad weather leaves her snowed in the village until after Christmas, with nowhere to stay. And things go from bad to worse when she slips on the ice… And falls straight into the arms of Nathan.
The pain of her injured ankle is nothing when, her heart aflutter, Nathan surprises her. As he scoops her up and sweeps her off to the hospital, it seems like the frost between them is finally thawing. But could the magic of Christmas mean a second chance is possible? Or is it too little too late?
HOME THIS CHRISTMAS by Sue Roberts is a heartwarming Christmas women’s fiction/second chance romance mash-up featuring a young woman named Ruby who left her small village and first love behind to chase her dreams of success in London. Now she has attained many of her dreams, a beautiful flat in London and successful career as a food and restaurant critic and another Christmas is just around the corner.
Ruby is happy with her London life, but she is just out of a relationship and at loose ends. She has made plans with her girlfriend for Christmas but then receives a note from her hometown to be a judge for the charity gingerbread competition. She decides to accept and be in and out of the village in one day. When she shows up at the competition, she is surprised to discover her first love, Nathan, is the other judge.
Nathan is even more handsome than Ruby remembered, and she is surprised that their attraction is still strong. As Ruby gets involved in village affairs and makes new friends, she ends up staying longer and the attraction between them only grows. Ruby is afraid that she will have to leave Nathan behind again or can this second chance at romance be strong enough to keep her in the village?
This is an enchanting holiday read. The first half of the story is more focused on Ruby and her career and life in London, while the second half has her in her old hometown and the second chance romance begins to bloom with Nathan. The romance plot is sweet, charming, and believable. We get to see the village through Ruby’s eyes from her memories of her youth and how things have changed in the present. Ms. Roberts does a wonderful job of making the village and all its Christmas activities come to life on the page. This is a wonderful story to escape into over the holidays.
I recommend this delightful holiday HEA genre mash-up.
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Author Bio
Sue Roberts lives in Lancashire with her long term partner Derek and has had a lifelong love of writing, encouraged by winning a school writing competition at the age of 11.
She always assumed that ‘one day’ she would write a book, always having a busy household and a job, the idea remained firmly on the back burner but never forgotten.
The inspiration for her first novel came to her on a holiday to a Greek village. Her daughters had left home and suddenly the time had come to write that book!
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for CRIME WRITER by Vinnie Hansen on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my mini book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Promoamp giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Description
In the peaceful California coast city of Playa Maria, CRIME WRITER ZOEY KOZINSKI joins a local police officer for a ride-along in hopes of breaking through her writer’s block. But during a routine traffic stop, the cop is shot, the victim of a brutal homicide.
Zoey realizes she is the only witness and the number one target on the killer’s hit list. PTSD kicks in, sending her into a tailspin. It doesn’t help that she lives on an illegal cannabis farm and that her estranged mother has just arrived. Even the police officer’s widow points a finger at the writer, claiming she was a distraction, and the police department knew it.
Lurking on the fringes is a man who stopped briefly at the crime. Good Samaritan or sinister suspect? For her safety, Zoey needs to find out.
Genre: Suspense Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: September 9, 2025 (ebook) Number of Pages: 266 (paperback) ISBN: 979-8-89820-027-5 (paperback)
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My Mini Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
CRIME WRITER by Vinnie Hansen is an immersive crime thriller where the reader knows who the killer is and what he is doing to cover his tracks, but the interest, twists, and action are all centered around the protagonist, a crime writer and musician named Zoey Kozinski.
The red-headed and feisty Zoey witnesses the murder of the police officer she is doing a ride-along with during a routine traffic stop. The killer knows there is a witness and the drug trafficker he works for tells him he must eliminate her. With PTSD from the incident, the arrival of her estranged mother she has been hiding from, the cop’s widow who blames Zoey and wants revenge, and a man who appeared at the scene of the crime and keeps popping up in her life, Zoey needs to unravel what is happening and who to trust before she ends up dead.
This story starts out appearing to be very straight forward, but the more you learn, the more twisted and anxiety inducing the story becomes. Zoey is interesting and Ms. Hansen’s writing brings her to life with all her problems. The ending was not what I was expecting, but it is satisfying. For me, this was an interesting change in perspective from the usual crime thriller/police procedural mystery.
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Excerpt
One
Day 1 – early evening
Heat from the Mobile Data Transmitter radiated onto Zoey Kozinski’s arm. The interior of the patrol car cooked, muggy and close. September brought the hottest weather to the central coast of California, anxiety about fires flaring as the oak leaves curled and undergrowth crisped. Thankfully, Officer Austin kept the windows of the patrol car open even as the sun started to set.
“Must be boiling with your vest.”
“Better to sweat than bleed.” Austin’s profile was sharp angles, pointed nose, strong chin.
“How much does that thing weigh?” Zoey already knew, but the officer didn’t seem talkative. She needed to crack the façade and dig out some grist to apply to Officer Horne, the character in her book. Her stalled, barely-started book.
“Six pounds.”
Officer Austin rolled along Scenic Drive, a main thoroughfare through Playa Maria County. Zoey wished they could listen to music, something to go with driving on a sultry evening, maybe Ella Fitzgerald’s “Summertime.” Instead, the police radio spat information, filling awkward silence. Zoey jotted down that a list of stolen cars was tucked on the left side of his dash. She’d chosen a night shift, hoping for a modicum of action but nothing on the radio stirred Austin’s interest.
“How do you feel about ride-alongs?” She flipped her legal pad and the printed-out opening pages of her manuscript winged to the floor. All two of them. A whopping three hundred ten words. She bent down to retrieve them.
“It’s part of our Community Policing.” Austin kept his focus forward. “To increase civilian awareness of what police work entails.”
She didn’t bother to write down the canned response.
Austin must be a rookie to receive the crappy assignment of hauling a ride-along, but he didn’t look like one. Silver highlighted his short hair. Older than her fictional Officer Horne. Her protagonist Horne should be young, freshly free of his training wheels, a more credible character to rush toward a terrible mistake after witnessing the shooting of a fellow officer.
In the margin of the legal pad, she scribbled: A hot-head. Temper=hubris. Too eager to prove himself?
Then she wrote Stan and put a question mark after it. The name of the murdered officer in her manuscript had appeared in a magician’s puff of smoke, typed by her fingers before she was conscious of a choice. Not a common name for guys of her generation, the lost kids born between Generation X and the Millennials. The name had merit—easy to pronounce, but not overly used. Why had it popped into her head?
She slipped her pen through her tangle of red hair and scratched her scalp.
Austin shot her a glance, maybe thinking she didn’t know she was using the ink end.
“Writing off the top of your head?”
She smiled slightly. Witty for a police officer.
He quirked a brow. “Making headlines?” His tone was dry. No smile. Was he being funny or busting her balls?
Zoey tapped the legal pad. Her next question wasn’t on it, but Austin’s age and his quips begged for it.
“What did you do before becoming a law enforcement officer?”
Long fingers curled around the wheel, maneuvering the vehicle through the rush-hour clog of Scenic Drive. He scanned the lanes of traffic and sidewalks long enough that she thought he wasn’t going to answer.
“I was a teacher.”
“Really?” Her voice squeaked with unveiled surprise. Heat rose up her face. With her coloring, there was no playing off a blush. When she was a kid, her Grosse Pointe classmates had pinned her with the nickname Tomato.
“High-school history.” In the parking lot, he’d offered a firm handshake and introduced himself formally as Officer Austin, although he’d added with a trace of humor ‘at your service.’ Over six-feet with ropy muscles, he was a bit old for her, maybe forty-five, but a hottie, nonetheless.
“That’s a strange career trajectory.”
“Not really. In both jobs you deal with a lot of young punks.”
As part of the outreach program, he probably was not supposed to refer to members of the community as punks. She was making progress.
“In policing I bet you have more flexibility about how you deal with punks?”
His lip curled, but he didn’t respond.
“So why the career move?”
“In teaching, the more you work, the less you’re paid,” he said. “Police work offers time-and-a-half for overtime. Ten-hour shifts and four-day work weeks. More money and time for my family.”
“Kids?”
“Three.”
She felt a twinge of disappointment. Her sex life had been reduced to her Magic Wand, and Austin wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, so a bit of fantasy had slipped under her normally guarded door. Since she didn’t want a relationship, a hot cop could be the ticket. Married killed that idea.
And three kids! With the world’s exploding population and global climate change, that was self-indulgent. One of her least favorite character flaws—in reality. In fiction, it was a great character flaw.
“My wife’s the one who should have made the career move to cop,” Austin volunteered. “She’s a tiger. Can outshoot me.” He shook his head in admiration.
Another twinge. She had a serious weakness for men who complimented women in absentia.
Zoey touched the cool metal of the AR15 propped in front of the passenger seat. “This is some serious fire power.”
The creases in his uniform lifted infinitesimally, a hint of a shrug. “You should see what they have on the street.”
She ran her finger down her list of questions. Nothing so far had gotten the juices flowing. “What kind of handgun do you carry?”
“Smith & Wesson. Officers with more seniority get Berettas. The most senior officers have Glocks.” Jealousy tinged his voice. “But if you want a better gun, you can buy one. I’m looking at a Glock.”
The crackling voice of dispatch relayed a report of a middle-aged black male dealing drugs in Playa Maria Park.
Austin swung off Scenic onto a street that cut along the seedier edge of downtown, where the homeless population dwarfed the number of university students. He slowed at the park.
Dusk had sifted into darkness, but streetlights illuminated the perimeter of the grass. Young men played basketball in a well-lit court. A lone man leaning against a light pole straightened at the cruiser’s arrival. Austin put the windows up, parked the car, and plucked a wood baton from the base of his door. “Remain in the vehicle.”
Another patrolman rolled up and joined him. She noted details. Suspect’s dreadlocks glisten in bluish light. Tan pants bag around skinny legs.
Austin questioned the man, while the other officer patted him down and dipped into the pockets of his army-fatigue jacket. With the window closed, Zoey sweated.
In the end, the man bumped away and swaggered toward the basketball court.
Talking together, the officers watched him, then turned in the direction of the vehicle. Austin nodded. The other man laughed. They were talking about her. The inside of the cruiser steamed like a sauna. Austin was letting her marinate in a patina of sweat.
Zoey opened the passenger door, which prompted Austin to step toward the cruiser. Before he plopped into his seat, he thunked his baton into its spot.
“I asked the suspect if we could search him and he said no,” he started before Zoey even asked. “But he has a Search Clause.” Austin cleaned his hands with foam sanitizer. “That’s a bargain he made for probation. He relinquished his right to probable cause.”
She scribbled the information. This was good stuff, strengthening her knowledge of the law.
“But you didn’t find anything?”
“Maybe he sold out.”
Dry humor. Deadpan delivery. Her favorite. To curtail a blush, she cast her eyes to the pocket of his door.
“Don’t most officers these days carry whip-batons?”
He gave her a look.
Amazing eyes—way greener than her own. He yanked the baton from its spot and held it across his lap, the top grazing her thigh.
Phallic symbol, for sure. The air inside the car shifted subtly.
“See all those nicks?” he said. “My T.O. gave this to me, said the riff-raff on the street notice the dents. They’re mostly from getting in and out of the car, but hey,” he returned the baton to the door pocket, “they don’t know that.”
He gave his hand a second squirt of the sanitizer. “I tell you one part of this job I don’t like. The grime. You’d have to get up close to appreciate how much that guy . . . how grubby he was.” Austin started the car. “Tell you the truth, I’m more afraid of an accidental needle poke than a gunshot.”
“Was he dealing?”
“I imagine.” Austin put down the windows. Fresh air rushed into the compartment. “He doesn’t have any other means of income.”
The radio called Austin to roust a panhandler near the entrance to the freeway. Civilian complaint. Austin zoomed back up to Scenic. At the intersection before the freeway entrance, he stopped at a red light with the rest of the traffic. The girl panhandling on the median spotted the cruiser, folded her sign, and meandered down the sidewalk.
Austin turned and rolled along the street across from the girl. In spite of a curvaceous figure packed into tight jeans, with her wavy brown hair hitched into pigtails she looked all of fifteen. The girl ignored them.
Zoey twisted toward Austin. “Are you going to stop?”
“She’s not doing anything illegal now. She didn’t even jaywalk.” He sped up. “We got her off the median.”
“Yup. Sure did.” He knew, and she knew, that as soon as they were out of sight, the girl would return to her spot.
How do they negotiate spots? She wrote. First come, first served?
If she asked Austin about the girl—did he know her—what was her story—she sensed he’d blow off the questions. The police department had picked the wrong officer to give ride-alongs. Austin lacked a gregarious, empathetic personality.
Zoey tried to unpack how she’d arrived at this conclusion. Maybe because he’d chosen policing over teaching. Police work had to be more frustrating than high school teaching, certainly less rewarding.
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Author Bio
A Claymore and Silver Falchion finalist, Vinnie Hansen is the author of the Carol Sabala mystery series, the novels LOSTART STREET, ONE GUN, and CRIME WRITER, as well as over seventy published short works.
She is a member of Mystery Writers of American, Sisters in Crime, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society. A retired high-school English teacher, she lives with her husband and the requisite cat in Santa Cruz, CA.
Since her arrest for disobeying orders and going ashore at Iwo Jima almost a decade earlier, combat correspondent Georgette “Dickey” Chapelle has been unmoored. Her military accreditation revoked, her marriage failing, and her savings dwindling, Dickey jumps at the next opportunity. In the aftermath of a an assignment gone wrong, a flame is lit deep inside Dickey—to survive in order to be the world’s witness to war from the front lines.
Never content to report on battles unless her own boots are on the ground, Dickey and her camera journey with American and international soldiers from frozen wastelands to raging seas to luscious jungles, revealing one woman’s extraordinary courage and tenacity in the face of discrimination and danger. And it’s along the way, in Dickey’s desire to save the world, she realizes she might also be saving herself.
At a time when a woman’s heroic spirit often gave way to homeland reality, Dickey blazed a trail for the revolutionary hearts inside us all.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Last Assignment by Erika Robuck delves into the life of a trailblazing woman photojournalist, Georgette “Dickey” Meyer Chapelle, known for her work as a war correspondent from WWII through the Vietnam War. Through the novel, readers will understand her desire to capture the raw, human side of war, and shows her bond with the troops she was embedded with.
The story shows how she was very supportive of the Marines, who considered her a partner. She trained with them and went to war with them. Most of the book centers on her life during the 1950s and 1960s. It starts with her floundering, having her photo credentials revoked from the military because she disobeyed orders while embedded with the troops at Iwo Jima, the battle fought during WWII. She also had her relationship with her live-in partner crumbling and unable to find a job.
Readers take a journey with her feeling that they are amid a war zone whether in Hungary during the Cold War, Cuba during the revolution of Fidel Castro, and Laos, and South Vietnam. There are potent scenes of her time in a Communist prison after being captured while working in Hungary. Her next assignment takes her to Cuba, where she covers the rebels in the Sierra Maestra and witnesses the revolution of Fidel Castro against Batista’s regime. In 1961 she went to Laos and showed the true horrors of what was happening there. After that she was off to Vietnam and knew that she needed to show her support for the soldiers there.
She wanted to be known as the person who would document the realities of war. She often put herself in danger to make sure that Americans could see what was going on in war zones. Robuck does a wonderful job of showing how Dickey would risk everything to uncover the truth.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Do you have any military influences?
Erika Robuck: I have grown up around the military. My father-in-law served in the Army in Vietnam. I have always been interested in that area, ever since I was a teenager. There were a lot of movies that came out around that time. Living in Annapolis I am around the Naval Academy. My grandfather was in the Navy. I was always immersed in the world of the military. A lot of my most recent fictions have been about women involved in the world of military intelligence.
EC: Why write about Georgette “Dickey” Meyer Chapelle?
ER: I was looking through a photograph book of Vietnam where I discovered her pictures and then learned about her personal story. I think of this book as historical fiction or bio fiction where the story is very close to the truth. It has facts but I make up the dialogue. Plus, I sometimes consolidate characters.
EC: Why the setting of Hungary, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam?
ER: She served in seven conflicts. I chose those that were united in theme. The more research I did, the Cold War became the subject of personal fascination. The time, 1955 to 1965, had the most significant conflicts where she had the deepest relationships and the highest stakes.
EC: Do you think she supported American troops?
ER: Yes, I have this book quote, “American men are dying for the protestors right to free speech and democracy, yet they villainize them.” They are doing it to make sure Americans can retain their freedom. We are spoiled where we are. It is easy to comment when people enjoy their coffee while at their computer.
EC: Why did Dickey become a photojournalist of war zones?
ER: Freedom was an important theme within her philosophy. She was willing to go into very dangerous situations. She wanted to be the eyes and ears of the people so they could understand what was happening. She wanted to see it herself and was always looking for the pictures that showed the collateral of war.
EC: Was she a complex character?
ER: She had a pacifist upbringing but supported the troops and photographed war. My thoughts are that her thirst for adventure was a sort of rebellion as a young person in her pacifist household.
EC: How would you describe her?
ER: She was an optimist, risk taker, courageous, resilient, had self-doubt, gutsy, restless, impulsive, and sometimes she did not think through what she was doing. She was very hopeful.
EC: What role did Tony play in her life?
ER: He taught her about photography. He saw the glamor in her and drew out her feminine side. She came into herself as a woman, an awakening in the early years of their relationship.
EC: Was she affected by being arrested for disobeying the order in Iwo Jima?
ER: It wounded her. Because she did not respect the chain of command she got cut off and had to face the consequences when she lost her military credentials. This was a period of real darkness for her. She learned that if she went into combat, she had to follow the rules.
EC: After she was captured in Eastern Europe, did it make an impact on her?
ER: She was tortured, interrogated, put in solitary confinement, and threated with death daily. She lost a large amount of weight. This fueled her fire to fight for democracy even more after her experience in a Communist prison. This why she wanted to go to regions where they fought Communism.
EC: What do you want readers to get out of the story?
ER: She also lived in New York where she led the glamourous life, between conflicts. People can learn a lot about the human conditions through her. Going into these places with her was like traveling with Forest Gump.
EC: Next book?
ER: I am writing a woman in intelligence military history.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for HER COLD HEART (Detective Delaney Pace Book #6) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour blog post.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
As snow falls over the small town of Kearny, the body of a young woman lies on the frozen ground. Her unblinking eyes stare out across the mountain top, and a wave of crimson-red blood seeps into the white blanket where she rests.
When residents discover a body on the slopes of a popular ski resort, DetectiveDelaney Pace and Sheriff Leo Palmer are first to investigate. Delaney scans her surroundings, and among the panic-stricken crowd she spots a man fleeing through the trees.
Delaney and Leo race after the suspect, following the tracks he left in his wake. But when the pair are separated, Delaney makes a heart-stopping discovery: a make-shift graveyard at an abandoned lodge deep in the forest. Immediately she knows there are more victims—and Leo’s radio has gone dead…
With the sheriff missing and the risk of more lives being taken, Delaney works fast to capture the twisted killer. But her mission grinds to a halt when a ghost from her past sends her a chilling message: Do as I say, if you want to see Leo again.
Desperate to save the man she loves, Delaney faces the shocking realisation that this whole thing was planned. She knows who’s responsible—and how dangerous they are. If she follows the orders she could lose her life, but if she doesn’t, she could lose Leo. Will she catch the killer in time? Or will she pay the ultimate price?
HER COLD HEART (Detective Delaney Pace Book #6) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that is full of action and twists. This is the sixth book in the series, and I could not put it down. I would recommend reading this series in order because the characters’ personal lives, growth, and histories play a large part in each book.
Detective Delaney Pace and Sheriff Leo Palmer are out enjoying the slopes with their family. As they are getting off the ski lift at the top of the run, a shot rings out and the young women behind Delaney is shot and killed. Delaney and Leo race after the suspect described by a witness.
A snow mobile chase ensues, and Delaney and Leo separate. When Delaney returns for Leo’s help, she cannot find him anywhere. As she traces his tracks, she discovers he was in an accident and then taken by the suspects they were chasing. She is sent a proof of life video and is told she must follow all orders she receives to get Leo back alive.
Delaney must risk everything as she goes up against dangerous ghosts from her past who want both dead.
This is such a fast paced, thrill ride of a new book in this series. After six books, I care about all the characters and I just feel like I am catching up with old friends, and when they are in danger, I read as fast as I can and pray all ends well. The danger, mysteries, and plot twists come fast in this story as Delaney works to save Leo and herself.
I highly recommend this emotional, action-packed thriller/police procedural addition to this series and cannot wait for more!
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About the Author
USA Today bestselling and Silver Falchion Best Mystery winning mystery/thriller/suspense author (and recovering attorney and investigator) who splits time between an off-the-grid lodge on the face of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains and a rustic cabin on Maine’s Lake Mooselookmeguntic with her husband, kids and grandkids, rescue pets and sled dog, and draft cross horses.
Writes for Bookouture and independently.
Host of Crime & Wine: Novelist Chats with Pamela Fagan Hutchins.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for SHATTERED PEACE: A Century of Silence by Julie McDonald Zander on this Black Coffee Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
A forgotten diary. A century-old secret. A town still haunted by its past.
When former Navy Seabee Colleen Holmes inherits an old house in Centralia, Washington, she sees it as a chance to escape her own ghosts and start anew. But as she peels back layers of history within the home’s walls, she unearths long-buried secrets tied to a dark chapter in the town’s history.
Hidden behind crumbling plaster, a faded diary and a bundle of love letters unveil the struggles of a soldier trapped in the trenches of France and the heartbreak of those left waiting at home. Yet the diary’s brittle pages hold more than just longing—they bear witness to the explosive events of November 11, 1919, when a parade meant to celebrate peace erupted into violence and bloodshed.
As Colleen pieces together the tragic choices that shattered lives and fractured a town, she realizes history is never truly buried. The wounds of yesterday still shape today, and the past is not done with her yet.
Inspired by true events, Shattered Peace is a gripping time-slip novel of love, loss, and the echoes of history that refuse to fade. Perfect for fans of The Alice Network and The Girl You Left Behind, this haunting tale of resilience, redemption, and the pursuit of truth will linger long after the final page.
Triggers: It contains references to date rape, war violence, post-traumatic stress disorder, and faith and redemption.
SHATTERED PEACE: A Century of Silence by Julie McDonald Zander is an emotional dual timeline historical novel that is both compelling and action packed. The present-day timeline features an Iraq war veteran dealing with past trauma, a broken relationship, and PTSD from her service, while the historical timeline from 1918-19 follows two families as they deal with WWI, the Spanish flu pandemic, and a bloody clash between labor and returned WWI veterans called the Centralia Tragedy. This is a profound story by a new-to-me author that I could not stop reading.
Colleen Holmes is a former Navy Seabee who is gifted the family generational home in Centralia, Washington from her grandmother. She is grateful for the change of location and looks forward to the remodeling work to take her mind off her broken engagement and ghosts of her past. As she pulls down walls, she discovers a journal and letters hidden in the wall left there by her great grandmother that are exchanges with her fiancée fighting in France during WWI, and later her writing tells of his return and the terrible events between lumber workers, Wobblies, trying to unionize and the returned WWI veterans who believe they are communists which culminates with both sides hatred into the 1919 Centralia Tragedy on the anniversary of Armistice Day.
As Colleen is reading about the past, she discovers that the past is never truly buried, and it flows over into her present. Will discovering the facts in the past show her a way to her own redemption?
I was truly not expecting this historical fiction to move me as much as it did. The veterans of any war suffering PTSD have it manifest in their lives in so many ways and both Colleen and her distant relative, Michael, demonstrate this in their lives. This leads to so much trauma and hatred that this author dealt with from the beginning to the ultimate climax and resolution. The division and hatred between the Wobblies and the WWI veterans in this story mirror so many similar divisions in our history, even now, and it appears we just never seem to learn. There is also the trauma of Colleen losing her mother and brother in a car accident that she believes is her fault, and the date rape admissions in the story that demonstrate other forms of PTSD and the strength of forgiveness. This book is an emotional powerhouse.
I highly recommend this moving historical fiction.
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About the Author
Julie McDonald Zander, an award-winning journalist, earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science from the University of Washington before working two decades as a newspaper reporter and editor. Through her personal history company, Chapters of Life, she has published more than 75 individual, family, and community histories. Her debut novel, The Reluctant Pioneer, won a Will Rogers Medallion and was a finalist for the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award for Best Historical Novel. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest, where they raised their two children.
It’s 10 p.m. on a Thursday in the spring of her freshman year of college, and April is standing at the back of a crowded Manhattan bar waiting for her friend, Rudy, to arrive. Their eyes lock the moment he enters the room, and in an instant, lives and legacies are altered forever.
Within hours, Rudy is arrested. Within days, April is expelled. Within weeks, he’s incarcerated. And within months, she meets Peter, a prodigious young attorney who makes her world recognizable again.
Nearly fifteen years later, April is happily living in Chicago married to Peter, a mother of three with a fulfilling career and standing yoga date with her girlfriends. On the eve of Peter’s election for local office, Rudy is up for parole. Headlines explode about April’s past, jeopardizing Peter’s campaign and everything they hold dear. Suddenly, April is faced with an impossible choice: protecting the life she created, or the person who sacrificed everything to make that life a possibility. Such Good People is a captivating portrait of blurred lines, divided loyalties, and what it means to love purely, steadfastly, and interminably.
SUCH GOOD PEOPLE by Amy Blumenfeld is a character driven fiction novel featuring two friends who have their lives changed in an instant and the emotional ripple effects it has on their lives and their families’ lives. This is not the usual type of book I read, but I found the description so intriguing that I gave it a try and I am glad that I did. I will be thinking of these characters well past the closing of this book.
April and Rudy have been friends for their entire childhood and when you see one, you see the other. Their families are close and celebrate many milestones as one unit.
They are separated for the first time when April goes off to college and Rudy is left at home working with his father and at the local bagel store. It is a huge adjustment, but April asks Rudy to visit to include him in her new life. When Rudy meets her after an event in a Manhattan bar, both their lives are changed forever in an instant.
For thirteen years, one life moves forward while the other is on hold. There is so much heartache and guilt not just personally, but also in the connected families. How can April cling to her new life without sacrificing her lifelong friend?
This book looks at family and friendship in a way that pulls you into the main characters’ lives so completely and immerses the reader in their story. Life in this story is messy, but it is believable in its portrayal of friendship, love, family, and forgiveness that are all intertwined. The characters and their behaviors and reactions are the focus of this story, but I also found the legal system portrayed in this story realistic and disheartening.
I recommend this moving friendship fiction novel and if you are like me, you will be thinking of these characters and their choices well into the future.
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About the Author
Amy Blumenfeld grew up in Queens, New York. She is a graduate of Barnard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she received the James A. Wechsler Award for national reporting. Her essays and articles have appeared on the cover of People, in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, O, The Oprah Magazine, as well in George where she worked as a staff editor and writer. Amy’s debut novel, The Cast, was selected as a New York Post Best Book of the Week and named Winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award in Popular Fiction. She has also been a contributing author to a best-selling anthology and two non-fiction books. Amy lives in New York with her husband and daughter.
