Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE HIDDEN LETTER AT BLUEBELL FARM (Wildflower Secrets Book #3) by Rebecca Alexander on this Bookouture Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
Book Description
Arriving at Bluebell Farm in the English countryside, historian Tasha has never felt more alone. Her twins have left for university, her marriage is over, and she’s said goodbye to the place she thought would always be her home. Exploring the tumbledown farm and striking up a friendship with elderly Maud, whose prickly exterior masks a warm heart, offers the distraction Tasha desperately needs.
Together with Ryan, a silver-haired, motorbike-riding archaeologist, Tasha digs into the farm’s history. Soon she finds faded photographs and a sealed, yellowing letter that calls to her. But Maud’s eyes fill with tears as she insists the long-lost letter must never be opened. Could it be from Maud’s father, who went missing after the Second World War?
Intrigued by the stories hidden behind Maud’s sharp blue eyes, Tasha and Ryan unearth a heart-wrenching secret. Maud’s father’s disappearance is not the only mystery hidden on this farm. If Maud reads the letter after all these years, will it reveal all?
And with Maud’s encouragement,can Tasha have a second chance at love with kind-hearted Ryan? Or will the heartache in their own pasts keep them apart?
THE HIDDEN LETTER AT BLUEBELL FARM (Wildflower Secrets Book #3) by Rebecca Alexander is an emotionally gripping, heartbreaking, and wonderful dual timeline historical fiction/women’s fiction addition to the Wildflower Secrets series. This book, like the others in the series, are easily read as standalones with the location of Dartmoor, England being the main linkage between all the books with minimal story content crossover.
Bluebell Farm in the farming community of Dartmoor is the setting of both timelines. The main character of both timelines is Maud. She is a young girl during WWII as she lives and works on her family’s farm in the historical timeline starting in the 1940s. She is a 95-year-old woman in the present-day timeline when The National Trust buys her farmhouse, barn, and land for historical preservation.
Tasha is a divorced mother of grown twins who is searching for a change. She decides to take the assignment of staying on Bluebell Farm to catalogue and restore historical finds. At first, Tasha finds Maud brusk and secretive, but as she works to understand and help Maud, the two become closer and Tasha feels responsible for Maud. But Maud’s secrets from her early years on the farm begin to surface. The boy and then man she could never have and all she had to endure over the years comes to light.
Keep the tissues close for this one. Maud is a character I will remember for a long time to come. Her strength and perseverance were amazing, and she is more than just an assignment to Tasha. All the stories in this series are emotional but having had a grandma who lived to be 102, this one got to me personally. A well written story with a memorable main protagonist and blend of two plotlines that kept me turning the pages to the very end.
I highly recommend this inspiring historical fiction/women’s fiction dual timeline story!
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About the Author
Rebecca Alexander was born in Malta and grew up on the south coast of England, becoming a psychologist. She escaped parenting six children to study writing in 2011, and the Secrets series of novels was published in 2013. A Baby’s Bones and sequel followed. Rebecca lives in a haunted 300-year-old cottage in Devon where she grows fruit, paints, and bakes. She reads and writes all sorts of genres, from women’s fiction to fantasy to crime. She is married with four chickens, two grandchildren and a cat.
On a brisk February morning while walking to the diner where she works, 24 year-old Ruth Foster is stopped by the local sheriff. He insists she accompany him to a health clinic, threatening to arrest her if she doesn’t undergo testing in order to preserve decency and prevent the spread of sexual disease.
Though Ruth has never shared more than a chaste kiss with a man, by day’s end she is one of dozens of women held at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Some are there because they were reported for promiscuity by neighbors, husbands, strangers. Some were accused of prostitution. Others were just pretty and unmarried. Or poor and “suspicious.” One was eating dinner alone in a restaurant. Another spoke to a soldier.
Josephine’s sin was running a business as a single woman. Maude’s was trying to drown her sorrows. Frances had lost her mind. Opal married a man with a mean streak. Some, like 15-year-old Stella, are brought in because they’re victims of assault. She’s too naive and broken to understand how unjust this imprisonment is.
Superintendent Dorothy Baker, convinced that she’s transforming degenerate souls into upstanding members of society, oversees the women’s medical treatment and “training” until they’re deemed ready for parole. Sooner or later, everyone at the Colony learns to abide by Mrs. Baker’s rule book or face the consequences—solitary confinement, grueling work assignments, and worse.
But some refuse to be cowed. Some find ways to fight back – at any cost…
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Elise’s Thoughts
Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart is a compelling and fascinating read. This historical fiction sheds light on a lesser-known subject of how women were wrongly imprisoned. There are vivid scenes and compelling characters who fought their injustice with determination.
The story was told from multiple points of view: two of the girls, Ruth Foster and Stella Temple, as well as the Superintendent Dorothy Baker. This allows readers to get an understanding of the situation of the girls.
Women were picked up, sent to the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women, and subjected to involuntary medical treatment for venereal disease. One of those women was twenty-four-year-old Ruth Foster who was on her way to work and seized by the sheriff for looking suspicious. She was forced to remain in the custody of a reform colony where she underwent horrendous isolation and shots that made her sick. She witnessed group punishment that she refused to take part in and was then put in solitary confinement for disobedience.
Another girl, fifteen-year-old Stella Temple found herself at the colony after her parents realized she was pregnant. While there she was involuntarily sterilized. Even with all that she still sees the colony as a refuge and something better than she had while living with her parents since she has a bed, clothing, and food.
Dorothy Baker is the superintendent of the colony. Although she thinks she is doing the right thing in helping the girls, readers see how she never tolerates anyone who protests. If the girls break the rules, they face sadistic and cruel punishment. If they try to run away, they are sent to the meditation room where they are given only scraps of food, a bucket to dispose of their humanly waste, and are isolated.
This book is riveting and will keep readers turning the pages. People will take the journey with the characters, cheering for Ruth as she exhibits courageous behavior and weeping for Stella as she is forced to confront what happened to herself. They will despise Mrs. Baker for her corporal punishment techniques. The twists and turns as well as the surprise ending add to the intensity of the story where readers will be on the edge of their seats.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?
Donna Everhart: I write southern historical fiction. This is about some sterilization but more importantly the mass incarceration of women. I have not thought of my books as historical fiction, but they do fall into that category. At first, I thought about writing on reform schools for girls in the state of North Carolina. When I landed on farm colonies and the mass incarceration of women the story unfolded. Even though the story is fictional most of what took place happened.
EC: Were Samarcand and the Colony true?
DE: They were each an hour from me in opposite directions. I read this book, Bad Girls at Samarcand: Sexuality and Sterilization in A Southern Juvenile Reformatory by Karin L. Zipf, which was a resource for me. The goal was to combat the spread of venereal disease. Any woman could by arrested within a five-mile radius of a military base. If the woman was found infected, they could be sentenced to a farm colony to be cured. After learning about the Chamberlain-Kahn Act, the American Plan, I discovered that some girls sent to these reform schools operated as very young prostitutes. Another resource was a non-fiction book by Scott W. Stern, The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, Surveillance, and the Decades-Long Plan to Imprison Promiscuous Women.
EC: What was true?
DE: The meditation room where Ruth was placed was true: dingy, not enough food, had to pee in a bucket. They were able to run the colony through slave labor. I have four books that were actual biennial reports of that time that went to the North Carolina Governor. There was a board of directors, a superintendent, on site psychologists, a medical director, as in my book. The fires in the farm colonies dormitories are true.
EC: Was Ruth Foster based on Nina McCall?
DE: Yes, loosely based. Nina was walking to the post office and picked up, while in my book Ruth was walking to work and picked up. ‘Walking while beautiful’ was the thinking of the time to pick up a woman. Ruth Foster was beautiful. She was put in the Colony because she supposedly had a positive test for VD. But like Covid, there were a lot of false positives. She represented those women who had to have treatment for no reason and this treatment was debilitating. She also represented how the women were deprogrammed, structuring the way they thought and lived. They wanted to break Ruth down and then build her up in the name of reform. Nina McCall, as with Ruth, were shamed into subjecting themselves to get the physical exam and found to have VD and sent off. Ruth represents the innocent women who were surveilled, picked up, forced to undergo an evasive exam, and put into a facility, locked up, without due process.
EC: How would you describe Ruth?
DE: Ruth had a high IQ, independent, confident, stubborn, and a non-conformist. They tried to break her and make her docile. She was smart and savvy.
EC: How would you describe Stella?
DE: Stella had a very high IQ, with a photogenic mind. She was obedient, innocent, invincible-like, goes along to get along, and a tattletale. Stella had an abusive father and became submissive. She wanted to fit in but became elusive and stayed to herself. She contrasts with Ruth because Stella felt at the Colony she was saved. I hope readers ask given her circumstances was Stella better off at the Colony, was it a haven for her?
EC: What about Mrs. Baker?
DE: She was a strict disciplinarian, abrupt, calculating, manipulating, rigid, aloof, and abusive. She believed in what she was doing, helping these women. She wanted to teach them to learn to read and write, cook, can, and clean. Baker thought she was a savior to these women. I consider her a fascinating character. I think she is a product of her time. All the real superintendents of the farm colonies were like Baker. They wanted to break the girls’ spirits.
EC: You had this quote in the author’s notes: “This is the story of women held against their will without due process. But it is also the story of women who believed what they were doing was for the greater good.” Did you want readers to understand Mrs. Baker?
DE: Yes, I did. Some do and some don’t. Some thought she had no redeeming qualities and some readers sympathized with her. I wanted readers to be conflicted about her. I thought Baker had some redeeming qualities.
EC: What about Baker’s assistant Mrs. Maynard?
DE: She was a sadist, mean, and hateful. I fashioned her after the nun in the ‘Yellowstone series.’ There was a nun who was perverse. Mrs. Maynard got off in whipping these girls.
EC: What about the letters the girls like Ruth were forced to write?
DE: In Mrs. Baker’s mind she wanted to coerce the board into giving more money to expand the colony. The letters showed what a successful program she was running. She wants to control Ruth, but Ruth was not going to lie, to write something to help Baker. This infuriated her. This is where Ruth’s strength, non-conformity, and independence come in. Baker saw Ruth as a troublemaker and was intimidated by Ruth who saw things were not right. Ruth and Baker butt heads. Ruth could not be persuaded to fold as a lawn chair.
EC: What do you want readers to get out of this book?
DE: Good entertainment. But also, an awareness that this really happened. I hope it creates discussions. This is such an important story.
EC: Next book?
DE: I am working on another book, no title yet. The plot has an elderly woman who gets displaced with eminent domain. This will probably come out in January 2028.
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 of FOR THE HONOR OF THE AGENCY (The Honor Trilogy Book #1) by Andrew J. Harvey on this Black Phoenix 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
Newly appointed to the Cross-Temporal Empire’s Department of Agriculture and Food, Margaret Peric quickly discovers her role is far more dangerous than she ever imagined. When an ex-employee is nearly killed trying to expose a genetically engineered crop blight, Margaret and her bodyguard, Jade Carvello, uncover a trail of eco-terrorism, corruption—and something far more sinister.
While Margaret faces bureaucratic sabotage and growing political unrest, Jade’s own investigation leads her into the orbit of Carlos Babineaux—a charming anarchist with a secret agenda and a dangerously kissable French accent. Their relationship threatens both Jade’s mission and her loyalty to the powerful Rucker’s Agency.
As conspiracies unravel across alternate Earths, and a child’s life hangs in the balance, Margaret must defy her own government to protect those she loves, and somehow must track down her missing sister for her mother. Meanwhile, Jade and Carlos risk everything on a river journey through hostile territory, where betrayal could come from either side.
FOR THE HONOR OF THE AGENCY (The Honor Trilogy Book #1) by Andrew J. Harvey is an exciting first book in a new sci-fi trilogy that contains plenty of twists, thrills, romance, and political intrigue all set in a multiverse where every decision can change the fate of humanity. While I do not usually pick up a sci-fi book, this one has so many elements of other genres, that it kept me thoroughly engaged and turning the pages.
On an alternate Earth, this story takes place primarily on the Mainline and is controlled by the Cross-Temporal Empire. Former soldier and sister in-law to the First Leader, Margaret Peric, has been appointed the head of the Department of Agriculture and Food. She is approached by Markus Ackov, who has been fired and has an attempt made on his life when he discovers a conspiracy to kill the world’s crops with a biologically engineered crop blight.
Jade Carvello is Margaret’s bodyguard and works for the private security firm, The Rucker’s. Even though Margaret’s protection is a job, they become close and Margaret considers her a friend and the only one she can trust to investigate the threat of the Anarchists and possible enemies within her own department. Jade infiltrates the anarchists and cannot resist the chemistry that sparks between herself and Carlos Babineaux, a French-Canadian anarchist that puts her investigation and personal integrity at risk.
These two plotlines weave together is an exciting, suspenseful, and fast paced sci-fi multiverse story that pulled me right into the intrigue, romance, and worldbuilding. The twists throughout kept me guessing and turning the pages. I will admit difficulty and frustration with all the multitude of locations and multiverses layer names which occasionally pushed me out of the thrilling character focused plotlines themselves, but the characters are very well developed and with them as a focus, I could not put this book down.
Overall, I highly recommend this wonderful start to this trilogy, and I am looking forward to the next book in the Honor Trilogy.
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About the Author
Andrew spent his high-school years in the school’s library lost in the worlds of Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov. Reading in turn led to writing, with the first draft of The Portal Adventures originally completed to read to his two sons at night. Now his children have left home he lives in Perth with his wife, one dog, and sixty four gold fish.
Andrew is presently the Principal of Hague Publishing, established in 2011 as an independent publisher of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Registered in Western Australia, it publishes original work by Australian and New Zealand authors.
Andrew’s first published short story (A Messenger to the Dragon) appeared in Aurealis – Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1992. His most recent was the award winning 1827: Napoleon in Australia, which appeared in Sea Lion Press’ anthology Alternate Australias released in 2020.
His first novel, Nightfall (book one in the Clemhorn Trilogy) is an adult, alternate history set against the backdrop of the Cross-Temporal Empire and its fifty-four separate lines. Nightfall was released by Zmok Books in 2019. The series is distributed by Simon and Schuster.
Trouble on Teral and Crisis at Calista Station, the first two books in his new middle-grade, Science Fiction adventure series, The Portal Adventures, were released by Canada’s Peasantry Press in 2020. The open ended series is a combination of Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Mysteries and Andre Norton’s juvenile speculative fiction.
A passionate reader of Alternate History Andrew is working on completing a number of additional series of trilogies based on the Cross-Temporal Empire.
When Chad Young moves home, it’s not a decision he makes lightly. A former military man, he doesn’t make any decision lightly. But his father’s passing has left the family—and their business—reeling. Now more than ever, they need to stick together.
Britt Starkweather moved to Maine with her boyfriend, never imagining he’d abandon her there. With no money and nowhere to go, she accepts the Youngs’ offer of a job and room on their property. What more does she have to lose?
Although they just met, Chad makes Britt feel safe in a way no one has before. And she makes him feel things he’d given up on finding. But even as they grow closer, Britt realizes that something is amiss at Lobster Cove…and Chad will do whatever it takes to keep her safe.
THE SOLDIER (Alpha Cove Book #1) by Susan Stoker is a satisfying classic romance with suspense elements set in small-town Maine. Each book features an ex-military brother who have all returned to their hometown to assist their mother in the family businesses after the death of their father.
Evelyn Young is excited about the return of all her sons and the first to come home is the second oldest of the four, Chad who was an Army sniper, and is the most invested in taking over all his father’s work in the running of Lobster Cove. As Chad makes a run for lumber in town, he witnesses the humiliation of a woman who appears to be hanging on by a thread.
Britt Starkweather moved to Maine with her boyfriend who abandoned her after not immediately finding a job and home. With barely any money she is living in her car until Chad Young comes along and offers her a job and a place to live on the family property. She is worried about the offer at first, but Chad’s mother pulls her under her wing and Chad watches Britt put in more than her fair share of work while also helping his mother.
Britt feels safe with Chad and Chad is beginning to believe he has found something with Britt he has never felt before. As Britt takes on more responsibilities, she discovers discrepancies in invoices at the auto shop. When she tells Chad, he realizes something is very wrong at Lobster Cove and he will do anything to protect both his mother and Britt with the help of his brothers.
I was excited to read this first book in this new series. I enjoyed the sexy romance which is steamy but not gratuitous, meeting each of the Young brothers and their mother, and the Maine setting. This is an easy to read, quick to fall in love, sexy romance with an element of suspense that kept me turning the pages. I am looking forward to following Britt and Chad in the future books, as well as Evelyn, Chad’s mother, who turned out to be a feisty character. Next brother, please.
I recommend this sexy romance and look forward to the rest in this Alpha Cove series.
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About the Author
New York Times, USA Today, #1 Amazon Bestseller, and #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Susan Stoker has spent the last twenty-three years living in Missouri, California, Colorado, Indiana, Texas, and Tennessee and is currently living in the wilds of Maine. She’s married to a retired Army man (and current firefighter/EMT) who now gets to follow her around the country.
She debuted her first series in 2014 and quickly followed that up with the SEAL of Protection Series, which solidified her love of writing and creating stories readers can get lost in.
The Harper and the Wells families have regarded each other with deep suspicion for four generations. The Harpers have been known to offer their psychic talents for less-than-legal purposes, and the powerful Wells clan has a reputation for playing both sides of the street. But for all the years of history and distrust between them, there is a mysterious pact binding the two. They share the responsibility for protecting a long-buried and very dangerous secret.
Sophy Harper and Luke Wells are shocked to learn that her aunt and his uncle have been sleeping together—and now they are both missing. Not only that, but the last traces of them are at the scene of a murder soaked in negative paranormal energy. Clearly, someone is willing to kill to obtain the secret their families have been charged with protecting. Despite their mutual distrust, which, as far as Sophy is concerned extends to Luke’s hellhound of a dog, they both know that the terms of the pact must be honored.
Their investigation uncovers a psychic trail leading to a bizarre desert art colony where nothing is as it seems. But Luke and Sophy are concealing a few secrets, too. By a strange twist of fate, a Harper and a Wells have no choice but to trust each other and the fierce attraction that is binding them as surely as the pact between the families.
THE SHOP ON HIDDEN LANE by Jayne Ann Krentz is hopefully the start of a new romantic suspense/paranormal series in the Jayneverse featuring two generational psychic families, the Harpers and the Wells, suspicious of each other but tied by a pact protecting a long-buried secret. If you love the other psychic/paranormal series in the Jayneverse, you will be excited for this new set of characters in present day Fogg Lake.
Sophie Harper is not happy about Luke Wells showing up to hire her to psychically read and clean a crime scene for him. When Sophie discovers her missing aunt and Luke’s missing uncle are together, they reluctantly pair up to find them. Sophie’s ability to read past crime scenes and Luke’s ability to connect seemingly random dots in a problem are perfect for the hunt as well as the nose of Luke’s dog, Bruce.
This story brings together supernatural elements from several past books and series from the Jayneverse; the Arcane Society, the Bluestone Project, and the disaster at Fogg Lake. Sophie and Luke, like many couples in Jayne’s books, seem to be completely incompatible, but are actually perfect for each other. The dialogue is always entertaining with Sophie’s sass and Luke’s low-key wit. While I wait for the next dustbunny in Harmony, I was excited to meet Bruce and look forward to discovering more about his past and current abilities. The suspense plot is full of twists, surprises, and comes to a satisfying conclusion.
I am always happy to curl up with and disappear into a Jayne Ann Krentz book. I know the crime will be solved and two disparate souls will find their perfect match. I highly recommend this new book in the Jayneverse and cannot wait for more.
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About the Author
Jayne Ann Krentz is the author of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers. She has written contemporary romantic suspense novels under that name and futuristic and historical romance novels under the pseudonyms Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick, respectively. Jayne currently lives in Seattle, WA.
Art historian Mia is running out of time to prove her theory that the sculptor of an unearthed erotic statue was a courtesan erased from history—a scandal no one will believe. Chasing through Venice, she tracks down hidden details of Sofia, a powerful courtesan who seems to have left a trail of sex-fueled art buried across the city, but Mia’s now being followed, and even her boss might be in on the lie.
Meanwhile, in 1609, Sofia defies Venice’s unfair laws to create illicit art that could ruin her future. Her aspirations to become a great artist go up in flames when her patron’s wife steals her work and threatens her lover.
Four hundred years later, it’s up to Mia to discover the truth, but now she’s uncovered a world of art theft that could leave her ousted—or, worse, right in the crosshairs of the most powerful crime family in Italy, who will stop at nothing to force her to authenticate the famous statue. Mia’s only hope is to prove Sofia’s existence before everyone involved silences them both forever.
THE SECRET COURTESAN by Kerry Chaput is a dual timeline historical fiction novel with an interesting and somewhat unique historical timeline set in Renaissance Italy. I found the historical timeline emotional and fascinating as it pulled me into Sofia’s life, and while the present-day timeline with Mia is interesting regarding her art research, I found the suspense plotline not as compelling or believable.
Dr. Mia Harding is an art historian hired to authenticate a sculpture which she believes is not sculpted by the famous male Renaissance artist it is accredited to, but by a female artist erased by history. The historical timeline has a courtesan named Sofia Rossi, traded to an artist while she has longed her entire life to be an artist, which is not allowed in Renaissance Italy. While both women faced discrimination of a kind in their own timelines, I sincerely felt Sofia’s anguish of not being able to be recognized for what she was born to do and her fight to break the rules; while Mia did face professional discrimination, I never felt she moved forward on her own, but kept feeling sorry for the situation she put herself in. Also, Mia’s romance and run in with people trying to stop her from proving her belief in a female sculptor never hit me as emotionally as Sophia’s story.
I found the research and beautiful emotional writing of Sofia’s story kept me reading this novel to the end and I wish Mia’s present-day story made me feel more. Overall, this is worth the read for the atmosphere, emotion, and history of Sophia’s story, while Mia’s story is not bad, I was hoping for more than an average romantic suspense plot.
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About the Author
Kerry Chaput is a multi-award-winning author inspired by badass women in history. Born in California, she now calls the Pacific Northwest home, where she spends her days hitting the trails, chasing historical rabbit holes, and feeding her addiction to espresso and doggy cuddles.
