#historicalromance – Page 3 – Avonna Loves Genres

Feature Post and Book Review: If a Poem Could Live and Breathe: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt’s First Love by Mary Calvi

Book Description

A fact-based romantic speculative novel about Teddy Roosevelt’s first love, by Mary Calvi, author of Dear George, Dear Mary.

Studded with the real love letters between a young Theodore Roosevelt and Boston beauty Alice Lee—many of them never before published—If a Poem Could Live and Breathe makes vivid what many historians believe to be the pivotal years that made the future president into the man of action that defined his political life, and cemented his legacy.

Cambridge, 1878. The era of the Gilded Age. Alice Lee sets out to break from the norms of her mother’s generation. Women are fighting for educational opportunities and exploring a new sense of intellectual and personal freedom. Native New Yorker, Harvard student Teddy Roosevelt, is on his own journey of discovery, and when they meet, unrelenting currents of love change the trajectory of his life forever.

If a Poem Could Live and Breathe is an indelible portrait of the authenticity of first love, the heartache of loss, and how overcoming the worst of life’s obstacles can push one to greatness never imagined.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60784584-if-a-poem-could-live-and-breathe?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=wZ69vLLdhJ&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

IF A POEM COULD LIVE AND BREATHE: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt’s First Love by Mary Calvi is a speculative historical fiction based on Theodore Roosevelt’s first love and marriage to Alice Lee. This is a beautiful young love story based on actual letters. Set in the Gilded Age, two young people are discovering themselves, their possibilities, and their love.

In 1878, Alice Lee is fighting the strictures of her mother’s generation. It is a time when women are fighting for educational opportunities and intellectual freedom. Alice wants to be able to receive advanced education in the newly opened women’s annex at Harvard, but her mother has other plans for her as she is a beauty many eligible and wealthy young men are interested in.

Harvard student, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt is finding a world of opportunities with his new friends. He has survived a childhood plagued by asthma and has grown into a young man who wills himself to fight through his asthma attacks and enjoy everything life has to offer. When he attends a weekend away with one of his Harvard classmates, he finds himself in the presence of the most beautiful young girl he has ever seen and instantly falls in love for the first time in his life. He is determined to make her fall for him too.

This is such a beautiful story of young, first love. Due to this time in history, societal expectations play a large role in their friendship and then courtship. The book is written in “The Present” with Teddy on his ranch in the Badlands after the death of his wife and “The Past” with their meeting through first year of marriage until Alice’s death. The letters between Alice and Teddy give the readers a look into their relationship with Ms. Calvi giving the readers a well-researched and realistic look at the culture and mores of 1878-1885 New England society. Alice had my heart from the start with her love of education and freedom of choice and that Teddy accepted that in her and stood up for her ideas and beliefs in public made me appreciate him even more. Although Alice and Teddy’s love story was just a short period in his overall lifetime and he refused to discuss it after his return from the Badlands, he honored that relationship in action with the freedom from societal norms he allowed their daughter, Alice.

I highly recommend this bittersweet and yet beautiful young love historical fiction romance.

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About the Author

MARY CALVI is an author of historical fiction. Her upcoming book, IF A POEM COULD LIVE AND BREATHE: A NOVEL OF TEDDY ROOSEVELT’S FIRST LOVE, is based on never-before-published love letters to and from Roosevelt, which Calvi researched and transcribed from the originals. The publication is set for Valentine’s Day 2023 (St. Martin’s Press). Her in-depth research for her debut book, DEAR GEORGE, DEAR MARY: A NOVEL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FIRST LOVE is the basis of a Smithsonian Channel documentary, airing now. Calvi is a 14-time New York Emmy® award-winning journalist, the morning news anchor for WCBS-TV, and national anchor for Inside Edition Weekend.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.marycalvi.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaryCalviTV/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/marycalvitv?lang=en

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/mary-calvi

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Orphans of War by Sylvia Broady

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for ORPHANS OF WAR by Sylvia Broady on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions 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!

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Book Description

Kingston Upon Hull, 1941.

German bombs are raining down on the city. Racing to the nearest air-raid shelter, Charlotte hears an almighty explosion. Her mother’s haberdashery shop has taken a direct hit, reducing the shop to a pile of rubble — and killing her mother outright. Suddenly sixteen-year-old Charlotte is all alone in the world.

But then mysterious Aunt Hilda comes forward — an aunt Charlotte never knew she had — and offers her a home in the sleepy Yorkshire village of Mornington where she runs the local pub with her husband George.

Charlotte doesn’t mind helping out in the pub, but she can’t understand why her Aunt Hilda seems to resent her so. Nor why her mother never revealed she had a sister.

Everything changes when a group of French orphans are brought to live in the big house. Charlotte volunteers to help look after them — and finds a new purpose in life.

Then a band of Free French soldiers is billeted in the village, including a handsome young officer with the deepest brown eyes . . . But Emile has a tragedy in his past — and Charlotte must uncover both his and her own family’s secrets if they are to have a chance of happiness.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62873533-orphans-of-war?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=9TTgRVKegK&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

ORPHANS OF WAR by Sylvia Broady is an emotional YA historical fiction story set in the English countryside during World War II featuring a young protagonist and her tumultuous life during the war years. This is an easily read and engaging standalone book.

Charlotte is a happy sixteen-year-old who assists her mother in her haberdashery shop in the port city of Hull. As the Germans begin bombing England, their city is a prime target with its port and factories. Charlotte’s mother is killed in a raid and their business destroyed. Her father died when she was young, but a mysterious aunt shows up to take her to her home in the country where she works in the pub her aunt and uncle own.

Charlotte finds her uncle and aunt cold and indifferent, but she does not mind the work. When she has been there for a year, county aid workers open a large, abandoned mansion for rescued French orphans. She volunteers and finds she loves working with the children. At the same time a group of Free French soldiers are training on tanks just outside the village and she becomes attracted to a young French officer.

As the war continues, Charlotte finds her purpose in life working with the children and finds young love with Emile before he is sent back to the war. Over the next years of the war, Charlotte will learn many life lessons that will affect her, friends, and family.

I loved reading about Charlotte’s life. This is not a WWII set in the war zone, but a story of a young girl’s life at home in England and how the war affected her life over the five-year period and how much she matured, changed, and found love. All the characters were fully drawn, believable, and memorable. The romance between Charlotte and Emile was realistic. The story deals with family, friendship, hardship and hope during perilous times. Even with the war in the background of the story, it is still full of interesting historical details. I was pulled into Charlotte’s life and story.

I highly recommend this YA historical fiction!

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About the Author

I’m Sylvia. Hull is the city of my birth, but I have lived in the Beverley area for the past 20 years. I have a family in Hull and a family in Australia. Travelling to shores, both near and far, is often on my agenda. What keeps me young at heart? My grandchildren and my zest for life.

Social Media Links

Website: https://sylviabroadyauthor.com/about-me/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SylviaBroadyAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SylviaBroady

Blog Tour: Feature Post and Book Review: Wrong Line, Right Connection by Karina Bartow

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for WRONG LINE, RIGHT CONNECTION by Karina Bartow on the author’s personal blog tour.

Below you will find my author interview, a book description, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Author Interview

Avonna Kershey: How did you get the idea for your story? And why a novella instead of a full length romance?

Karina Bartow: My mom cleaned for a family friend, Mabel, for thirty years, and she became a grandmother to my sister and me. Because of her clever wit and the deep impact she made on my life, I used to tease her that I’d write a book about her one day. She passed away when I was fifteen, but I kept my promise by putting her as a secondary character in the first book I ever wrote, Forgetting My Way Back to You. My writing coach liked her so much, though, that she worked on me for years to write a stand-alone story about her. Eventually, I conceded and used several true aspects of her life—like her career with the telephone company and her real love letters from her husband—to sculpt Wrong Line, Right Connection.

As for the length of it, I didn’t really have a plan for how long it would be. Like with my other books, I try to base it on the feel of where the plot’s going. I’d rather have a reader wishing for more rather than wishing for it to end!

AK: Was there a reason you chose the 1960’s time period and the Kentucky setting?

KB: Yes, I obviously needed a time period when the switchboard was still in service. In truth, the real Mabel worked as an operator around the 1930’s, but not being a history buff, I wasn’t too comfortable with that era. Plus, her character in Forgetting My Way Back to You was ninety when the story was set in 2013, so I had to be true to that.

Louisville was Mabel’s real-life hometown and something she was very proud of, so it was my only choice.

AK: How would you describe Mabel?

KB: In the book and in real life, she’s incredibly witty and a force of nature. She’s her own person and doesn’t compromise who she is for anyone. I gave the fictional version a bit more hesitancy to trust people because she has endured so much. Still, she loves life.

AK: Why did you give Mabel two previous relationships?

KB: Again, that was a true fact about the real Mabel. She was married twice before she met Roy, with her first husband being good but dying young and the second being…well, like No Good Ned in the book.

AK: How would you describe Roy?

KB: He’s very gentle and charming. In some ways, he’s the opposite of Mabel, having a quiet, laid-back demeanor, but he can still surprise you with his wry humor.

AK: The HEA has a mini cliff-hanger until you turn the page to the epilogue. Why did you choose that way of ending your story?

KB: I’ve done that on a few of my books now but in various ways. I don’t want it to become predictable, but I like having suspense up to the very end. Endings always intimidate me, as you want to please the reader without it being anti-climactic, so I enjoy throwing in a twist.

AK: What is your next project?

KB: While I’ve dipped my toes into love stories a bit, I primarily write mysteries. Earlier this year, my second installment of The Unde(a)feted Detective Series, Brother of Interest, came out, so I’ve been working on the follow-up to that. In the meantime, I’m writing a short story that’s a bridge between the two, which will be featured in a podcast sometime in 2023.

My 2018 novel, Forgetting My Way Back to You, which also features Mabel, will be available for $.99 on Kindle September 5-10.

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Book Description

Could a mortifying day on the job end up netting you true love?

When switchboard operator Mabel Jennings reports to work on a Monday in the summer of 1964, she doesn’t have any interest in finding love again. A visitor from Coatesville, Pennsylvania changes that. On a business trip, Roy Stentz calls her station, and his deep yet kind voice intrigues her. She tries to remain professional, but in her smitten state, she connects him to the wrong line…twice, in fact. Finally, Roy invites her out to dinner, saying he wants to see if she’s a better date than an operator.

The haphazard introduction sets an unexpected romance into motion. Going out every night while he’s in town, their bond deepens as they share the tragedies they’ve endured and observe each other’s beautiful qualities. Mabel’s past travails with love, however, hold her back from committing to anything permanent. Will she overcome her reluctance and open her heart to the love calling out to her? Or will she hang up on her chance for happiness?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59593588-wrong-line-right-connection?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=vlJVHgBT65&rank=5

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

WRONG LINE, RIGHT CONNECTION by Karina Bartow is a heartfelt, enjoyable historical romance novella set in 1964 featuring a switchboard operator who has given up on love.

Mabel Jennings is back at the telephone company as a switchboard operator after once again having to earn her own living. She is sharing a house with a close friend and more than happy to be on her own again. She is done with love after losing the first love of her life and then being in an abusive second relationship.

One day on the switchboard, Mabel receives a call for connection from a man with a deep and kind voice. She is so frazzled by her reaction to this man, she accidently transfers him to the wrong line, not once, but twice. Roy Stentz is not put off but intrigued by this operator and asks her out. Roy and Mabel quickly find their relationship is more than either expected, but Mabel’s past relationships may not allow her to believe in love once more.

I really enjoyed this romance. Even though this was a novella, it is packed with interesting characters, plenty of emotion and the HEA in the epilogue. Mabel has lived with several tragedies in her life which made her guarded and yet Roy was able to get her to open up and attempt dating again even as she kept comparing him to the previous two men in her life. The author also did a good job of immersing the reader in the 1960’s time period with the descriptions of the switchboard operators, the types of dates Mabel and Roy went on and the fact that Mabel felt her divorce would stop any man from being interested in her. The secondary characters are all fully drawn and add to the story. The only slight problem I had with this novella was Mabel’s flashbacks to her previous relationships which were necessary to understand her reluctance for another relationship, but they sometimes pulled me out of the flow of the story.

Overall, this is a fast, entertaining romance novella with a memorable heroine.

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Author Bio

Karina Bartow grew up and still lives in Northern Ohio. Though born with Cerebral Palsy, she’s never allowed her disability to define her. Rather, she’s used her experiences to breathe life into characters who have physical limitations, but like her, are determined not to let them stand in the way of the life they want. Her works include Husband in Hiding, Forgetting My Way Back to You, and Brother of Interest. She may only be able to type with one hand, but she writes with her whole heart!

Social Media Links

Book Review: The Nurse’s Secret by Amanda Skenandore

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE NURSE’S SECRET by Amanda Skenandore is a historical fiction novel with romantic elements featuring a young female protagonist set in 1880’s New York City’s Bellevue Hospital. This is a standalone novel with great characters, a bit of sweet romance and a suspense murder mystery plot intertwined throughout.

New York City’s Bellevue Hospital is the first hospital in the U.S. to initiate a nursing school based on the principles of Florence Nightingale. The young ladies must be of high moral character, educated and from upper class homes. There is a strict code of decorum, discipline and work ethic that must be followed to remain in the program. Una Kelly is none of these things. Una is a con artist, pickpocket and thief who is found at the scene of a murder, arrested, and then escapes. She cons her way into the nursing program with the help of a friend to hide from the police.

With the help of her roommate, Una finds she is capable of pulling off this deception and even finds she is good with the patients. A young doctor in training is interested in the unique nurse probationer, but Una is afraid to admit she is not who she seems. But when a woman from her past shows up and threatens Una’s ruse, she is killed in the same method as the man Una is accused of killing.

Una knows someone is killing in Bellevue and it is like the murder she is accused of. She sets a trap, but she may end up the victim of this serial killer.

I loved this book and all the characters. Una is street smart and thick skinned due to her upbringing, but she also knows how to use her natural intelligence to get along in her ruse and she begins to really care about her patients. Una’s gradual change in caring for her roommate, Dru and the step-by-step acceptance of her friendship really emphasized her emotional changes. The sweet romantic elements worked to also show a side of Una where she is slightly vulnerable. I felt all the secondary characters were fully fleshed and believable for the historical period. The descriptions of 1880 New York display the research involved in this story along with all the historical medical treatments and techniques for both doctors and nurses. The suspense plot of this story is paced well throughout and has a believable ending.

I highly recommend this engaging historical fiction!

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About the Author

I’m lucky. I come from a family of diehard scientists—the kind who tell jokes about irrational numbers and use the Vulcan salute instead of waving goodbye. But there was always room in our house for the arts too. My sisters—one a conservation biologist, the other an astrophysicist—paint and play the flute. My father, a physicist, is also a movie buff. My mother, a mathematician, dabbles in everything from theater to stained glass. Me, I’m an infection prevention nurse. But first and foremost I’m a writer. Even when my pen is still, my mind is aflight with stories.

I’m lucky. I come from a family of readers. Books filled our shelves and trips to the library were routine. Even though I struggled with dyslexia and was slow to learn, my parents insisted I not give up. Now, I don’t read fast but I read often and wide—fantasy, scifi, paranormal romance, YA, literary, and of course, historical fiction.

I’m lucky. I married a man of great character and enduring flexibility. When I told him at thirty I wanted to quit my job and try to be a author, he said go for it. When I’d gone five years without selling a book or finding an agent, he said try a little longer.

I’m lucky. I finally found an agent, the wonderful Michael Carr, and sold my book, along with three others yet to be published, to Kensington Publishing.

My husband and I live in Las Vegas, NV with our pet turtle, Lenore.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.amandaskenandore.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmandaSkenandoreAuthorPage/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARShenandoah

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16747144.Amanda_Skenandore

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: When She Dreams by Amanda Quick

Book Description

Maggie Lodge, assistant to the reclusive advice columnist known only as Dear Aunt Cornelia to her readers, hires down-but-not-quite-out private eye Sam Sage to help track down the person who is blackmailing her employer. Maggie and Sam are a mismatched pair. As far as Sam is concerned, Maggie is reckless and in over her head. She is not what he had in mind for a client but he can’t afford to be choosy. Maggie, on the other hand, is convinced that Sam is badly in need of guidance and good advice. She does not hesitate to give him both.

In spite of the verbal fireworks between them, they are fiercely attracted to each other, but each is convinced it would be a mistake to let passion take over. They are, after all, keeping secrets from each other. Sam is haunted by his past, which includes a marriage shattered by betrayal and violence. Maggie is troubled by intense and vivid dreams–dreams that she can sometimes control. There are those who want to run experiments on her and use her for their own purposes, while others think she should be committed to an asylum.

When the pair discovers someone is impersonating Aunt Cornelia at a conference on psychic dreaming and a woman dies at the conference, the door is opened to a dangerous web of blackmail and murder. Secrets from the past are revealed, leaving Maggie and Sam in the path of a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to exact vengeance.

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Elise’s Thoughts

When She Dreams by Amanda Quick, is a story with lies, murder, blackmail, and drugs. This series takes place during the 1930’s in the small town of Burning Cove, California with some recurring characters.

The opening scene sets the atmosphere for the rest of the plot. Maggie Lodge enters the office of Dr. Oxlade for a session about her lucid dreams. Unbeknownst to her, he gives her a drug called the enhancer. He is hoping to control her dreams, actions, and mind. As Maggie is fighting the effects of the drug, she barely escapes from the office.

Lucid dreams become almost a character in the story. People dreaming are aware that they are dreaming. During the dream someone may gain some amount of control over it to try to become aware of their consciousness.

Maggie must also deal with the fact that someone is blackmailing her employer, Dear Aunt Cornelia, an advice columnist. She hires private eye and former policeman Sam Sage to help find the blackmailer. The investigation leads them to a conference on psychic dreaming where Maggie realizes Dr. Oxlade is also attending. It seems some women who were lucid dreamers are being killed. As tensions rise and the murders increase, Maggie and Sam realize they are in the path of a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to exact vengeance. They enlist the help of the series recurring characters Raina Kirk, a private detective and investigator, plus Luther Pell, to find information that will help to connect all the murdered women.

The relationship between Maggie and Sam is a delight. Their snarky, intimate, verbal fireworks conversations are enjoyable. But they also realize there is a passionate chemistry between them. What they must overcome are the secrets kept from each other. Both are haunted by their pasts.

Once again readers will not be disappointed with this 1930s mystery. This intriguing and suspenseful story is full of twists. A bonus is how Quick intertwined the information about lucid dreaming into the story.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Amanda Quick: The story idea comes from the fact that I am personally intrigued with dreaming. One of the most interesting types is lucid dreaming where someone knows they are dreaming. The goal is to control the dream and solve problems that someone could not solve while awake. For example, rewrite nightmares or sad dreams to find peace. This was a hot topic in the thirties. Now on online there are many people looking it up. It is like waking up before falling off a cliff or in my case learning to fly.

EC: There are all types of dreams in the book, what are the differences?

AQ: Lucid dreaming is real. Astral projection is junk science, pure fantasy. It is when someone thinks they can travel in their dreams as their soul moves to another location. Latent psychic senses have someone believing they have a psychic vibe yet are not aware of it. This is also a scam.

EC: How would you describe Maggie?

AQ: Maggie is a lucid dreamer who can control her dreams, which allows her to see things in a different light. She is adventurous, outgoing, and a modern woman. She is very smart, independent, bold, a little reckless, unpredictable, and confident. Maggie wants to do the right thing and wants to find answers.

EC: Why does she have an aversion to marriage?

AQ: She had a very close call when her fiancé wanted to marry her for her money and then he was going to send her off to an asylum. In those days it was not hard to get a woman committed against her will. This is why she is wary of marriage.

EC: Sam Sage versus Sam Spade?

AQ: I did not even try to hide it and had fun playing off the character. I was going for the iconic 1930s hardboiled private eye. My character Sam Sage is much nicer and a lot more honorable. Sam Spade is from The Maltese Falcon, an American icon. I put this quote in the book, Sam Spade is “arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic ass, with the moral code of an alley cat…he isn’t interested in justice…and a lousy detective.” His goal is to prove he is the smartest guy in the room. I wanted my character to be in the same occupation but with better personality traits.

EC: How would you describe Sam Sage?

AQ: He is really interested in justice and doing the right thing. Sam is the classic good guy, very protective. Some people see him as world weary and wise cracking.

EC: What about the relationship between Maggie and Sam?

AQ: They play off each other’s strengths and weaknesses. She is reckless and he is a ‘by the books guy’. They are very passionate about each other. Each sees the underlying strength of the other and trusts each other.

EC: Next books?

AQ: It will be another Jayne Castle Dust Bunny book, a futuristic romantic suspense novel, titled, Sweet Water and the Witch, coming out September 30^th. The next Amanda Quick book is out a year from now, titled The Bride Wore White. A woman wakes up in the honeymoon suite with a dead body next to her. Raina Kirk and Luther Pell have become the anchor characters for the series and will be in every book as cameo players.

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.

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Speakeasy: A Time Travel Novel by Elyse Douglas

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for this first book in a new series – SPEAKEASY: A Time Travel Novel by Elyse Douglas on this Virtual Author Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section, the author’s social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy!

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Book Description

In 2019, A West Village Nightclub Singer, Roxie Raines, stumbles through a basement doorway into the past and finds herself in Roaring Twenties New York, with all its dangers, secrets, excitement, and romance.

Roxie Raines lurches through a secret basement doorway in 2019, and time-slips back to New York’s raucous Roaring Twenties. While she dazzles the speakeasy crowds with her “modern sound,” she gets trapped in the dangerous web of Frankie Shay, an evil club owner. She struggles to escape his control and return to the basement doorway that sent her to 1925.

When she meets the handsome detective, Jake Kane, it’s love at first sight, but Jake has a secret past, and her own time travel secret makes him suspicious.

Roaring Twenties New York comes alive with flappers, gangsters, romance and speakeasies and Roxie’s stunning rise to stardom could come with the price of losing both the man she loves and her own life.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60592112-speakeasy?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=bpKHMinHIf&rank=1

SPEAKEASY: A Time Travel Novel

by Elyse Douglas

Publisher: Broadback (April 5, 2022)
Category: Time Travel, Historical Fiction Romance
Tour Dates May 3-June 30
ISBN: 979-8423229016
Available in Print and ebook, 375 pages

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SPEAKEASY: A Time Travel Novel (Book #1) by Elyse Douglas is an entertaining and smart time travel romance set in New York City in 1925. I have read other time travel romances by this author and always enjoy them. While this is the first book in a new series, it does have a complete plot without a cliffhanger.

In August of 2019, Roxie Raines is a struggling singer/pianist who loves performing the old classics. After her performance in Speakeasy, a New York club in Greenwich Village, she follows a local street person who has broken in to the basement and watches him vanish through a blue lit whole in the wall. When she is startled by the bar cat, Roxie falls through, too.

Roxie wakes in the alley behind The Black Cat in New York City in 1925. Roxie finds herself held by a mob boss who discovers her talent. Roxie loves the praise she gets for her performances, but she wants her freedom. She has no connection to the outside world excerpt for the postcards she drops from her hotel room window asking for rescue. She is discovered and rescued by a handsome personal detective and his assistant, but Roxie still does not who to trust with her past. It is 1925 and mob bosses, bootleggers, bribed politicians, and dirty cops are all fighting for their piece of the action.

Can Roxie find her way back to 2019 and does she even want to?

This is a fun romp through New York City in 1925. Roxie is a talented heroine who is capable in the present world, but much more suited to the 1920’s. Jakes’s story just keeps becoming more complicated as more of his personal life secrets are revealed and his dilemma between what he considers the honorable solution versus what he personally wants. The romance progresses at a believable pace and is appropriate to the time-period. The description of clothes, locations, laws, and personal rights was well researched and interesting. The only thing that slightly bothered me was the main antagonist, Frankie Shay, at times seems more of a caricature than a fully fleshed character, but he still fit with the overall suspense plot.

I really enjoy Ms. Douglas’ time travel romances and I am looking forward to seeing where the next novel in this series takes me.

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Excerpt

SPEAKEASY

Elyse Douglas

Twenty-six-year-old Roxie Raines took the subway down to Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village and hurried off in a warm, August rain. It was nearly dark, and the shimmer of streetlights on the wet streets made it seem later than it was. She glanced up to see a tall construction crane, quiet now but surely swinging about during work hours. Another high rise? Did New York City really need another luxury high rise? There was an “old” part of Roxie, a part that longed for the old New York she’d seen online and in old black-and-white movies, before the glass towers, the needle-pointed, multimillion-dollar condos, and the encroaching chain stores took over.

Cars splashed water, taxis honked, and a thin, dripping pan handler shook his chipped cup for loose change, little mumbles moving his lips.

Roxie glanced at him and thought it odd that he wore retro clothes, scuffed wing-tipped shoes, slacks with no crease, a matching suit coat, and an open collar white shirt. His old-fashioned, gray fedora was tilted right, low over his brow, and a large mole on the left side of his nose helped give him a menacing look. Still, she felt compassion for him. He seemed strangely out of place under the yellow smudge of light from an overhead streetlamp, and he seemed utterly lost in the lonely, silver rain.

Fumbling with her umbrella, Roxie stopped, dug into the pocket of her yellow rain jacket, found three quarters, and dropped them into the panhandler’s cup. He nodded, his vacant eyes staring ahead.

“Isn’t there a shelter nearby you can go to?” Roxie asked.

He didn’t look at her, and his response was incomprehensible.

“Can I help you go somewhere and get out of this rain?” Roxie asked, seeing he was soaked, water dripping from the brim of his tattered hat.

He slowly turned to her, his eyes glassy and wide. “Do you know where you come from, girlie?” he asked, in a low, gravelly voice that sounded like a threat. “Do you know how you got here, doll? Are you stranded, too?”

Roxie felt a shiver ripple up her spine and she didn’t answer.

He flashed her a crooked gash of a grin. “No… I see it in you. You don’t know where you are or how you got here. You’re lost. Just like me, doll, you’re lost.”

And then he laughed, a sinister laugh.

Spooked, Roxie whirled around, thrust her umbrella toward the rain and charging wind, and headed off toward Charles Street, her sneakers soaked, her capri jeans damp, and her chin-length, blonde hair gone wild and frizzy.

“What the hell was that all about?” she mumbled to herself, quickening her steps, and not looking back at the man. And then she thought, How do people get so lost and so crazy?

Roxie had a gig that weekend in a Greenwich Village bar called Speakeasy.

***

About the Author

Elyse Douglas is the pen name for the married writing team Elyse Parmentier and Douglas Pennington.

She and her husband, Douglas Pennington, have completed many novels, including The Other Side of Summer, The Summer Letters, The Christmas Eve Series, Time Visitor, Time Change, The Summer Diary, and The Christmas Diary Series.

Social Media Links

Website: www.elysedouglas.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/douglaselyse
Facebook: www.facebook.com/elyse.authorsdouglas

Purchase Link

Amazon

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