Tag: #inspirationalfiction

Book Review: The Sound of Light by Sarah Sundin

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE SOUND OF LIGHT by Sarah Sundin is a suspenseful inspirational historical fiction story featuring two memorable main characters in Nazi occupied Denmark during WWII. Make sure you have plenty of time when you start this standalone story because I found it impossible to put down.

American physicist Dr. Elsebeth “Else” Jensen is working under the famous physicist Niels Bohr when the Germans march in to occupy Denmark. She has dual American and Danish citizenship and refuses to leave her work at the Institute. Her best friend, mathematician Laila who is Jewish and lives with her in a boardinghouse asks for her assistance in printing resistance papers. Also living their boardinghouse in the quiet giant Hemmey who works at the shipyard and befriends Else.

Hemmy is actually Baron Henrik Ahlefeldt who until the Germans came lived his life as a spoiled aristocrat. Now he risks his life and keeps a secret as the people whisper of the legendary Havmand (Merman) helping the Danish resistance by rowing messages to Sweden across the sound. As acts of sabotage occur in the shipyards and town, the Germans declare martial law and begin to round up the Danish Jews. Henrik and Else have become close and are determined to help Jewish families escape to Sweden.

As the danger increases, Henrik and Else respond to their extraordinary circumstances with their strength of faith and love. They continually face the question of following the laws of man or the morally just laws of man and God as they risk their lives.

This is a suspenseful story of resistance during war and an inspirational romance that are perfectly intertwined. I could not stop turning the pages. Else and Henrik are courageous, strong, and memorable characters. Henrik’s character is based on an actual Danish Olympic rower who helped get Jewish people to Sweden in his boat during the war. All the secondary characters are realistic, both good and bad. The author brought the Danes of Copenhagen during WWII to life in this story with scenes of bravery and courage as well as treachery. The historical research is evident. The inspirational elements of faith, redemption, and forgiveness are believable without being preachy. I did not want this book to end.

I highly recommend this inspirational historical fiction story!

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About the Author

Sarah Sundin enjoys writing about the drama and romance of the World War II era. She is the bestselling author of The Sound of Light (February 2023), Until Leaves Fall in Paris (2022), When Twilight Breaks (2021), and four WWII series. Her novels have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. Until Leaves Fall in Paris, received the 2022 Christy Award, When Twilight Breaks and The Land Beneath Us were Christy Award finalists, and The Sky Above Us won the 2020 Carol Award.

A mother of three, Sundin lives in Southern California and teaches Sunday school and women’s Bible studies. She enjoys speaking to community, church, and writers’ groups. Sarah serves as Co-Director for the West Coast Christian Writers Conference. 

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.sarahsundin.com

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahsundin

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/sarah-sundin/

Feature Post and Book Review: Fallout by Carrie Stuart Parks

Book Description

Samantha Williams’s carefully crafted life is about to be demolished as thoroughly as her art classroom when a careening SUV smashes into the school.

After a difficult childhood, Samantha Williams craves simplicity: jigsaw puzzles, lectures at the library, and the students she adores in her role as an elementary school art teacher in the dusty farming community of LaCrosse, Washington.

But when an SUV crashes into the building where she teaches, her entire world is upended. Samantha manages to keep the children safe, but her car isn’t so lucky. Oddly, her purse—with her driver’s license, credit cards, and other identification—is missing from the wreckage forcing her to rely on the kindness of strangers. Never one to trust easily, Samantha is thrust into a world far different from her simple life of jigsaw puzzles, children’s books, and lectures at the library.

One of the strangers who befriends her is a reporter from Spokane who is in town investigating two sets of skeletal remains that were recently discovered. When authorities discover that the driver in the school accident was shot before the crash, Samantha quickly becomes enmeshed in strange events, which turn ominous with the discovery of blackmail, murder, an abandoned town, and a secret government project.

Those involved are determined to keep these secrets buried, and they’ll use any means necessary to stop Samantha’s search for truth.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59660453-fallout

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

FALLOUT by Carrie Stuart Parks is an intriguing Christian suspense/mystery book featuring a small-town art instructor who must face the past she is running from to be able to stop a murderer. This is a standalone inspirational suspense/mystery with just a touch of romance.

Samantha “Sam” Williams is a protagonist who has survived a terrible past, does not trust easily, but has endearing quirks. I loved her habit of quoting from famous children’s authors and books, especially Dr. Suess’ “The Sneeches”. Dr. Dustin “Dutch” Van Seters is recovered from PTSD, works with Sam to solve the mystery of the skeletal remains, uncover her past and is the tie into Clan Firinn, which is a Christian faith compound that offers hope to law enforcement and other first responders suffering from PTSD and related disorders. Both worked well together and were fully fleshed protagonists.

The suspense plot starts off with a bang, but then bogs down for a while with all the many threads of past and present that are used. It does pick up once motives begin to be sorted and ends with an exciting climax. The forensic art inclusions and the historical element of the Hanford site were both interesting. The inclusion of biblical quotes and Sam and Dutch’s religious beliefs were paced realistically throughout the plot and never felt heavy-handed.

Overall, this Christian suspense/mystery is an enjoyable twisted intricate mystery with an uneven sense of suspense in places.

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About the Author

Carrie Stuart Parks is an award winning artist, writer, speaker, and law enforcement instructor. A Certified Forensic Artist, she met her husband, Rick, in the romantic hallways of the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Together they formed a dynamic and successful team in their fine and forensic art, working on major national and international cases and creating exquisite watercolors and stone carvings. They travel internationally, teaching forensic art to a variety of participants: from the Secret Service to the FBI, from large law enforcement agencies to the smallest two-man departments in their one-week classes. They are the largest instructors of forensic art in the world. Carrie has won numerous awards for her innovative teaching methods and general career excellence and is a signature member of the Idaho Watercolor Society.

Carrie’s Gwen Marcey series chronicles a forensic artist from Montana and is loosely based on Carrie’s forensic cases. She began her fiction writing career while battling breast cancer. Mentored by NY Times bestselling author, Frank Peretti, Carrie’s debut novel, along with her subsequent novels, have been met with critical acclaim.

Social Media Links

Website: http://www.carriestuartparks.com/#:~:text=Carrie%20Stuart%20Parks%20is%20an,NCIS%2C%20and%20local%20law%20enforcement.

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

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/carrie-stuart-parks

Book Review: The Bookshop of Secrets by Mollie Rushmeyer

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE BOOKSHOP OF SECRETS by Mollie Rushmeyer is Christian fiction mystery with romantic elements featuring a broken young woman searching for clues to her family’s legacy in missing old first edition books. This is a beautiful inspirational standalone story written by a debut author.

Hope Sparrow is protecting herself from her past by keeping on the move and never letting anyone get close or taking control of her life. She has been led to a small-town bookshop, Dusky Jackets on the shore of Lake Superior. Her mother’s treasured books were sent here, and Hope has come to find them and hopefully they will lead her to a rumored family treasure.

Hope agrees to stay for two months to help in the bookshop and hopefully discover where her books have disappeared to. With the help of the bookshop owner’s grandson, Ronan, they work together to uncover the secrets of the books, hidden treasure and their families’ intertwining pasts.

This debut book is several story threads in one and all of them come together seamlessly in an ending that is satisfying as well as inspirational. Hope’s past is tragic and Ronan’s family curse and accident have left him with more than physical scars and yet they come together and continually prove to each other that they are more than their pasts. The mystery of the missing books and the search for lost treasure is intricately woven into the story with plenty of twists and surprises. I feel Hope and Ronan’s growing relationship is realistically portrayed as well as their return to their belief in God’s love for them. There are several literary as well as biblical quotes throughout this story.

I highly recommend this book debut novel of hope, love, and inspiration with an intricate mystery intertwined throughout.

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About the Author

Mollie Rushmeyer writes “Contemporary Fiction with a Heart for History.” What does this mean exactly? She loves to write inspirational fiction in contemporary settings with fascinating historical elements, people, objects, and stories woven throughout.

A modern girl herself, she wouldn’t want to go a day without modern plumbing and central air! But she’s always felt a special connection to the past. The legacies and lives left behind are like gifts waiting to be unwrapped, and she plans to share this blend of history and contemporary living with readers.

A born and bred Midwestern gal, Mollie Rushmeyer, makes her home in Minnesota with her husband and two spunky, beautiful daughters. She is not only a bibliophile (the dustier the better, in her opinion), she’s a true anglophile at heart. Tea and coffee fuel her travels, by Google maps at least, and her passion for the written word.

Her debut novel with Love Inspired Trade/Harlequin, a division of HarperCollins Publishers will release in October of 2022.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.molliejrushmeyer.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mollie.rushmeyer

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mollierushmeyer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/molliejoyrushmeyer/