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.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE COUNTERFEITWIFE (A Revolutionary War Mystery Book #2) by Mally Becker on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Kingsumo giveaway. Good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!
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Book Description
Philadelphia, June 1780. George Washington’s two least likely spies return, masquerading as husband and wife as they search for traitors in Philadelphia.
Months have passed since young widow Becca Parcell and former printer Daniel Alloway foiled a plot that threatened the new nation. But independence is still a distant dream, and General Washington can’t afford more unrest, not with food prices rising daily and the value of money falling just as fast.
At the General’s request, Becca and Daniel travel to Philadelphia to track down traitors who are flooding the city with counterfeit money. Searching for clues, Becca befriends the wealthiest women in town, the members of the Ladies Association of Philadelphia, while Daniel seeks information from the city’s printers.
But their straightforward mission quickly grows personal and deadly as a half-remembered woman from Becca’s childhood is arrested for murdering one of the suspected counterfeiters.
With time running out – and their faux marriage breaking apart – Becca and Daniel find themselves searching for a hate-driven villain who’s ready to kill again.
Genre: Historical Mystery Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: September 2022 Number of Pages: 300 ISBN: 9781685121587 Series: A Revolutionary War Mystery
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
THE COUNTERFEIT WIFE (A Revolutionary War Mystery Book #2) by Mally Becker is the second Revolutionary War era historical mystery featuring Rebecca Parcell and Daniel Alloway as spies assisting General George Washington. This book can easily be read as a standalone, but the first book, TheTurncoats Widow introduces this engaging pair of spies and is an exciting mystery also.
Rebecca Parcell and Daniel Alloway are once again assisting General Washington and Alexander Hamilton as they now play a married couple in search of a band of counterfeiters flooding the new economy in Philadelphia with bad currency that could destabilize the new nation. While they suspect the English, they need proof. As they investigate, one of their main suspects ends up dead on the docks and the mother Rebecca thought dead for years, is accused of the murder.
Rebecca and Daniel find themselves accused of crimes and until they can discover the murderer, they could end up in prison or dead.
I enjoyed this well researched and intricately plotted second mystery in this series. Rebecca and Daniel are brought to life in this period, and I was just as engrossed in their story in this mystery as the first. The plot was full of twists and red herrings, but the mystery was also character driven involving many of the issues of the day. An interesting historical inclusion in the plot was the description of inoculation for smallpox and that Washington wanted his troops inoculated.
I recommend this historical mystery book and series.
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Excerpt
Heat rose from Rebecca Parcell’s chest, climbed her neck, and stamped a flush on her cheeks. She knew what would happen next. It was time for the toasts.
“Steady now,” Daniel Alloway whispered. They stood alone in a corner of the crowded ballroom. His good hand brushed hers for reassurance. His other hand hung at his side, deadened by the injury he’d incurred escaping from a British prison ship a year ago.
Becca scanned the room to assure herself that no one watched them. Even his light touch was frowned upon by polite society, but it brought her warmth and comfort.
Their host rapped an ornate silver fork against his crystal goblet again and waited for the magpie chatter of gossip to quiet. He stood by the large fireplace, his feet planted wide as if he were standing on the deck of one of his ships. Mr. Thaddeus Barnes was the wealthiest merchant in Philadelphia, which meant, she knew, that he was one of the richest men in all of North America.
Becca had rarely seen luxury like this, not even last winter in New York City. The ceiling dripped curved garlands of flowers carved of plaster. Blue and white vases from China rested on the carved marble mantel. Cherry wood tables hailed from France, and the glass chandelier from Venice.
“I’d be much more comfortable with a bow in my hand,” Becca murmured. “Or a knife. A knife would do.”
“You’d rather hunt in Morristown than here?” Daniel smiled, his green eyes filled with amusement. The gaunt, haunted look he wore when she met him last winter was gone. But his features still seemed to be carved from stone, all hard angles and shadows. Except when he smiled at her like this.
Despite being tall, Becca had to tilt her chin up to see eye-to-eye with Daniel. “Hunting here will do.” she said, sounding more prim than she intended, and Daniel laughed. “Even this type of hunting.”
They were in Philadelphia, searching for the counterfeiters flooding the colony with fake money. They were the obvious, though unconventional, pair for the job, General Washington had said when he assigned them. Daniel because he was a former printer with the skills to evaluate ink and paper and Becca for her talent with numbers, accounts, and codes, which had already served the general well.
The clink-clink of metal on glass rang through the air again, and Mr. Barnes’s guests finally quieted. “A toast,” he called, beginning the first of the three he would raise to Becca and Daniel. It was the same at each of the parties held in their honor these past few weeks. Always three. Becca dreaded the third. “To independence.”
Becca lifted her goblet and sipped to a chorus of “huzzahs.” One, she counted to herself, because counting was soothing but not soothing enough for what was to come.
When the cheers faded, Mr. Barnes raised his glass again. The wine-filled cup glimmered red beneath the crystal candelabras. “To General Washington.”
“Huzzah!” The ballroom cheered again. Two, Becca counted.
She should be grateful to Mr. Barnes, not gritting her teeth over his toasts. He had opened his home to them at the Washingtons’s request, and he was introducing them to the finest families in Philadelphia, who were happy to welcome two friends of General and Lady Washington.
At least that much was true. Since last February, she and Daniel had become regular visitors to the Washingtons’ residence in Morristown after uncovering a plot that threatened the new nation.
Another round of cheers. Some guests made the mistake of lowering their glasses.
“And…” Mr. Barnes crowed.
A man with ginger-colored hair lounging by the doorway sighed loudly, catching her eye.
Becca couldn’t have agreed more.
The stranger gave her a slow, lazy smile. His expression was almost intimate, as if he were trying to draw her in. She turned away quickly.
“Finally…” Mr. Barnes added.
Becca took a deep breath, inhaling the warm scent of beeswax candles.
“…let us wish the newlyweds a joyous and productive marriage.” Mr. Barnes, a long-time widower, winked at Daniel. “May your hearts ever be at each other’s service.”
The cream of Philadelphia society turned in unison to Becca and Daniel.
She dropped her gaze to avoid the stares.
“A delicate flower, you are,” Daniel whispered without moving his lips.
She banged his ribs with her elbow and heard a satisfying oomph.
Anyone watching her redden and look away at the mention of their marriage might indeed take it that she was a shy, delicate flower. This was false.
She was not shy.
She was not delicate.
And, more to the point, she and Daniel were not married.
Mr. Barnes nodded to a double-chinned musician in the corner dressed in maroon breeches and a matching silk coat. At the signal, he tucked his violin into his neck, lifted a bow, and attacked his instrument. Two men laughed at something a third said. A few women formed a group and chatted, and the high-ceilinged room filled again with noise.
Barnes knew the reason they were in Philadelphia. General Washington had trusted him with that information. But their host believed that Becca and Daniel were wed. This way, Mr. Barnes could rightfully claim to be as outraged as everyone else if their deceit came to light.
Memory pulled Becca back to a dinner with the Washingtons in Morristown. “Perhaps this is unwise.” The general voiced a rare doubt after they agreed to come to Philadelphia. “You are unmarried and unchaperoned. It is scandalous. Society will close ranks against you. You’ll learn nothing.”
Lady Washington had taken a small sip of sherry. Her blue eyes lit with humor. “Then they must appear to be married while maintaining all the proprieties.”
The general made a choking sound that Becca and Daniel decided later was laughter. And so they’d agreed to play the part of a newly married couple, with Daniel looking for a new business opportunity in Philadelphia. It was a brazen plan but might just succeed.
Becca startled. The ginger-haired gentleman suddenly stood before her.
He extended a silk-clad leg and bowed, then rose, displaying the same secret smile that made her uncomfortable minutes ago. His nose was straight, his eyelashes pale against close-set blue eyes. Perhaps his chin was a bit heavy, his mouth a bit small. His features were not memorable, but something about him commanded attention.
It wasn’t just his shock of red hair combed back neatly and tied low along the back of his neck, nor the well-made clothes of ivory silk and gold embroidery. Everyone in the room bore similar signs of wealth. It was the confidence with which he moved, the sense that his regard flattered anyone upon whom it was bestowed.
“You’ve kept her from me, Alloway. I thought I knew all the beautiful women in Philadelphia.” His eyes locked on Becca’s.
She stiffened. It took discipline not to raise her hand and double check that the lace covering the top of her breasts was in place. He made her feel naked.
Daniel stiffened, too. “Mrs. Alloway, may I introduce Mr. Edmund Taylor, another merchant here in Philadelphia.”
Taylor’s light eyebrows shot up in mock distress. “Just another merchant? One of the most successful in the colonies, despite the war.” His gaze dropped to Daniel’s injured hand.
“And is your wife here, too?” Daniel bit down on the words, “your wife.”
Irritation crossed Taylor’s face so quickly Becca thought she imagined it. “My dear,” he called loudly.
A woman standing near the fireplace tensed, then moved toward them with the elegance of a swan. Her hair was honey blond, her skin unblemished, and her eyes a liquid blue. She stopped before them, wearing a tentative smile.
“I’m honored to present my wife, Charlotte Taylor.” He completed the introductions.
“It is a pleasure. I hope you enjoy our city.” Her voice was breathy and slow. There was a stillness about her, as if she had her own secrets to guard.
“I am enjoying it.” From downstairs, Becca heard the butler’s placating voice, then a woman’s shrill, demanding response.
Moments later, Mr. Barnes’s butler, Eli, slipped into the room.
Heads turned to the butler with a mixture of curiosity and mild surprise.
He whispered to Mr. Barnes, who nodded.
Then Eli strode toward them. He cupped his hand over his mouth and leaned toward Mr. Taylor.
“Begging your pardon, sir. There’s a woman at the front door. She says she’s yours, and that she must see you now.”
Becca couldn’t help but overhear. She says she’s yours. The woman at the door must be enslaved. Neither her dead husband nor father had owned slaves. But even she knew that enslaved people did not enter by the front door.
Color leeched from Taylor’s face.
“I will see her.” Mrs. Taylor swept from the room without waiting for her husband’s response.
“How do you find Philadelphia, Mrs. Alloway? Your husband says that this is your first visit,” another guest, who had turned to them at the servant’s approach, asked to mask the embarrassment of the moment.
When Becca didn’t answer, Daniel elbowed her gently. “Yes, Mrs. Alloway. How do you find Philadelphia?”
She really must do a better job responding to her married name. “People have been kind here. I hardly expected it.”
Mr. Barnes joined them, interrupting, “How goes your business, Taylor?”
“We don’t want to bore the ladies.” Taylor glanced at Becca.
“Please, don’t stop on my account. I comprehend so little, but hearing you speak of business never bores me.” Becca would have fluttered her eyelashes if she were the sort of woman who could manage it without appearing to have caught a speck of dirt in her eye.
She pasted a pleasant far-away expression on her face. Men spoke of business and politics as if she couldn’t understand a word, as if she didn’t listen and pass anything of interest back to General Washington. She took a small sip of the straw-colored dry sherry.
“Are you paying your investors in silver or paper these days?” Barnes asked.
Becca admired his playacting. Daniel and their host had rehearsed their lines. They asked the same questions at each party.
Taylor glared. “Sterling, of course. What are you accusing me of?”
Becca slowly lowered her glass. Taylor was the first to interpret the query as an accusation. An accusation of what? Having less silver than a man of his stature should? Or of passing along fake dollar notes?
Barnes nodded to Taylor. “No offense intended. I started seeing badly printed dollar notes again this spring. Merely asking whether you’re being cautious about paper dollars these days, given the situation.”
Taylor nodded curtly.
By now, five men had formed a tight ring as if warming themselves round a campfire. Becca stood just outside their circle.
Another of the merchants stepped up. “I thought I was the only one who noticed the forgeries.”
Daniel feigned surprise. “Has that been a problem here?”
“The British—damn them. They’re printing false money and spreading it as fast as they can,” one of the men said.
“There are worse problems, surely,” Daniel said.
“Ah, a young man who believes war is only about battles,” another guest drawled with feigned pity.
The others chuckled.
“If not winning battles, then what?” Daniel smiled, but the skin around his eyes tightened. He’s offended by the condescending tone, Becca thought.
“The counterfeits will set this country ablaze.” Barnes sputtered. “There have been food riots already. The poor are starving, and they can’t afford bread. How soon until people seek another king, another tyrant who swears that only he can save them?”
“When no one can tell whether money is real, the price of bread goes up, and everyone—everyone—turns against the government,” another man added. He looked to the group for support.
Becca studied them, shaken. She had thought of this trip as a lark, a way to spend more time with Daniel while unraveling a simple puzzle for General Washington.
Daniel bowed to Mr. Barnes. “It does sound terrible. My apologies.” He turned to Taylor. “And what do you think of all this, sir?”
Taylor shrugged. “Mr. Barnes is right. The economy is undone. I’d look to the traitors’ wives first. I wouldn’t put counterfeiting past them.”
“Who are the traitors’ wives?” Becca asked, catching Taylor’s attempt at redirection.
The men turned to her in surprise.
Oh bullocks. “Traitors? I don’t see any traitors at this party. Mr. Barnes wouldn’t allow it.” There. That sounded more like the simple, oblivious young woman they expected her to be.
Taylor and the others chuckled indulgently. “Nothing for you to worry about, Mrs. Alloway. Our apologies.”
“Do you know something specifically about these women, or are you trading in rumors?” Daniel’s voice was soft, but the challenge was clear. Neither he nor Becca cared for baseless rumors, not after gossip had almost ruined her life last winter.
“My husband’s passions sometimes lead him astray.” Charlotte Taylor had returned. “There are times that he causes harm when it is least intended.”
The husband and wife stared at each other from across the small circle of guests. He looked away first.
***
Author Bio
Mally Becker combines her love of history and crime fiction in mysteries that feature strong, independent heroines. She is the Agatha Award-nominated author of The Turncoat’s Widow, which Kirkus Reviews called, “A compelling tale… with charming main characters.” Her first novel was also named a Silver Falchion finalist and a CIBA “Mystery & Mayhem” finalist.
A member of the board of MWA-NY, Mally was an attorney until becoming a full-time writer and an instructor at The Writers Circle Workshops. She is also a member of Sisters in Crime and the Historical Novel Society. Mally and her husband live in New Jersey, where they raised their wonderful son and spend as much time as they can hiking and kayaking.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Audiobook Review for TROUBLE ONMAIN STREET (Sugar Mountain Book #1) by Kirsten Fullmer on this Audio Book Empire Audiobook Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my audiobook review, the author’s bio and social media links and the narrator’s bio. Enjoy!
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Book Description
A cozy mountain town, a sweet romance, and a secret society of sneaky women…
The sleepy hamlet of Sugar Mountain harbors a secret society of women. Don’t misunderstand—the society itself is not secret—it’s the true nature of the group that is hush-hush.
Sugar Mountain is the kind of charming village that tourists adore. If you like small-town charm, quirky shops, and local art, this is the place for you. But when a blood smeared package shows up at the post office and it appears to be linked to a scheme that threatens Heidi Collinsworth’s historic home, the town takes on a sinister vibe. Heidi would lay odds that slimy Mayor Winslow is involved, but even with the enquiring skills of The Sugar Mountain Ladies Historical Society at work, proof is scarce.
The new guy in town, Adam Williams, is determined not to get involved in Sugar Mountain’s business. His last job in a big city planning office ruined his life, but Heidi needs his help. No matter how hard he tries to stay detached, Adam finds himself eyeball deep in Heidi’s problems, as well as the needs of her teenage son and a homeless dog.
With conflicting theories abound and tensions running high, it’s up to the ladies of the society to don disguises and go undercover. If they’re not careful, the town may fall to a wrecking ball, Heidi may fall for Adam, and the secret society will be exposed.
Meet the cast of colorful characters in this charming and zany introduction to a whole new series of romantic, cozy mysteries!
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My Audiobook Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
TROUBLE ON MAIN STREET (Sugar Mountain Book #1) by Kirsten Fullmer is an entertaining small town cozy mystery with romance elements. This first book in the series introduces the ladies of the Sugar Mountain Historical Society and features their president, Heidi Collinsworth. This Historical Society is not quite what it seems. I listened to the audiobook.
Heidi Collinsworth is the town’s postmaster, a widow, a single mom, and the current grand master of the Sugar Mountain Historical Society which is also her home. A package with a bloody handprint shows up at the post office and at the same time Heidi learns that the Historical Society is due to be demolished. All the ladies of the society come together to investigate and discover a plan that could not only make Heidi homeless, but also destroy Sugar Mountain’s unique downtown shopping district.
Adam Williams has moved to Sugar Mountain for a complete change in his life. He is intrigued by the postmaster and when she asks for his help, he reluctantly agrees since his old job is just what Heidi needs. For someone who wants to stay to himself, he is completely drawn into Heidi’s problem, spending time with Heidi’s son and adopting a sad homeless dog.
Heidi is hiding a secret that she cannot reveal to Adam even as she begins to fall for him. The entire town may be destroyed, and the society exposed if they are not careful.
I really enjoyed listening to this cozy mystery and its fun cast of ladies in the Historical Society. The idea of the Historical Society and their terrible reenactments being the cover for a group of women who come together to better the town and its inhabitants without interference, since no one really knows what they are doing, is an idea that can lead to many more plots. The characters kept me listening, but the plot that started out interesting and well paced, ended up rushed and was not as satisfying as I believe it could have been. I do enjoy scenic small town locations and Sugar Mountain, NC is set in the high country of the Blue Ridge Mountains and I know that is beautiful country. The narrator was an excellent choice for this story, and I enjoyed listening to her bring life to the characters.
I look forward to listening to more Sugar Mountain series audiobooks.
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About theAuthor
Kirsten is a writer with a love of art and design. She worked in the engineering field, taught college, and consulted free lance. Due to health problems, she retired in 2012 to travel with her husband. They live and work full time in a 40′ travel trailer with their little dog Bingo. Besides writing romance novels, she enjoys selling art on Etsy and spoiling their four grandchildren.
As a writer, Kirsten’s goal is to create strong female characters who face challenging, painful, and sometimes comical situations. She believes that the best way to deal with struggle is through friendship and women helping women. She knows good stories are based on interesting and relatable characters.
Barbara’s journey into voice acting began by volunteering with Learning Ally, a non-profit organization. After her experience helping to transform the lives of struggling readers, she knew that narrating audiobooks was the perfect path toward her life’s second act after working in the corporate world for many years.
Her mid-tone voice is friendly, warm, smooth, lyrical, clear, and professional. She can also hold her own in suspenseful tones for the scariest of stories. Her natural accent is Texan, and she can adapt to General American, Appalachian or any American southern accent. Her acting coaches are award winning Carol Monda, Joel Froomkin, Johnny Heller and Elise Arsenault.
Genres she enjoys narrating are suspense, horror, mysteries, cozy mysteries, literary fiction, non-fiction, and memoirs. And anything magical ranging from fun and fantastical all the way to dark sorcery.
Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review for OPERATION LIGHTNING BOLT by Hilary Green on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
A British secret agent must face her greatest nightmare to unravel a dangerous mystery — if she is to save her country from its worst enemies.
Hampshire, 1943.
Katherine Isobel ‘Kim’ Maxwell has been languishing in the ‘cooler’ up in Scotland in what she sees as punishment for getting caught — and tortured — by the Nazis, before being freed by Resistance fighters and smuggled back into England. Now she is sent for by the head of SOE. This is her chance to prove herself.
A fellow agent has been found murdered. The victim had a very special function in their training plan for secret agents, at the SOE finishing school, Palace House in Beaulieu. Her last ‘student’ was a nervous trainee called Lucien who was sent to France as a radio operator — and almost immediately captured by the Nazis.
Kim is ordered to run an internal investigation into Lilian’s murder. She soon discovers that there is every indication that Lilian heard something she shouldn’t have and that her murder was a warning: her ears were plugged with hot sealing wax before she died. Kim also spots a strange zigzag pattern on the wall above the bed where Lilian was found, which Lilian drew using her own blood as she lay dying.
Aided by Roland, aka the Red Fox, a new recruit with a shady past of his own, she begins to uncover a plot that extends far beyond the secretive world of SOE.
But in order to expose this dangerous web of deceit, Kim must go back into the heart of occupied France — and into the hands of the enemy . . .
OPERATION LIGHTNING BOLT OPERATION KINGFISHER TWICE ROYAL LADY APHRODITE’S ISLAND
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
OPERATION LIGHTNING BOLT by Hilary Green is a WWII historical mystery set in both France and England featuring a dogged young female spy in a race to uncover a plot on English soil that could change the outcome of the war. This is a standalone mystery full of intrigue and mystery.
Lieutenant Katherine “Kim” Maxwell is a member of the SOE. She has been recuperating in Scotland since her retrieval by the French Resistance from her Nazis captors. When a friend and fellow agent is found murdered, Kim is sent by Brigadier Colin “M” Gubbins to investigate in the guise of a teacher at her old spy school.
Kim is aided by one of her students, Roland “Foxy” and they uncover a shadow group of Nazi sympathizers who are ready to attempt a change in the English government at the very top and the English position in the war.
This historical mystery has fully drawn main characters that were interesting, and I was sorry to see their storyline end. Kim is a smart and spirited main character who was just as able as any male spy in this book which I enjoyed. She did not wait for a rescue from her romantic interest. The mystery plot itself is well paced and has some twists, but it was also easy to anticipate many of the pivotal plot points. That said, it was a well-researched historical novel and a very enjoyable read with engaging characters that I am sorry to say goodbye to.
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Author Bio
Hilary trained for the stage at the Rose Bruford college but then decided to go into teaching. She spent many years teaching drama and theatre studies in a variety of schools, from a girl’s boarding school in Kent to Comprehensives in London and on the Wirral. It was there that she had the great pleasure of guiding Daniel Craig’s first steps towards stardom.
She also founded and ran a Youth Theatre Company in Epsom, Surrey. She has a B.Ed (First Class) from Liverpool University and an MA Writing from Liverpool John Moores. Since retiring from teaching to concentrate on writing she has published twenty historical novels and her first non-fiction book will be out next spring. She also writes under the name of Holly Green.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE GIRL FROM GUERNICA by Karen Robards on this HTP Books Fall 2022 Historical Fiction Blog Tour. This historical fiction story is an emotional and suspenseful rollercoaster ride from beginning to end.
Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards returns with a riveting story of intrigue, deception and bravery in the face of war, inspired by Picasso’s great masterpiece Guernica:
On an April day in 1937, the sky opens and fire rains down upon the small Spanish town of Guernica. Seventeen-year-old Sibi and her family are caught up in the horror. Griff, an American military attaché, pulls Sibi from the wreckage, and it’s only the first time he saves her life in a span of hours. When Germany claims no involvement in the attack, insisting the Spanish Republic was responsible, Griff guides Sibi to lie to Nazi officials. If she or her sisters reveal that they saw planes bearing swastikas, the gestapo will silence them—by any means necessary.
As war begins to rage across Europe, Sibi joins the underground resistance, secretly exchanging information with Griff. But as the scope of Germany’s ambitions becomes clear, maintaining the facade of a Nazi sympathizer becomes ever more difficult. And as Sibi is drawn deeper into a web of secrets, she must find a way to outwit an enemy that threatens to decimate her family once and for all.
Masterfully rendered and vividly capturing one of the most notorious episodes in history, The Girl from Guernica is an unforgettable testament to the bonds of family and the courage of women in wartime.
THE GIRL FROM GUERNICA by Karen Robards is an emotional and suspenseful historical fiction with romantic elements story from beginning to end. This standalone novel follows a young female protagonist and her family from the first unprovoked aerial bombing of civilians at Guernica which shocked the world in 1937 through the end of WWII.
Sibil “Sibi” Helenger, her mother and three younger sisters are in the Basque city of Guernica. They were taking care of their grandmother in her last days while their father, a German rocket scientist remained in Germany. With the Spanish Revolution raging around them, Sibi wants to return to Germany, but her mother wants to stay. On a normal day in April, Guernica was suddenly attacked from the air with bombs dropping and machine gun aerial strafing from German planes.
Griff, an American military attaché pulls Sibi and her youngest sister from the wreckage. As Sibi attempts to get a hold of her father, she learns that her knowledge that the planes were German and not Spanish revolutionaries, puts her and her sister’s lives all in danger from the Nazi regime. Their father finds them and takes them back to Germany, but Sibi is still in danger, not only as she lies for the Nazi’s, but also because she continues to give Griff secret information to use against them.
As the war rages on, Sibi, known as “The Girl from Guernica” is committed to outwitting the Nazi’s who threaten her family while she does everything in her power to assist the allies in defeating them.
This is my favorite historical fiction book so far this year! It is riveting and I was unable to put it down. Ms. Robards does an amazing job of researching an often-forgotten war crime in the years leading up to WWII. Sibi’s resilience and strength while still being so young herself makes her an unforgettable character that I became invested with from page one. There are times when the story brought me to tears and others when I felt such happiness for Sibi, her family, and the mysterious Griff. All the characters and the historical references and locations are realistically written and believable.
I highly recommend this historical fiction read!
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Excerpt
April 25, 1937
To laugh and dance and live in the teeth of whatever tragedies an uncaring fate threw in your path was the Basque way.
The stories Sibi’s mother told, stories handed down through generations of indomitable women, painted those defiant sufferers as heroes.
Sibi feared she was not the stuff of which such heroes were made.
She was hungry. Her feet hurt. And she was afraid. Of those things, afraid was the worst by far. She was so tired of being afraid.
A knot in her stomach. A tightness in her throat. A prickle of unease sliding over her skin. Familiar sensations all, which did not make their sudden onset feel any less dreadful. Sixteen-year-old Sibi—Sibil Francesca Helinger—pushed back a wayward strand of coffee-brown hair that had escaped from the heavy bun coiled at her nape and frowned out into the misty darkness enshrouding the Calle Fernando el Católico.
Her pulse thrummed as she clung to the desperate hope that she was not seeing what she thought she was. Since the fighting had moved close enough so that the residents of this ancient village high in the western Pyrenees could actually hear gunfire in the surrounding hills, fear had become her all-too-frequent visitor. But this—this was different. This was because of something that was happening now, right before her eyes, in the wide, tree-lined street just beyond where she stood watching the regular weekly celebration on the night before market day.
Have we left it too late? The thought made her mouth go dry.
“I want a sweet.” Five-year-old Margrit’s restless movement beside her reclaimed her attention. Gripping the child’s hand tighter, Sibi cast an impatient glance down.
“There’s no money for a sweet.” Or anything else, Sibi could have added, but didn’t.
“But I want one.” Round blue eyes in a cherubic face surrounded by gold ringlets stared longingly at the squares of honey and almond turrón being hawked to the crowd by a woman bearing a tray of them. The yeasty aroma of the pastry made Sibi’s stomach growl. For the last few weeks, she and her mother had been rationing their diminishing resources by skipping the evening meal so that the younger ones could eat.
“Ask Mama to buy you one later.”
Margrit’s warm little fingers—which Sibi kept a secure hold on because, as angelic as the youngest of the four Helinger sisters looked, she wasn’t—twitched in hers. “She won’t. You know she won’t. She’ll say she doesn’t have any money, either.”
That was undoubtedly true. In fact, Sibi had only said it in hopes of placating her little sister until their mother returned. Thinking fast—Margrit had mostly outgrown tantrums, but not entirely—Sibi was just about to come out with an alternate suggestion when thirteen-year-old Luiza jumped in.
“You know we’re poor now, so stop being such a baby.” Cross because she hadn’t been permitted to go to the cinema with a group of her friends, Luiza spoke sharply. The thick, straight, butterscotch blond hair she’d chopped to chin length herself the night before—”Nobody has long hair anymore!” she’d wailed in the face of their mother’s horror—had already lost its grip on the rag curls she’d forced into it. She looked like she was wearing a thatch of broom straw on her head, but Sibi was far too good a sister, and far too preoccupied at the moment, to point that out.
“I don’t like being poor.” Margrit’s lower lip quivered.
“None of us do.”
“I specially don’t like—”
Luiza cut her off. “You’re whining. You know what Mama said about whining.”
“I am not…”
A match flared in the street. Tuning her sisters out, Sibi focused on what the brief incandescence revealed as it rose to light a cigarette—red tip glowing brightly—before arcing like a tiny shooting star to the ground. Sibi looked beyond the cigarette to the dark shape behind it. The dark shapes behind it. She wasn’t mistaken. Soldiers—their soldiers, the loyalist Republicans, their uniforms unmistakable—poured into the street from seemingly everywhere. And the numbers were increasing…
Her heartbeat quickened. Does no one else see?
Biting down on her lower lip, she glanced around. The crowd clapped and swayed to the rollicking music of the highly prized town band and ate and danced and played games and— She concluded that no one else did. The village leaders who were present appeared unaware: Father Esteban talked to the woman behind the refreshment table as she ladled out a bowl of spicy fish soup for him; His Honor the mayor played mus, the popular card game, with three friends; the Count of Arana, the town’s most prominent citizen, stood with his arms crossed and a stern gaze fixed on his fifteen-year-old daughter, Teresa, as she walked away from him with her hand tucked into the arm of… Emilio Aguire.
Sibi’s stomach gave an odd little flutter.
Watching them reminded her of just how much of an outsider she was here in this quaint small town with its red-roofed white houses and narrow cobbled streets. Emilio was her age, he was the handsomest boy in school and he had been kind to her. She had hoped… But no. To hope for anything where he was concerned was foolishness. She and her mother and sisters were only temporary residents. She worked as a part-time waitress and her mother had worked in a dress shop before being fired three weeks ago, when the shop owner’s husband had displayed too much interest in her. And that, of course, had immediately become a topic for much discussion among the town gossips whose gleeful suspicions that the former Marina Diaitz, now Helinger, who had come home with her children but without her husband, was a floozy were thus seemingly confirmed. All those factors combined to put them near the bottom of the social ladder in this place where the wealthy local aristocracy had been comfortably in place for generations, and they, with their German father, would have been outsiders, anyway. And Teresa was beautiful and rich and— Well, there it was, foolishness.
She had no time for foolishness.
Glancing at those in her own party—Luiza and Margrit, and their other sister Johanna, all bunched close around her, and their mother, Marina, dancing merrily with the baker Antonio Batzar beneath the colored lights strung above the makeshift dance floor in hopes of securing a scarce loaf of tomorrow morning’s fresh bread—Sibi felt her heartbeat quicken.
Intent on their own concerns, they appeared oblivious to anything else. As usual it was up to her, notorious as the family worrier, to think about what might happen, to catch and make sense of what the rest of them missed.
Tonight, it was that their soldiers, their last line of defense against the surging rebel Nationalists, appeared to be coming together en masse to slink like starving cats past the Sunday night festivities.
These were the same war-weary, battle-scarred troops that had been camped out in the forested peaks surrounding the town since they had fallen back after the savage attack on the neighboring village of Durango that had brought the nine-month-old civil war as close as its ancient churches and rambling streets. In the days since, thousands of panicking refugees had flooded the town. The warships of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, commander in chief of the rebel forces, had blockaded the Basque ports. Food had become scarce: along with bread, milk and meat were almost impossible to obtain. People were hungry, frightened. The war that had been safely on the other side of the country had changed direction so fast that the residents of these sleepy villages high above the Bay of Biscay had been caught unprepared. But unprepared or not, in a new and terrifying offensive the newspapers were calling the War of the North, the fighting was now rushing like a wave toward their front door.
The soldiers were all that stood between them and the enemy forces determined to destroy them. And the soldiers were leaving.
***
Author Bio
Karen Robards is the New York Times, USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of fifty novels and one novella. She is the winner of six Silver Pen awards and numerous other awards.
Dawn Dixon can hardly believe she’s on a groomless honeymoon on beautiful Cape Cod . . . with her mother. Sure, Marnie Dixon is good company, but Dawn was supposed to be here with Kevin, the love of her life (or so she thought).
Marnie Dixon needs some time away from the absolute realness of life as much as her jilted daughter does, and she’s not about to let her only child suffer alone–even if Marnie herself had been doing precisely that for the past month.
Given the circumstances, maybe it was inevitable that Marnie would do something as rash as buy a run-down ice-cream shop in the town’s tightly regulated historic district. After all, everything’s better with ice cream.
Her exasperated daughter knows that she’s the one who will have to clean up this mess. Even when her mother’s impulsive real estate purchase brings Kevin back into her life, Dawn doesn’t get her hopes up. Everyone knows that broken romances stay broken . . . don’t they?
Welcome to a summer of sweet surprises on Cape Cod–a place where dreams just might come true.
THE SWEET LIFE (Cape Cod Creamery Book #1) by Suzanne Woods Fisher is an emotional Christian women’s fiction with romantic elements featuring a mother and daughter who are completely opposite in every way and dealing with personal loss while opening a Cape Cod ice cream shoppe.
Dawn Dixon has always planned every aspect of her life. When her lifelong boyfriend walks away two months before their wedding she is devastated and she learns her mother has been hiding her diagnosis of breast cancer from her, she is lost. Nothing is going as planned.
Dawn decides to take her mother, Marnie with her on her groomless honeymoon to Cape Cod. And Marnie jumps at the chance to not only help Dawn, but to get away from an empty home since the death of her husband almost a year ago.
Marnie has always been a person who makes decisions on feelings rather than facts and plans. She sees a rundown ice cream shoppe that she just feels she needs to buy, and she does. As always, Dawn feels the need to clean up her mother mess, but this mess may not really be a mess but a way for the mother and daughter to connect, heal, and bring a dream to life.
I really enjoyed all the characters in this story. Dawn and Marnie were the ying and yang to each other and as much as they rubbed each other the wrong way, they were definitely what each needed. The relationship worked even when they were mad at each other, they still loved each other. Their emotional growth and understanding of each other throughout the story was what really pulled me in. I liked how the men in their lives were integrated into the story without taking over. Lincoln helped Dawn and Marnie with no expectations, and he was always there when Marnie needed him. Dawn changed the most and with the changes came the understanding of why her relationship with Kevin fell apart and it was with forgiveness and understanding that they were able to move forward. There are Christian references and Bible verses laced throughout the story, but I did not feel they were intrusive or gratuitous. I am looking forward to seeing were this series goes in future books.
I recommend this Christian women’s fiction with romantic elements.
***
About the Author
Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling, award winning author of fiction and non-fiction books about the Old Order Amish for Revell Books, host of the radio-show-turned-blog Amish Wisdom, a columnist for Christian Post and Cooking & Such magazine.
Her interest in the Amish began with her grandfather, who was raised Plain. A theme in her books (her life!) is that you don’t have to “go Amish” to incorporate the principles of simple living.
Suzanne lives in California with her family and raises puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. To her way of thinking, you just can’t life too seriously when a puppy is tearing through your house with someone’s underwear in its mouth.
