Review: The Secret Wife

The Secret Wife by Gill Paul
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I discovered Gill Paul last year and I like her style a lot. She has done quite a few Titanic books and I am trying hard to read them all. I discovered this book because I was trying to get a hold of Another Woman's Husband (also by Gill). I thought I would give it a whirl. This one tells a story we are familiar with Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandria of Russia. We all know they were murdered, along with their children, during the Bolsheviks revolution of Russia in 1917. We have heard that Anatasia might have lived. Well, this story chooses to let another daughter live. Her body is discovered in modern-day after the love of her life dies of old age. It is believed she was murdered and hidden in a shallow grave but upon further inspection, she died of natural causes. What they don't know is that she escaped the murder and lived with her lover as man and wife until her natural life was over. She had changed her name as had her husband. It is a sweet story and does make you long to believe that those children could have lived.

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Review: Camino Island

Camino Island by John Grisham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have been on hold for this book forever. I didn't read what it was about, I just know I read every Grisham book. This one blew me away from the start. F Scott Fitzgerald! I love him! His manuscripts in the hands of crooks! I was sucked in and blown away. I had NO idea where this novel was going to end up, every time I thought I did something else happened to make me say "what".

I enjoy almost every Grisham book, but I do believe this one ranks up there near "The Firm" for me. EXCELLENT!

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Review: The German Girl

The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My friend made me read this and I am so glad that she did! This book travels from 2014 with Anna to 1939 with Hannah and follows the lives of the Rosenthal's/Rosen's. The story traveled to Havana, which I loved. Having just gotten back from Havana and visited many of the places from the book....everything was so visible in my mind. The story was sad, so sad, but such an important tale to tell. I had never heard about the ship St. Louis and had no idea what happened to those people. It's another story from (pre) WWII that people should know. Thank you sir for telling this history along with adding some characters that we would want to know more about and enjoy spending time with (we would also be sad right alongside them).

A wonderful book.

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Review: Along the Infinite Sea

Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the past, Annable marries a man she doesn't love just because she is pregnant. In the future, she buys a car from Pepper. Pepper the outcast who finds herself pregnant by some Washington big deal in politics. Pepper and Annable go on an adventure that will connect the past of Annable with the future of Pepper, strangers who become friends.

Beatriz can tell a story like no other, and I think you can read her books as a stand-alone, but if you pay attention you will see that most of them have a connection of either a character or a location or even a family.

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Review: A Fall of Marigolds

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I do believe this is the greatest book I have ever read. I have read it a few of times and every time I love it more. A scarf falls at Ellis Island in 1911 and then ends up at the World Trade Center on 9/11/01. The connection of the past with the present captivated me on a long 9-hour flight, then I re-read it while traveling through the bush in Alaska and fell deeper in love with how the scarf connects the past and the present. Reading fiction about 9/11 seems so real, maybe because we lived through it and we all have a story. This was another story that left me thinking "that really could have happened". I know I heard of folks that died that never knew they were going to be parents. I know someone who had circumstances have changed that day would have been right there in the center of it all. I remember sitting by the TV wondering if someone would come after the nuclear plant where I live. This book brought up the fear, but also the happiness, the American renewal, the partnership we all had to band together as one. It tells of how folks completely changed because of the events of one morning. I love this entire story.

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Review: Goodnight From London

Goodnight From London by Jennifer Robson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW!! I have been waiting to read this because I needed the ebook since I didn't want to mess up my autographed copy. It was well worth the wait. Once I opened the ebook I devoured the text. It was a wonderful journey. We met Ruby who seems like an incredible girl that has some deep secrets. Her secrets will be revealed and she will fall for a man that also has deep secrets. Ms. Robson writes the most perfect books for me, there is some romance, but not trashy and the books are FULL of history from the early 20th century wars. This one will focus on WWII, you will actually be right in the middle of the blitz in London.

I simply adore this book.

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Review: A Sound Among the Trees

A Sound Among the Trees by Susan Meissner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one left me with questions. Ghosts in an old house I get, but the dead wife, mental illness and the Civil War left me wondering (or wanting) another book.



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