It isn’t often that I read American historical romance, much less set in the 20th century. Dorothy Garlock’s The Moon Looked Down offers a somewhat refreshing change of scenery for me, to early 1940s Illinois. Sophie Heller and her family immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1933, suspecting from the beginning that their…
When I went to the bookstore recently, the manager approached me with a gleam in her eye and told me I had to read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, that every bookseller there had read it and they all loved it. So I did and I’d like to thank her for recommending…
I’ve heard good things before about Eva Ibbotson, and I am partial to tales set during World War II, so I thought The Dragonfly Pool looked like fun. For the most part it was. Tally Hamilton is a special girl, the kind who likes to help, who cares for others, and who sees what could…
The Blossoming Years is just that – the tale of a young man who blossoms into an adult. However, I saw it more as this man’s fantasy, rather than anything based in reality. Where else but in fiction can you be the star student of your school, the hero of the football game (especially when…
Once I started reading Pam Morsi’s Last Dance at the Jitterbug Lounge, I could hardly put it down, even when reaching for a Kleenex; it was such an emotional story and touched me on a personal level. I stayed up to 1:00 in the morning to finish the story and it was the first thing…
I love seeing historical romances set in the early 20th century and, since I also find the history of aviation fascinating, I was doubly thrilled to stumble across On Wings of the Morning. This tale of two restless souls finding peace and love has a beauty about it that made the story linger in my…
I have long thought 1900 an arbitrary cut-off for determining what is and what is not a historical romance since the early years of the 20th century are filled with many events and settings perfect for drama and romance. In Perfidia, Elspeth McKendrick (who also writes as Morag McKendrick Pippin) takes the unlikely setting of…
I have a real fascination with World War II, especially from the civilian point of view on the Eastern front and more than a passing interest in Holocaust literature. Given this, The Kommandant’s Girl, the story of a young Jewish woman posing as a Gentile and working for the Krakow resistance, should have appealed to…
For paranormal fans hungry for a story that doesn’t involve vampires, werewolves or psychics, Merline Lovelace’s Closer Encounters offers a wonderfully fresh alternative. The latest in her Code Name: Danger series, it’s part period mystery, part ghost story, with a dash of action and romance. It’s far from perfect, but there is much here to…
Writing a review of The Book Thief, I am burdened by a sense of “What’s the point?” This book has already received copious amounts of positive press; The New York Times, Kirkus, Horn Book, The Washington Post, and Publisher’s Weekly, among others, have given it glowing reviews. What insight can I really add to this…