Friday, January 24, 2025

My Thoughts The Train That Took You Away is written by Catherine Hokin.

Book Description:

Berlin, 1938. I wipe the tears streaming down my darling son’s face, my heart shattering into a million pieces. “I promise I will find you, my love. No matter what…”

Ever since the Nazis came to power, violence has spread through the city Esther Spielmann once called home. Each night she prays her family will be spared. But when her husband and father are murdered alongside fellow Jews during Kristallnacht, she has no choice but to send her beloved son, Sascha, to safety.

Esther’s heart breaks as she watches his thin legs trembling in the cold as he is ushered with the other crying children towards the Kindertransport. As the train leaves in a cloud of smoke, she thinks of the painting of the two of them hanging in their house. In it, they are tightly embracing and laughing, everything just as it should be. She vows that she will hold him like this once again. But has Esther made a promise she can’t possibly keep?

Each day the hope of finding Sascha burns like a flame in Esther’s chest. The war has taken everything from her, including the painting of her and her beloved son. Then one day the guards come. This time it is Esther who must get on a train. But unlike Sascha, Esther is not being carried to safety. She has heard whispers of the horrors of the concentration camps. But knows she must do everything in her power to survive…

When Esther hears word that her painting might have been found, hope of finding Sascha blooms once more in her chest. In the ashes of war, can she make her way back to her beloved son? And if they do meet again, will either of them be prepared for what they find?

An absolutely devastating, heartbreaking page-turning story of a family torn apart by war – and the hope that can sustain us in the darkest of places. Perfect for fans of The Book of Lost Names and The Nightingale.

Author Bio:

I seem to have followed a rather meandering career, including marketing and teaching and politics (don't try and join the dots), to get where I have always wanted to be, which is writing historical fiction. I am a story lover as well as a story writer and nothing fascinates me more than a strong female protagonist and a quest. Hopefully those are what you will encounter when you pick up my books.

I am from the North of England but now live very happily in Glasgow with my American husband. Both my children have left home (one to London and one to Berlin) which may explain why I am finally writing. If I'm not at my desk you'll most probably find me in the cinema, or just follow the sound of very loud music.

I'd love to hear from you and there are lots of ways you can find me, so jump in via my website https://www.catherinehokin.com/ or on my Cat Hokin FB page or on twitter @catherineh66267.

Buy Link:

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0DK99YTT3social

You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you'll love at: http://ow.ly/Fkiz30lnzdo

My Thoughts

The Train That Took You Away is written by Catherine Hokin. This is a new to me author and I enjoyed being transported back to World War II era in this heartbreaking story.

Esther has been saddened to see the destruction that has been caused since the Nazis came to power. She’s hoping that everything will return to normal and then her husband and father are murdered she realizes that she needs to protect her young son. I can’t even imagine the heartache that she must have felt when she had to make a difficult decision.

She decides to sent Sascha on the Kindertransport to England. She knows that his chances of surviving are better this way. The author wrote Esther’s emotions so well you could feel them coming off the pages.

There’s a parallel story in here. We meet Amalie. She’s a British Art Conservator and has come to Berlin to protect the art. Esther’s had her gallery looted with precious things stolen. However it becomes apparent that Amalie can’t stay put with the worsening environment around her. This is a part of the war that you don’t think about. The loss of historical pieces.

The author has done a wonderful job in transporting readers back in time. The characters are well written. The storyline is packed full of rich historical details.

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Monday, January 20, 2025

My Thoughts - Emma’s Engagement Author: Susan G Mathis

About the Book

Book: Emma’s Engagement

Author: Susan G Mathis

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release date: January 21, 2025

A lighthouse. A new wife. A jealous daughter. Can love shine through the darkness?

Emma Row yearns for a fresh start and a chance to build a loving family. But as she steps into her role as the Rock Island Lightkeeper’s wife, she finds herself navigating the treacherous waters of isolation and the bitter rejection of her new stepdaughter, Ada.

Michael Diepolder, the widowed lightkeeper, had hoped securing a companion would brighten his life and be a needed mother figure to his eleven-year-old daughter. Yet, as Emma struggles to adapt to the challenges of her new life, Michael realizes that the path to happiness is far more turbulent than he ever anticipated.

As a storm brews on the horizon, Emma and Michael must confront the tempestuous waves of doubt, jealousy, and isolation that threaten to extinguish the light of their love. Can they weather the storm and find the strength to keep their family together, or will the darkness consume them all?

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands, her childhood stomping ground in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than thirty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has thirteen in her Thousand Islands fiction line including, The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, Christmas Charity, Katelyn’s Choice, Devyn’s Dilemma, Sara’s Surprise, Reagan’s Reward, Colleen’s Confession, Peyton’s Promise,Rachel’s Reunion, Mary’s Moment,A Summer at Thousand Island House, Libby’s Lighthouse, and Julia’s Joy, and Emma’s Engagement.

My Thoughts

Emma's Engagement is book three in the Love at a Lighthouse series that is written by Susan Mathis. This is a fairly quick read at 222 pages. While this is part of a series, this can be read as a stand alone. The author has done a great job in transporting readers back in time.

Emma, a librarian marries Michael and son assumes the role of wife of a lighthouse keeper and step mom. Michael's daughter, Ada is quite the challenge to start with. Ada has been at boarding school, and is now home for the summer. Seeing the new family navigate the new normal was heart warming to watch.

We see God at work when a near tragedy rocks the three of them. Emma and her faith help to heal and bond. I enjoyed all the sweet moments that the author wrote in.

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read a copy of this book - all thoughts are my own.

Saturday, January 11, 2025

My Thoughts -What I Left for You (Echoes of the Past Book Three) Author: Liz Tolsma

About the Book

Book: What I Left for You (Echoes of the Past Book Three)

Author: Liz Tolsma

Genre: Christian Fiction / Romance / Historical Fiction

Release date: December 1, 2024

A Family’s Ties Were Broken in Poland of 1939

1939
Helena Kostyszak is an oddity—an educated female ethnic minority lecturing at a university in Krakow at the outbreak of WWII. When the Germans close the university and force Jews into the ghetto, she spirits out a friend’s infant daughter and flees to her small village in the southern hills. Helena does everything in her power to protect her family, but it may not be enough. It will take all of her strength and God’s intervention for both of them to survive the war and the ethnic cleansing to come.

2023
Recently unengaged social worker McKenna Muir is dealt an awful blow when a two-year-old she’s been working with is murdered. It’s all too much to take, so her friend suggests she dive into her family’s past like she’s always wanted. Putting distance between herself and her problems might help her heal, so she and her friend head on Sabbatical to Poland. But what McKenna discovers about her family shocks everyone, including one long-lost family member.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Liz Tolsmais the author of several WWII novels, romantic suspense novels, prairie romance novellas, and an Amish romance. She is a popular speaker and an editor and resides next to a Wisconsin farm field with her husband and their youngest daughter. Her son is a US Marine, and her oldest daughter is a college student. Liz enjoys reading, walking, working in her large perennial garden, kayaking, and camping.

More from Liz

I stared at my computer screen in front of me. For years, I had been searching for my great-grandmother, Anna. I got no good information. Census records in the US weren’t helpful. Some listed her birthplace as Czechoslovakia, while others had it as Austria. I had heard before that she might have been born in Czechoslovakia before, but never Austria. There were no records that I had come across that listed the city or town where she was born.

Until that one day. While searching for my great-grandmother, I ran across a passport application recorded in Warsaw, Poland, for an Anna with the same last name, though spelled differently. Her birthday was listed as 1903, which matched the birth year I knew for my great-grandmother’s niece. As I read through the application, my heart was pounding. This Anna was born in the United States but went to Dubne, Poland, with her family in 1906. It was now 1923, and she wanted to return to the US, and she would be living with…

I started to cry when I saw who her sponsor was. My great-grandfather. The name and address were correct. There could be no doubt about it. It had taken me years, but I finally made the jump to Europe and discovered that my great-grandmother was not born in Czechoslovakia but in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now Poland.

Of course, good little researcher that I am, I had to find out all I could about Dubne, the town they were from. That’s when I first came across the term Lemko. What on earth was that?

Lemkos are a Slavic people that settled in the Carpathian Mountains of Southern Poland, Northern Slovakia, and Western Ukraine. They are also known as Lemko Rusyns, Rusyns (especially those born in Slovakia, like my great-grandfather), and Carptho-Rusyns. The mountains kept the world at bay, and they developed their own language, customs, and form of Christianity. For the most part, they were very poor, many of them eking out a living from the rocky ground.

They lived in “black houses,” called that because the poorest people couldn’t afford to have a chimney built. The smoke from the cooking and heating fires stayed inside the house and covered the walls with black tar. If you look at the cemetery records from Dubne, you would be old if you lived into your fifties. Conditions were brutal.

The most the average Lemko could afford was one sheep or one pig. Since this was their most prized possession, they couldn’t take the chance of a wild animal or a neighbor taking it away, so it lived in the house with them.

With all of them. Up to eleven people would live in a two-room house. When I mentioned that in What I Left for You, my editor questioned if I had made a mistake. No, I didn’t. I have no idea how they fit all those people in there, but they did. As I was tracking one branch of our family tree, I kept coming up with people living in house 43. Over and over and over. They stuffed that house full. Grandparents, parents, and children all lived together. They may not have had much, but that forged the Lemkos into strong and resilient people.

I’m proud to be Lemko-Rusyn, and I’m thrilled to share this story with you. I infused Helena, the historical heroine, with as much of the Lemko spunk and spirit as I could. Last October, my daughter and I had the privilege to travel to Poland and Slovakia and see the Lemko homeland for ourselves. It helped me to write a better, richer story because I now understand where they came from and who they were. Enjoy Helena’s story and her journey during WWII and beyond. I hope you come to understand and appreciate the Lemko people as much as I have.

My Thoughts

What I Left for You is book three in the Echoes of the Past series that is written by

Liz Tolsma. This is a dual time line Christian Historical Fiction. This book took me in an emotional journey that I wasn’t prepared for. One of the most amazing things about this author is that she does careful research and while you’re reading you’re also getting a history lesson that you may have never learned in school.

Readers are transported back to 1939 Poland. We’re sent to a world where we see right before the invasion. Helena Kostyszak is an oddity—an educated female ethnic minority lecturing at a university in Krakow. When the Germans close the university, she sees the Jews be forced to ghettos. So she takes her friends infant daughter and hides in her small town. Her courage and strength to save friends and family is inspiring.

Blended and woven together with 2023 we meet a woman McKenna who has always wanted to learn her families history. She takes a break after a case that she was the assigned social worker on goes wrong. She finds more than she ever would have imagined.

While this is part of a series it can be read as a stand alone book. I learned so much that I didn’t know before because of it. I love that the author brought Poland to life through the pages. I may or may not have cried a few times while reading.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Celebrate Lit for allowing me to read such an amazing story. All thoughts are my own.