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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.

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Catherine Hokin here: https://www.bookouture.com/catherine-hokin


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 ConfessionPeyton’s Promise,Rachel’s ReunionMary’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. 


Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, January 7

lakesidelivingsite, January 7

Lots of Helpers, January 8

Pens Pages & Pulses, January 8

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, January 9

Life on Chickadee Lane, January 9

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 10

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, January 10

Texas Book-aholic, January 11

Connie’s History Classroom , January 11

Locks, Hooks and Books, January 12

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, January 13

For Him and My Family, January 13

Stories By Gina, January 14 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, January 14

Holly’s Book Corner, January 15

Betti Mace, January 16

Jeanette’s Thoughts, January 16

Bigreadersite, January 17

Blossoms and Blessings, January 17

Pause for Tales, January 18

Becca Hope: Book Obsessed, January 18

A Good Book and Cup of Tea, January 19

Lights in a Dark World, January 19

Cover Lover Book Review, January 20

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Liz is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon e-Gift card and a print copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54125

Saturday, December 14, 2024

My Thoughts Mrs. Odboddy and the Conniving Candidate: A WWII Tale of Political Shenanigans and Snookery (Mrs. Odboddy Mysteries) by Elaine Faber




 Mrs. Odboddy and the Conniving Candidate:

A WWII Tale of Political Shenanigans and Snookery
(Mrs. Odboddy Mysteries)
by Elaine Faber

About Mrs. Odboddy and the Conniving Candidate


Mrs. Odboddy and the Conniving Candidate: A WWII Tale of Political Shenanigans and Snookery (Mrs. Odboddy Mysteries)
Historical Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Setting – California
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Elk Grove Publications (October 6, 2024)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 262 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1940781337
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1940781334
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DJN676F3
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As the war continues to rage in Europe, Election Day approaches in Newbury. Among other inequities, the Newbury City Council makes it difficult for local women to obtain business licenses even for home-bases businesses. Mrs. Odboddy decides to run for the vacant city council seat, but she has no idea what political obstacles she will face. The trouble starts, first with disasters in her home, to violence and racism against her friends, and then theft charges are filed against her!

To make matters worse, her granddaughter’s old boyfriend has returned to town declaring his unwanted, undying love. His heroic responses to multiple adverse events affecting the family make it difficult for Katherine to send him packing.

Agnes suspects her political opponent is behind all the trouble, including the state’s attempts to remove their beloved ward, Mattie. It seems that Agnes is up against a conniving opponent who will stop at nothing to prevent her winning the election. How can she prevail against such sinister deeds? Is winning an election worth it when her family is at risk?

Join Agnes as she faces overwhelming odds in her efforts to bring much needed change to Newbury.

About Elaine Faber 

Elaine is a member of Sisters in Crime (SIC), Northern California Publishers and Authors (NCPA), and Elk Grove Writers Guild (EGWG). She has published eleven cozy mystery novels, a humorous historical fiction series, a cozy cat mystery series, an anthology of short cat stories, a paranormal mystery, and multiple short stories published in twenty-one independent anthologies.

Three of Elaine’s “Mrs. Odboddy” fiction novels have won NCPA book awards. Her cat novels have received Cat Writers Association Excellence in Writing Certificates, and she has won numerous awards for her short stories through various venues and contests.

Elaine volunteers at the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop in Elk Grove, CA. She lives with her husband, and Truffie, who contributes inspiration for many of her cat-related stories and novels.

Author Links:  Websitewww.mindcandymysteries.com  Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001875864349

Purchase Link – Amazon 


My Thoughts


 Mrs. Odboddy and the Conniving Candidate is a fun story set in World War II time period. It’s written by Elaine Faber. This is the first book that I’ve read from this author and it won’t be my last. This is book five in the Mrs. Odboddy mystery series. 


Mrs. Odboddy is such a fun and interesting character. She’s decided to run for local office and finds out that someone is defacing her campaign photos. So she marches down to her political opponent to set the records straight. However she does make a lot of interpersonal blunders. (Which are quite comical) 


However the trouble doesn’t stop there. There’s disturbances at her home, violence, theft charges and racism. Mrs. Odboddy doesn’t back down. She really wants to get a women’s input on the Newbury City Council. All of this is happening while the war rages on. 


The author did a great job in portraying what life may have been like for people during World War II. The author captured this time period beautifully. The storyline flows nicely, the characters are engaging. 


I will definitely be keeping an eye on Mrs. Odboddy. Thank you to the author, publisher and Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for allowing me to read a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own. 



TOUR PARTICIPANTS

December 9 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT

December 9 – Maureen’s Musings – REVIEW

December 10 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT

December 10 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

December 11 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – CHARACTER GUEST POST

December 11 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST

December 12 – Deal Sharing Aunt – AUTHOR INTERVIEW  

December 12 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT

December 13 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT

December 14 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

December 14 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR GUEST POST

December 15 – Connie’s History Classroom– REVIEW  

December 16 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

December 17 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST

December 18 – Ruff Drafts – RECIPE



Thursday, December 12, 2024

My Thoughts An Unexpected Catch Author: Abbey Downey

 

About the Book

Book: An Unexpected Catch

Author: Abbey Downey

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release date: November 19, 2024

Can she count on the pitcher to save her dream, or will his secret destroy their futures?

Bea Curran has forged a career as an umpire in Chicago’s semi-professional baseball league, and now she’s ready to move toward her dream of leading the women’s athletic department at Western College. With her reputation on the line, the last thing she needs is a romance with a player known for his womanizing ways. But when her women’s baseball team desperately needs help, she can’t ignore the one man who could save them.

Emmett Worland, a talented new pitcher in the Chicago City League, has been keeping a painful secret that could end his baseball career for good. While he tries to hide his worsening illness, Emmett agrees to help coach Bea’s struggling team in hopes that it will be a step toward redeeming a bad reputation he didn’t earn.

Bea and Emmett’s undeniable attraction deepens the more time they spend together, but with so much at stake, can they afford to let their hearts lead the way? Or will the shadows of the past and the uncertainties of the future destroy their chance at a happily ever after?

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Abbey Downeystarted writing inspirational romance stories during naptime when her kids were babies and found she couldn’t stop. She previously published two books with Love Inspired Historical under the pen name Mollie Campbell. She also works with Spark Flash Fiction producing a quarterly digital magazine that contains love stories under 1000 words.

A life-long Midwestern girl, Abbey lives in central Indiana with her husband, two kids, and one rather enthusiastic beagle. She loves watching her kids play sports and fixing up a 1900 farmhouse with her husband.

 

 

More from Abbey

From the first record of it in the late 1700s, the game of baseball grew in popularity—and eccentricity—for decades. There have been plenty of larger-than-life characters and wild tales in the sport, but in my research for An Unexpected Catch, I was most drawn to the stories of those baseball legends many people haven’t heard of.

One of those was the inspiration for the heroine of my story. Amanda Clement became the first female umpire in baseball when she began refereeing games in a semi-professional league—at only sixteen years old! Amanda was a wildly talented athlete in her own right and was known to stand up to the rough men who played baseball in the early twentieth century without hesitation.

Like Amanda, my heroine, Bea Curran, built her career as an umpire in a man’s sport through determination and skill. She knows how to stand up for herself on the field or in other sports, but as she leaves baseball to pursue a different dream, she has to learn how to navigate new pressures to conform to the expectations those in authority place on her.

One of the hardest parts of the research I did for this book was related to the players. Lots of old baseball tales are fun and harmless enough. But then there are too many stories like “Gentleman” George Decker, a Chicago first baseman who was hit in the head by a pitch in 1897. He was denied time off to recover and was hit again not long after. His mental state declined quickly, leading to delusions and threatening behavior. He was institutionalized several times before dying in an asylum in 1909.

Decker was far from the only player to suffer from intense mental and physical health issues after a head injury. Today, we would recognize these players’ symptoms as the result of concussions. But in the early 1900s and before, little was known about brain injuries from blows to the head. These men suffered in silence while being told they were crazy, and many were either arrested or placed in asylums, torn from their loved ones instead of treated.

In An Unexpected Catch, pitcher Emmett Worland feels like baseball is all he has. When he’s forced to face the likely loss of his career thanks to post-concussion syndrome (as we call it now), he has to figure out if anything else could possibly make his life worthwhile if he can’t play. Just like many of us, he wrestles with his purpose when the path he thought he would take is irrevocably disrupted.

Thankfully, there are plenty of wonderful moments in this story to remind the characters (and us) that God blesses us even in struggles. Along with all the fun vintage baseball and historical details, readers will follow Bea and Emmett as they grow in their faith, find their way through changing circumstances, and fall in love with the person they least expected.

 

Happy reading!

Abbey



MY THOUGHTS 



An Unexpected Catch is book two in the Adventurous Hearts series that is written by 

Abbey Downey. This is the first book that I’ve read by this author and it will not be my last. I was drawn in within the first few pages.  


A league of their own has always been one of my favorite movies. When I saw the cover for this I was super excited. I was even more excited when I saw Bea as an umpire in the beginning of women in baseball. She’s confident and has a full knowledge of the game. She’s has the dream to manage the women’s athletic department and she can see it getting close. She’s in need of funds to help raise money for the equipment that the team needs. 


Enter  pitcher Emmett Worland. He plays in the Chicago City League. He doesn’t have the greatest reputation and finds out that if he doesn’t get his act cleaned up his grandma will take away his inheritance. 


Bea and Emmett become friends. The attraction is strong. Bea sees a different side of him that everyone else does. He helps Bea and even stands up to her when one of the alumni association tries to bully her to do it his way. 


This is a well written story. It’s a story with careful research to bring the time period to life. It’s a story of Gods forgiveness and how we can start fresh. 


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

Blog Stops

Inspired by Fiction, December 2

Book Looks by Lisa, December 2

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 3

She Lives to Read, December 4

Texas Book-aholic, December 5

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 6

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 7

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 8

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, December 9

Leslie’s Library Escape, December 10

Stories By Gina, December 11 (Author Interview)

Allyson Jamison, December 11

Connie’s History Classroom, December 12

Cover Lover Book Review, December 13

For Him and My Family, December 14

Holly’s Book Corner, December 15

Pause for Tales, December 15

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Abbey is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54107