Book Review: When Time Stopped

When Time Stopped
A Memoir of My Father’s War and What Remains

by Ariana Neumann
Scribner
Biographies & Memoirs
Pub Date 04 Feb 2020

I am reviewing a copy of When Time Stopped through Scribner and Netgalley:

In 1941, the first member of the Neumann family arrested in the German Occupied Czechoslovakia was taken prisoner by the Nazis, his crime was bathing in a part of the river that the Jews were not allowed to use. He was transported to Auschwitz and eighteen days later his prisoner number was entered into the Morgue book.

Twenty five of the thirty four members were murdered by the Nazis. One of the survivors was Hans Neumann, who in order to escape the German death net, traveled to Berlin and hid in plain sight right under the eyes of the Gestapo. Hans experienced things so unspeakable that even when he built his industrial empire in Venezuela he was unable to bring himself to talk about what he had witnessed. The only thing his daughter Ariana knew was something horrible had happened.

After Hans died he left his daughter Ariana left a small box filled with letters, diary entries, and other memorabilia. It took ten years before Ariana found the courage to have the letters translated and she began reading them. The discoveries she made inside that small box launched her on a worldwide search that would deliver indelible portraits of a family loving, finding meaning, and trying to survive amid the worst that can be imagined.

When Time Stopped is a powerful story of survival and great loss during the Holocaust and it is a reminder of how that horrific time affected families long after the Holocaust was over.

I give When Time Stopped five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Showtime Sabotage

Showtime Sabotage
by Verity Weaver
North Star Editions
Jolly Fish Press

Humor , Middle Grade
Pub Date 01 Jan 2020

I am reviewing a copy of Showtime Sabotage through North Star Editions/Jolly Fish Press and Netgalley:

The Green Valley Middle School’s theater students knew their production of Pirates and Lost Boys was cursed. Despite enduring months of the flu, rivalries that were flaring and snow days they finally made it to opening day. Just hours before showtime when the lights go out and costumes get wrecked both cast and crew suspect sabotage.

Who would want to Sabotage the show? Was it a self-absorbed pirate worried about being upstaged by the incredible set? Or a brand-new actor fearful of being outperformed? Or maybe it was rival students annoyed at having their talent show moved to the gym. Or could the show really be cursed?

This book investigates a mystery of what happened in four different perspectives, and would be a great edition to the Middle Grade Mystery lovers library in your life.

I give Showtime Sabotage five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: On Wings of Devotion

On Wings of Devotion
by Roseanna M. White
Bethany House

Bethany House Publishers

Christian
Pub Date 07 Jan 2020

I am reviewing a copy of Wings of Devotion via Bethany House Publishers and Netgalley:

Everyone in England believes that Phillip Camden is a monster, a man who deliberately caused the death of his squadron. Nurse Arabelle Denter watches the man who was dubbed as “Black Heart” every day, she sees a far different side of him, a man who is hurting and desperate for Mercy. When their paths twist together and he declares himself her new protector, she realizes she has her own role to play in his healing.

Phillip Camden would have rather died with his Squadron rather than be recruited to the Admiralty’s codebreaking division. The threats he receives daily, do not surprise him and he believes he deserves them. What does surprises him is that Arabelle inspires him to want to really live again.

After an old acquaintance comes into the picture and seems to be set on using him in a plot that has the codebreakers of Room 40 in a frenzy, new affections are put to the test.

If you are looking for a powerful historical novel set during The Great War, one that is full of everything from romance to action and intrigue I would definitely recommend On Wings of Devotion.

I give On Wings of Devotion five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: The Cubbyhole Kid

Cubbyhole Kid
by C. E. Joseph
Page Publishing
Biographies & Memoirs
Pub Date 21 Nov 2019

I am reviewing a copy of the Cubbyhole through Page Publishing and Netgalley:

This book tells the heartrending true story of abuse and dysfunction in a California family in the late 1960’s.

Cubbyhole Kid is the story of a four year old boy as he recounts his early childhood days being raised in a strict Irish Catholic family in Los Angeles while expressing his gratitude and love for two incredible women that saved his life—his protective fourteen-year-old sister, his godmother, and his beautiful, faithful mother. Together he and his other siblings had to figure out how to navigate childhood around an abusive alcoholic Father with a hair triggered temper. He would deal with severe Childhood anxiety, suicidal depression and both physical and learning disabilities , the boy traveled inside the cubbyhole of there station wagon a small, two-by-four middle section of the family station wagon where he unexpectedly experiencing his World War II veteran father’s life-threatening road rage.

The young boy continued to fear for his life due to his Father’s erratic behavior the boy witnessed his father’s familiar, unpredictable violence, explosive temperament, and heavy drinking during our country’s escalating involvement in the Vietnam War, the hippie cultural movement, riots in the streets, and arguably the heyday of rock-and-roll music.

He tells lovingly of his older sister who did her best to shield him from their Fathers violence. His sister had become like a second Mother to him. While he experienced the beauty of life outside the home during his sister’s “teenage years, along with her friends who were part of the youth cultural shift that seemingly took place overnight. The nightly demonstration of violence and abuse, coupled with his father’s unwillingness to accept the generational changes taking place with society’s youth, and his mother’s unexpected illness, would definitely test the young boy’s faith.

If you are looking for a powerful story of overcoming abuse then I would recommend Cubbyhole Kid!

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Every Last Breath

Every Last Breath
by Juno Rushdan

SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca

Sourcebooks Casablanca

Mystery & Thrillers , Romance

Pub Date 30 Apr 2019

*This book is not recommended for those under the age eighteen*

I am reviewing a copy of Every Last Breath through Sourcebook Casablanca and Netgalley:

Maddox Kinkade has become an expert at managing the impossible and now she has been tasked with neutralizing a lethal bioweapon, she turns to the one person capable of helping her stop the threat of pandemic in time: the love of her life, back from the dead and mad as hell at her supposed betrayal. She finds that recruiting Cole to save millions of lives may be harder than resisting the attraction still burning between them, however Maddox will do whatever she must, even if it destroys her in the process.

After Maddox crashes back into Cole Matthew’s life, he wants to fight back, he wants to hate her. The crisis is too strong to ignore, and soon the two former lovers find themselves working side-by-side in a breakneck race to stop a world-class killer with a secret that could end everything.

I give Everlasting Breath four out of five stars.

Happy Reading!

Book Review: When I Close My Eyes

When I Close My Eyes
A Novel

by Elizabeth Musser

Bethany House

Bethany House Publishers

Christian

Pub Date 05 Nov 2019

I am reviewing a copy of When I Close My Eyes through Bethany House Publishers and Netgalley:

Would she ever be able to share the secret of the awful year?

There is a story, novelist Josephine Bourdillon avoided telling that is her own story, the story of the awful year. Now she may never have the chance, as she lies in a coma.

Former soldier Henry Hughes is the one who is the reason Josephine is in the hospital, he had failed to kill her. Because he never killed her he never received full payment–funds that would ensure surgery for his son.

Detectives investigated disturbing fan letters, a young but not-so-naïve Paige Bourdillon finds herself having to turn to
her Mother’s turbulent past for the answers to what happened and why! Is it possible that the awful year is worse than the one they are currently living?

This book has it all action, intrigue, attempted murder, forgiveness and rebirth.

I give When I Close My Eyes five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Turtle Under Ice

Turtle under Ice
by Juleah del Rosario
Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing
Simon Pulse

Teens & YA
Pub Date 11 Feb 2020

I am reviewing a copy of Turtle Under Ice through Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing and Netgalley:

In this book a teen navigates between grief, identity, and guilt in the wake of her sisters mysterious disappearance in this breathtaking novel told in verse.

Rowena feels as if her family is a frayed string of lights that someone needs to fix with electrical tape. She and her sister Arianna drifted into their own corners of the world, each figuring out in their own separate ways how to exist in a world in which their mother is no longer alive.

Arianna disappears in the cover of the night, in the middle of a snowstorm leaving not a trace, or a track. Row wakes up the following morning to a world of snow and her Father’s empty bedroom and her sisters empty bedroom, she must piece together where Arianna went and why she left, while coming to realize that she may be part of the reason Arianna is gone.

Turtle Under Ice is a powerful novel, dealing with loss, grief, discovering one’s self, and is powerfully told in dual perspectives.

I give Turtle Under Ice five out of five stars!

Book Review: Smoke Screen

Smoke Screen
by Terri Blackstock

Thomas Nelson–FICTION

Thomas Nelson

Christian , Mystery & Thrillers

Pub Date 05 Nov 2019

I am reviewing a copy of Smoke Screen through Thomas Nelson Fiction and Netgalley:

A Father was murdered, another was convicted of his death, simply because there children fell in love.

Nate Beckett decides to spend his life fighting wildfires instead of the rumors and the lies that drove him from his Colorado Hometown. After his Father is pardoned by the governor and released from prison his Mother begs him to come home, but it isn’t until he is sidelined by an injury that he is forced to make the trip home and return to the past.

Nate was in love with the preachers daughter fourteen years ago. When Pastor Strickland discovered Brenna went against his wishes and snuck out to see Nate the fight between the Pastor and Nate’s Dad was both loud and very public. After Strickland was found ran off the road and shot everyone blamed Roy Beckett for his murder. When the church burned two years later it was Nate that many accused.

After the man convicted of her Father’s Murder is pardoned and released Brenna is stunned. The events of the night of her Father’s Murder set her life on a bad course and she’s fighting a brutal custody battle with her ex and his new wife where he’s using lies and his family’s money to sway the judge. Brenna has turned to alcohol to cope, and is barely hanging on. She is consumed by alcohol and fear.

Nate and Brenna are trying to deal with the present including new information about that fateful night and a wildfire that’s threatening their town, they find that the part keeps igniting. It turns out that Nate is the steady force Brenna needs, but can she learn to trust him again?

I give Smoke Screen five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Protecting Tanner Hollow

Protecting Tanner Hollow
Four Romantic Suspense Novellas

by Lynette Eason

Revell

Christian

Pub Date 05 Nov 2019

I am reviewing a copy of Protecting Tanner Hollow through Revell and Netgalley:

In the first Novella, Lethal Homecoming, Nolan Tanner was never able to get over Kallie Ainsworth’s Sudden departure. Now that he finds himself coming to her rescue, after someone attempted to kill her, he finds himself fighting those old feelings once more.

The Second Novella in this four Novella collection is Lethal Conspiracy. In this book professional fundraiser Lillian Maloney sees her father’s campaign manager kill someone and soon finds herself on the run from the men the Campaign Manager hired to kill her. A close calls brings a fire fighter, Jason Tanner to the rescue, but can they escape with the killer closing in?

In the Third Novella, Lethal Secrets: Someone is determined to see Honor McBride dead. When Eli Murphy helps her change a flat tire, and learns of the trouble she is in, he longs to help. There is a problem though, Eli has secrets of his own, secrets that could get them all killed.

In the final Novella in the Protecting Tanner Hollow collection, Lethal Agenda: After Detective Derek St.John rescues a woman he has met just once before and has never been able to forget. Soon he finds himself falling for her. But in order to have a future together he will have to keep Claire Montgomery!

I give Protecting Tanner Hollow five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage
by Lynette Eason

Revell

Christian

Pub Date 07 Jan 2020

I am reviewing a copy of Collateral Damage through Revell and Netgalley:

Brooke Adams is a former Military Psychiatrist from the army after she is nearly killed by an explosion. Brooke Adams set up shot to help others but her days of helping those in the military are over. She’s got to fight her own battles from her time she served overseas, and she is not equipped to take on more. Former Army Special Ops Sergeant First Class Asher James could handle anything that war sent his way–terrorists, bombs, bullets. The only thing that he is scared of now is sleep. Just As the shadows close in, the nightmares begin.

After finally being convinced that he needs help, Asher sets up an appointment with a counselor. Brooke is pressed by her boss to take on this case. But when he arrives at her office, she isn’t there, a dead body is there. Brooke is devastates when she walks in Asher is a conveniently strong shoulder to cry on. But she can’t take him on as a client after sharing such an intimate and unprofessional moment, can she? And he’s not sure he can handle sharing his deepest fears with such a beautiful woman.

After it becomes clear Brooke was the real target of the attack, that her secrets go even deeper than Asher’s, he vows to protect her no matter what.

I give Collateral Damage five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!