The Paris Dressmaker

 

The years are 1939 to 1944, Germany has occupied France for the best part of those years and the French Resistance is working hard to liberate France.  Two women, Lila Du Laurent and Sandrine Paquet, are working hard with the Resistance.  Lila is a dressmaker working with CoCo Chanel and later on with Nina Ricci before going out on her own.  She was designing dresses for the women who were paramours of the German officers in Paris.  

Sandrine was ordered to work preparing for shipment the art the Germans were taking away from Paris. She keeps a catalogue of all the pieces the Germans are taking and which officers are taking which art. 

Kristy Cambron has written an interesting book taking place during World War II, but I found the plot too disjointed because of the separate story lines for Sandrine and Lily.  The stories do intersect but it takes a long time getting into the book before they do.  The Paris Dressmaker is a bit misleading because the book is more than just Lily's story.  I am not sure what a better title would be, or how to better bring the story lines together.  I feel these separate stories would have been handled better as a series, or maybe two novellas.  Three Stars. 

Thomas Nelson and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

Beauty Among Ruins

 

J'Nell Ciesielski has populated her latest offering with a variety of personalities and situations.   Lily is an American heiress whose exploits truly confound her parents to the point they send her to cousins who live in Great Britain.  Alec is the owner of a castle that has been turned into a convalescent home for soldiers who have been wounded in the trenches of World War I.  Richard Wright is a man bent on destroying Alec because Alec's mother jilted him years ago.  Esther is a "nouveau riche" heiress wanting a title--specifically the title of Lord Alec's wife.  Matron Strom is the head nurse watching over the nurses who were tending the soldiers.  Bertie is Lily's cousin, and the two of them go through nurse's training to be able to go to the castle and help with nursing the soldiers. 

Lily is a self-proclaimed flibbertigibbet, who gets lost in the castle more times than she'd care to count, ends up on the matron's bad side before she even walked in the door, and worms her way into Alec's life without even giving it much thought.  What Lily did best was to cheer up the soldiers and boost their morale.  And she brought Alec's sister, Viola, out of an invalid's life into living in the real world. 

Alec is a recluse, who would like to have gone to serve his country, but due to a badly set broken leg is not fit enough to serve.  He is trying save his home from foreclosure, from decay, and from being plundered by Richard Wright.  

The way J'Nell describes seeing the Scottish Lowlands through Lily's eyes, makes the scenery come alive in the reader's mind.  The intrigue she brought to the book keeps the reader involved all the way through to the last page. Her research into the laws and circumstances surrounding debts is woven into the book seamlessly without seeming like a text book recitation. 

This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and ceilidh with haggis included to celebrate life. 

Thomas Nelson and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

 

From This Moment . . . To Eternity

 

There aren't many books by Kim Vogel Sawyer that I haven't enjoyed immensely, so when I saw that this one was available, I jumped at the chance.  It's a strong five star book that really touches the heart in so many ways.  

One thing I really enjoyed about the book is that the romantic couple isn't obvious from the start, and if the reader doesn't look at the book blurb first, there is a bit of suspense of whom will be romantically involved.  This book is NOT a smarmy-marmy romance either.  It is a quiet growth of love coming out of friendship.  I am hoping this is the first of a series, because I want to know that someone finds Kenzie and falls in love with her heart.  

The overarching theme of the book is grace through Jesus Christ, and the working of the Holy Spirit in each Christian's life.  There could have been more details about Jase's years in the foster system and it would not have detracted from the story at all.  Lori's life with her father after her mother's death was handled with care and diplomacy.  The book builds up to Lori's reconciliation with her father after his emotionally abusive anger toward her.  

The crown jewel of the book is Kenzie's desire to tell her family about God's grace surpassing all of the rules they live by in the Amish community that she left years ago.  She found that Jesus' death on the cross paid for all of her sins on her Rumspringa and accepted that grace.  Kenzie is such a sweet girl, she needs her own spotlight in another book.  

This book is populated characters the reader just wants to get to know and befriend.  The church is one that I would want to belong to and be involved with.  

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a pan of Kenzie's Dutch chocolate brownies. 

Waterbrook/Multnomah and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own.  

All Through The Night

 

Sleep my child and peace attend thee,
All through the night
Guardian angels God will send thee,
All through the night
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,
All through the night

These lyrics weave their way through this book in telling the story of the early days of the Civil War.  Cadence Piper and Joshua Ivy are two very relatable characters who populate this plot.  Joshua is a doctor at the Judiciary Square Hospital in Washington DC.  Dorothea Dix is the head of nursing supplying nurses to the hospital and she has a prejudice against young, pretty, unmarried women as nurses and turns Cadence away.  Cadence has a stutter and a singing voice that mesmerizes everyone around her, but her desire is to work as a nurse in the hospital.  

Joshua has secrets that he has kept from his staff and from those around him.  He is an abolitionist who frequents the slave market to buy and free slaves.  He also provides a way north so that they will not be brought back into slavery.  

Both Joshua and Cadence need approval, but they look for the approval from all the wrong places.  In finding the right approval through God, they are free to work and to will their lives accordingly. 

Cadence and Joshua cross paths several times in the early pages of this book: first, when Cadence encounters a small child crying in an alleyway.  She sings a song to the child and gives her a memento to give her comfort.  About this time, Joshua shows up to take the girl home.  This seemingly meaningless encounter plays a significant part later on in the story.  

This is one of the most interesting historical books about the Civil War that I've ever read. Tara Johnson uses historical figures in cameos throughout the book:  Dorothea Dix, Fannie Crosby, Abraham Lincoln; and they only add to the story.  Her research into the era, the people, and the times is impeccable.  This is a five-star book, with two thumbs up, and a hairpin memento.  

Tyndale House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

The Dress Shop on King Street

 Ashley Clark has written a book that weaves history and modern day together so seamlessly that it was hard to put down.  She has researched life in the south in the 40s and 50s, and brought understanding to the rights or lack thereof of people of color during that time era.  

Millie is the daughter of a black woman and a white/Italian man and she has skin light enough to "pass." So her mother encourages her to leave Charleston, South Carolina, and make her way in Fairhope, Alabama.  On the way to Alabama, she meets Franklin, a train jumper and the two of them make an alliance to help each other out. They end up at a boarding house where the owner believes them to be married.  Still in the back of Millie's mind is the desire to own a dress shop. 

Harper is a young lady who has studied sewing under Millie and has gone to the Savannah College of Art and Design to get a degree in clothing design, but her advisor tells her she's nothing special.  Harper's dream of owning a dress shop using her own clothing designs goes up in so much smoke.  

Peter is actually Millie's grandson, but he doesn't know that.  He just knows that Millie's been a close family friend for many years. In his search for some family heirlooms that his stepfather gave away after his mother's death, he finds the truth about the relationship between Millie and him. 

I found the plot of this book to be so deep I had to take breaks in reading once in a while just to let it sink in.  The quality of Ashley's writing is of the highest caliber.  Her plot moves at a steady pace and her settings induce the reader to want to be a part of the story.  The characters are realistic and likable. This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a sweetgrass basket to hold your secrets. 

Bethany House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

Courting Misfortune

 

I am at a loss as to how to begin this review.  Did I enjoy the book? Yes, in parts, but not all of it; there were parts I found tedious and I was tempted to skip ahead to the end instead of reading all the way through.  Are the characters believable? Yes, they have true "people" qualities.  Are the settings realistic? Absolutely.  Is the plot easy to follow? Yes, it is.  In those questions, this book checks all the boxes.  Regina Jennings writes well-researched historical romances with relatable characters and situations. 

Calista York is a probational Pinkerton Agent tasked with finding the daughter of a known mob boss from Chicago.  The last place the woman was known to be was in Joplin, Missouri--a place Calista knows well because a lot of her family lives there.  

Matthew Cook is a missionary to the miners in the Joplin area, and meets Calista as she's about to go into a restaurant known to house "soiled doves."  He wants to prevent her from getting involved into that particular lifestyle, but because of the secretive nature of her business, she can't tell him what she's really doing.  

A matter of misunderstandings and misdirections makes the plot move.  This is a four star book worth reading.   

Bethany House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are my own. 

The Light at Wyndcliff

 

This book is the third book in a series, but I never got the impression that it was part of a series, it stands by itself.  The time is the late 1700s to early 1800s and the setting is in Cornwall, England.  The Wyndcliff Manor is on the coastline and is often the site of recovery for shipwrecks: cargo and lives.  

William Twethewy is the owner of Wyndcliff Manor and makes an unexpected arrival while Evelyn is stuck in the mud of the moors and helps to pull her and her pony out of the mud.  Evelyn's grandfather, Rupert, has been the caretaker of the Manor, and while Evelyn isn't officially a staff member, she does a lot of work to help out the household. 

When a ship runs aground on the rocks by Wyndcliff, Evelyn, William, and all of the workers run to take care of the cargo and any survivors of the wreck.  The two survivors found are a woman with a head injury and her four-year-old daughter, Mary.  Evelyn becomes indispensable in the care of Mary and her mother.  This shipwreck happens about one quarter of the way through the book and this is where the plot picked up enough to gain my interest.  

I am not sure what I was looking for in reading this book, but it missed the mark with me.  Sarah E Ladd's abilities as a writer are not in question.  She writes with high standards as her goal in putting out a story.   She does her research into the times, customs, and daily life events of the era she's putting on paper.  She makes incredible word pictures for the reader's imagination to relish.  This is definitely a four star book at the very least, it just wasn't what I was looking for, which is more my taste than any flaw in the book. 

Thomas Nelson and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  The opinions expressed are solely my own.