Dark Tides

Author:  Philippa Gregory
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 464
On Sale: November 24, 2020
Genre: Historical, Historical Fiction, Adult, Fiction
Stars: 3/5

From the Publisher:

Midsummer Eve 1670. Two unexpected visitors arrive at a shabby warehouse on the south side of the River Thames. The first is a wealthy man hoping to find the lover he deserted twenty-one years before. James Avery has everything to offer, including the favour of the newly restored King Charles II, and he believes that the warehouse’s poor owner Alinor has the one thing his money cannot buy—his son and heir.

The second visitor is a beautiful widow from Venice in deepest mourning. She claims Alinor as her mother-in-law and has come to tell Alinor that her son Rob has drowned in the dark tides of the Venice lagoon.

Alinor writes to her brother Ned, newly arrived in faraway New England and trying to make a life between the worlds of the English newcomers and the American Indians as they move toward inevitable war. Alinor tells him that she knows—without doubt—that her son is alive and the widow is an imposter.

Set in the poverty and glamour of Restoration London, in the golden streets of Venice, and on the tensely contested frontier of early America, this is a novel of greed and desire: for love, for wealth, for a child, and for home

From Me:

I love Philippa Gregory, but this book was a bit of a miss for me. I didn’t like the American setting and I really didn’t like Livia. I know she was supposed to be a frustrating character, but she really took away from the story for me. I have not read the first book in the Fairmile series, Tidelands, but I’m not sure it would have helped. This book did alright as a stand-alone for me, it was just missing in other aspects.

A Dance In Donegal

Author:  Jennifer Deibel
Publisher: Revell
Pages: 352
On Sale: February 2, 2021
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Christian Fiction, Cultural
Stars: 3/5

From the Publisher:

To fulfill her mother’s dying wish, Moira Doherty moves from Boston to the rolling green hills of 1921 Ireland to teach in a village school. She doesn’t expect to fall in love–or to uncover a scandalous family reputation her mother left behind years ago.

From Me:

I enjoyed this book, it was a lovely story of a woman traveling to Ireland to teach and falling in love while uncovering her mother’s secrets. The characters seemed like a lot of fun and her trials were moving, but overall this book wasn’t a winner for me. I’ve read some Christian Fiction and I normally don’t mind it, I just found this book had an excessive amount of praying and talking to God and reciting scripture. I should have saved this book for next year as it fits 11 prompts of The 52 Book Club’s 2021 reading challenge.

#1 – Set In A School
#2 – Featuring The Legal Profession
#7 – An Author With Only 1 Published Book
#10 – Related To The Word “Fire”
#12 – Title Starting With The Letter “D”
#27 – First Chapter Ends On An Odd Page Number
#43 – A Character With A Pet Cat
#44 – Includes A Garden
#47 – A Character With A Disability
#48 – A Cover With A Woman Who Is Facing Away
#51 – Published In 2021

The Paris Library

Author:  Janet Skeslien Charles
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 368
On Sale: February 2 2021
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, WWII
Stars: 3/5

From the Publisher:

Based on the true World War II story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris, this is an unforgettable story of romance, friendship, family, and the power of literature to bring us together, perfect for fans of The Lilac Girls and The Paris Wife.

Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet has it all: her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into Paris, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.

Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.

A powerful novel that explores the consequences of our choices and the relationships that make us who we are—family, friends, and favorite authors—The Paris Library shows that extraordinary heroism can sometimes be found in the quietest of places

From Me:

This book was really well done. It had a dual timeline, spanning from 1939 Paris to 1983 Montana, and I felt it was pretty easy to keep track of the plot. Both stories held up well on their own. I’ve never visited Paris and I had never heard of the American Library there, but I’m proud of the efforts everyone put in to promote reading and sending books to all the troops. Not a lot of focus was put on how the rest of the city or the Jews were faring during the occupation, but it was interesting to learn how the librarians struggled and adapted.

“After the darkness of war, the light of books.” (ALP’s motto)

The Sea Gate

Author:  Jane Johnson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 416
On Sale: January 5 2021
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, WWII
Stars: 3/5

From the Publisher:

A broken family, a house of secrets—an entrancing tale of love and courage set during the Second World War.

After Rebecca’s mother dies, she must sort through her empty flat and come to terms with her loss. As she goes through her mother’s mail, she finds a handwritten envelope. In it is a letter that will change her life forever.

Olivia, her mother’s elderly cousin, needs help to save her beloved home. Rebecca immediately goes to visit Olivia in Cornwall only to find a house full of secrets—treasures in the attic and a mysterious tunnel leading from the cellar to the sea, and Olivia, nowhere to be found.

As it turns out, the old woman is stuck in hospital with no hope of being discharged until her house is made habitable again. Rebecca sets to work restoring the home to its former glory, but as she peels back the layers of paint and grime, she uncovers even more buried secrets—secrets from a time when the Second World War was raging, when Olivia was a young woman, and when both romance and danger lurked around every corner…

A sweeping and utterly spellbinding tale of a young woman’s courage in the face of war and the lengths to which she’ll go to protect those she loves against the most unexpected of enemies.

From Me:

I have conflicting feelings about this book. The dual timeline was well done and I didn’t get too lost when the chapters flipped perspective, but I felt a lot of it just kind of plodded along. The characters felt real and believable, but it wasn’t until into the second half that things really came together and it became harder to put the book down. Rebecca felt a bit weak and flimsy at first, but she definitely became a stronger person as time goes on.

The Haunting At Bonaventure Circus

Author: Jaime Jo Wright
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Pages: 352
On Sale: September 1 2020
Genre: Mystery, Romance, Suspense, Historical Fiction
Stars: 4/5

From the Publisher:

1928
The Bonaventure Circus is a refuge for many, but Pippa Ripley was rejected from its inner circle as a baby. When she receives mysterious messages from someone called the “Watchman,” she is determined to find him and the connection to her birth. As Pippa’s search leads her to a man seeking justice for his murdered sister and evidence that a serial killer has been haunting the circus train, she must decide if uncovering her roots is worth putting herself directly in the path of the killer.

Present Day
The old circus train depot will either be torn down or preserved for historical importance and its future rests on real estate project manager Chandler Faulk’s shoulders. As she dives deep into the depot’s history, she’s also balancing a newly diagnosed autoimmune disease and the pressures of single motherhood. When she discovers clues to the unsolved murders of the past, Chandler is pulled into a story far darker and more haunting than even an abandoned train depot could portend.

From Me:

I was not familiar with Jaime Jo Wright’s work before this, but I will definitely be seeking her out.  This story was split between 1928 and present day and each story was very well written and could easily have stood on its own instead of being combined.  I enjoyed the mystery of the circus and the trials they were going through with the protestors, I also found The Watchman to be extremely creepy in a Scarecrow sort of way.  The present day story had a single mom struggling to balance work & her son, on top of a ghost story and mystery of her own.  Overall I really enjoyed both halves and how they came together.