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Guest Review & #Giveaway – Evita and Me by Erika Rummel @historycracks #excerpt #history

Posted in excerpt, Giveaway, Guest Post, Historical, Review on June 27, 2022

Synopsis

Evita Peron’s jewels are missing. Only three people know that they are in a vault in the Swiss Alps; Evita’s corrupt and brutal brother Juan, her bodyguard Pierre, and a teenaged girl Mona, her newest protegee. What happens if two of them team up?

Like Eva herself, Mona comes from a broken family and has to make her own way. Perhaps that’s why the two women feel close. Evita is at the pinnacle of success but already in the grip of a fatal illness. We see her life through the eyes of Mona and Pierre, two people she trusts — and who betray her in the end. Or can theft and murder be justified?

A story of love, adventure, and murder.

Amazon * DX Varos Publishing

Praise

“This is a fast paced page turner. A suspenseful, thrilling roller coaster ride with lots of twisty, loopy sections. Head Games is an apt title for this enthralling read. “- Joy Renee, Joy Story

“Identity’s a big theme in this work, so if you’ve ever felt you were someone other than yourself, if you thought you might like to try living in someone else’s skin, if you’ve wondered whether your friends and loved ones were not exactly who they claimed to be, then this psychological labyrinth might just be your winding road to a good read”.- Carole Giangrande, Words to Go

“This was a book that grabbed me from the start. It’s a period in history that offered much to the world but also had some of man’s darkest moments. Due to that it does provide rich material for a novelist and Ms. Rummel does an excellent job of taking her reader on a dangerous journey through the twists and turns of what many faced during the time. The characters are well developed and defined. The scenes are well described and I found myself feeling like I was actually walking the streets with the characters of the book.”-Patty, Books Cooks Looks

“To live during such tumultuous times would be horrible. You would have to be careful of every word that came out of your mouth. That might be easy when you are alert, but what about when you are so tired that you can’t even think? This book made me thankful that I was born in America in the 20th century. Any fan of riveting historical fiction will get lost in this book from page one.”-Lisa, Lisa’s Writopia

Guest Review by Nora

Among some of history’s greatest public figures, Eva Peron stands tall.

Perhaps one of the best loved politicians in Argentinian history, Eva, nicknamed Evita, was the wife of Juan Peron, who was president in the late 1940’s to early 1950’s (and again in the 1970’s). Because of her openness with the Argentinian people, Evita became beloved by her country and, when she passed in 1952 from cancer, the country went into mourning.

‘Evita and Me,’ is a historical fiction novel about a teenage girl who meets Evita in the final years of the great woman’s life and quickly becomes a close confidant.

Mona Ford is a sixteen-year-old girl living in Toronto with her mother whom she does not get along with. In the Spring of 1947, Mona’s mother informs her that a friend of hers, Liliana, has asked for Mona to come and visit her in Argentina.

Although Mona is initially hesitant to agree, she eventually decides to take the trip. Living with Liliana has it’s perks, as the woman is friends with (and works for) Evita Peron.

When Mona meets Evita, she is instantly smitten, and falls hopelessly in love with the older woman, determining that she will do anything to stay in her presence. Soon, Evita asks Mona to travel with her to Europe on a presidential tour, and Mona agrees. But after the tour is suddenly cut short, Evita asks Mona to go to Switzerland, to hide some of her jewelry in a vault and accept one of the keys. Years later, when Mona hears of Evita’s death, she realizes that she is one of three people to know about the vault, and one of only three that has a key.

This is a gorgeous, immersive book that reads almost like you are watching a great film. I felt so enveloped in the world that Erika Rummel creates in this book that I found myself wishing it was longer. ‘Evita and Me,’ is a reading experience that is unmatched!

Excerpt

26 July 1952

I knew she was dying, but when I saw the obituary in the Globe and Mail, it triggered an inner quake. The print lines wavered so that I had a hard time reading the words. She made herself one of the most powerful women in the world. She founded charitable institutions. She battled on behalf of workers and women. The print lines steadied, but I still couldn’t make sense of the words. They sounded unfamiliar. I didn’t recognize the woman on the page. Of course, that was the official version of Evita, as opposed to my private memories. And I’m no longer sure about them either. If I knew anything about Evita once, I gave it up when we said goodbye in Madrid, five years ago. I could feel her retreating even earlier. During the last days of our togetherness, she took all the necessary steps, preparing to go away and vanish from my life. That’s why I stole her necklace. I needed a tangible connection, a solid piece made of precious metal and stone, with its own expensive light, something she had touched and I could touch in turn, something that was forever. It was theft, yes, but was it a crime? It’s not as if I had a choice. I didn’t weigh the pros and cons. I didn’t make a conscious decision to act. It was more like basic instinct, an overwhelming need that could not be denied. I can’t be blamed for doing what I had to do.

After I got back to Toronto, I pushed the memory of Evita to the back of my mind, but I couldn’t keep it shut up there entirely. It lay in ambush for me, waiting to stab me with the sudden recall of a personal detail – the perfect curve of Evita’s lips, for example, or the elegant movement of her hand waving to the people as we drove through the city in an open car, the sudden roughness in her voice when she was angry, the way she kissed Juan, carnal and angelic at once. I had these retro-glimpses of Evita, but I never looked at her life as a whole the way the obituary did. I couldn’t come up with a coherent story to explain who she was and how she lived and why I adored her. In fact, you can’t compose a person’s life story until they are dead and can no longer interfere with your imagination or the memories that have congealed into nostalgia. As long as people are alive, there is always a chance they might disappoint you. I mean, you think of them as young and beautiful, the way they were when you saw them last, and then you run into them again and they have become old and their faces have turned to dust, a sight from which you cannot recover. Or you remember them as brilliant, and the next time you see them, they talk about the weather or their allergies and bore you until you have no goodwill left.

But Evita was dead now. I felt a strange lightheadedness when I thought of her, a centrifugal pull to lose myself in the memory of her beauty and the beauty surrounding her, the presidential palace which must be hollow now without her, but with everything still intact, the white bedroom, the dressers full of lingerie and closets full of haute couture dresses, dozens of furs – an ermine bed jacket and an ostrich feather cloak, rows and rows of delicate high-heeled shoes and designer purses. Only Evita was missing, and I felt a longing for her ardent temper, her vivacious gestures, and electric intensity — a longing beyond adoration. I wanted to be like her.

I turned back to the obituary and the photo spread that went with it. There was a picture of people lining up to see Evita lying in state. They knelt in prayer on the rain-soaked pavement. A field kitchen had been set up for them, the article said. The queue was twenty blocks long, and they were standing four abreast. They were like pilgrims who had come to visit the shrine of a miracle-working saint. There was also a close-up of Evita lying in state in a mahogany coffin with a glass lid, surrounded by mauve and white orchids. She looked tranquil and beautiful. Her hands were folded in prayer, a rosary of silver and mother of pearl wound around them – a gift from the Pope, the article said. On the fingers of her left hand were the three rings she always wore: a large solitaire diamond, an eternity ring set with sapphires, rubies, and emeralds, and a simple band of gold – her wedding ring. But the bulk of her jewels, worth millions, was missing, the article said. Yes, and I wonder how long it will take Peron to catch up with us. I never told anyone about our night journey or the two steel caskets we deposited in the bank vault. Did the others keep their mouths shut as well?

About the Author

Award-winning author, Erika Rummel is the author of more than a dozen non-fiction books and seven novels. Her seventh novel, ‘Evita and Me’ is being published on May 24, 2022.

She won the Random House Creative Writing Award (2011) for a chapter from ‘The Effects of Isolation on the Brain’ and The Colorado Independent Publishers’ Association’s Award for Best Historical Novel, in 2018. She is the recipient of a Getty Fellowship and the Killam Award.

Erika grew up in Vienna, emigrated to Canada, and obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She taught at Wilfrid Laurier and U of Toronto. She divides her time between Toronto and Los Angeles and has lived in Argentina, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Website * Blog * Twitter

Giveaway

This giveaway is for 2 print copies and is open to Canada and the U.S. only.

This giveaway ends on July 23, 2022 midnight, pacific time.

Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

2 Comments

Guest Review & #Giveaway – Home So Far Away by Judith Berlowitz #excerpt #historical

Posted in excerpt, Giveaway, Historical, Review on June 16, 2022

Synopsis

A fictional diary set in interwar Germany and Spain allows us to peek into the life of Klara Philipsborn, the only Communist in her merchant-class, German-Jewish family.

Klara’s first visit to Seville in 1925 opens her eyes and her spirit to an era in which Spain’s major religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, shared deep cultural connections. At the same time, she is made aware of the harsh injustices that persist in Spanish society. By 1930, she has landed a position with the medical school in Madrid. Though she feels compelled to hide her Jewish identity in her predominantly Christian new home, she finds that she feels less “different” in Spain than she did in Germany, especially as she learns new ways of expressing her opinions and desires. And when the Spanish Civil War erupts in 1936, Klara (now “Clara”) enlists in the Fifth Regiment, a step that transports her across the geography of the embattled peninsula and ultimately endangers a promising relationship and even Clara’s life itself.

A blending of thoroughly researched history and engrossing fiction, Home So Far Away is an epic tale that will sweep readers away.

Amazon * B&N * IndieBound * Mrs. Dalloway’s

Praise

“An affecting, historically astute novel.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Judith Berlowitz’s Home So Far Awayis like stepping into an Ernest Hemingway novel, with Kristin Hannah whispering in the reader’s ear. Caught in the political strife around her, devoted to the war-injured she cares for, and struggling to surmount the betrayals of country, the powers over her, and her emerging and conflicting identities as a woman, a Jew, and a Communist, Klara Philipsborn is tossed in the storms that surround her, threatening her person and profession. This vividly told story, written as diary entries, is a captivating picture of one of the many young foreign nationals who committed their lives to this fraught time in twentieth-century Spain.”—Barbara Stark-Nemon, author of Even in Darkness and Hard Cider

“Captivating. On the eve of the Nazi rise to power, a German Jewish Communist finds the home she craves in Spain, where she becomes deeply involved in defending the Republic. Klara’s passion for life and freedom and the pungent sensual details create an immersive experience. The kind of diary Anne Frank might have written if she had survived to adulthood.”—Kate Raphael, author of Murder Under the Bridge, a Palestine mystery

“Combining meticulous archival research with compelling literary creativity, Judith Berlowitz tells Klara’s story in the form of a diary, from her first visit to Sevilla before the war to her involvement as a nurse and translator during the conflict. Home So Far Away not only brings history to us on a deeply personal level; it also offers a vital lesson for today and tomorrow about the threats to democracy and the critical role that commitment –ethical and ideological—can play in its defense.”—Anthony L. Geist, University of Washington, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives

Guest Review by Nora

A beautiful novel full of suspense, intrigue, and the romance of travel. If you are a lover of historical fiction, ‘Home So Far Away’ by Judith Berlowitz is the novel for you!

The book is told via the diary entries of a woman named Klara Philipsborn, who illustrates her world in 1920s and 30s Europe through the lens of a woman ahead of her time. Klara is 35 when the novel starts. The middle child of three and the daughter of a factory owner, Klara, takes a trip to Seville, Spain, with her 2 sisters and mother. The aim during the trip is to visit her uncle (or ‘Onkel’ as she calls him) Julius, a man that the family has not seen in some time.

During the trip, Klara observes many different Catholic and Christian ceremonies and learns much about the differences in these religions and her own Judaism. Onkel Julius has not told his Seville family that he comes from a Jewish family, and so he asks the woman to keep quiet about this as well, a fact that dismays Klara somewhat.

However, Klara has much to concern her on the trip and even more once she returns home. She is also the only Communist in her family and is becoming more and more worried about the route that the German government seems to be taking toward the Nazi party. Eventually, Klara decides to return to Spain and gets a job in a medical school in Madrid.

Between the fascinating politics of both Spain and Germany and the beautifully described atmosphere, ‘Home So Far Away’ leaves a strong impression on any reader. Berlowitz’s writing is spectacular and I found myself completely swept up into Klara’s descriptions and everything else in this novel.

This is a one-of-a-kind book and one that should be discovered by all!

Excerpt

Madrid, Thursday, 26 March 1931

The first three days of this week at the Medical School have witnessed what is being called the “Siege of San Carlos.” Another experience with actual conflict in Spain, along with November’s funeral procession for the Alonso Cano workers. I shall attempt to describe the events of each day.

Monday: As I walked down the halls toward my office, low-pitched conversations were issuing from each classroom before the professors arrived. Once in the lab, my students seemed restless and unable to concentrate on their projects. One of them asked me if I knew where he could find a piece of cartón.

Cartón, I thought, must mean “cardboard,” just as it does in German. “What for?” I asked. “Your project doesn’t involve cardboard.”

“No,” he replied, lowering his voice, “but the Spanish people’s project does.”

“Ah,” I replied, and pulled the copy of the Heraldo out of my rucksack, showing the word Amnistía. He nodded vigorously, blond curls falling onto his forehead. “Wait a moment,” I offered. “I think I know where I can find some cardboard.”

I excused myself to the students, stepped out of the lab and headed for the stairs that lead down to the supply room. On the staircase were gathered about twenty students, speaking excitedly in hushed tones. “We need to make some pancartas,” one student was saying, his open hands on either side of his body.

This word was so similar to German Plakat that I assumed he was talking about signs. “Do you need cartón?” I interrupted, repeating the Spanish word for cardboard I had just learned.

“Ah, yes, please, right away,” came the enthusiastic response.

I continued down to the supply room, opened it with my key, my heart pounding, but at the same time I felt encouraged by the resolve of the students. After a bit of a search, I found some large pieces of cardboard on which had been printed charts showing types of shoulder injuries, the anatomy of the brain, causes of syncope, leading causes of death, etc. They looked to be a bit out of date, so I assumed they would not be missed, gathered up a large armful and took them up to the students on the stairs, reserving a choice sample of anatomy of the teeth for my curly-haired lab student.

Classes continued in a more or less orderly manner, but when students attempted to exit the building, now holding signs saying “Pedimos Amnistía” (We demand amnesty), they were met by security guards, and once they had pushed onto Calle de Atocha, by Civil Guardsmen and mounted police. Some students were chased through the streets, and a few improvised signs were snatched and torn up by police and by supporters of the monarchy. The red flag of the FUE (the University Students’ Federation) was unfurled from the top floor. Some workers in the street demonstrated their solidarity with the students by hurling bricks at the police. In the building, others formed a group and met with General Mola, the security director at the School of Medicine, requesting permission to hold a legal demonstration tomorrow. Mola dismissively denied their request, and they left. His denial was worth nothing, as they planned to meet and continue to strategize.

Tuesday: Morning classes took place as usual, but promptly at noon, all the students put away their materials, stood up, and headed for the assembly hall, and I joined them. A number later estimated at three thousand filled the hall, with designated speakers declaring that classes were suspended for the rest of the day and that any students who wished should adjourn to the street in a public demonstration to demand amnesty for the political prisoners. General Mola’s resignation was demanded by students who claimed that he had confused the streets of Madrid with the Rif Mountains (where he had served in the war against Morocco). Herminia and Pilar were sitting on either side of me, and we decided to go to my office, to observe from my window, which overlooks Calle de Atocha. Crowds of students had poured out to the street, many carrying signs. Soon some of them returned, this time with armfuls of bricks snatched from nearby construction sites. As soon as they were inside, the building was surrounded by Civil Guardsmen, who prevented anyone inside from going out. By that time, the students had reached the top floor and started pelting the police with bricks and chunks of pavement. The police retreated, serenaded from the rooftop by a youthfully roared version of the “Marseillaise.” We could also see neighbors come out to their balconies and from one balcony a banner was unfurled proclaiming “Viva la República.” Another female student, Carmen, burst into my office, breathless, her voice breaking:

“The boys are pulling out the chairs from the dental school and using them as projectiles!” And at that moment, we were shaken by two tremendous crashes on the street and looked out to view the shattered remains of two dentist chairs on the sidewalk below.

By one o’clock the battle had not dissipated. More armed police arrived, and just before two we began to hear shots. When we saw some people on the street fall, I closed the shutters on my window, fearing that we would become targets. I tried to calm the three women, but I was terrified myself. We later heard that students who had been throwing objects from the balconies had been shot and pulled inside to the clinic for treatment by their fellow students and by professors.

At two-thirty the shooting stopped, the students ran out of bricks, and once most of the police had retreated, we all left in groups and headed for the Puerta del Sol where we were joined by other citizens. Some people began to shout pro-dictatorship slogans, and fights broke out, and it appeared that the police were not interested in maintaining order, so I ducked into the metro and returned home.

About the Author

Los Angeles-born Judith Berlowitz holds a PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures and is a federally-certified translator. She is a former professor of Spanish and Cultural Studies and has published works in ethnomusicology, oral history, and Jewish identity.

Judith has played classical guitar and oboe and has sung with the Stanford Early Music Singers and the Oakland Symphony Chorus. She currently is a volunteer Curator with the genealogical website, Geni.com, and sings with the San Francisco Bach Choir. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, not far from her three daughters and three grandsons.

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Giveaway

This giveaway is for 3 print copies and is open to Canada and the U.S. only.

This giveaway ends on July 1, 2022 midnight, pacific time.

Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

Review & #Giveaway – The Physicist’s Daughter by Mary Anna Evans @maryannaevans #historical #newrelease #WWII

Posted in 5 paws, Giveaway, Historical, Review, WW II on June 11, 2022

The Physicists’ Daughter: A Novel
Historical Fiction
Poisoned Pen Press (June 7, 2022)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages

Synopsis

The Nazis are no match for the physicists’ daughter.

New Orleans, 1944

Sabotage. That’s the word on factory worker Justine Byrne’s mind as she is repeatedly called to weld machine parts that keep failing with no clear cause. Could someone inside the secretive Carbon Division be deliberately undermining the factory’s war efforts? Raised by her late parents to think logically, she also can’t help wondering just what the oddly shaped carbon gadgets she assembles day after day have to do with the boats the factory builds…

When a crane inexplicably crashes to the factory floor, leaving a woman dead, Justine can no longer ignore her nagging fear that German spies are at work within the building, trying to put the factory and its workers out of commission. Unable to trust anyone—not the charming men vying for her attention, not her unpleasant boss, and not even the women who work beside her—Justine draws on the legacy of her unconventional upbringing to keep her division running and protect her coworkers, her country, and herself from a war that is suddenly very close to home.

Bookshop * IndieBound * Barnes and Noble * Amazon

Booksamillion * Nook * Kindle * Kobo

Review

While I love math, sometimes science was beyond me. I didn’t let that stop me from picking up this book and enjoying the heck out of it! Justine is a formidable character with her intellect and past experiences. She was raised well by her physicist parents and godmother. She has a keen curiosity and doesn’t stop when confronted with a puzzle. However, her parents were killed in an automobile accident and she has been on her own for a few years now. Since it is the WWII era, she is working in a factory on an assembly line but is able to do some welding when the machines break down. What she discovers is that it isn’t normal wear and tear but someone is trying to sabotage the plant.

Justine has never been one to make a lot of friends, but she befriends another woman at the plant, Georgette, who happens to also live in the same rooming house. Georgette may be from the bayou and not gotten past the eighth grade, but she has a thirst for knowledge and laps up the algebra homework Justine assigns her and reads science books until she understands the basics. Georgette helps Justine with normal interactions with others which can be a bit awkward for Justine.

There is also Justine’s godmother, Gloria, who is an intellect in her own respect but she sees conspiracies all around her. She won’t leave her house in fear that someone will come in and bug it and spy on her. But she has a heart of gold and helps Justine however she can in her quest for what the plant is manufacturing and what it could mean for the war efforts.

There are two mysterious characters, Fitz and Mudcat. What we know about them is that they are both trying to recruit Justine to work for their governments…but what governments do they represent? Are they good or bad guys? We know that one of them is from Germany so we have to assume he is trying to recruit her for his benefit and not her own. We are even told that he has convinced someone else in her department to assist him in gaining information and knowledge about what the plant is producing. We don’t know who this person is until near the end and I never would have suspected this character. As the truth unfolds it surprised me because it was not what I was suspecting and a few incidents led me down another path which was a dead end.

This was quite an enjoyable book from the math and science, social interactions, secrecy, and even perhaps a little paranoia kept the story moving forward and interesting. There are even some potential romantic situations and I loved the scenes in the dance club and could picture the club in my mind.

I am thrilled that there is going to be a follow-up book considering how it ended and can’t wait to read that one when it debuts.

We give this book 5 paws up.

About the Author

Mary Anna Evans is the author of The Physicists’ Daughter, the first in her series of WWII-era historical suspense novels featuring Rosie-the-Riveter-turned-codebreaker Justine Byrne. Her thirteen Faye Longchamp archaeological mysteries have received recognition including the Benjamin Franklin Award, a Will Rogers Medallion Award Gold Medal, the Oklahoma Book Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals. She is an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches fiction and nonfiction writing, including mystery and suspense writing. Her work has appeared in publications including Plots with Guns, The Atlantic, Florida Heat Wave, Dallas Morning News, and The Louisville Review. Her scholarship on crime fiction, which centers on Agatha Christie’s evolving approach over her long career to the ways women experienced justice in the twentieth century, has appeared in the Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie (coming September 22, 2022), which she co-edited, and in Clues: A Journal of Detection. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers-Camden, and she is a licensed Professional Engineer. She is at work on the second Justine Byrne novel, The Physicists’ Enigma.

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Giveaway

Guest Review & #Giveaway – They Called Him Marvin by Roger Stark #historical #war #nonfiction #excerpt

Posted in excerpt, Giveaway, Historical, nonfiction, Review on June 1, 2022

Synopsis

They were just kids, barely not teenagers, madly in love and wanting to be a family, but WW2 and a B29 got in their way.

Three hundred ten days before Pearl Harbor, buck private Dean Sherman innocently went to church with a new friend in Salt Lake City. From that moment, the unsuspecting soldier travelled a remarkable, heroic path, falling in love, graduating from demanding training to become a B29 pilot, conceiving a son and entering the China, Burma and India theater of the WW2.

He chronicled his story with letters home to his bride Connie that he met on that fateful Sunday, blind to the fact that fifteen hundred seventy five days after their meeting, a Japanese swordsman would end his life.

His crew, a gaggle of Corporals that dubbed themselves the Corporealizes, four officers and a tech Sargent, adventured their way across the globe. Flying the “Aluminum Trail” also called the Hump through the Himalayas, site of the most dangerous flying in the world. Landing in China to refuel and then fly on to places like Manchuria, Rangoon or even the most southern parts of Japan to drop 500 pounders.

Each mission had its challenges, minus fifty degree weather in Mukden, or Japanese fighters firing away at them, a close encounter of the wrong kind, nearly missing a collision with another B29 while flying in clouds, seeing friends downed and lost because of “mechanicals,” the constant threat of running out of fuel and their greatest fear, engine fire.

Transferred to the Mariana Islands, he and his crew were shot down over Nagoya, Japan as part of Mission 174, captured and declared war criminals.

Connie’s letters reveal life for a brand new mother whose husband is declared MIA. The agony for both of them, he in a Japanese prison, declared a war criminal, and she just not knowing why his letters stopped coming.

Amazon * Barnes&Noble * IndieBound

Praise

“This was an amazing book. This isn’t a look at war through rose-colored glasses, but one that shows the reader what life was like for people from many backgrounds. A soldier, his love left behind on the home front, and those that were considered the enemy at the time. This was an intimate story that doesn’t focus only on the war and pulls the reader in quickly and easily. Historical fiction lovers, those with an interest in war history, and anyone just looking to take a few steps back in time will greatly enjoy reading this.”- Liliyana Shadowlyn, The Faerie Review

“The fact that the premise for this book started with the story that Marvin told and then the letters from Dean and Connie shows how much research Roger Stark put into writing this book. I love how he revolves all of the events around the dates of the letters. The letters give the reader a reprieve from the atrocities of war and show the humanity of the soldiers fighting. There are some parts of the war that are shared that are so vivid and so horrifying – both on the part of the Japanese and on the part of the Americans. It is so heart-wrenching to think that these young (barely) men were out in those situations.

My almost-93-year-old grandpa, whose name is Marvin and who served in the Korean War, also read this book, and he really liked the story. For anyone who likes to read books based on wars or just history in general, I definitely recommend this one. It is also a love story that unfolds and is eye-opening to horrors that were experienced.”-Heather, 2 Many Books, 2 Little Time

“Told in prose with diary-style sections of narration as well as central figure 1st Lt Dean Harold Sherman’s own personal correspondence, this is a beautiful tale of enduring romance and the heroism of those who fought and flew during the latter part of World War Two during the United States’ conflict with Japan. What results is a touching family saga that also foreshadows the great horrors and sacrifices of life in war. Author Roger Stark has crafted an emotive work with plenty of historical richness, pathos, and heart to offer readers. One of the features which I found particularly impressive about this piece was the heartfelt presentation of the unshakeable bond between Dean and Connie, both through the curation of their own words to one another and the contextual gap-filling which Stark achieves with facts, but also emotionally sensitive additions and details. Overall, I would highly recommend They Called Him Marvin to fans of accurate wartime accounts and for enthusiasts of World War Two reports.”- K.C. Finn, Readers’ Favorite

Guest Review by Nora

There are many things to love about Roger Stark’s, ‘They Called Him Marvin.’ Number one would be the love story, of course.

The book revolves around the real-life love story between a Private (later Lieutenant) in the U.S. Army named Dean Sherman and a young woman named Constance Baldwin. Dean met his wife, Connie, in 1941, just months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

This was a time when countless families were being pulled apart, and Dean and Connie were no exception. Dean was a pilot, and he was needed to fly planes into Japan. Connie was pregnant and obviously distraught by this news, but she returned home to her parent’s house in Utah to wait for her baby to arrive– and wait for her husband to one day return from the war.

Unfortunately, Dean was taken as a POW in Japan after his plane went down over Nagoya. He was never able to return home and never able to meet his son, Marvin but it is through Connie and Marvin’s work in finding correspondence from Dean that this book was able to be written.

‘They Called Him Marvin,’ is a look at the toll of the most devastating war of the 20^th century, through the eyes of average Americans and the people that they left behind. Roger Stark shows a different side of the war, that many history books leave out, and does so with the kind of beautiful, moving prose that makes you feel intimately connected to the lives of the people in the book.

As a reader, I felt for Dean and Connie, and wanted them to be reunited, despite knowing from the beginning that they would never have that opportunity. Stark perfectly portrayed the emotions that Connie must have felt after learning of her husband’s disappearance, a life-shattering devastating that she continued to feel for the rest of her life, as she raised their son.

Five stars for this heart-wrenching work of historical fiction, and for Roger Stark’s writing!

Excerpt

Dean and Connie exchanged 67 letters (50 written by Dean.) The reason for the disparity, the only “Connie” letters we have were those written after Dean went MIA and were returned to her as undeliverable.

One reviewer reacted to the letters this way: The letters between Connie and Dean provided a fascinating glimpse into wartime life. Reading the experiences of people both at home and abroad was very engaging. I found myself eagerly awaiting the next letter, right along with the young couple!

The night (unbeknownst to him) that his son Marvin was born Dean wrote:

India –18 February 1945

Good Evening Peaches:

Hello sweet girl, I sure have been thinking of you lots these days and wishing so much that I could be around to take care of you, and be holding your nice soft hands and giving you lots of moral support, and see your pretty face and look in your eyes and without saying a word, tell you millions of wonderful things that you mean to me. You do too, Honey, mean so many wonderful things to me. All the wonderful things a beautiful girl can be and my best companion ever along with being the sweetest wife any guy ever could love. Those are just a few of the things, Darling, which make me love you more every day…

Goodnight Peach Blossom,

Dean

On the day Dean was shot down Connie Wrote:

#57 — 14 May 1945

My most wonderful man,

I’m in a rather odd mood tonight Honey, and it is most all about you and Marvin and me. I have been trying to decide whether or not I would write to you tonight most all evening. I wanted to, but I didn’t know if I could express my feelings as I would want to, and, as I feel them. As you can see Honey, I have made up my mind to try. How well I succeed remains to be seen…

Then I was thinking of Marvin and wondering just what his talents are going to be. To have a Daddy such as you, Honey, he will be kind and good, even as you are, a wonderful man. Honey, I’m really just beginning to realize what a great responsibility we have in teaching and caring for Marvin. We just have to do it to the very best of our ability. I know you have lots of ability, Honey, and I hope I have…

I have a hard time, the past seems like such a thrilling dream of love and happiness. I wonder if it all really happened, but then I know it did. And Oh! Honey how I do love you now and forever and ever ever after with all my heart and soul. Honey I just can’t express how deep my love for you is. Its an impossibility. I love you always.

Good night my husband,

Peaches

About the Author

Roger Stark, by his own admission, is a reluctant writer. But there are stories that demand to be told. When we hear them, we must pick up our pen, lest we forget and the stories are lost. Six years ago, in a quiet conversation with his friend, Marvin, he learned the tragic story of his father, a WW2 B-29 Airplane Commander, shot down over Nagoya, Japan, just months before the end of the war.

The telling of the story that evening by this half orphan was so moving and full of emotion, that it compelled Roger to ask if he could write the story. The result is “They Called Him Marvin.”

Roger Stark’s life has been profoundly touched in so many ways by being part of documenting this sacred story. He prays that we never forget, as a people, the depth of sacrifice that was made by ordinary people like Marvin and his father and mother on our behalf.

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Giveaway

This giveaway is for 3 print copies, one for each of the 3 winners.

This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and ends on June 24, 2022 midnight, pacific time.

Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

#NewRelease & Review – A Room in Blake’s Folly by J. Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner #historical

Posted in 4 paws, Book Release, fiction, Historical, Review on May 16, 2022

Synopsis

If only the walls could speak…

In one hundred and fifty years, Blake’s Folly, a silver boomtown notorious for its brothels, scarlet ladies, silver barons, speakeasies, and divorce ranches, has become a semi-ghost town. Although the old Mizpah Saloon is still in business, its upper floor is sheathed in dust. But in a room at a long corridor’s end, an adventurer, a beautiful dance girl, and a rejected wife were once caught in a love triangle, and their secret has touched three generations.

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Review

The story of Blake’s Folly, a saloon in the silver mining days, is told in four stories that span generations. The first story is set in the late 1800s and the last in the present and music was always involved in one form or fashion from a piano player to singers.

Silver mining towns popped up everywhere and most eventually became ghost towns. Blake’s Folly was not immune to the transient residents and the times. Mizpah Saloon was more upscale than some of the other saloons and didn’t offer women for the night…not that it might not have happened but it was more about entertaining the men and offering dances to ease their weary minds after long days. There was one room that was used by many throughout the years but the decor never changed. I think this added some charm to the book. The first story spawns future generations that are reflected in the following installments and I enjoyed connecting the dots to see how everyone was related.

The stories are not long so there isn’t a lot of deep character development, but I still enjoyed each one and imagined life in those times. The people were nice and took care of each other whenever possible. They saved women from those trying to control them and found love along the way. It wasn’t an easy task for the men in this book, but they were up to the challenge.

Because the stories center around a town, there are generations of family that intermingle and I loved putting the pieces together of what happened in the previous story and how it tied to the characters in the next especially since there were decades between each one. It was like bringing up fond memories of friends I had lost contact with over the years. Because these are shorter stories, I had more questions than answers, but that just means the author can continue the saga or expand upon one of the generations.

This was a fun book to read and we give it 4 paws up.

About the Author

As far as romance writing goes, I’m somewhat of an anomaly. I love creating stories with original heroines and romantic heroes … but they do tend to be real people. Some have – or have had – fascinating careers as herpetologists, archaeologists, country music singers, relief workers, and translators – but money, expensive cars, and designer clothes have no part in their lives. My men and women tend to be socially responsible, concerned about our planet and its well-being. Some are vegetarian; none drive fast cars or fly off for sunbathing holidays. But that doesn’t make them any less romantic: it’s a question of how we see ourselves. If we care about and love our environment, we want to do as little damage as possible.

I also write stories with an older audience in mind: those forty and over – and that includes baby boomers. There are no unexpected pregnancies in my tales and no hidden babies. When love comes knocking on the door, it is ageless. Take my father’s crony: he married his mistress of forty years when he was 90 years old and she was 89. A week later, they departed on a long voyage across the Great Lakes in his new yacht.

No matter how old they are, my heroes and heroines are comfortable with their age. They take care of themselves, accept their bodies, their wrinkles, and their beautiful silver hair when it appears. They also know that, along with age, they’ve gained experience, character, ideas, and interesting pasts.

Other characters pop up in my stories too, humorous and cranky ones: old-timers who live in the midst of collected junk, cantankerous rotgut brewers, short-order cooks who imagine camouflaged flies, strange and sleepy waitresses, and many small-town busybodies. I just can’t keep these folks out. As soon as I begin to write, here they come, bursting through the literary door. And because I enjoy them all so much, they’re here to stay.

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Review – The Grand Design by Joy Callaway #historical #fiction #5paws #netgalley

Posted in 5 paws, Book Release, fiction, Historical, Review on May 13, 2022

Synopsis

She has one last chance to prove she chose the right course for her life.

In 1908, young Dorothy Tuckerman chafes under the bland, beige traditions of her socialite circles. Only the aristocracy’s annual summer trips to the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia spark her imagination. In this naturally beautiful place, an unexpected romance with an Italian racecar driver gives Dorothy a taste of the passion and adventure she wants. But her family intervenes, sentencing Dorothy to the life she hopes to escape.

Thirty-eight years later, as World War II draws to a close, Dorothy has done everything a woman in the early twentieth century should not: she has divorced her husband—scandalous—and established America’s first interior design firm—shocking. Now, Dorothy returns to the Greenbrier with the assignment to restore it to something even greater than its original glory. With her beloved company’s future hanging in the balance and brimming with daring, unconventional ideas, Dorothy has one more chance to give her dreams wings or succumb to her what society tells her is her inescapable fate.

Based on the true story of famed designer Dorothy Draper, The Greenbrier Resort is a moving tale of one woman’s quest to transform the walls that hold her captive.

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This book releases May 17th, pre-order your copy today

Review

I know I am not going to do this book justice with my review, but this book is AMAZING! The book captured the old-world elegance of the early 1900s when everyone was much more proper, women were presented to society, and marriages were arranged, but sometimes the heart falls in love with another person or place. That is the case for Dorothy Draper, an infamous American Designer from 1923 until the 1960s.

I do love a good historical fiction book about a real person from history. I learn so much about the time and the person. While it is fiction, many of the basic facts are true such as her career and the company she created, and her marriage, divorce, and children. I always love to read the author’s notes when it comes to a book like this to learn where they drew their information, what is fact vs fiction, and what twists they added to make it an intriguing story. If nothing else, this type of book always has me searching the internet for more details about the main character.

The early 1900s was an elegant time where women were dressed to the nines, men were in suits, and people would vacation for months at a time at resorts like The Greenbriar which is depicted in this novel. I loved reading about the dances, races, picnics, and so much more that were part of their daily lives.

The fictional part of this story is a love connection between Dorothy and Enzo during the summer of 1908. They don’t end up together (well because he is not real) but the story is beautifully told and while I suspected the ending, I almost thought it wasn’t going to be as I imagined due to some other factors that came into play.

I admire Dorothy and what she stood for and really pioneered the way for women designers. I loved that she wanted color and for a room to be fun and relaxing and not dark and dreary as The Greenbriar was prior to her makeover after WWII. There are times when Dorothy acted like a child, but I understood her frustration with life and what was expected of her as a woman at that time. I thank her and all of the other women that came before me that made an effort to make sure that we were heard and not taken lightly or dismissed out of hand.

I had a hard time putting this book down and highly recommend it and give it 5 paws up.

About the Author

Joy Callaway’s love of storytelling is a direct result of her parents’ insistence that she read books or write stories instead of watching TV. Her interest in family history was fostered by her relatives’ habit of recounting tales of ancestors’ lives. Joy is a full-time mom and writer. She formerly served as a marketing director for a wealth management company. She holds a B.A. in Journalism and Public Relations from Marshall University and an M.M.C. in Mass Communication from the University of South Carolina. She resides in Charlotte, NC with her husband, John, and her children, Alevia and John.

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Top Eight List & #Giveaway – Outlaw West of the Pecos by Preston Lewis #HistoricalFiction #Western #TexasAuthor #TexasBooks #LoneStarLit #LSBBT

Posted in Giveaway, Historical, humor, Texas, Western on May 5, 2022

OUTLAW WEST OF THE PECOS

An H.H. Lomax Western, Book 7

by

PRESTON LEWIS

Genre: Western / Humor / Historical Fiction

Publisher: Wolfpack Publishing
Series: An H.H. Lomax Western, Book 7

Date of Publication: January 4, 2022

Number of Pages: 228 pages

Scroll down for the Giveaway!

Accused of cheating at cards on a Southern Pacific passenger train in far West Texas, H.H. Lomax is kicked off the train and finds himself at the mercy of the unpredictable justice of Judge Roy Bean, who calls himself “Law West of the Pecos.” After being fined of all his money, married, and divorced by the judge in a matter of minutes, Lomax discovers an unlikely connection to him.

Against a backdrop of a pending world heavyweight championship bout, Lomax heads to El Paso to interest someone in writing and publishing Bean’s biography. He winds up in an El Paso boarding house across the hall from Texas killer John Wesley Hardin. They despise each other, but Hardin fears Lomax’s straight-arrow Texas Ranger brother and treads lightly around Lomax. Because of Hardin’s crooked connections in El Paso, Lomax gets caught between him and corrupt constable John Selman.

El Paso is becoming the focal point of efforts to host a championship prizefight that everyone from the Presidents of the United States and Mexico to the governors of Texas, New Mexico Territory and Chihuahua have vowed to stop. Calling on his connections to his Ranger brother, El Paso officials and the promoter of the boxing match, Lomax uses his Judge Roy Bean friendship to pull off the oddest prizefight in heavyweight history.

Outlaw West of the Pecos stands as an entertaining mix of historical and hysterical fiction.

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Hoots and Saddles

Preston Lewis’s Top 8

Comic Western Movies Worth Watching

As an author of comic westerns, I’ve also spent a lot of time viewing comic movies set in the Old West. The test of a successful comic western for the silver screen comes in tweaking the genre without mocking it; polishing the genre’s traditions without subverting them, and amending the Code of the West without repealing it. Therein resides the friction in melding the traditional western and Hollywood comedy genres.

This list shows my preferences: westerns set before the rise of the automobile; westerns that generally avoid profanity and scatological humor; and westerns that make me laugh or at least smile at the celluloid outcome. So, here goes my list in chronological order:

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935): While a western, Ruggles of Red Gap opens in Paris, France, when the services of prim and proper English manservant Marmaduke Ruggles (Charles Laughton) are lost in a poker game to gauche American millionaire Egbert Floud. Floud’s noveau riche wife Effie is anxious to take the butler back to Red Gap, a remote Western community, to flaunt the family’s new wealth. Her plans, however, collapse when Red Gap townsfolk mistake Marmaduke for an English colonel instead. The movie’s drama comes not from gunfights and chicanery, but from Marmaduke’s reluctant transition from a lowly manservant to his own man in democratic America. One of the most poignant moments in all of movie history comes when Marmaduke quiets a rowdy saloon with his sincere recitation of The Gettysburg Address. Nominated for a best picture Oscar, Ruggles of Red Gap lost to Mutiny on the Bounty, another Charles Laughton movie.

Destry Rides Again (1939): Jimmy Stewart’s first western, Destry Rides Again took the title from a 1930 Max Brand western novel, but little of the plot. Stewart as Tom Destry Jr., the son of a legendary lawman, is called upon to clean up the crooked town of Bottleneck. As a western nerd who drinks milk and refuses to carry a gun, Stewart seems ill-fitted for the task but ultimately triumphs over the wickedness, even winning over “Frenchy,” the crime boss’s saloon singer girlfriend played by Marlene Dietrich. This was the second of three films carrying the same title, which was also used on a Broadway musical, a radio production, and a short-lived ABC television series in 1964. The 1939 movie was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1996 as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

Along Came Jones (1945): As Melody Jones, Gary Cooper plays a hapless and naïve cowboy who is the victim of mistaken identity when the citizens of Payneville take him for notorious outlaw Monte Jarrad. Torn between the advice of his irascible partner George Furry (William Demarest) and his growing affection for Loretta Young’s Cherry de Longpre, who just happens to be desperado Jarrad’s girlfriend, Jones manages to survive all calamities except love. Based on Alan LeMay’s western Useless Cowboy, the film is considered an early feminist western due to Cherry’s gun skills in saving the guileless Jones. Along Came Jones gently parodies Cooper’s long established western persona.

The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958): Directed by Raoul Walsh, The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw was the first spaghetti western with the outdoor scenes shot in the Spanish province of Aragon. With dozens of television westerns lighting up the black-and-white screens of American television, Walsh thought it was time for a cowboy spoof. Kenneth More portrays Jonathan Tibbs, a British inventor and gun aficionado who comes to America to enhance the family fortune with gun sales. After some fancy gun handling, he’s appointed the sheriff of Fractured Jaw and is soon caught in the middle of a feud of between two cattle outfits battling over water rights. His only allies are hotel owner Kate (Jayne Mansfield) and the local Indian tribe, which reverses the cliché and rides to Tibbs’s rescue instead of the cavalry.

North to Alaska (1960): No compilation of Westerns is complete without John Wayne so the first of the Duke’s two movies to make the list is North to Alaska. As Sam McCord, Wayne transports soiled dove Angel (Capucine) from Seattle to Nome, Alaska, to substitute for his partner’s former fiancé who married another man. Partner George Pratt (Stewart Granger) is not nearly as enamored with Angel as is McCord, who is finally forced to admit his love after a roll in the mud. Played out against the backdrop of claim jumping masterminded by con man Frankie Canon (Ernie Kovacs), love, justice, and Wayne ultimately triumph. I liked the movie so much that I borrowed the title for my sixth book in the H.H. Lomax series.

McLintock! (1963): This western transfers William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew from Europe to the American West where George Washington “G.W.” McLintock (John Wayne) declines to give his estranged wife Katherine (Maureen O’Hara) a divorce. Much of the charm of the movie is the interaction between Wayne and the fiery redhead O’Hara. Before reconciling with Katherine, cattle and mining baron McLintock resolves Indian difficulties, fights political corruption, plays matchmaker, survives a mud fight, and ultimately makes everything right with the world.

Cat Ballou (1965): Lee Marvin won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his dual role as the evil gunslinger Tim Strawn and inebriated dime novel hero Kid Shelleen, a character well-suited to Marvin’s off-screen reputation. (By one biographer’s account, Marvin was so drunk early one Hollywood morning that he bought a map of the stars to find his way home.) Hired by Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda) to fight off Wolf City Development Corp. from stealing her father’s ranch, Shelleen arrives drunk and disheveled. One of the funniest scenes in all of western movies occurs when a drunken Shelleen sees candles over the coffin of Ballou’s murdered father and starts singing Happy Birthday. Shelleen sobers up in time to save the day before reverting to his old ways. Cat Ballou was ranked No. 10 on the American Film Institute’s 2008 list of greatest westerns.

Paint Your Wagon (1969): Granted Pardner (Clint Eastwood) singing “I Talk to the Trees” was not one of the finest moments in western cinema, but the humor and other songs such as the haunting “They Call the Wind Maria” and the plaintive “Wand’rin’ Star” by Ben Rumson (Lee Marvin) redeemed Paint Your Wagon. The movie chronicles the rise and literal fall of “No Name City” after gold is discovered. The initial foibles of a womanless community beset by get-rich-quick schemes are gradually supplanted by the civilizing influence of women’s presence. This film will always rank high on my list as it was the first movie date I shared with the young lady who would become my wife.

What is your favorite Comic Western that is worth watching?

Preston Lewis is the Spur Award-winning author of 40 westerns, historical novels, juvenile books, and memoirs. He has received national awards for his novels, articles, short stories, and humor.

In 2021 he was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters for his literary accomplishments. Lewis is past president of Western Writers of America and the West Texas Historical Association.

His historical novel Blood of Texas on the Texas Revolution earned a Spur Award as did his True West article on the Battle of Yellow House Canyon. He developed the Memoirs of H.H. Lomax series, which includes two Spur finalists and a Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award for western humor for his novel Bluster’s Last Stand on the battle of Little Big Horn. His comic western The Fleecing of Fort Griffin and two of his YA novels have won Elmer Kelton Awards for best creative work on West Texas from the West Texas Historical Association.

He began his writing career working for Texas daily newspapers in Abilene, Waco, Orange, and Lubbock before going into university administration. During his 35-year career in higher education, he directed communications and marketing offices at Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and Angelo State University.

Lewis holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Baylor University and master’s degrees from Ohio State in journalism and Angelo State in history. He lives in San Angelo with his wife, Harriet.

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Outlaw West of the Pecos!

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or visit the blogs directly:

5/3/22	Review	Reading by Moonlight
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5/4/22	Excerpt	The Page Unbound
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5/5/22	Top 8 List	StoreyBook Reviews
5/6/22	Review	Jennie Reads
5/7/22	Excerpt	The Adventure’s of a Traveler’s Wife
5/8/22	Author Interview	Forgotten Winds
5/9/22	Review	Shelf Life Blog
5/10/22	Series Spotlight	It’s Not All Gravy
5/10/22	Bonus Promo	All the Ups and Downs
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#NewRelease – The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson @kybookwoman #historical #kentucky #books #librarians

Posted in Book Release, Historical, library, women on May 3, 2022

Synopsis

Bestselling historical fiction author Kim Michele Richardson is back with the perfect book club read following Honey Mary Angeline Lovett, the daughter of the beloved Troublesome book woman, who must fight for her own independence with the help of the women who guide her and the books that set her free.

In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good.

Picking up her mother’s old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn’t need anyone telling her how to survive, but the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren’t as keen to let a woman pave her own way. If Honey wants to bring the freedom that books provide to the families who need it most, she’s going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women who run the hills and hollers can make all the difference in the world.

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I have this book to read but need to read the first book first, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, which is available to read for Free via Kindle Unlimited

About the Author

The NEW YORK TIMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES, and USA TODAY bestselling author, Kim Michele Richardson is an multiple-award winning author and has written four works of historical fiction, and a bestselling memoir.

Her latest critically acclaimed novel, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek has earned a 2020 PBS Readers Choice, 2019 LibraryReads Best Book, Indie Next, SIBA, Forbes Best Historical Novel, Book-A-Million Best Fiction, and is an Oprah’s Buzziest Books pick and a Women’s National Book Association Great Group Reads selection. It was inspired by the real life, remarkable “blue people” of Kentucky, and the fierce, brave Packhorse Librarians who used the power of literacy to overcome bigotry and fear during the Great Depression. The novel is taught widely in high schools and college classrooms.

Her forthcoming fifth novel, The Book Woman’s Daughter is both a stand-alone and sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and will be published May 3, 2022. Born in Kentucky, Kim Michele lives with her family there and is the founder of Shy Rabbit.

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Review – Games in a Ballroom by Jentry Flint #NewRelease #historical #romance #regency #debut #properromance

Posted in 4 paws, Book Release, Historical, Review, romance on May 2, 2022

Synopsis

She was forbidden to love him.
He only wanted her heart.
Can a childhood game bring them together?

London, 1815

Olivia Wilde has resigned herself to never finding a love match. Her father has insisted she marry a man with a title, but the men her father deems acceptable are either boring or are only interested in increasing their own diminishing coffers. With her future looking dismal, Olivia vows to enjoy the last few months of freedom with her childhood friends, including Emerson Latham. His devilish smile and flirtatious teasing stirs up feelings she knows she cannot entertain.

Emerson is struggling to rise to his responsibilities after his father’s death. Though he is still learning his place, one thing he knows for certain is that he wants Olivia Wilde to be his wife. Emerson had long ago fallen in love with her quick wit, beauty, and passionate heart. Yet, without a title, he will never be permitted to court Olivia openly. But he has a plan that may give him a chance to court her in secret.

As the Season kicks off, Emerson proposes a playful game of tag. Olivia’s friends are delighted by the idea, though Olivia is wary. After all, the game must be played in secret as they tag each other at dinners and balls. As the romance builds between Olivia and Emerson, so does the risk of being discovered. Not only are their reputations at stake, so is their safety if they are caught by Olivia’s strict father.

Can their love find a happily ever after before the game ends?

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This book releases May 3rd, pre-order today

Praise

“Debut novelist Flint puts her own clever spin on the classic Regency romance-think Jane Austen meets the movie Tag-in this delightfully fun read that not only delivers a sweetly satisfying love story but also illuminates the important role friends play in life. Teen fans of Austen-era romances will be all-in for Flint’s playful debut.” —Booklist

Review

This is a delightful regency romance that sums up the time period quite well. Women are treated poorly by men and seen as nothing more than chattel. At least this is the case for Olive Wilde who has to deal with a brutish father that wants her to marry someone with a title. Probably because he doesn’t have one and happened to luck into money but doesn’t have the grace or couth of the ton. I felt bad for Olivia’s mother too because she was abused by her husband whenever someone did something he didn’t like. I also felt sorry for Olivia and the gowns she was forced to wear, they were definitely not attractive and why her father thought he had any fashion sense is beyond me.

Enter Emerson Latham who is a long-time family friend, along with his sister Arabella. Arabella and Olivia are fast friends and it is only recently that Emerson has realized he has feelings for Olivia. I had to chuckle at his wooing attempts because they weren’t very obvious to anyone except him. Thankfully someone sets him straight eventually. But he decides to create a game of Tag to be played during balls. I thought it was quite intriguing and it gave me a good chuckle many times throughout the story at the different scenes when they were tagging someone else in the group.

Emerson also has a group of friends that help him capture Olivia’s heart. Now, this doesn’t mean that they didn’t have fun on their own and they played some elaborate pranks. But in the end, these gentlemen had his back in his quest to win Olivia.

I enjoyed the clean story and the journey to win the woman of his dreams. But don’t think that Olivia is some fair-haired maiden that can’t hold her own because she can. And several times it nearly gets her in trouble.

If you are looking for a light-hearted Regency romance, then check out this debut novel by this author. We give it 4 paws up.

About the Author

JENTRY FLINT is a bookworm-turned-writer with the propensity to try just about anything. She has a true love of history and believes a good quote can fix most things. She lives in southern Utah with her husband and two daughters—who, naturally, are named after characters from books.

Her favorite things in life are flavored popcorn, her grandmother’s purple blanket, and curling up on the couch to watch a movie with her husband. Games in a Ballroom is her debut novel.

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