General Fiction

Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Book Look in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar was an amazing book, but it was hard for me to get through during parts of the book.  It was hard because of how the author truly made me understand what was going on in the book and that left me feeling sad.  I have read a ton of books like his one and I would put this one at the top of my favorites list.  I know that the author did his job when I am holding back tears as I am reading.  I felt so bad for Helene, but I did respect the fact that she didn’t let her children and husband go without her.  I would have also understood if had stand behind because a lot of people would rather stay behind than get shipped off.  As I was reading this book I am always left sad because I know that the things that happened in this book happened to thousands and thousands of people.  If you love WWII fiction or historical fiction I would give this book a shot because I think most people would enjoy this book.

About The Book

In 1943 Germany, Helene is just about to wake up her children to go to school when a group of policemen break into her house. The policemen want to haul away her gypsy husband and their five children. The police tell Helene that as a German she does not have to go with them, but she decides to share the fate of her family. After convincing her children that they are going off to a vacation place, so as to calm them, the entire family is deported to Auschwitz.

For being German, they are settled in the first barracks of the Gypsy Camp. The living conditions are extremely harsh, but at least she is with her five children. A few days after their arrival, Doctor Mengele comes to pay her a visit, having noticed on her entry card that she is a nurse. He proposes that she direct the camp’s nursery. The facilities would be set up in Barrack 29 and Barrack 31, one of which would be the nursery for newborn infants and the other for children over six years old.

Helene, with the help of two Polish Jewish prisoners and four gypsy mothers, organizes the buildings. Though Mengele provides them with swings, Disney movies, school supplies, and food, the people are living in crowded conditions under extreme conditions. And less than 400 yards away, two gas chambers are exterminating thousands of people daily.

For sixteen months, Helene lives with this reality, desperately trying to find a way to save her children. Auschwitz Lullaby is a story of perseverance, of hope, and of strength in one of the most horrific times in history.

About The Author

Mario Escobar Golderos has a degree in History, with an advanced studies diploma in Modern History. He has written numerous books and articles about the Inquisition, the Protestant Reformation, and religious sects. He is the executive director of an NGO and directs the magazine Nueva historia para el debate, in addition to being a contributing columnist in various publications. Passionate about history and its mysteries, Escobar has delved into the depths of church history, the different sectarian groups that have struggled therein, and the discovery and colonization of the Americas. He specializes in the lives of unorthodox Spaniards and Americans. Books

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The Gentle Revolutionaries by Don Lord

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Book Look in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Gentle Revolutionaries by Don Lord I found that I had a really hard time staying interested in this book and I know it is probably because I am not as interested in this type of book right now.  This book was slow moving for me, so I am sure that is a big part of why I had a hard time with this book.  Books like this one aren’t for everyone so just because it didn’t work out for me doesn’t mean that I won’t work out for other people.  If you love learning about things that most people don’t know that I know you will love this book because even though I was bored I still learned a ton from the book.  That is the only reason that finished it because I had to know how it all ended and what happened.  This is a book that I would read along with other books so that I didn’t get super bored with this book.

About The Book

prominent American missionaries, Dan and Emelie Bradley, who became close friends with the famous monk, later King Mongkut. They arrived in Thailand (Siam) in 1835 and made significant contributions to Thailand’s medical, social and intellectual history. Their diaries and letters, as well as the Thai’s evaluation of them, destroys the false image of Thailand an English writer had created. The Bradleys and their missionary coworkers came from New York’s “Burned Over District,” famous for its policy of accepting women as social equals. Thai nobles basically treated missionary women as their husbands did, respectfully and warmly.

Anna Leonowens, who served as an English teacher for the children and wives of King Mongkut, later fabricated two novels about him that were bestsellers. Unfortunately, these books were innocently used as the basis for Margaret Landon’s novel, Anna and the King of Siam, which was made into successful Broadway and Hollywood musicals.

The Thai and the missionaries were so close that two missionaries negotiated Thailand’s treaties with the United States and England. Missionaries also led the battle against smallpox and inspired the Thai to replace their antiquated educational system with one similar to Western schools. The best example of the Thai/missionary mutual respect came when an American ambassador to Thailand was shocked to discover at a royal dinner with King Chulalongkorn, that not he, but a missionary wife sat at the right hand of the king.

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Where Hope Begins by Catherine West

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Book Look in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Where Hope Begins by Catherine West was one of the best books that I have read lately.  First, I want to let everyone know that this book deals with quite a few hard topics such as losing a child, affairs, suicide attempts and terminal illness so be aware that this book might be hard to get through from time to time.  Right from the first page of this book I was hooked, and I couldn’t put I down until I was finished with the book.  I loved this book because I liked all the characters right from the start of the book.  I felt bad for Savannah because I can’t even imagine how hard things had to be for her but everyone in this story had major things that they were all dealing with.  The author did a great job of making me feel like I was right there with the characters throughout the entire book which I am sure is the reason I read this book so quickly.  I spent a lot of this book going back and forth on what I wanted to happen in this book because I loved all the characters even the ones that were harder to love because of their choices.  This is one book I could go on and on about because it is my stand out book so far this year.  I would recommend this book to just about anyone who is looking for a story of growth but also knows that there are hard parts but pushing through those parts is totally worth it.

About The Book

In the aftermath of her husband’s act of adultery and abandonment, Savannah must finally face the ghosts that haunt her and discover for herself whether authentic faith, grace, and ultimate healing really do exist.

When her husband of twenty-one years leaves her, Savannah Barrington believes she’s lost almost everything she’s ever loved. With her daughter in college and her son in boarding school, Savannah retreats to her parents’ lake house in the Berkshires, where hope and healing come in the form of an old woman’s wisdom, a little girl’s laughter, a touch of magic, and a handsome man who’s willing to risk his own heart to prove she’s still worth loving.

But when her husband asks to reconcile, Savannah is faced with the hardest challenge of all: Forgiving the unforgivable. Somehow she must find freedom from the chains of their past and move forward, or face an unknown future without him.

About The Author

Catherine West writes stories of hope and healing from her island home in Bermuda. When she’s not at the computer working on her next story, you can find her taking her Border Collie for long walks or reading books by her favorite authors. She and her husband have two grown children and one beautiful granddaughter. Catherine is the winner of the 2015 Grace Award (Bridge of Faith) and the Romance Writers of America’s Faith, Hope & Love Reader’s Choice Award (The Things We Knew). Her most recent novel, The Memory of You, released March 2017. Catherine loves to connect with her readers and can be reached at Catherine@catherinejwest.com

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Boy On The Beach by R.D. Maddux

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from iRead Book Tours in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Boy On The Beach by R.D. Maddux wasn’t my favorite book I have read lately.  It was a slower moving book and those are always hard for me to stay interested in.  I am glad that I didn’t give up on it and that I kept reading because in the end, I did enjoy that book it just had slow parts where I had to force myself to keep reading.  There were parts where at the beginning of the book that I wished I knew where things were headed because I did wonder from time to time why we needed to know certain information but after I was a good way through the book everything made sense and I totally understood why everything was in the book.  I had a hard time to like Andrew through most of the book and I think that has to do with his personality but that is more of a personal thing and not because of the authors writing.  This would be a great mystery/suspense book for people who don’t like fast moving books.

About The Book

Book Title: Boy on the Beach by R.D. Maddux
Category: Adult Fiction; 304 pages
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Publisher: Ezekiel 12 Publications
Release date: March 11, 2017
Content Rating: PG-13 + M (There are implied sex scenes but no graphic descriptions of lovemaking. There is one scene with some violence.)

Andrew Foster, a real estate developer in San Diego, is a man suddenly haunted by his past. Memories, like specters from his former life of sex, drugs and rock and roll have come crashing into his current world of business in this sunny coastal city. The ominous, repeated appearance of a black SUV at the beach where he meets his sister each week, has triggered fears that it’s payback time for a bad choice he made years ago.

To add to his frustrations, his hopes of a big breakthrough in the San Diego real estate market haven’t come to pass. He’s starting to wonder if his visions of success will ever come true when an investor offers to finance his dream project. Soon things start to fall into place for Andrew in business, life, and even love. He starts dating the beautiful and business-savvy Nicole but even with her at his side he can’t seem to shake the ghosts of his past. As the relationship with Nicole deepens, Andrew opens up to her about the many loves and adventures that have taken him from the crazy days of living in Big Sur and Joshua Tree to business success in San Diego. Her wise insights help him face the character flaws that have caused him to fail in his past relationships.

Rounding out his social life is his once-a-week task of assisting his sister with her nanny job watching a young boy named Chandler. They build sand castles on the beach and enjoy the beauty of nature together. But the now ominous weekly appearance of a strange car at the beach has awakened Andrew’s fears. Is the boy in danger? Or worse, has an enemy from Andrew’s past come seeking revenge and now Chandler’s caught in the middle?

A strange twist of events threatens to destroy Andrew’s dreams, but as he searches for answers, a sudden revelation offers hope of a future he never imagined.

To follow the tour and read reviews, please visit R.D. Maddux’s page on iRead Book Tours.

About The Author

R.D. Maddux has story telling in his blood. Since he was young he’s always loved a good tale. He’s been writing seriously since he was in high school and college. His novels range from Mystery and Intrigue to Sci-fi/fantasy. With Boy On The Beach he’s set the story in modern America, to be exact, on the West Coast of California. He’s a native of the golden state and has been a resident of San Diego since 1987. Before that he grew up in northern California and lived in the Sacramento Valley and Bay Area with sojourns in some of the beautiful parts of our state.

Living in California for over 60 years he couldn’t help but watch the way things have changed in our culture and the impact this coast makes on the rest of America and the world. So even though Boy On The Beach is fiction, like most serious novels, it is not without a context and comment on issues we all face in our changing world. It takes place in real locations that are very familiar to him and its characters, which are fictional, no doubt have their counterparts in the real world. Boy On The Beach is a story of intrigue, suspense, revenge, love and redemption with flashbacks to the era when sex, drugs and rock and roll set our culture on it’s inevitable journey to our present day. This idea has been rattling around in his heart and mind for a decade and it’s finally coming to the page.

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Bad Time To Be In It by David Burnsworth

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Partners In Crime in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Bad Time To Be In It by David Burnsworth was a book that kept me on my toes while I was reading it.  This was a quick read for me and I loved that about this book because I was able to read it in one day and move on to the next book in my stack.  I loved that this book moved quickly because there is nothing worse than reading a mystery book that moves to slow because I always end up reading ahead because I get bored.  Like I said before this book was a quick read for me and it made me want to go and read the other books in this series because I really loved these characters in this series.  The author did a great job of making these characters come to life for me and because of that, I know that I will go back and read the other books in this series in the future.  I know anyone who loves’s reading fast-paced mystery books will enjoy this one just as much as I did.

About The Book

Genre: Mystery
Published by: Henery Press
Publication Date: July 10, 2018
Number of Pages: 254
ISBN: 9781635113587
Series: Blu Carraway Mysteries #2
Purchase Links: Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo

The past is never past. Sometimes it repeats itself. And sometimes it comes back to pay a visit. Blu Carraway, flush with cash and back in business, never had it so good. Or so he thought.The reality is his love life is in shambles, his business partner is spending too much time with women half his age and not enough time on the job, and someone close goes missing. Blu’s business partner goes off the rails, his friends show their true colors, and he realizes that getting closure sometimes means walking away from everything. With a case from the past gone wrong twice, a loved one in trouble, and an unanswered marriage proposal, it’s a bad time to be in it for Blu Carraway Investigations.

About The Author

David Burnsworth became fascinated with the Deep South at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to write a novel. Bad Time To Be In It (July 2018, Henery Press) will be his sixth. Having lived on Charleston’s Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife call South Carolina home.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Margaret Margaret

Dangerous To Know by Megan Whitson Lee

 

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from I Read With Audra in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Dangerous To Know by Megan Whitson Lee was an okay book but I did have a hard time staying interested in what was happening in this book.  It wasn’t hard staying interested all the times just every once and awhile.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of the characters in this book but that is because I am becoming bored with this genre, so it will be quite a while before I read one again.  That is no way is a bad thing about this book it just isn’t what I am interested in.  I think I am going to hang onto this book and read it again in the future because it is something that I would usually love to read.  I did love some of the things that the characters talked about because it shows how far we have come regarding technology and how things are made. I know that if you love historical novels than you will love this one because it is well written it just wasn’t the right fit for me right now.

About The Book

“Don’t look at him, dear. He’s dangerous.” 

Isabella Bankmill seeks a husband whose character matches her list of requirements. The man must share her faith, but he must also possess a certain je ne sais quoi. The enigmatical Lord Gregory Gordon Bromby—London’s newest literary sensation—certainly possesses the latter. Despite a deformed foot and alarming views on politics and religion, he attracts the ladies in droves.

Haunted by his past and overwhelmed by his newfound celebrity status, Lord Bromby’s obsession with his own doom leads to reckless behavior. When he is stalked by an obsessive aristocrat seeking an elopement, Bromby’s friends urge him to marry a suitable lady as soon as possible. Intrigued by Isabella’s convictions and hoping to avoid further scandal, Bromby proposes to Isabella.

Isabella also receives an offer of marriage from kind-hearted philanthropist, David Beringer—a man equally devoted to his faith—but she only has eyes for Lord Bromby. Blinded by his talent and good looks, Isabella convinces herself that he’s not as dangerous as everyone claims. But when Bromby’s world violently collides with hers, Isabella must decide once and for all who is lord of her life. God or Bromby?

About The Author

Megan Whitson Lee is an anglophile and a recovering runaway. Over the years, she escaped to England and Australia before finally settling down in the US. These days, she lives a relatively quiet life as a wife, a mom of two greyhounds, an editor for Pelican Book Group, and a high school English teacher. She now escapes by writing novels instead of jumping on planes to foreign countries. Her novel, Captives, won the 2016 Director’s Choice Award and was a finalist for a Selah Award in the women’s contemporary fiction category at Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference.

Megan writes women’s contemporary thrillers and historical fiction featuring characters standing at the crossroads of major life decisions.

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