Tag: history

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For a Lifetime: (An Inspirational Historical Time-Travel Romance Novel) 

400 pages Bethany House publishers May 7,2024 publish date

ABOUT THE BOOK

Grace and Hope are identical twin sisters born with the ability to time-cross together between 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, and 1912 New York City. As their twenty-fifth birthday approaches, they will have to choose one life to keep and one to leave behind forever–no matter the cost.

In 1692, they live and work in their father’s tavern, where they must watch helplessly as the witch trials unfold in their village, threatening everyone. With the help of a handsome childhood friend, they search for the truth behind their mother’s mysterious death, risking everything to expose a secret that could save their lives–or be their undoing.

In 1912, Hope dreams of becoming one of the first female pilots in America, and Grace works as an investigative journalist, uncovering corruption and injustice. After their parents’ orphanage is threatened by an adversary, they enter a contest to complete a perilous cross-country flight under the guidance of a daring French aviator.

The sisters have already decided which timeline they will choose, but an unthinkable tragedy complicates the future they planned for themselves. As their birthday looms, how will they determine the lives–and loves–that are best for both of them?

MY THOUGHTS

Another absolutely incredible time-travel book by this author.
After I finished the previous book in the series and saw her next book would feature twin daughters, I was so excited to see how this would play out. The times featured here are 1692 and 1912. Now the girls are able to go to sleep-in one-time period and wake up in the other time period without any time having passed.


In 1692 they live and work in their father’s tavern. It is the time of the Salem Witch trials, mass hysteria, afflicted citizens. Who can you trust? I found the information about the Salem witch trials informative and fascinating and as coincidence may have it, I was just in Salem this past October and found out a lot of fascinating historical information about this time period.


In 1912 as times are more progressive one of the twins is a journalist and the other aspires to become the first female pilot in America.
I loved seeing the growth the girls go through, each has a love interest in a different time period and has established such an important bond with people and events in this time period.


The girls have promised each other to be together forever but when an unimaginable tragedy happens how will this affect their future? The pacing of the story felt right, the characters kept my attention with excitement. I enjoyed reading the alternating viewpoints of the girls and seeing how they came to the conclusions they have.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

EXCITING NEXT BOOK IN THE SERIES

384 pages Bethany House publisher November 5,2024 publish date

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gabrielle Meyer lives in central Minnesota on the banks of the upper Mississippi River with her husband and four children. As an employee of the Minnesota Historical Society, she fell in love with the rich history of her state and enjoys writing fictional stories inspired by real people, places, and events. You can learn more about Gabrielle and her books at http://www.gabriellemeyer.com.

Find Gabrielle on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/AuthorGabrielleMeyer, Pinterest at http://www.Pinterest.com/gabriellemeyer/, Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MeyerGabrielle, Goodreads, and her Website at http://www.gabriellemeyer.com.

Do you enjoy reading time travel? What are some of your favorites?

Have a marvelous weekend and thanks for stopping in.

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The Cultist’s Wife by Bj Sikes 

270 pages Belinda Sikes publisher May 01,2024 publish date

ABOUT THE BOOK

1908, the height of the British Empire. Clara’s autonomy is shattered when her long-absent husband summons her to join him at his eerie sect’s headquarters, insulated on a sparsely inhabited island in the Bahamas.

After a harrowing sea voyage, Clara and her children disembark into an unfamiliar landscape and climate. The children explore the marvels and mysteries of Andros Island and develop friendships with a Bahamian family, while Clara struggles to find her place as a woman within the cult.

But what seems at first to be a spiritual haven for Clara reveals itself to be a monster-worshipping cult intent on draining her family of more than their fortune.

Must Clara give up her quest for independence to protect her children from the cult’s depraved attempts to consume their life essence?

Grab a copy here

MY THOUGHTS

The genre this book is labeled under is a historical gothic horror. I enjoy all of these genres though I haven’t read horror in a while. I really enjoy gothic and historical fiction though and was eager to read a combination of these.


Set in the Bahamas in 1908, we have a woman with two children, living near Bath, England her husband has been away for some time, and she is stunned to receive word he summons her to travel to the Bahamas with the children who don’t even know him. Now their relationship is not what you would term as a “happy” marriage. Given the time period, women are expected to obey their husband so off she went to the Bahamas with the children.

After a rough ocean voyage things haven’t gotten any easier for the mother and children. It’s a totally different environment, climate, way of life, food etc. The husband is involved in a cult and wants his wife and children there not because he misses them but to get them involved in and accustomed to the workings of the cult to serve it as well.

I found the customs of and beliefs of the Bahamians fascinating. I found the book to be so well researched involving the beliefs of the early Bahamas people.

I’m wondering if the “monster” belief is one they had at the time in history the book takes place and is it a belief still today? I believe each culture has their own beliefs and truths and just because I may not know, believe or understand a culture’s beliefs it doesn’t make their beliefs wrong, and we need to appreciate the differences.

I also am appreciative of their healing knowledge with herbs that can be used for so many natural healing properties. I have always appreciated the natural healing but have never explored it but would like to.

The book took my breath away as I read it. I was absolutely intrigued and greatly look forward to reading more by the author.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Originally from London, England, I currently reside in Northern California with my family. I write historical and futuristic fantasy, often with a steampunk twist and an underlying theme of female independence.

I am the Author Head for Clockwork Alchemy, a steampunk convention in the San Francisco Bay Area. For anyone who loves sci-fi with an alternate history spin, Clockwork Alchemy presents three days of immersive entertainment. I happily wrangle the cats called authors who share their amazing knowledge at the event.

In my day job, I write and edit scientific publications for a university. I’m married to a novelist/freelance editor and our children are composing their own fiction in the NaNoWriMo Young Writers’s Program.

I like words.

I also like tea, chocolate, cats, and chickens, not necessarily in that order. When I am not playing with words, you might find me mucking about in the garden or making herbal concoctions in the kitchen.

Contact  bjsikesauthor@gmail.com

Blog Here

Have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping in.

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The Wedding Gift 

320 pages Random House UK publisher 02 Sep 2021 publish date originally published 2013

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1852, when prestigious Alabama plantation owner Cornelius Allen gives his daughter Clarissa’s hand in marriage, she takes with her a gift: Sarah—her slave and her half-sister. Raised by an educated mother, Clarissa is not the proper Southern belle she appears to be, with ambitions of loving whom she chooses. Sarah equally hides behind the façade of being a docile house slave as she plots to escape. Both women bring these tumultuous secrets and desires with them to their new home, igniting events that spiral into a tale beyond what you ever imagined possible. Told through the alternating viewpoints of Sarah and Theodora Allen, Cornelius’ wife, Marlen Suyapa Bodden’s The Wedding Gift is an intimate portrait of slavery and the 19th Century South that will leave readers breathless.

MY THOUGHTS

The Wedding Gift is a very emotional book and was a hard read. When you’re reading a book about slavery, the owning of another person you say to yourself how is this even possible? You are with your parents until you are grown, if you are fortunate enough. But to be kidnapped or just taken possession of and belong to another person and have no say in your life and what you do? Not much could be more wrong than this.

When you think of slaves and slavery do you think of Civil War times? I know I do but yet statistics say there are more slaves worldwide now than at any other time in history, over 40.3 million people and this was in 2018.
While I didn’t find much unexpected in this book about slavery as I’ve read a lot on the subject, I thought it was a worthwhile read to once again bring attention to it.


This book is a work of fiction though it could mirror the life many slaves had.
From about 6 years old Sarah knew she was a slave, living in the slave quarters with her Mama and older sister. She worked in the kitchen with her mother. Sarah was the half-sister of the plantation owner’s daughter, Carissa. Carissa had the right to tell her she had to play with her, and the girls grew together as sisters. Carissa was given schooling lessons and Sarah would sit in on them and learned to read and write. Of course, learning to read and write was strictly forbidden for slaves back then and punishable by beating to death.


When it’s time for Carissa to marry Sarah is to be given to Carissa’s soon to be cruel husband as a wedding gift.
Sarah in desperation uses these forbidden skills, reading and writing as a way to escape plantation life. With slave catchers and their dogs hot on the trail of her scent, will she make it to freedom where even free people can be taken back into custody in the free states?


The book has a lot in it you would expect of life on a planation filled with slaves. At the end there was a surprising twist though. A quick read, I had trouble putting this one down.

Pub Date 02 Sep 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marlen Suyapa Bodden is the international bestselling author of THE WEDDING GIFT and ARROWS OF FIRE. Marlen is a lawyer and activist on human rights and climate change issues.

Thank you for stopping in today. Enjoy your day.

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From the Dark We Rise: An utterly gripping WW2 historical novel about a devastating secret (Margarete’s Journey Book 2)

252 pages Bookouture Book November 27,2021 publish date

ABOUT THE BOOK

1942, Germany: A Nazi fortune. A Jewish girl hiding in plain sight. An impossible choice…

When the Nazis destroyed all that Margarete Rosenbaum knew, taking everything and everyone she treasured, she prayed only to survive. Until chance allowed her to disguise herself as Annegret Huber, the daughter of a prominent Nazi.

As Annegret, Margarete had a moment of safety, but now the legacy of her false identity means she must make a devastating decision, and risk everything to save the lives of others.

Because the true Annegret and her family are dead, and the fortune is all hers – all Margarete’s. There is a grand house with crystal chandeliers, and a factory with fences built high and topped with cruel curls of barbed wire. Inside, the workers shiver, their faces gaunt from hunger. Margarete struggles to hide her gasp when—amongst the faces of the prisoners—she sees one that is achingly familiar.

Suddenly, she has hundreds of lives in her hands, including one who means more to her than anyone else left in the world. There’s no question that she must act. From that moment, Margarete is more than just a girl in hiding. She’s a girl who can save others. But in her new position of power, surrounded by the Nazi elite, every move she makes is being watched. Every mistake she makes could lead to disaster.

As the war tears through the country she loves, and turns the world dark, Margarete knows she can’t ignore her chance to stand up against evil. Even if it means risking her own life to save the innocents in her protection…

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MY THOUGHTS

This is my second book read in this series in as many days. I’ll just warn you ahead of time, if you start this series, you may as well just buy all four books in it now. There’s no way you’re going to be to read just one, or two…….. Each book will leave you fully engaged in the author’s writing and needing to get right to the next book in the series. Each book starts at exactly where it left off in the previous book so an in order read is a must.


In this one, former Jewish maid Margarete has really moved up in the world. After the death of her former employers, an important senior Nazi officer, his wife and daughter she assumes the identity of the dead daughter. Upon taking her papers she must now assume her identity and her self-confidence rises as she goes on the run.

Found by one of the son’s she is forced to live with him, and this SS man falls in love with a Jew. She is devastated by the death of him and his brother in a bombing as he died protecting her.

As the “daughter” of a rich Nazi officer she is the only one left in the family and is shocked to see she has inherited a huge fortune, including a house and factory.
Fooling the staff at the house is easy as they haven’t “seen her” in ten years.

When an escaped prisoner in Nazi Germany turns up, she knows she must help. Through her actions the woman realizes Margarete is also a Jew. Can she trust a few of the staff to keep her secret?

Seemingly with Gestapo and SS everywhere it is getting harder and harder to pretend to be a strong German woman. The tension rolling off the pages kept me glued to them. The working conditions of the war prisoners was hard to read. These people were basically worked to death, very little food, filthy, beaten, no breaks.

My heart breaks for the injustices. How can people treat others like this and live with themselves? Even though it’s her people being treated so poorly Margarete can’t risk doing too much so as not to give her identity away.

I read this in one day, I was riveted and simply couldn’t put it down.

Pub Date 17 Nov 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

“Auschwitz”, “Auschwitz-Birkenau”, and “Birkenau” redirect here. For the town, see Oświęcim. For other uses, see Auschwitz (disambiguation) and Birkenau (disambiguation). Auschwitz concentration camp was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It consisted of Auschwitz I (the original concentration camp), Auschwitz II–Birkenau (a combined concentration/extermination camp), Auschwitz III–Monowitz (a labor camp to staff an IG Farben factory), and 45 satellite camps.

THE AUTHOR

Marion Kummerow writes historical fiction that explores the dark side of human history. A USA Today Bestselling author, she has received rave reviews from readers and critics for her novels about the German resistance during World War II. Her books feature characters who face moral dilemmas, make difficult decisions, and fight for what is right. She also infuses her stories with humor and undying love, because she believes that love is what makes the world go round.

Born and raised in Germany, Marion has lived in various countries before returning to Munich with her family. After writing several non-fiction books, she felt drawn to the past and the subject of resistance to the Nazi regime. It took her years of courage and hard work to turn the true story of her grandparents Ingeborg and Hansheinrich Kummerow into a trilogy: “Love and Resistance in the Second World War”. UNRELENTING is the first book in this series.

Bringing history to life through her books is Marion’s passion. She visits museums, travels to memorials and the locations in her books, reads original source material, and consults experts to meticulously research the historical facts and details in her novels.

Her stories are authentic and immersive, transporting readers to another time and place. She writes with the conviction that we must never forget the past, so it won’t repeat itself.

When she’s not writing or researching, Marion likes to travel, do yoga, and spend time with her family. She also enjoys reading books by other historical fiction authors.

If you want to get a taste of her writing, you can download a free short story about a downed British airman here: https://kummerow.info/

Or visit her website for a complete list of her published books and interesting background information: https://kummerow.info/recommended-reading-order/

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Daily Prompt Saturday

Bloganuary writing prompt
Think back on your most memorable road trip.
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My most recent memorable road trip was July 2022. My husband and I went on a week long anniversary road trip. I had no idea where we were even going. My husband and I visited all of the New England States in the United States.

I really enjoyed Boston, Mass. It was a place I had wanted to go for a long time and we didn’t even get lost for going there the first time because we did the Freedom Trail a 2.5 red brick trail through Boston that passes by 17 locations significant to the history of the United States. It winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston, to the Old North Church in the North End and the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. Stops along the trail include simple explanatory ground markers, graveyards, notable churches and buildings, and a historic naval frigate. Most of the sites are free or suggest donations, although the Old South Meeting House, the Old State House, and the Paul Revere House charge admission. The Freedom Trail is overseen by the City of Boston’s Freedom Trail Commission[2] and is supported in part by grants from various non-profit organizations and foundations, private philanthropy, and Boston National Historical Park. Wiki

We also visited Maine and the beautiful rugged coast. One thing that surprised me about most of the New England states was there are a lot less fast food restaurants and more local places which is a refreshing change from what I am used to.

The New England states are really beautiful and I look forward to more visits there.

Salem, MA – National Historic Waterfront

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Hartford, Conn

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The coast of Maine is rugged and magnificent.

I hope you’ll enjoy any road trips you may go on as well.

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Vermont State House, Montpelier, VT inside

That is the seating chart for when they are in session.