Review: The Berlin Letters

Title: The Berlin Letters

Author: Katherine Reay

Publisher: 5th March 2024 by Harper Muse

Pages: 385 pages

Genre: historical fiction, cold war

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

Near the end of the Cold War, a CIA code breaker discovers a symbol she recognizes from her childhood, which launches her across the world to the heart of Berlin just before the wall comes tumbling down. November 1989 —After finding a secret cache of letters with intelligence buried in the text, CIA cryptographer Luisa Voekler learns that not only is her father alive but he is languishing in an East German Stasi jail. After piecing together the letters with a series of articles her grandfather saved, Luisa seeks out journalists Bran Bishop and Daniel Rudd. They send her to the CIA, to Andrew Cademan—her boss. Luisa confronts Cademan and learns that nothing is a coincidence, but he will not help her free her father. So she takes matters into her own hands, empties her bank account, and flies to West Berlin. As the adrenaline wears off and she recognizes she has no idea how to proceed, Luisa is both relieved and surprised when a friend shows up with contacts and a rudimentary plan to sneak her across the wall. Alternating storylines between Luisa and her father, The Berlin Letters shows the tumultuous early days of the wall, bringing Berlin, the epicenter of the Cold War, to life while also sharing one family’s journey through secrets, lies, and division to love, freedom, and reconciliation.

My Thoughts

I have read many of Katherine’s books and enjoyed them all. It was almost ten years ago when I read her Jane Austen retellings and just a couple of years ago The London House, which I still remember well. Her book,  A Shadow in Moscow was an incredible Cold War novel that was so sophisticated and compelling that I highly recommended it. Therefore I simply could not wait to dive into her latest, The Berlin Letters and it did not fail to impress me all over again. 

‘I don’t want to leave the DDR. Like my father before me, I want my hometown to change so it is a place where I can live, and thrive, and make choices, and share with my family and friends. Father’s opinions cost him his life. I wonder if mine will cost me my life too.’

On this occasion there are alternating storyline’s between Luisa and her father. This starts with Berliners waking up to find a wall has been erected dividing not only their city but also their loved ones. My heart was aching when I read this passage of families awakening and finding themselves separated. The way Katherine weaves the history of Berlin and the Cold War throughout (her research is amazing!) is truly incredible. This is pulse racing, edge of your seat writing as courage commands the heart on more than one occasion. 

‘It’s letting go of what you’re supposed to be doing for whatever comes your way. It’s about creating a future of our own making, not accepting the one they shove at us.’

Alternating between Luisa in the 1980s and her father Haris in the 1960s, this book is a superb example of not just key moments from history but a true emotional rollercoaster from parental sacrifice, to grandparents care to a child determined to uncover the truth at any cost. Berlin Letters is about family and choices, secrets and lies, courage and bravery. Katherine Reay has moved into my must read author list with this compelling tale. Do yourself a favour as you make the journey with Luisa and Haris as they take on a totalitarian regime in an effort to find the truth. The Berlin Letters is a book all lovers of historical fiction should read. 

“Don’t die in the waiting room of the future.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The Sea Captain's Wife

Title: The Sea Captain's Wife

Author: Jackie French

Publisher: 6th March 2024 by Harlequin Australian, HQ & Mira

Pages: 480 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: 4.5 cups

Synopsis:

From bestselling author Jackie French comes a compelling story of murder, mystery, and mutiny on the high seas - and a love so intense it can overcome two different cultures.

You never know what the sea will give you ... or what it will take back.

When Mair McCrae follows her island tradition and hunts for a husband cast up on the beach, she has no notion that the naked, half-drowned man she rescues is not just Captain Michael Dawson, heir to a major shipping firm, but that he's obsessed by a 'ghost ship' carrying golden cargo.

On Big Henry Island women make the decisions and knit the patterns that mark a man as their own. But Big Henry is also a volcano, and threatening to erupt. Yet when Mair agrees to accompany Michael home, she finds that the Australian comfort he promised has a danger just as a social system that tries to keep women confined to small roles at the edges of men's lives.

And as Michael hunts for the 'Ghost' in his revolutionary new steamship, a string of mysterious deaths upends Mair's new life in Sydney.

Who is the murderer, and why is Mair the only one who realises what is happening?

My Thoughts

With a Jackie French book readers are always guaranteed an engaging story. This story is so unique detailing a community of women living on a remote island that is also home to a volcano. This self sufficient group of women work well together being very resourceful. Few men live on the island - excepting those who perhaps have washed ashore from a shipwreck. The main character, Mair, discovers one such man and this is their story. Of course they fall in love, however, where the story really takes off is when Mair agrees to accompany him back to Sydney. 

‘Mair was the perfect wife for a sea captain, he told himself, carefully forgetting in his peace and pleasure that she knew little beyond this island, that she would find his world as strange as he found this’

Here readers will discover how Mair struggles to adjust to Sydney society with the running of the family shipping company (both of which the reader must give some leeway at her quick adaptation given her sheltered existence). Add to the story a ghost ship filled with gold, a volcano that erupts, murder and mystery and this book quickly escalates to become a great tale. Jackie draws excellent contrasts in the two ways of living Mair has been exposed to and the role of women. The ghost ship and mysterious deaths just provide an added bonus being the proverbial icing on top. 

‘The most important criterion for a sea captain's wife was a woman who was used to waiting in a household of women for her husband's ship to sail to harbour.’

The Sea Captain’s Wife is another excellent book for lovers of historical fiction as it is really quite unique with its societal contrasting observations. Jackie really is a master of cleverly combining a great tale from the past with strong female characters who invariably are seeking to uncover a mystery. 

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This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

 

Review: A Lady's Guide to Marvels and Misadventure

Title: A Lady's Guide to Marvels and Misadventure

Author: Angela Bell

Publisher: 27th February 2024 by Bethany House Publishers

Pages: 384 pages

Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Romance

Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

When Clara Marie Stanton's ex-fiancé begins to spread rumors that her family suffers from hereditary insanity, it's all Clara can do to protect them from his desperate schemes and society's prejudice. Her family may be eccentric, yes, but they certainly aren't insane. Then Clara's Grandfather Drosselmeyer brings on an apprentice with a mechanical leg, and all pretense of normalcy takes wing.

Theodore Kingsley, a shame-chased vagabond skilled in repairing clocks, wants a fresh start far from Kingsley Court and the disappointed father who declared him dead. Upon returning to England, Theodore meets clockmaker Drosselmeyer, who hires him as an apprentice, much to Clara's dismay. When Drosselmeyer spontaneously disappears in his secret flying owl machine, he leaves behind a note for Clara, beseeching her to make her dreams of adventure a reality by joining him on a merry scavenger hunt. Together, Clara and Theodore set off to follow Drosselmeyer's trail of clues, but they will have to stay one step ahead of a villain who wants the flying machine for himself - at any cost.

My Thoughts

A Lady's Guide to Marvels and Misadventure proved to be such a wonderful mix of Victorian whimsy and steampunk! With nods and inspiration drawn from the likes of Around the World in 80 Days and The Nutcracker (two of the main characters are named Clara and Drosselmeyer) there is much to delight readers in this tale.

‘…her ever-amused family found their new title of “dangerous loons” quite hilarious and saw no reason to temper their eccentric habits.’

It’s whimsical. It’s full of adventure. A scavenger hunt across Victorian Europe with a cast of quirky characters and a wide variety of automatons to boot! An adventure mystery that is eccentric, humourous and somewhat bizarre. Anything is possible and more than likely probable in this larger than life story. 

‘Crafted of weighty silver, the pen was outfitted with a lid, hook, and chain for attaching to a chatelaine, while the pocket-size journal, bound in crimson leather, was embossed with the words ‘An Adventurous Lady’s Guide to Travel’.

There is also a more serious side where readers contemplate how Grandfather’s clues are his way of encouraging Clara -  a bit of soul searching and learning to believe again through her trust in God. This story has strong faith connections and trusting that God will sort things out. 

If quirky Victorian, a touch of Steampuch and a scavenger hunt mystery sound appealing, look no further. A Lady's Guide to Marvels and Misadventure will prove the perfect escape. 

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

 

Review: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

Title: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

Author: Tia Williams

Publisher: 13th February 2024 by Hachette Australia & New Zealand, Quercus

Pages: 352 pages

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Romance, magical realism

My Rating: 4.5 cups

Synopsis:

Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing. 

Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn't one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she's the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they're long-stemmed roses, she's a an adorable bloom that's actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her. 

When regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighbourhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers. 

One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way. 

Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.

My Thoughts

In this leap year - here is one leap year book you simply must read! I don’t know what I was expecting … but it wasn’t this. It’s a story and I don’t want to give too much away to avoid spoilers. However, if you love exceptional romances and magical realism this is the book for you. A little slow to get going but then it gallops away with all the feels.

‘Ricki had never felt like a loser. She simply felt misplaced. Like a duck raised by squirrels. She’d always suspected that, given the chance to do what she did best, she’d succeed.’

Briefly I will tell you that the characters are rich and inviting - Ricky and Ezra will go down as one of literary great couples. Della and Tuesday (two stories that most likely deserve their own novel) complete a great cast. This is a tale infused with many things, magical realism being at the top of the list. I love the way Tia writes on topics such as family, friends, fears and futures - all seamlessly interwoven. The nod to black history is rich and wonderfully incorporated - everything from Harlem in the 1920s to key musical events from that decade to the present day. 

‘To Ricki, a lifelong lover of bygone eras, the entire building felt like a gift delivered through time. Magical.’

For all of these incredible themes, it is at its heart a wonderful romance between two memorable characters. Slowly but surely this book snuck up on me and captured my heart. If magical realism/romance is a combination that gets your heart a flutter then take this journey with Rick and Ezra - it’s unique, it’s special and it's truly romantic. 

“I’m not scared of you,” he said. “I’m scared of us.” Ricki’s confusion was growing by the second. “But there is no us.”

And then she divulged her truest, scariest thought. “I’m afraid that I don’t belong anywhere. Do you ever feel like that?”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Sisterhood

Title: Sisterhood

Author: Cathy Kelly

Publisher: 29th February 2024 by HarperCollins Publishers Australia

Pages: 384 pages

Genre: women’s fiction

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

As the waves crash on to a wild Atlantic beach, Lou is at a crossroads. For the first time ever, just giving up seems like an option. In just one night, at her own 50th birthday, her world has imploded. Her mother has kept a secret hidden all her life. And it changes everything. Before Lou can take another step, she needs to get to the bottom of the shocking truth that alters who she really is. Along with her sister, Toni, who is facing her own crisis, the two women sets out on a life-changing journey – one that will take them through Ireland’s wildest coastline and to Sicily’s sun-baked rocky shores. It will also take Lou deep into her relationships with her mother, her sister and her daughter to figure out how to stop pleasing everyone else – and carve out who she really wants to be.

My Thoughts

Sisterhood is the story of Lou and Toni. Lou is a sensitive soul, a real people pleaser. Her sister, Toni, is the strong one who won't be pushed around. On the evening of Lou's 50th birthday, their mother drops a bombshell with the fallout being that the two sisters embark on a journey (literal and figurative) which will ultimately see them learning about themselves, each other and a whole range of other things. 

‘Whatever happened, she would make her sister take at least the weekend to figure out that she did far too much for everyone. Otherwise nothing would change and Lou would be a doormat all her life.’

There are many themes covered throughout this tale. The obvious ones pertain to the sisters themselves - Lou never saying ‘no’ to people and being walked all over; and Toni, the woman in leadership and the battles her gender face in that role. Other topics that arise concern office politics, sexual harassment, empty nest syndrome, communication and love in relationships, anxiety and depression, family secrets, honesty and learning to speak up for yourself. 

‘For now, she would enjoy what she had. Wasn't that the secret to happiness, according to all the self-help books she'd read? Enjoy the now and don't worry about the future because you can't control it.

Easier said than done.’

Sisterhood is a feel good story as these two very different sisters come together to tackle the secrets that have unraveled their lives. Time together allows them to take stock of their lives, reevaluate and take the steps necessary to make the needed changes. In this drama filled story, sisterly love prevails to give them both the courage to change and become the people they know they can be. 

‘You can't change people,' said Lou, shrugging.

'Yeah, you can only change how you react to them'

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Chasing the Horizon

Title: Chasing the Horizon

Author: Mary Connealy

Publisher: 13th February 2024 by Bethany House Publishers

Pages: 304 pages

Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Romance

Rating: 4.5 cups

Synopsis:

Her only chance at freedom waits across the horizon

Upon uncovering her tyrannical father's malevolent plot to commit her to an asylum, Beth Rutledge fabricates a plan of her own. She will rescue her mother, who had already been sent to the asylum, and escape together on a wagon train heading west. Posing as sisters, Beth and her mother travel with the pioneers in hopes of making it to Idaho before the others start asking too many questions.

Wagon-train scout Jake Holt senses that the mysterious women in his caravan are running from something. When rumors begin to spread of Pinkerton agents searching relentlessly for wanted criminals who match the description of those on his wagon train, including Beth, she begins to open up to him, and he learns something more sinister is at hand. Can they risk trusting each other with their lives--and their hearts--when danger threatens their every step?

My Thoughts

I have a newly acquired love of Westerns thanks to Taylor Sheridan’s TV series, 1883. So I was delighted to return to this period of American history and embark on another wagon trail to Oregon - in fact, one of the last ones thanks to the new rail line which would see wagon trails become obsolete. 

“You seemed to want to be away from trouble, too,” he added. “Did that trouble follow you all the way out here?”

This is the first book in a new series by Mary Connealy. It covers a few themes with a range of primary and secondary characters which made this read multidimensional. Firstly is the journey on the wagon trail itself. As one can imagine there are plenty of hardships, majestic scenery and day-to-day life on the trail with these true pioneers working together when times are tough.

‘They rolled into and across the prairies of Wyoming. For days, weeks, months, the horses and cattle plodded on. The early excitement among the pioneers had been given a quick death … Now it faded to dull drudgery as each day stretched out the same. The only break in the sameness came when terrible storms whipped across the plains. Then they longed for the boring sameness to return.’

Secondly, there is a fabulous plot with mother and daughter escaping and running away from an all controlling husband/father. Underpinning this is the awful recount of how the husband had placed Eugenia ‘Ginny’ in an insane asylum for no other reason than a form of control. This is the story of their escape and how they felt that moving West was their only hope of freedom.

‘So they were leaving trouble behind. So be it. Many who headed west were doing the same. Just so long as they didn’t bring trouble with them’

Finally, there is some romance which is very understated. I like that the focus remains on the above two factors. The thrill of being on the run deserves precedence but all up, the tale is well balanced and most engaging. Be warned - there are some incomplete storylines especially regarding secondary characters. This book definitely lends itself to future instalments, however, this was a story I could easily follow and a series I would willingly return to. 

PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | PUBLISHER | BOOKSHOP | BOOKBUB |  GOODREADS

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.