Author: Kristy Cambron

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: February 16, 2021

Cambron shines with her new well researched release of the Women of Paris!

Germans have occupied France and Paris life is changing.  Madison Chanel has been closed and many of the dressmakers employed there are now without a job, including Lila de Laurent.  She finds a job with Nina Ricci and is summoned one day to the Ritz hotel where she meets her past friend and fellow seamstress from Chanel’s, Amelie.  Amelie is destined to climb the social ladder and has taken up with the Nazi soldiers to elevate her status and offers Lila the opportunity to develop her own dresses for the girls staying at the hotel.  Lila is drawn to the possibility of working there for the resistance as she can access documents left in the hotel rooms, especially if she can find information on her lost love Rene Touliard.  When one of her operations goes wrong, she must flee if she wants to live.

Sandrine Paquet has been ordered to work for the Nazi regime categorizing art pieces stolen from their Jewish owners.  She does what she can for her young son and mother-in-law, but hates being viewed as a collaborator when she has no choice.  With her husband unaccounted for at war, she finds an opportunity to work quietly in the resistance to keep records of where the art is being shipped so that it can one day be returned.  When she is called in to look at a dress, a Chanel gown no less, she discovers a message hidden within the seam hastily placed there by a dressmaker who had vanished from the social elite of the Ritz hotel.

As always, Cambron delivers a stunning work of historical fiction set within occupied France during the second world war.  This is a bit of a deviation from her typical time slip novels, but still had two terrific stories that were interwoven together and destined to collide.  She does such a great job of bringing little known history (at least in America) to life with her characters that makes readers go research the actual events for themselves.  With intrigue, mystery, loss, sympathy, and action throughout, readers can’t help but be engaged throughout the entire story. 

If you’ve never read a book by Cambron, this is a fantastic one to start with.  Grab a copy and pull up by the fire because you won’t want to get up until you’ve finished! I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher.  The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Author: Cathy Gohlke

Publisher: Tyndale

Release Date: January 5, 2021

Fantastic character development mixed with well researched history make this a must read to start off 2021!

After years of watching her mother in an abusive relationship, Lilliana finds herself in a similar situation.  After her mother dies, she overhears her husband and father discussing her future so that her husband can divorce her with the church’s sympathy so that he can freely remarry.  Lilliana musters what strength she has coupled with a ring that her mom gave her and flees from Philadelphia to her Great Aunt Hyacinth’s house in the small town of No Creek, North Carolina.  Her aunt is overjoyed to see her and works to provide her a safe place, but she isn’t in the best health and won’t be on this earth for long.  She begins to make some new friends with those that help her Great Aunt and before long, great plans to restore the house’s library surface.  This library will become a lending library for the town to promote the joy of reading to anyone in town regardless of the color of their skin.  However, some feel that this library should only be used by the whites and don’t like change.  As war in Europe begins to brew, so do the dangers in this small community.  There are secrets that could change everything that Lilliana holds dear!

Cathy Gohlke is a master of creating stories set during difficult times.  She has such an inspiring ability to create real conflict between her characters that makes her stories move along as such a suspenseful pace that readers can’t help but be intrigued.  Her ability to create a world to bring readers to the time of the Klan mixed with a young woman who had never experienced the Jim Crow era of the South that was suddenly thrust into it was just masterful. 

The development of the main characters was brilliant as well.  Lilliana was extremely flawed having been involved in two abusive relationships, her father and husband, and was extremely untrustworthy of men.  Yet she had the courage and backbone to stand up to several men she didn’t know.  Celia was loud, outspoken, and yet yearned for a father figure to keep her dreams alive.  Ruby Lynne was such a heartbroken character in so many ways that you just wanted to reach through the pages to hold and comfort her.  Not many authors can successfully create that level of emotional connection with so many characters. 

This will be a difficult novel to read for some as it deals with abusive relationships, Jim Crow era violence, drinking, and rape.  However, the story is so genuine that it is well worth the read!

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher.  The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Author: Bryan Litfin

Series: Constantine’s Empire #1

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: October 13, 2020

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

Litfin’s Ancient Roman world brings light to members of the early church and the push for Constantine’s conversion.

Brandulf Rex, a barbican warrior from the Germani tribe, has worked his way through the ranks to become one of the youngest speculators of the Roman military.  Now serving the great Emperor Constantine, he has been stationed as both a personal bodyguard and spy for the Emperor.  The three remaining rulers of the tetrarch, Constantine, Licinius, and Maxentius, have become involved in a civil war.  Each rules a portion of Rome, but any of the three would love to be the sole Emperor of the Republic.  Rex is sent on a mission with two other speculators to breach and observe the situation in Rome under Maxentius and infiltrate the ranks of the Pretorian Guard.  Upon arriving in Rome, Rex happens to meet a young woman trying to escape a death sentence in the Colosseum.  This meeting changes Rex’s life in a manner he never could have expected.

Lady Flavia Junia is a senator’s daughter and known Christian in the early church.  At seventeen years old, she is fortunate to have not had to endure the religious persecution of the previous rulers, but Maxentius could be easily persuaded to begin again.  When her father’s political opponent finds a way to have Flavia accused of going against the emperor’s order, she is sentenced to death by way of facing wild animals in the Colosseum.  When she tries to escape and crashes into the arms of a tall, blonde, barbarian, he vows that he will save her.  The adventure this sets the two on puts them in a front row seat for a civil war.

It’s no secret that I thoroughly enjoy a well research novel concerning ancient Rome and Litfin did not disappoint.  The Conqueror is filled with rich Roman history and lush tidbits of the early church in Rome.  Several well-known historical characters that played a part in Christianity becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire make an appearance throughout this book.  Litfin did a great job explaining the events that led to the battle between Constantine and Maxentius as well as a great depiction of the actual battle that led to Maxentius’s fall.

Liftin also does a fantastic job of the portrayal of Roman politics at the time and the ramifications and consequences of different events and actions.  His knowledge of architecture of public buildings was also astounding as he was able to describe buildings and areas, but not bog down the storyline.

The book is very detailed, so readers that prefer a light and casual read will probably need to find something else.  However, if you’re a fan of this time period and history, it will definitely need to find a way to your bookshelf.  There are sexual references made throughout that depict that time period that is being represented, but nothing lewd or inappropriate.  There are also several scenes of violence, but it is a war book after all.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher.  The views and opinions expressed within are my own.