A Write to Review: October 2020

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Review: Wunderland

Wunderland by Jennifer Cody Epstein
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

East Village, 1989 - Things had never been easy between Ava Fisher and her estranged mother Ilse. Too many questions hovered between them: Who was Ava's father? Where had Ilse been during the war? Why had she left her only child in a German orphanage during the war's final months? But now Ilse's ashes have arrived from Germany, and with them, a trove of unsent letters addressed to someone else unknown to Ava: Renate Bauer, a childhood friend. As her mother's letters unfurl a dark past, Ava spirals deep into the shocking history of a woman she never truly knew.

Berlin, 1933 - As the Nazi party tightens its grip on the city, Ilse and Renate find their friendship under siege—and Ilse's increasing involvement in the Hitler Youth movement leaves them on opposing sides of the gathering storm. Then the Nuremburg Laws force Renate to confront a long-buried past, and a catastrophic betrayal is set in motion..

It was fun to read a story from a German perspective during the time of World War II. Also regarding the unlikely friendship of two girls during that period of time.

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Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

I like how the author portrayed the angst Chinese and Japanese Americans during the time of World War II and the prejudices that they had to overcome in the face of the war.

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Review: The Secrets We Kept

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Secrets We Kept

As someone who has never read Doctor Zhivago, I still found this book to be highly entertaining and it was interesting to see the authors backstory. I also liked the element of espionage portrayed by every day women after World War II.

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Thursday, October 8, 2020

Review: Girl in the Blue Coat

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion.

On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older woman's frantic plea to find a person - a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially wants nothing to do with such dangerous work, but is ultimately drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning revelations that lead her into the heart of the resistance, open her eyes to the horrors of the Nazi war machine, and compel her to take desperate action.

This book shows the student side of the resistance movement in Holland. It also shows the naivety that some people had to what was really going on around them.

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Monday, October 5, 2020

Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

Oh dear. I loved the Hunger Games trilogy so much. I have to say, I was never really looking forward to this book. I did not want to like Coriolanus at all of feel remotely bad for him. This book started off really slow and did not get any better.

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Review: Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters

Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters

I liked the different stories that each other sisters had to tell and each of their different perspectives on Mary Lincoln.

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Review: The Lost Girls of Paris

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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Review: Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars

Set in 1936, Nancy Wake, an audacious Australian ex-pat in Paris, finds herself swept off her feet by wealthy industrialist Henri Fiocca. However, their romance is short-lived as the Germans invade France, prompting Nancy to adopt a code name and become a daring smuggler known as Lucienne Carlier. Evading capture and earning the moniker "The White Mouse" from the Gestapo, Nancy's life is at stake with a bounty on her head. Forced to leave Henri behind, she undergoes training with the Special Operations Executives in Britain, where she is given the name Hélène. Returning to France as Madam André, Nancy becomes a formidable leader in the French Resistance, armed with her wit, red lipstick, and the ability to acquire weapons from the Allied Forces. However, as the war progresses, the danger intensifies, and Nancy must protect her true identity, even at the risk of those she loves.

This was a fantastic book. I loved all of the characters in it, especially Nancy and Henri. Henri was amazing, he seemed like the perfect husband. I also really enjoyed all of his drinking rules, I’ll have to see if those could be put to good use.

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