The Sunflower House

The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri 336 pages

 

I’m always surprised by the topics or slant writers use when I pick up a new World War II novel. There are so many stories left to be told, and so many atrocities that need to be brought to light, even all these years later.

 

The Sunflower House tackles the baby factories. I have not come across a book about this aspect of the Nazi debauchery before but found it fascinating, sweet and horrific. I learned a bit about the factories and the experiments Himmler enjoyed conducting on adults in Martha Hall Kelly’s fabulous novel, The Lilac Girls. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.

 

Katrine is the contemporary voice (2006-2010) who is caring for, or trying to care for, her mother after she fell and wound up in the hospital. Katrine discovers a wooden box beneath her mother’s closet floorboards. Pulling it to light, Katrine is shocked to see that is marked with a swastika.

 

Now let’s time travel back to a sleepy German village in 1938. Allina Strauss lives with aunt and uncle after the parents are murdered. They are hiding a secret; a secret no one can ever, ever, ever uncover. All three of their lives depend on it. After her uncle dies from cancer, the Nazis brutally murder her aunt. They arrest Allina, but her Aaryn features and blond hair save her from beatings and a bullet.

 

Allina is sent to Hochland Home to serve the Führer as a nurse. Hochland is one of the “Lebensborn homes for the sole purpose of perpetuating the Aryan population…The women of “pure” blood stayed in Lebensborn homes for the sole purpose of perpetuating the Aryan population, giving birth to thousands of babies who were adopted out to “good” Nazi families.” 

 

Allina is shocked at what she learns, but even more shocked when a high-ranking SS Officer, Karl, wants to become her patron. However, he has secrets of his own that must never be revealed. Eventually Allina and Karl have a sweet romance.

 

This novel at times repulsed me with the mere thought of the baby factories and made me smile when Allina and Karl fell in love.

 

The Sunflower House receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Museum of Ordinary People

The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle 336 pages

 

What do you do with your mom’s stuff after she is gone? It’s a predicament that many find themselves in these days. Or maybe I feel that way because my own mom cannot live at home anymore. But what the heck am I going to do with all that stuff! Sixty years worth of life!

 

That’s the issue Jess is facing.  Her mother dies suddenly. Jess is an only child so the entire burden passes to her.

 

From the book’s back cover:

“Still reeling from the sudden death of her mother, Jess is about to do the hardest thing she's ever done: empty her childhood home so that it can be sold.  As she sorts through a lifetime of memories, everything comes to a halt when she comes across something she just can’t part with: an old set of encyclopedias.  To the world, the books are outdated and ready to be recycled.  To Jess, they represent love and the future that her mother always wanted her to have. 

In the process of finding the books a new home, Jess discovers an unusual archive of letters, photographs, and curious housed in a warehouse and known as the Museum of Ordinary People.  Irresistibly drawn, she becomes the museum's unofficial custodian, along with the warehouse’s mysterious owner.  As they delve into the history of objects in their care, they not only unravel heart-stirring stories that span generations and continents, but also unearth long-buried secrets that lie closer to home.

Inspired by an abandoned box of mementos, The Museum of Ordinary People is a poignant novel about memory and loss, the things we leave behind, and the future we create for ourselves.  

I really enjoyed this book and was intrigued by it. It takes place in a London suburb, but it could have taken place anywhere. I found the story rather sad and heartbreaking, but there are shining moments. This is a tough book to review as it is hard, for me, to articulate my feelings. Still, I encourage everyone to read it and give this challenge: Think about your home. What would donate to The Museum of Ordinary People and why. The Museum of Ordinary People receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Black Candle Women

Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown 368 pages

This novel was nothing like I expected. I expected a dual narrative, lots of voodoo/hoodoo/black magic and more New Orleans. Of course those expectations were based on one sentence at the end of the back over synopsis.

Thankfully, I wasn’t totally disappointed with the linear narrative, Black family life, generational trauma and a decades-old curse novel that I ended up reading.

Augusta Montrose fled New Orleans with her granddaughters after her spiritual mentor put a curse on the women in her family in the 1950s. Now it is current time. The curse has come true for Augusta and her oldest granddaughter, Victoria. The younger granddaughter, Willow, has managed to avoid it, but her life is spiraling towards it. Even Victoria’s great-granddaughter, seventeen-year-old Nickie is even barreling toward heartbreak and tears.

Although Victoria is not a licensed therapist, she runs a successful business out of their basement, using her special gift: being able to read people and talk with them through their troubles. She is highly respected in her African-American community. Her sister, Willow, has a side hustle going on that is steeped in the potions and powders she can make for the book of spells that Augusta brought from New Orleans.

Nickie is aware of the curse but does not feel that will be affect her. It is only after she is abandoned in a nearby hotel that Nickie comes to understand the consequences.

This story moved slowly. It just did not engage me as much as I thought it would based on the cover and synopsis. “Black Candle Women” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Carolina Moonset

Carolina Moonset by Matt Goldman 272 pages 

Divorced dad, Joey Green, returns home to the small town of Beaufort, South Carolina, to help his mother look after his father for a while. Marshall Green is suffering from Lewy Body dementia*. His short-term memory has almost disappeared, but his long-term memory is strong. 

Marshall is not violent, except when it comes to the Hammond family. He has unexpected outbursts when the name is mentioned. Marshall has some old unresolved issues that come out when he talks with his old friend, Trip Patterson, who died decades ago, who appears in a hallucination. 

As Marshall’s long-term memories rise, so does the memory of his first love, Delphi, who was murdered because back then, in South Carolina, mixed-race couples were not tolerated. But even those memories are not exactly correct as readers discover. There is another murder and a probable murder after Delphi’s that sets the town on edge. 

In current time, Roy’s brother is murdered, down the street from the Green home. At first, the police are interested in Marshall as he cannot account for his whereabouts that evening.  

Joey, interested in clearing his father, wants to learn what happened to Trip, Delphi and Roy. At the same time, Joey’s mother, Carol, and the next-door neighbors are trying to set Joey up with their also-divorced daughter, Leela. Sparks flair, Joey and Leela turn investigators together. 

This book got off to a slow start for me, but I am glad I hung in there. It turned out to be a true page-turner. Once the new murder happens, the plotline sets off on a can't-put-down thrill ride full of secrets, scandals, lies, memories, romance and racism. “Carolina Moonset” received 4 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

*Lewy Body Dementia is “a progressive dementia that results from protein deposits in nerve cells of brain. It affects movement, thinking skills, mood, memory, and behavior” with frequent bouts of hallucinations. 

 

Off the Wild Coast of Brittany

Off the Wild Coast of Brittany by Juliet Blackwell 464 pages

For fans of Jenny Lecoat’s “The Girl from the Channel Islands.”

This story takes places on a fictional island, Ile de Feme, off the coast of  France’s Brittany region, the part of France that sticks out like a thumb into the Atlantic Ocean.  It has one of my favorite plot devices too, dueling timelines.

Most of the book is centered in present day. Natalie Morgen is a best-selling memoirist. In fact, people travel to the island (accessible only by boat) just to catch a glimpse of her or have their picture taken with her. But Natalie’s like isn’t going according to plan.

Her partner, Francoise-Xavier, had abandoned her to return to Paris. There he plans to open a new restaurant. But on the Ile de Feme, Natalie is left with a guest house that is stuck in a partial rehab. He has absconded with their bank account, leaving Natalie almost penniless. She is thinking of chucking the whole thing and heading, well, she isn’t sure where. Fortuantely, her sister, Alex, arrives. She is a great handywoman and pitches in to help get some of the basic repairs done.

The two sisters have never really been close, but this affords them the opportunity to get to know each other.

Alex and Natalie find an old cookbook, more like a journal, in a concealed cupboard.  It once belonged to a young woman named Violette, who has some interesting things to share. One is that she marries a man named Mark, who is besotted with her, yet she is in love with his brother, Salvatore. Quite  the dilemma!

When the Nazis occupy France, all the men on the island take their fishing boats and head for England to join de Gaulle and the Free French. The women are left to fend for themselves.  The Germans take over the entire island and many of the men are billeted in the islanders homes. Violette’s home is no exception, and she becomes friendly with Rainier, a military customs officer. As food becomes evermore scarce, Rainier helps out Violette and her parents obtain the necessary food supplies to keep them alive.

As much as this book is about relationships, it also about secrets. Everyone, past and present. on Ile de Feme has a secret---Violette, Rainier, Natalie and Alex.

Off the Wild Coast of Brittany  is a good read. I loved the descriptions of the scenery, but I hated the abundance of French words that the author used that was overkill in my opinion. Therefore,  receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

I'll Be Seeing You

 

I’ll Be Seeing You by Elizabeth Berg  224 Pages

I read Elizabeth Berg books. I usually don’t care what they are about. With the exception of two or three (out of 30), I’ve always loved her books.  I did not even notice “A Memoir,” on this book’s cover.  And she has never written a book that has hit so close to home as this one did: aging parents.

In my case, it’s Momma. Until the Coronavirus pandemic hit, my 88-year-old mother was living alone, taking care of herself, and still driving (only to the beauty parlor and the grocery store). But as the weeks and months started to drag by, I could tell that something was wrong---even 500 miles away and over the phone.  Long story short…in the last month she has had to go into a nursing home…and that has almost shattered me. But on the positive side, I can at least call her five or six times a day as I have since Daddy passed twelve years ago.

Reading this book, I would swear that Berg looked into my mind and my heart, as we have been going through some of the same things: guilt that we out of state, trying to get used to a new home, dementia, and the aches and pains of growing old.

Once I started this book, I was afraid that I would be devastating to read.  And it is, in some ways. But as humans live longer, more and more people will have to live the realities that Berg describes.  She comes across as handling is rather nobly; I cannot say the same. But I’m sure that she has spent as much time crying as I have.

Thanks, Ms. Berg! This really helped!

I’ll Be Seeing You receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany

 The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman 400 pages

 By the time this book is released to the public, hopefully the Coronavirus Pandemic is over.  Back when I was reading this in March 2020, the world was gripped with stay-at-home orders, exhausted medical staffs and too few supplies for said medical staffs. For me, though, this book was a relief.  Since going back to visit Italy is on my bucket list, it was a welcome respite from the bad news. Thank you, Natalie S. from Penguin Random House for sending me an Advanced Readers Copy.

It’s been more than two-hundred years since Filomena Fontana put a curse on her sister and cursing all second-born daughters forever after, causing them to never find true love. Based on the fact that all Fontana second-born daughters have never married, contemporary Fontanas believe the curse is real.

Fast forward to 2018 in Brooklyn, New York. At twenty-nine, Emilia, a second-born daughter, is happy with her life in the family bakery.  She makes a cannoli to die for say customers.  She works in the bakery with her father and nonna. Dad is a quiet man, but Nonna Rosa is a hard woman, expecting perfection and to be obeyed. Emilia has an apartment that she shares with a cat named Claws. Her best friend is a man she has known since they went to school together as children.

Out of the blue, a letter from her great-aunt Poppy arrives, inviting Emilia and her cousin, Lucy, to accompany her on a trip to Italy. The goal is to be at the cathedral on her eightieth birthday to meet the man she fell in love with in 1959. Aunt Poppy is estranged from the family, but Emilia remembers her sending birthday and Christmas cards. Nonna Rosa is against the trip and makes her wishes known.

Needless to stay, Emilia defies Nonna and off they go. The scenery is gorgeous; the trio’s adventures are alternately fun and sad, and family secrets are revealed…and there is a happy ending. 

I was sad when the story ended. I had come to love these characters as they navigated through uncharted territories.   “The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany?” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

Lady Clementine

Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict 336 pages

Fans of Melanie Benjamin’s “The Aviator’s Wife” and Paula McClain’s “A Paris Wife” are going to love Marie Benedict’s latest novel, “Lady Clementine.”

Clementine is the wife of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. One of the many things I learned about is that the pronunciation of her name rhymes with “Josephine.”

When Clemmie and Winston first meet, it is love at first sight. She becomes his “Cat” and he her “Pug,” and they refer to their children as their “kittens.” It is a sweet love story set among the backdrop of two world wars and countless other strifes. They marry in 1908.

Readers will get to know a Winston Churchill as we have never known him before: sensitive, insecure, a neglected child that lurks below the surface, a man who depends on his wife in so many ways, especially politics. In the political arena, Clemmie often reminded me of Mary Todd Lincoln. It was heartbreaking to read. Clemmie shares those same traits and experiences. He suffered from fatherly neglect and an overprotective mother; she from motherly neglect and and absent father. And if the rumors were true, the father she barely saw wasn’t her father at all. But when they are with each other, they find they can be their true selves.

Winston admires Clemmie for her assertiveness, her willingness to speak her mind and to learn about the politics he so greatly enjoys. The novel is written in first person from Clementine’s point of view, but Winston is rarelu out of the picture. it is truly a novel about the woman behind the man.

We watch Clemmie struggle with her alcoholic and promiscous mother, with her own motherhood as she lacks maternal instincts, with the ups and downs of her most unusual marriage, the death of a child, Winston’s adoration of his mother, her need to prove herself worthy in everything she does, and the feelings of failure that haunt her.

A remarkable story of a remarkable woman that history, or at least American-told history, has chosen to virtually forget. That’s a shame. Therefore,  “Lady Clementine” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Spies of Shilling Lane

The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan   368 pages

When I sat down to start this novel, I expected a fast-paced ride with menancing undertones. What I got instread was a rather comical cozy-mystery vibe. Not that that’s bad, it was out of left field for me.

Mrs. Braithwaite is having a rough year. Her husband has divorced her, creating quite the scandal. Couple that with her demotion as head of the local Women’s Volunteer Service in Ashcombe Village, England, well, she’s feeling kinda low and sorry for herself.

She doesn’t have a close relationship with her daughter, Betty, who left for London as soon as WWII broke out.  Although she has sent five letters, Mrs. B. has not received a single reply. So Mrs. B. decides to go visit.  During the Blitz.

When she finally arrives, Betty isn’t home and Mr. Norris, who owns the home where Betty rents a room, hasn’t seen her in quite a while. He has no idea when she could be coming back or even if she has survived the nightly Nazi air raids. Author Ryan does a great job in taking readers to the tunnels during the air raids and how Londoners coped. When Mrs. B. and Mr. N. spend one night in a church’s catacombs, it’s quite creepy

Eventually, Mrs. B., accompanied by Mr. Norris, locates Betty, tied to a chair in the basement of a garage. Then it becomes good-guys versus bad-guys. The story that follows is rather humorous, but stereotypical.  Like sluggin the bad-guys with her purse, taking turns with Betty getting captured by the bad-guys, and ultimately saving the day.

 “The Spies of Shilling Lane” was okay, and that is why it receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Cape May

Cape May by Chip Creek   256 pages

When Henry and Effie decided to get married in rural Georgia in 1957, Effie knew exactly where she wanted to honeymoon: Cape May, New Jersey. She had spent a summer there with her aunt when she was kid. She loved the shore and the hustle and bustle of a seaside town.

Unfortunately, it’s September and the town is basically deserted. A few year-round locals are there, running a diner, a grocery, a hardware store, etc. At first, twenty year old Henry and eighteen year old Effie don’t mind. Both are virgins and enjoy getting to know each other as man and wife. But after a week, they are still rather timid with each other couple and decide to go home early.

One evening, Effie recounts memories of the people she knew who lived on the same street. They notice lights on in one of the houses. They venture over, meaning to just say hi and be on their way.

Clara remembers Effie and invites them in. The house is party central. Clara and her lover Max are hosting a birthday party for her brother, Scott. Young, glamorous, sophisticated people are there, drinking, smoking and dancing. The young couple is both intimidated and thrilled.

Henry and Effie know they should stay away, but the gin and the pretty people keep them coming back, day after night after day. Henry finds himself attracted to Alma, Max’s younger sister, who helps them break into the abandoned homes. Not to do mischief, but just look around.

It isn’t long before Henry and Alma have a torrid affair. The partying gets harder and harder as the young couple extend their honeymoon by another week, eventually moving into Clara’s house.

Maybe it’s my age, but I’m over explicit sex scenes. I don’t feel they add anything to the story and my imagination can do more than a writer can. Therefore, “Cape May,” and it receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Night of Miracles

Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg    288 pages

Author Elizabeth Berg returns to the small town of Mason, Missouri, in this follow-up novel to her wonderfully sweet tale, “The Story of Arthur Truluv.” In this “Winesberg, Ohio,”-ish tale readers get to reconnect with some of the characters from that earlier novel. This work is considered a stand-alone, and Berg does a wonderful job in providing readers with the information they need to know, but it’s a much better read if readers get to know Arthur, Lucille, Maddy and Nola first.

Lucille still lives in Arthur Moses’s house. Maddy and Nola have moved out of town and Maddy is finally pursuing her college degree in photography. Nola is five years old. While they move in and out of the plot, Lucille is the character that takes center stage, and she’s as busy keeping up with the goings-ons and gossip as she can be.

Her baking classes have become quite popular. So popular in fact that a woman of her age just can’t do it all anymore. She hires one of the town's new residents, Iris Winters, who is still trying to move on from her divorce as her assistant. 

Another character readers meet is Tiny Dawson, who operates the local taxi. Tiny takes most of his meals over at Polly’s Henhouse. He’s not there solely because of the food---he’s smitten with one of the waitresses, Monica Mayhew. He wants to ask her out, but can never seem to find the right words. And unbeknownst to Tiny, Monica is equally as smitten with him. Will they get together?

Lucille finally sells her house, which is right next door to the Arthur’s house. She keeps a close eye on the house, which has been purchased by a young couple and their son. A cancer diagnosis turns their world upside down, and Lucille pitches in to help.

I’ve read that Berg plans to set future novels in Mason, Missouri. I hope so. And I hope that she continues these sweet stories about real people facing real problems in a small town life.  I truly enjoyed “Night of Miracles,” and it receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Summer I Met Jack

The Summer I Met Jack by Michelle Gable   528 pages

I started following author Michelle Gable’s career when “A Paris Apartment” first came out in 2015.  If you haven’t read, I highly, highly recommend it. The next two novels were good, but not great…it was hard to follow her mesmerizing debut. But now, Gable has returned to a novel that I simply couldn’t put down. Thankfully, for hubby, I saved it for a road trip. The miles flew by as I immersed myself in this a little known story.

This time around, Gable takes on that still-golden family, the Kennedy’s. After reading more than 200 books to get to the truth about the family of Joe, Sr. and his wife, Rose, Gable is able to create a realistic view of the family that we still want to be flawless, no matter how many faults come to life.

Actually, “The Summer I Met Jack” is less about JFK than it is about Alicia Corning Clark, who seems to be, at least in this story, Jack’s first true love.

Alicia escaped Nazi Germany, ending up in Hyannis Port, working in a movie theater as a concessioner. A friend of her who is a maid at the Kennedy compound gets her on as a maid. Alicia is dazzled by the young Massachusetts congressman. Joe Sr. doesn’t seem to mind the pair as a couple until Jack wants to marry her. Marrying a displaced person, immigrant, Jewish girl will stop Jack’s political career dead in its tracks. Joe forces the couple apart.

Brokenhearted, Alicia departs for Hollywood, where she has affairs with actors (like Gary Cooper), princes, athletes, and becomes close friends with Katherine Hepburn. All the while, no matter the city or country she is in, Jack weaves in and out of her life. While she marries several more times, it is Jack who truly holds her heart. The last time they meet is on the eve of Jack’s presidential inauguration.

When Alicia discovers she is pregnant, she flees to Rome, a hotspot for the socialite set. Could the baby be JFK’s?  Alicia seems to sleep around almost as Jack does. That’s the major question behind this novel.

One of the things that I really liked (and saved me hours of Googling the info) was that a small pamphlet was included in the book that laid out the fact from the fiction.  I loved this story and could not put it down.  “The Summer I Met Jack” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Our House

Our House by Louise Candlish     399 pages   read a galley - due to be published 8/2018

"On a bright January morning in the London suburbs, a family moves into the house they’ve just bought in Trinity Avenue. 

Nothing strange about that. Except it is your house. And you didn’t sell it. "


Fiona Lawson's making the best of her new living arrangement with her husband. Called a "bird's nest" solution, they alternate living in their house with their children in a co-parenting agreement to ease their separation and provide their family with stability. However, when Fiona comes home one day to find strange people in her house, people who are insisting they have purchased this house from Fiona and her husband, Bram, it becomes clear that something has gone horribly wrong.  Just where is Bram? And where are Fiona's children? And how did their house, their beautiful home, wind up in the hands of complete strangers?

This is the type of book that starts strong and just gets better as the story continues. It's the perfect kind of book where you can imagine the horror of this kind of thing happening because as the story unwinds, you realize just what is happening and how this could happen in reality. The characters are well-written and the story is compelling, but what I think drew me in was how carefully crafted the whole "house stealing" scheme happened.  That's true horror for me: not monsters under the bed or ghosts in the eaves, but how a domestic situation can go from not great to horrendously awful.

Where Bram is concerned, there is a definite cat-and-mouse game going on, so it's a good thing that you get his perspective in the story. Whether or not you're sympathetic to him . . . well, that's something else. Let's just say that more than one character has something to hide.

Terrific read for a weekend where you have plenty of time to settle in and enjoy a pageturner (with, as expected, a twist).

Paris by the Book

 Paris by the Book by Liam Callanan  368 pages

First there is the title:  What an enticement! Paris and books; I GOTTA read this novel.

Then there is the synopsis: An eccentric novelist who has gone missing. His grieving family. A bookstore.  An unfinished manuscript by said missing novelist. I was already anticipating how wonderful this book would be.

Then there is the first sentence: “Once a week, I chase men who are not my husband.” I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this novel.

And finally I did. 

Leah steals a copy of “The Red Balloon” from a Milwaukee book store. Robert sees, follows and confronts her. That’s how they met. The encounter sets up a sweet romance between the two who eventually get married and have two daughters.

Leah and her daughter don’t think much about it when their Robert turns up missing. He does that a lot. When he gets stuck in his work, he goes on writeaways. He always leaves a note. But this time there is no note. Still, they shrug it off as sometimes the notes are left in the strangest places.

Months pass, and the family goes about its daily life. Clues begin to surface in the strangest of places. One clue was six capital letters inside Robert’s favorite box of cereal.

Quickly deciphering the code, Leah and her daughters head to France in search of Robert. Looking for a place to stay, they stumble upon a small bookstore, whose owner is eager to sell. Leah buys it and the family starts to settle in with an eccentric cast of supporting characters. Leah discovers one of Robert’s books on the shelves and places it in the store window.

The girls are convinced that they catch glimpses of their father in various Paris locales, but Leah is convinced he is dead. When someone want to buy the book in the window, Leah discovers an “I’m sorry,” written on the inside cover. Who but Robert could have written that, and if did come into the shop, why didn’t he stay? There are so many questions with no answers.

Then a manuscript by Robert turns up. It’s like he’s been watching them, writing as their lives unfold. This part of the novel was rather hazy for me.

The story was interesting and I did enjoy it, but it moves rather slowly. Therefore, “Paris by the Book” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Peace in the Valley

 Peace in the Valley by Ruth Logan Herne        352 pages

Welcome to Book 3, and the final book, in the Double S Ranch series.  It’s nice to meet up with the Stafford clan again.

This adventure centers on the third, and youngest, son, Trey. Trey is actually a cousin to brothers Colt and Nick. His uncle/now father Sam adopted Trey after his parents overdosed and died in California when he was three years old. He remembers a bit about that life but is grateful that Sam rescued him.

Trey is a country mega-star. He seems to have it all, but that’s just on the outside. He still suffers from growing up without a mother’s love. He is still trying to prove that he was right to pursue his music dream, no matter how much Sam disapproved. And he is still reeling from the death of his wife, Cathy, also from drugs.

Now Sam is sick; he needs a liver transplant. Ironically the one person who is not a full-blood relative is the best match. Trey doesn’t hesitate to donate part of his liver to Sam. It’s a painful and dangerous operation, but Trey knows that it’s the right thing to do.

On his way back home to Gray Glen, Washington, and the Double S Ranch, Trey has a little fender-bender with the single mom on the neighboring farm. Things have never been easy between Sam and Lucy Carlton, but that’s about to change.

Sam is trying to make up for his past and the way he treated the other residents in the valley. Back then, he didn’t care who walked over to get what he wanted…and he did. Often.

While waiting to hear from a San Francisco hospital for the go-ahead with the surgery, Sam sends Trey over to Lucy’s farm to help. The place is falling apart and it’s up to Trey to make it whole again.

The plot is predictable from there on, but I knew what I was getting into when I selected this book to read. It does go on a too long, with the same basic scene being repeated over and over. There are a lot more Bible verses in this episode than the first two. I felt as if Herne was trying to get those in than crafting the story. Still, it’s a fun read with a happy ending, so Peace in the Valley receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

I received this book from Blogging for Books  in exchange for this review.

The LIttle French Bistro

The Little French Bistro by Nina George     322 pages

I loved the cover of this novel. The setting looks like it’s at an outdoor French bistro.  The cover alone makes you want to sit down, enjoy a glass of wine, people watch or share an intimate conversation with a lover.

The dreaminess of the cover evaporates with the first chapter. Marianne and Lothar have been married for forty-one years. Lothar is a jerk and has no redeeming qualities. Marianne longs to be loved, to be treasured or heck to just have her husband pay her a compliment. From the moment the wedding rings went on when she was nineteen, Lothar proved that he never loved her. He even denied her children because they would get in “his” way.

On a vacation (which sounded like hell), Marianne is so depressed that the only way to be happy is to commit suicide. However, she can’t even seem to do that right. She is saved by a homeless man and taken to a hospital. Lothar is more concerned about the cost of a taxi cab ride than he is about Marianne.

As she slowly recovers in the hospital, Lothar returns to their home in Germany, leaving Marianne to fend for herself. She steals a painted tile with a beautiful seascape painted on it, and decided that is where she’ll find her happily-ever-after. So she takes off for the coast of France, Kerdruc, in Brittany.  Since she has no money, she must walk.  She barely speaks French, much less the Briton dialect.

When she arrives, she is welcome with open arms. The residents of this small coastal town think she is the new chef. That takes a leap of faith for readers. The story gets bogged down while readers learn all about Kerdruc and its inhabitants. Anyway, to stay unknown, Marianne replaces her married surname with her maiden name.

Once the story comes back to Marianne, we see her discover herself. She becomes the powerful, passionate and adventurous woman she has always longed to be. The sea gives her strengths she didn’t know she possessed.

When her real identity is discovered, Marianne’s future is at risk. Will she have the courage to jeopardize her new life?

The Little French Bistro receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. The little French bistro is more of a minor character and the bog that I mentioned earlier are why I rated the novel as I did.

I received The Little French Bistro from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.