#kate breslin

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Top Ten Tuesday: 6 WWI Fiction Authors & Books

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@books-cupcakes MAY book photo challenge

May 1–”TBR May”

Four books I hope to tackle this May; a mixture of historicals and inspies 

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Earlier this week, I finished reading Far Side of the Sea by Kate Breslin. This is the fourth book I have read by this author. I had been blown away by Breslin’s debut novel For Such a Time, and was also very impressed by High as the Heavens. However, I recently finished Not by Sight, and was not nearly as enthralled as with the two previously mentioned books. Breslin’s novels tend to be very exciting – those page turners you simply can’t put down, and Not by Sight failed in that regard. It was almost like she hadn’t written it. Thankfully, Far Side of the Sea is back to Breslin’s signature writing style.

Far Side of the Sea is about Lieutenant Colin Mabry, twin brother of Grace Mabry, the heroine of Not by Sight. Colin had been seriously wounded in action in Europe during WWI, but continues to serve in the British military as the war rages on. He lost his left hand, but works in military intelligence decoding messages that arrive in England from the front. One day, he decodes a message addressed directly to him – from a French woman (Jewel) in occupied France who had helped him over a year before when he had been wounded. She is begging him to come to Paris to help her.

When he arrives in Paris, however, he discovers that the message actually came from Jewel’s half-sister, Johanna (the note had been signed J. Reyer). Johanna informs him that Jewel is missing, and entreats him to help him on her mission to find her – and their missing father. Colin has no idea that he and Johanna are about to embark on a dangerous mission filled with spies and double agents.

This story is sooooo multi-layered! That’s all I’m going to include in a summary, because I don’t want to spoil anything. Needless to say, this was a REAL page-turner!! Absolutely fantastic storyline. I particularly liked how the author wove into the story historical facts about homing pigeons that were used to bring coded messages from France into England, and vice versa. That was a very intriguing sub-plot to the story. I also appreciated the faith and Christianity elements that the author tied in, and how she candidly discusses Colin’s struggle with his disability.  

I highly, highly recommend this book! You won’t be disappointed!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House (via Netgalley) for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.

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I recently finished reading Not By Sight by Kate Breslin. Below is the description from the back cover:

In the spring of 1917, all of Britain's attention is on the WWI war front and the thousands of young men serving their country on the front lines. Jack Benningham, dashing heir to the Earl of Stonebrooke, is young and able-bodied but refuses to enlist despite the contempt of his peers.

A wealthy young suffragette, Grace Mabry will do anything to assist her country's cause. Men like Jack infuriate her when she thinks of her own brother fighting in the trenches of France, so she has no reservations about handing him a white feather of cowardice at a posh masquerade ball.

But Grace could not anticipate the danger and betrayal set into motion by her actions, and soon she and Jack are forced to learn the true meaning of courage when the war raging overseas suddenly strikes much closer to home and their fervent beliefs become a matter of life and death.

And here is the description from Amazon:

With Britain caught up in WWI, Jack Benningham, heir to the Earl of Stonebrooke, has declared himself a conscientious objector. Instead, he secretly works for the Crown by tracking down German spies on British soil, his wild reputation and society status serving as a foolproof cover.

Blinded by patriotism and concern for her brother on the front lines, wealthy suffragette Grace Mabry will do whatever it takes to assist her country's cause. When she sneaks into a posh London masquerade ball to hand out white feathers of cowardice, she never imagines the chain of events she'll set off when she hands a feather to Jack.

And neither of them could anticipate the extent of the danger and betrayal that follows them--or the faith they'll need to maintain hope.

Overall, this was a good book. It’s the third book I’ve read by Kate Breslin, and my least favorite so far. (Her debut novel For Such a Time was unbelievably superb, and High as the Heavens was fantastic too.) However, I still enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction and/or romantic Christian fiction. Breslin’s latest book, Far Side of the Sea, is about Grace Mabry’s brother and thus a sequel of sorts to Not By Sight. I’m looking forward to reading it, and I hope it will be a bit more engaging than Not By Sight.

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Far Side of the Sea

From the very beginning, it felt like I was reading a BBC production. Loved it! Far Side of the Sea by @Kate_Breslin @bethany_house #historialfiction #romance #mustread #FarSideoftheSea #bookreview #intrigue

Far Side of the Sea By Kate Breslin

In spring 1918, Lieutenant Colin Mabry, a British soldier working with MI8 after suffering injuries on the front, receives a message by carrier pigeon. It is from Jewel Reyer, the woman he once loved and who saved his life–a woman he believed to be dead. Traveling to France to answer her urgent summons, he desperately hopes this mission will ease his guilt and…

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Book review: High As The Heavens by Kate Breslin

This review is a struggle for me...when I requested High As The Heavens from Bethany House for their blogger review program, I didn't know the main characters were Catholic. As a protestant Christian I wish that the religious background had been referenced in the book's description.  

I have a very high standard that I expect from Bethany House Publishers books; High As The Heavens, while an entertaining story at times, did not meet that standard. High As The Heavens was an okay read, it was not bad, but nothing really stood out to me. I found the plot to be underwhelming, the characters lacked likability, and the faith themes were weak.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own.

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I just finished reading High as the Heavens! This was an excellent book. Kate Breslin has become one of my favorite authors, after I read her debut novel For Such a Time. (I couldn’t put that book down!!) While High as the Heavens wasn’t as spectacular as For Such a Time, it was truly an excellent read!

High as the Heavens is set in 1917, during World War I. British Red Cross nurse Evelyn Marche is working in a hospital in German-occupied Brussels, Belgium. Although she grew up in England, both her parents were Belgian. Shortly before WWI started, Evelyn’s Oxford-professor father dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, so her widowed mother takes Evelyn’s two younger siblings with her to Belgium to be closer to their extended family. Evelyn is in nursing training in London – and she’s fallen in love with Scottish pilot Simon Forrester, so she remains in England.

She and Simon secretly wed right before he is deployed, but just weeks after their wedding, she receives news that Simon’s plane crashed and he is dead. In her grief and desperation, she seeks out her family in Belgium, literally days before the Germans come marching into the neutral country. It’s too late for Evelyn and her family to flee, so they’re forced to stay behind. Sadly, the two younger siblings are taken by the Germans. Losing her husband, brother and sister all in a matter of weeks, Evelyn is devastated but tries to pick up the pieces by working in the hospital by day and for the resistance by night. She joins the underground movement La Dame Blanche as a spy. Even her mother helps the resistance, by tatting codes into the Belgian lace she makes, which is passed along through the resistance channels.

One night as Evelyn’s en route to a rendezvous to meet an unknown contact in the resistance, a plane crashes outside her family’s apartment. Evelyn is the first person on the scene, and she finds a survivor in the wreckage – and it’s her husband. Evelyn is shocked to find out that her husband has been alive for the past three years, and realizes that he was the contact she was supposed to meet. But because the plane crashed before the rendezvous point, Simon is oblivious that Evelyn is a La Dame Blanche agent.  

Lest you think I’ve spoiled the book for you, all this happens in the first couple of chapters. The author has chapters intermingled that are set back in 1914, so you get the full story of how Evelyn and Simon fell in love, what happened to Evelyn when the Germans first invaded, etc.

This is a very exciting book and I finished it in just a couple days. I would say that it’s for an 18 year old + audience, because of the descriptions of the war and battles, which can be quite graphic at times.

Kate Breslin weaves an incredible story of love and triumph in the face of so much adversity. It’s just amazing to me what the resistance movements did and were able to accomplish (in both WWI and WWII) without the use of modern technology. I also like how the author brought in the spiritual elements of how Evelyn struggled with guilt and grief, and how she eventually found peace and solace in Christ and His forgiveness.

This was a fantastic read and I highly recommend it!! This is one novel you won’t want to miss!!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.

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"Új típusú cenzúra felé tartunk, amit a politikai korrektség diktál"

“Új típusú cenzúra felé tartunk, amit a politikai korrektség diktál”

Online pergőtűz zúdult egy zsidó lány és egy nemzetiszocialista német tiszt képzeletbeli románcáról szóló amerikai regényre; az Amazon alig győzte szűrni a gyalázkodó kritikákat, a szerzőért, Kate Breslinért írónő kollégája volt kénytelen kiállni. Az eset tanulásos és egyáltalán nem egyedi. Ma már könnyebb tönkretenni valakit netes fórumokon, mint jogi hercehurcákkal. Így épül az online…

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