Sara

In the cold winter of 1942, the second winter in the siege of Leningrad, Soviet sniper Sara and her seven female comrades are fighting against the Nazi invaders. At this point in the war the Russians are losing the battle. As the fighting intensifies, Sara's squad wonders if they can survive the turbulence of war. As women they know what will happened to them if they are taken prisoner and all of them vow not to be taken alive. The women try to make headway in the war by effecting one kill at a time. Sara is the undisputed best sniper. She has become a legend in the minds of the Nazis, which the sniper team learned about from a German prisoner of war. The Germans say she has killed over 300 soldiers but Sara disputes the number. 

This is a classic war story told in comic book format. The book combines six issues of a comic by the same name and it is based on a true story. We see the horrors of war here with our heroine booby trapping dead Nazi soldiers with grenades. When the Nazis find these bodies they will turn them over, activating the grenade and killing themselves. It's an easy way for Sara's kill numbers to rise.  We also see the Sara character changing as the war continues during the year.  When the village that her family resides in is destroyed by the Nazis, she becomes totally focused on killing as many of them as she can. She becomes a ruthless and efficient killer. We also see Sara talking to herself as she focuses her gun on the Nazi soldiers that she plans on killing. She takes her time before firing to ensure that her position is not spotted by Nazi snipers and becoming a target herself. 

Sara is an impressive narrative of soldier's lives fighting for survival on the Eastern Front in WWII.  5 out of 5 stars.

Dear Abigail

Dear Abigail is a biography of Abigail Adams and her two sisters. The author reviewed correspondence between them to paint a picture of their lives.  Given that they lived during the American Revolution their stories are important to our American history. Their letters are a snapshot of what life was like in colonial times.

The sisters were the daughters of a poor Congregational minister and his wealthy wife. Their correspondence began when the oldest, Mary, married and left the family home. Abigail was the next to marry but Betsy was much younger than them and didn't leave the house until her parents had passed. By that time Mary and Abigail had been married approximately 17 years already. Their letters to each other were frequent. The discussed their pregnancies, children, husbands, social lives as well as their political ideas. All supported freedom from England and were advocates for educational equality of the sexes. 

Much has been written over the years about Abigail's suggestion that her husband "remember the ladies" when he was involved with the writing of the Constitution. Current thought is that she was a feminist seeking complete equality of the sexes. Nothing could be further from the truth. During this era, women were so subjected to men that they would not have even been able to think about becoming equal to men. However, they desired to be educated in the same manner as the men were educated. They were successful in this endeavor. Educational equality was granted at the end of the Revolutionary War. The men agreed to this because they believed that their children would be educated well if their mothers were educated well.

The book covers the lives of the sisters from 1766 until 1801. Abigail's letters were, naturally, more prominent as she was the wife of our second president John Adams. All three of the sisters, though, led lives that were progressive for the era. Mary was basically in charge of running her village and Betsey co-founded a school that taught both girls and boys. 

Two interesting facts emerged from Abigail's letters. During Washington's presidency he left Philadelphia where the new nation was based to stay in Haverhill where Elizabeth lived. People came out in one of our coldest winters to hear him speak. They all got sick and their ailment was commonly known as the "Washington Cold." Also, when the new Executive Mansion was built there was an oval room constructed on the second floor. It was built in reverence for George Washington. When Washington lived in Philadelphia during his term in office he had an oval room in his home. It was his favorite room. We now call this oval room the "yellow oval room" in the White House. I am presuming that the Oval Office in the West Wing where modern presidents work was also constructed out of reverence for our first president.

When I picked up this book I knew I would relish the history within its pages. I read slowly to savor the words and I was not disappointed. I highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars!

Return to the Big Valley

This book shares three novellas about Amish women and their boyfriends. The stories take place in Big Valley, PA where the Brides of Big Valley novel occurred. Each story is a standalone and is written by a member of the Brunstetter family. Wanda wrote Wilma's Wish, her daughter-in-law Jean wrote Martha's Miracle and Wanda's granddaughter Richelle wrote Alma's Acceptance. Each one is about 120 pages long and are easy reads. 

In Wilma's Wish we see engaged couple Israel Zook and Wilma Hostetler struggling to care for Israel's five nephews. The boys are orphans and a little rambunctious. Israel has decided to adopt them but is not sure if Wilma will still marry him. The boys do not get along with her and are trying to discourage her from marrying Israel by behaving badly. Martha Yoder, of Martha's Wish, is an unusual Amish girl. She prefers hunting and fishing to cooking and cleaning. Her parents worry that she will never find someone to marry her if she continues in her tomboy ways. In Alma's Acceptance, Alma Wengerd is a widow after only one year of marriage. She decides to visit a friend in Big Valley where she lived when she was younger. There she reunites with a friend who she once thought of marrying  Elias also wanted to marry her but never got up the courage to ask her out. All of these stories deal with grief, romance, and those wonderful, always caring parents. 

I enjoyed Wilma's Wish and Alma's Acceptance. Martha's Wish was too simplistic and the characters were not interesting. There was no tension in the plot and I got bored reading this story. I would have to say, though, that all three stories were lacking the usual amount of tension and character development that readers are used to seeing with full length Amish fiction.  However, the book as a whole was a relaxing read and I will rate it 3 out of 5 stars.

The Pull

The Pull is a sci-fi comic book series written by Steve Orlando. It contains comics 1 through 6 in this one graphic novel format. The Pull is part of TKO Studios' third wave of complete comic book miniseries that they published in November, 2020. Artist Ricardo Lopez and colorist Triona Farrell also contributed to this comic. 

When the unstoppable cosmic force of the Undoer threatens the existence of Earth, Brenton Demm, a disgraced government agent, must shake off a lifetime's worth of regret if he is going to save everyone. Demm is one of Earth's thirteen super-science police, and with his ex-wife Gayano Tith, they are Earth's only hope for survival. With days left until the Undoer swallows the Earth, Tith can stop the Undoer as long as Demm can keep her alive. However, there is a catch. Ever since Demm's glory hounding caused a disaster that killed hundreds and put Earth on the Undoer's radar, he's been clinically incapable of giving a damn. Disaffected, corrupt, but still looking for a glint of hope in his last days, Demm finds it when Tith tells him the world doesn't have to end. Demm just has to get back to work. 

There is a political message here. The story concerns what happens when people refuse to deal with the effects of fossil fuels on our planet, referred to as "hard heat" in the story. Demm, as one of the thirteen police officers, is empowered by a newly discovered energy source called marbleite. Tith finds out that the energy marbleite releases will undoubtedly attract the attention of the Undoer, who wants to end all life on earth. Tith's father cannot handle the dread of annihilation so he forms a doomsday cult and makes plans for the cult to commit mass suicide.  Demm tries to stop the plan but is unable and he is traumatized by the experience. The story then picks up one year later when the earth has six days left before the Undoer ends life as we know it. The characters in the story discuss whether they can continue forging a future given the current dark times and with street drug usage at an all time high. Of course the street drug in this story is a little funky and is called the "big finish."  The drug brings about a "sexual euthanasia that brings user's lives to a climactic end." The characters are, essentially, f'ing themselves to death.

I enjoyed the story but did not like being preached to. Even though I agree with the political message, The Pull went too far with its spreading of the gospel.  3 out of 5 stars.

The Fourth of July

The Fourth of July was initially published in 2014 but my Amazon account states it was published this year.. Checketts is a new author for me. She usually writes Christian romance novels and this terrorist mystery was the first book she ever published. The story opens with eight parade floats exploding in Fourth of July parades across the U. S.  Agent Chris Harmer is tasked with finding the perpetrators before they strike again. However, his troubles are much more than terrorism. Chris falls in love with FBI analyst Alexis Osborne, a Christian woman. Chris has no real religious beliefs but finds it hard to resist seeing Alexis.

Let me start off by saying The Fourth of July was not my cup of tea. When I bought this book for my Kindle the book description only discussed terrorism. I was not aware that it was a Christian romance novel. I probably wouldn't have purchased it had I known. The terrorist part of the plot was well executed. The romance part seemed awkward. Alexis is a thirty-year-old woman but behaves like a middle schooler in her romantic life. It just didn't fit her character to be mean to a man she wanted to date while simultaneously hoping he would respond to her secret wishes and adore her. Alexis behaved this way throughout the story and it bothered me. How did she ever get a FBI job with her childish behaviors?

This one was a big miss for me. 2 out of 5 stars.

Revolutionary Mothers

I am so happy that someone wrote a book about the founding mothers of the United States. This history book has several sections devoted to the wives of famous patriots, the wives of loyalist men, slave women, Native American women, camp followers, general's wives, and other heroines of the American Revolutionary War. Author Carol Berlin discusses their contributions before the war broke out, during the war and after the war.  

It was interesting that though these women managed their husband's businesses while they were gone from home and had to deal with both British and Continental Armies taking over their homes, they were still considered to be merely helpmates for their husbands. Their natural inclination was to obedience, industriousness and frugality and their natural function was to bear children. Women's destinies were dictated by the authorities in their world such as ministers and lawmakers and for the most part they followed what they were told to do. When the men determined to free themselves from British rule, it was up to the women to ensure that they handled their household's boycott of English products. Many had to learn how to spin fiber and weave clothing when English resources were cut off. The only advancement that women achieved at the end of the war was that they would be entitled to the same education as men. They still had no rights to own property or vote. 

I always thought it odd that women would follow the armies and camp with them. However, Berlin shows that this was the only way to ensure that they would have food to eat. If they stayed home food was scarce. Loyalist wives had it bad, especially when the war ended. The patriots punished them for not supporting independence and many left the colonies. Our famous founding fathers had difficulties communicating with the Indian tribes because they were matriarchal societies. They just could not handle having to deal with a female tribeswoman.  

This short, 166 page book is filled with the histories of all types of women and I highly recommend it.  5 out of 5 stars.

Stacking the Shelves #6

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! And audiobooks. In other words, if you can read it or if it can be read to you – no matter how you got it – it belongs in Stacking the Shelves. The Stacking the Shelves meme was originally hosted at Team Tynga’s Reviews. For the last few years it’s been co-hosted at Team Tynga’s and here at Reading Reality. Reading Reality became the one and only host of Stacking the Shelves when Team Tynga’s Reviews closed its virtual doors in 2021.

This past week I bought 2 new books to read: Dear Abigail and The Secret Keeper of Jaipur. Dear Abigail is a biography of Abigail Adams and her two sisters. Abigail Smith Adams, Mary Smith Cranch and Elizabeth "Betsey" Smith Shaw were the daughters of Reverend William Smith and his wife Elizabeth.  The book begins with the marriage of Mary to Richard Cranch presumably because that is when Mary left the family home and the sisters began writing to each other. If Abigail had not married John Adams their story may not ever have been told. 

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur is the second novel in Alka Joshi's Jaipur Trilogy. The series is about henna artist Lakshmi Kumar. In this installment of the series Lakshmi arranges for her protege Malik to intern at Jaipur Palace. Lakshmi is now running the Healing Garden but most of the story is about Malik. Power and money still control Jaipur, evidenced by the police blaming a balcony collapse on an easy target. Malik senses the wrong person was arrested and seeks to uncover the truth.

Gone

Gone is a spellbinding novel about a mother and son who have been abducted at a gas station. The son is only four-years-old and has a severe form of epilepsy and autism. His mother Elizabeth manages his illness well while her husband is gone weekdays and night. She is a creature of habit, puts gas in the car on Monday, picks up prescriptions on Tuesday, etc... Her habits should make it easier for her husband to search for her. On one Monday morning, Elizabeth is buying gas for her car and has left her son in the passenger seat while she pays for the gas. While she is at the cash register she sees a man approach her car and get in. Elizabeth hurries to the car and is able to jump into the backseat as the car takes off, leaving her purse behind. The driver takes her to a hidden cabin in the woods where Elizabeth's husband will never find her. It is up to Elizabeth to figure out how to get herself and her son free. 

This psychological thriller kept me reading all night. The serious nature of the child's medical needs not being met after the abduction give the novel its suspense. The restricted life a person with epilepsy has is shown in detail and it is this circumstance that keeps the reader reading. I found myself routing for the boy and hoped he survived. I did not like his mother though. She was dependent on her husband for everything and got angry when he wasn't around to tell her what to do. She seemed whiny to me. As a feminist I wanted to shake her out of this mindset to freedom. It was odd that she only thought her husband would search for her, not the police. Doesn't everyone know that it is the police's job to look for missing people? Also, I wondered why she thought she couldn't handle her situation. Elizabeth did not really need her husband to help her care for her son. She did this almost daily on her own and was handling the abduction well.

Despite these concerns Gone is a mesmerizing story and I highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Night Gate

The Night Gate is the final installment of Peter May's The Enzo Files series.  I have loved this series since it began and hate to see it end but I understand that authors need variety in their writing to keep it crisp. 

The publisher's summary:

"In a sleepy French village, the body of a man shot through the head is disinterred by the roots of a fallen tree.  A week later a famous art critic is viciously murdered in a nearby house.  The deaths occurred more than seventy years apart.  Asked by a colleague to inspect the site of the former, forensics expert Enzo MacLeod quickly finds himself embroiled in the investigation of the latter.  Two extraordinary narratives are set in train - one historical, unfolding in the treacherous wartime years of Occupied France; the other contemporary, set in the autumn of 2020 as France re-enters Covid lockdown. 

Tasked by the exiled General Charles de Gaulle to keep the world's most famous painting out of Nazi hands after the fall of France in 1940, 28-year-old Georgette Signal finds herself swept along by the tide of history.  Following in the wake of DaVinci's Mona Lisa as it is moved from chateau to chateau by the Louvre, she finds herself just one step ahead of two German art experts sent to steal it for rival patrons - Hitler and Goring. What none of them know is that the Louvre itself has taken exceptional measures to keep the painting safe, unwittingly setting in train a fatal sequence of events extending over seven decades.

The Night Gate spans three generations, taking us from war-torn London, the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, Berlin and Vichy France, to the deadly enemy facing the world in 2020."

I was disappointed in this novel.  There were many passages of writing that were not central to the solving of the crime.  For instance, there was a 40 page section on the military training of women who were going to be dropped into Nazi held France. In addition, the relationship of the characters who were mentioned in the beginning of the book was not explained.  I knew from past books in the series that they were related but could not remember exactly how.  I think the author should have explained who the characters were and what made them tick. There was no development of the characters during the story either so I expected a tighter plot.  I got neither.  As far as the settings descriptions are concerned, I did not feel that I was in Scotland, London, France or Berlin. In the earlier books in the series you could see the Scottish Enzo's semi-assimilation in France where he lived.

What a disappointing end to a great series.  2 out of 5 stars.

Well Behaved Indian Women

Well Behaved Indian Women is Saumya Dave's debut novel.  It is fantastic! Delving into the issues of Indian American culture, Dave explores a mother and daughter's relationship in America. Their origins from India play heavily into how they communicate and how they feel about their lives.  The book is also a family saga as the lives of three generations of women are explored.

The story begins with Simran Mehta always feeling that she is being harshly judged by her mother, Nandini, especially when it came to her writing hobby.  Nandini emigrated to American with her new husband twenty five years ago where she had her children. As a first generation American, Simran was expected to have a professional career. While she is working on a Masters Degree in Psychology Simran drops out of school to pursue journalism. During this time she is planning a wedding to her childhood sweetheart Kunal. They are expected to marry because they have been a couple for a long period of time. However, when Simran meets an Indian celebrity writer sparks fly.

Nandini, on the other hand, has spent her life putting others ahead of her own life. She wants to create an easy life for her children as well as her in-laws.  Nandini has provided her husband's demanding family everything they desire, including free medical treatment.  She also has had to endure the casual racism of her patients. When a colleague offers Nandini a job in another city she has to consider whether to pursue her dream job or focus on being the perfect Indian wife.

Grandmother Mimi Kadakla lives in India. She feels that she has failed her daughter Nandini but has a chance to support her grand-daughter Simran in whatever life Simran wants to live. As life begins to pull Nandini and Simran apart, Mimi is determined to be the bridge that keeps them connected, even as she deals with her own secret burden, an illness. 

I loved this novel.  I read through it in two hours and couldn't put it down. It was interesting to see how these women were trained from birth to be people pleasers, a common trait among Indian women. They all put their dreams on hold to fulfill family expectations, usually expectations that they were not on board with. I cannot imagine doing this myself and wonder why none of these women rebelled against tradition. In addition, the concept of arranged marriages is explored here. The reader learns the pros and cons from how these women's arranged marriages affected their lives.  

Several reviewers have said that books like this one confirm stereotypes of Indian women.  I disagree. It seems to me that when you deny the cultural traits of a given people, you are denying their distinctions in favor of political correctness. People are different. We all know that. The customs and mannerisms that we see of residents from other nations should be celebrated not used to further divide us. We can be multiculturally sensitive without rejecting the culture itself.

5 out of 5 stars!

The Bombay Prince

The Bombay Prince is the third Perveen Mistry historical fiction novel by Sujata Massey. Perveen is the first female solicitor in India and works in her father's law firm in Bombay. This installment of the series takes place in November 1921. Edward VIII, the Prince of Wales and future ruler of India, has just arrived in Bombay for a four month tour of India.

There is local unrest over the royal's visit which quickly spirals into rioting. Perveen Mistry, though, is angered by the death of Freny Cuttingmaster, an eighteen-year-old female college student who has fallen from a second story gallery just as the prince's procession was passing by her college. Freny had visited Perveen two days before asking for legal advice on whether to steer clear of the prince's procession. Every student and teacher at the college were required to attend the procession. To avoid the celebration meant risking expulsion from the school. Freny was a member of the Student Union Club which advocated for eschewing the prince's visit. Independence was the divisive issue here. Some people wanted independence and others didn't. Perveen felt guilty for failing to assist Freny and decides to assist her parents in their dealings with the coroner. When her death is ruled a homicide at the coroner's inquest, Perveen and her father work to see justice done. However, Bombay seems to be erupting as armed British soldiers march in the streets, rioters attack anyone perceived to have British connections and desperate shopkeepers destroy their own wares so they will not be targets of racial violence.

What a wonderful story! I read this novel in one sitting while in the park on a sunny summer day. It was a sweet experience. The plot is intricate yet fast paced. I would say that this installment of the series is a historical thriller, not just a historical mystery, and it is the best novel in the series to date. The writing was tight for a historical novel with the author weaving in historical details and background information without the use of narrative. 

The Bombay setting was described in detail. The reader can feel the tension among the Indians to the Prince's visit as well as their fear of being arrested by the British. With insightful dialogue we read what it felt like to live through the riots and how the city residents dealt with their conflicted feelings concerning independence. Bombay had residents who were Indians, British, Anglo Indians and also Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsi and Christians. Their ability to coexist is a prominent feature although the thin veneer of silence among the groups is sometimes interrupted. 

This is a must read.  10 out of 5 stars!

The Perfect Daughter

The Perfect Daughter is the perfect thriller.  It is a murder, medical and legal mystery with a psychiatric twist. It begins with sixteen-year-old Penny Francone being arrested for the murder of her biological mother. She was found by the police at the crime scene covered in the victim's blood and holding the murder weapon, a knife. To the police, this is an open and shut case and a jury only has to decide whether Penny will spend the rest of her life in prison or in a mental hospital. As Penny awaits trial in the Massachusetts state mental hospital, she is being treated by Dr. Mitchell McHugh, a psychiatrist battling demons of his own concerning his son's drug addiction. McHugh is not sure that Penny really has dissociative identity disorder, a/k/a multiple personality disorder. His testimony concerning her illness will either make or break Penny's defense. Her attorney plans on defending her with a not guilty by reason of insanity defense. Penny's adoptive mother, Grace Francone, believes her daughter is innocent. One of Penny's identities is Eve, a cold woman who she believes is capable of murder.  Penny is a quiet, polite teen. Her other identities include Ruby, a British girl, and Chloe.

We learn alot about dissociative identity disorder (DID). It was quite interesting to read how Penny's doctor planned on figuring out whether Penny had DID or was fooling everyone. His approach was revealing. Before reading the book I did not know how psychiatrists made this diagnosis. Another big part of the novel was Penny's legal defense. The reader learns the requirements of the law in an insanity defense, particularly with a defendant with DID. Penny's lawyer knows what he has to prove and much of the evidence he needs will come from Dr. McHugh. Penny, herself, is not sure whether she committed the crime. The novel is also a classic murder mystery. When Penny's adoptive mother, physician and attorney delve into her past before she was adopted, the reader is treated to an intricate plot that assumes, falsely, Penny had a good reason to kill her biological mother. Without reading the book, you won't know why or how this could have happened. I don't want to be a spoiler so I won't go any further here. However, I will say that there is a surprising ending.

I highly recommend The Perfect Daughter to mystery lovers.  5 out of 5 stars. 

Book of the Month: June

Midnight Fire was my favorite read for this month. It is the second book in the Jagiellon Mystery Series by P. K. Adams. I love that it takes place in Poland and Lithuania, a new, to me, historical setting. The story begins in the summer of 1545 with Caterina Sanseverino Konarska traveling with her ailing son Guilio from their home in Bari, Italy to Krakow. Guilio suffers from mysterious fevers that have stunted his growth. Caterina hopes to see Queen Bona so that she can ask her if Guilio can see a court physician. After meeting Queen Bona, Caterina is allowed to travel to Vilnius where the best court physician is on hand in case crown prince Zigmunt August needs him. However, Bona asks Caterina a favor. Can she dissuade the crown prince from marrying a scandal ridden mistress, Barbara Radziwill? The book was the perfect read, with great characters, a fast pace, and a great plot. Caterina's sleuthing skills are solid and she is able to use her position at court to advance her investigation. Highly recommended for historical fiction fans!