Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts

Friday, November 17, 2023

What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma - launch team and preorder

 

Yay! So looking forward to this book. Timely!!

The preorder link is: https://www.amazon.com/What-Promise-Echoes-Past-Book-ebook/dp/B0CJ4CKYRY/

#LizTolsma @LizTolsma #booksyoucanfeelgoodabout #BarbourFiction #christianhistoricalfiction

A Family’s History Is Lost to the Ravages of WWII in Southwest France
 
1942
Noémie Treves, a young, pregnant Jewish woman, had her entire world shattered when she is arrested and taken to the Camp de Rivesaltes transit camp in Southwest France. No sooner does she arrive, though, than she assists in helping two young girls scheduled for transport escape to a nearby maternity hospital. The matron there befriends her and changes her name to help hide her. But nothing goes according to plan, and Hannah finds herself doing the unimaginable to save one precious life.
 
2022
Caitlyn Laurant is haunted by recent events in her life and hopes becoming a nurse on the mission field will help her forget. While in training, she and her friends travel to France where her grandfather was born. What should have been an easy search for his birthplace turns into anything but and reveals secrets that no one alive has ever heard.


Liz Tolsma

Passionate might best describe Liz Tolsma. She loves writing, research, and editing. Her passion shone through in her first novel which was a double award finalist. On any given day, you might find her pulling weeds in her perennial garden, walking her hyperactive dog, or curled up with a good book. Nothing means more to her than her family. She’s married her high-school sweetheart twenty-eight years ago. Get her talking about international adoption, and you might never get her to stop. She and her husband adopted three children, including a son who is a U.S. Marine, and two daughters.

Author * Editor * Speaker * Podcaster

2023 Christian Market Book of the Year Award Winner

2023 Angel Book Award winner historical fiction

What I Promise You (February 2024)

What I Would Tell You (January 2023)

A Picture of Hope (Heroines of WWII series)

Website

Christian Historical Fiction Talk podcast

 

 

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Madame Pommery by Rebecca Rosenberg

 



1858 France. Delicious. Heart wrenching during the war. Victorious afterward. Beautiful story about a strong, smart woman who followed her instincts in creating a new business when told she would fail, was betrayed and brow beaten, while caring for and nurturing an entire town with dignity and grace. And she changed champagne forever. Bravo! Hard to put down. (Mildly risqué.)

I received this book free from the author, publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#NetGalley #MadamePommery #RebeccaRosenberg #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #LionHeartPublishing #HistoricalFiction #FiveStarHistorical

There is another coming in the series!



“This effervescent historical novel paints a richly detailed portrait of the enterprising Veuve Clicquot. The twinned plots of Clicquot and Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise and fall are filled with detail that give life to this far-off time. The prose is light, yet detailed, and peppered with moments of wry humor. Napoleon's characterization is well-crafted and give his character new life. Clicquot’s character is charming, and readers will love getting to know her. Rosenberg has a superb eye for blending humor with drama.” ~Publisher’s Weekly BookLife Prize

From triple-gold award-winning author, Rebecca Rosenberg: Champagne, France, 1800. Twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole inherited Le Nez (an uncanny sense of smell) from her great-grandfather, a renowned champagne maker. She is determined to use Le Nez to make great champagne, but the Napoleon Code prohibits women from owning a business. When she learns her childhood sweetheart, François Clicquot, wants to start a winery, she marries him despite his mental illness.

Soon, her husband’s tragic death forces her to become Veuve (Widow) Clicquot and grapple with a domineering partner, the complexities of making champagne, and six Napoleon wars, which cripple her ability to sell champagne. When she falls in love with her sales manager, Louis Bohne, who asks her to marry, she must choose between losing her winery to her husband, as dictated by Napoleon Code, or losing Louis.

In the ultimate showdown, Veuve Clicquot defies Napoleon himself, risking prison and even death.

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Friday, October 1, 2021

A Picture of Hope by Liz Tolsma

 



Riveting. Heart wrenching. Nellie is a photographer/reporter from America, anxious to make a difference and get the message to Americans about what was happening in the war Hitler had brought. The story starts as D-Day takes place. They didn't give permission to women to go into France, so she blended in and got herself there. The things she found once there were unthinkable, including a village where the Germans forced the women and children into a church and set them on fire. But she also found a little girl hiding, a girl with Down Syndrome. One that the Germans considered imperfect and needed extermination. She was able to get a perfect photo of her in front of the burned out church after the village was deserted again.
There she ran into Jean Paul, a member of the French resistance fresh out of prison. His father was a German officer who was angered that he stayed with his French mother and fought against him. Together they get to a convent where they housed a few other children with Down Syndrome and they all worked to get the small group out of France and across the border into Switzerland. Not an uneventful process. Constant danger and tension. 
Both Nellie and Jean Paul are also fighting an internal battle from things in their own lives that motivate them to make a difference and not accept the way things were, not just stand by even though they risked their lives. 
Excellent read of love and sacrifice with a Christian message throughout. Showing true beauty where others rejected,  hope and love, innocence shining through. Often I didn't like Nellie because of stupid, headstrong choices that she made, but Jean Paul liked her (wink), and the end results turned out well.

I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
 #APictureofHope #NetGalley

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Friday, March 15, 2019

The Songbird And The Spy by J'Nell Ciesielski

https://www.amazon.com/Songbird-Spy-Jnell-Ciesielski/dp/1946016799/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=songbird+and+the+spy&qid=1552680458&s=gateway&sr=8-1https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-songbird-and-the-spy-ciesielski-jnell/1130057967?ean=9781946016799https://www.powells.com/book/-9781946016799https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43080349-songbird-and-the-spy?ac=1&from_search=true

"Claire was to make herself useful on their farm. Or else."

Softly at first, then shock. An American girl in France, studying music, as Germany invades. On a train with a blue eyed man. Which characters as she goes along will be of significance? Where does safety lie? Multi layered identities in a time of war and unprecedented evil. Luckily there ARE good people in the world who will help you, but then there are some who will turn on you too.

Claire is shifted out of her comfort zone and forced to run, and she's a bit sloppy about it. But she lands at a bar with a piano while she tries to find her way out of the country. Michael has more layers to his life and personality than most anyone you'll meet. Ideal for a British SIS agent posing as a German Captain in charge of deciphering communications behind enemy lines.

This expertly told story brings you to the harsh reality of Nazi occupied France, folding you in right from the first few pages. If you've ever seen a movie or learned about that time and place, you'll be like me, tense, waiting for the net to drop any time. Innocent people were forced to do things they never would dream of, were killed, tortured, made slaves. Everything taken, sometimes people too. Very well told, enthralling, a mystery to the end.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
#TheSongbirdAndTheSpy #JNellCiesielski #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout

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Sunday, March 3, 2019

Far Side of the Sea by Kate Breslin

https://www.amazon.com/Far-Side-Sea-Kate-Breslin/dp/0764217828/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=far+side+of+the+sea&qid=1551489774&s=gateway&sr=8-1https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/far-side-of-the-sea-kate-breslin/1128873080?ean=9780764217821#/https://www.christianbook.com/far-side-of-the-sea/kate-breslin/9780764217821/pd/217821?product_redirect=1&Ntt=217821&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCPhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40390335-far-side-of-the-sea?ac=1&from_search=truehttps://www.powells.com/searchresults?keyword=far+side+of+the+sea

Spies. Mystery. War torn France and Britain in World War One. Christian historical fiction. Twists and turns leaving you wondering who to trust. After her mother dies during resistance fighting in Ireland, Jo searches in France for her father and the sister whom she had just learned about. Colin, a British soldier, had been wounded in France and was hidden and cared for by Jo's sister Jewel. Jo contacts Colin for help to find Jewel, knowing he had pledged to go back for her.

Colonizing a foreign country with enemy spies was an established practice (and is actually still done today). In this story Jo and Jewel's father was a notorious spy for Germany while living in France. The story wraps and folds around these facts, with help from British and American agents. It keeps you off kilter, while the growing relationship of trust between Jo and Colin keeps you rooting for them.

An interesting facet added to the story is the use of carrier pigeons for intelligence communication. Numerous accounts of heroism have been linked to these little birds, as the author had researched. She wound them into the story, with a particular little hero's real story.  Christian historical that is incredibly real.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

#FarSideOfTheSea #KateBreslin #NetGalley #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout

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From the Publisher:
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 restore the courage he lost on the battlefield.

Colin is stunned, however, to discover the message came from Jewel's half sister, Johanna. Johanna, who works at a dovecote for French Army Intelligence, found Jewel's diary and believes her sister is alive in the custody of a German agent. With spies everywhere, Colin is skeptical of Johanna, but as they travel across France and Spain, a tentative trust begins to grow between them.

When their pursuit leads them straight into the midst of a treacherous plot, danger and deception turn their search for answers into a battle for their lives.

Friday, March 1, 2019

High as the Heavens by Kate Breslin

https://www.amazon.com/High-as-Heavens-Kate-Breslin/dp/076421781X/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=XSZE5JM8XM4K&keywords=high+as+the+heavens+kate+breslin&qid=1551480228&s=gateway&sprefix=High+as+the+heaven%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-1-fkmrnullhttps://www.christianbook.com/high-as-the-heavens/kate-breslin/9780764217814/pd/217814?product_redirect=1&Ntt=217814&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCPhttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/high-as-the-heavens-kate-breslin/1124824740?ean=9780764217814https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32497037-high-as-the-heavens?from_search=true

Beautiful, rich story. An author you'll love.
Christian historical. A novel of spies and underground fighters in WW2. It amazes me that with all the war stories, there are still so many more.This is intricate. The author strove to show the hardships of those who lived in occupied countries like Belgium and France, and to share the remarkable people of the Great War who worked behind enemy lines. You'll become completely engrossed as the characters come fully to life, full of grief and pain, and very little hope, yet doing their best to fight back in ways they could. And what they did was significant. People were so incredibly smart and resourceful even when they seemed completely dominated, yet they contributed to the fall of the German army. Excellent story to get lost in!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

#HighAsTheHeavens #KateBreslin #NetGalley

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Monday, February 11, 2019

The Seamstress by Allison Pittman

https://www.amazon.com/Seamstress-Allison-Pittman-ebook/dp/B07F93RQW4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549912181&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Seamstress+by+Allison+Pittmanhttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-seamstress-allison-pittman/1129055525?ean=9781414390468#/https://www.christianbook.com/the-seamstress-allison-pittman/9781414390468/pd/390461?event=ESRCGhttps://www.powells.com/book/-9781414390468https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-seamstress/9781496435613-item.html?ikwid=The+Seamstress+by+Allison+Pittman&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=1https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40637151-the-seamstress?ac=1&from_search=truehttps://www.booksamillion.com/p/Seamstress/Allison-Pittman/9781414390468?id=6163396555110https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Seamstress/374290860

Wow what a powerful story. A step into history. 

It's set in France 1788 just before, then during the French revolution. There is a place not far from where I live that was constructed with the hope that Marie Antoinette would find asylum there, but sadly she never made it. Going there, seeing how it was made ready for her, I wished I could have made or helped to make some of the things for her. In particular I remember a quilt made from velvet pieces with beautiful embroidery around each piece. My grandmother made one similar and the women in our family all stitched on it. It enhances my feeling about Marie, the war and a seamstress she might have had.

Renee is a poor girl taken in as an orphan with her cousin by a man, not that much older than them, who runs a farm that's been in his family for generations. They don't have much but she delights in small things and loves her new family, growing in a Christian way. They have a friend who believes in eliminating the royalty from France. Near their house a carriage overturns and Renee mends the gown of a woman who was within. The mending is quite clever and fashionable. The woman is close to the queen, and decides to take Renee with her.

Renee, though quite young, finds a new life at the palace, and her skills make her a favorite. I delight in reading about the fabrics and thread as the story describes how she uses them. And in the beauty of the palace. The author skillfully tells several sides of the struggle at this time and I found it very difficult to put down. It's hard not to feel strongly for the characters, and its not a very happy time overall for any of them. I like the depiction of Marie Antoinette as a good person who tried to help the poor. A get-lost-in-it book for me. Huge depths of emotion.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
#TheSeamstress #AllisonPittman #NetGalley #ChristianHistoricalFiction

Quotes from the book:
"The rain hits steadily, like whispers, and my ear strains to the occasional heavy droplet. To think, being in such a small space, every drop of it is splashing only inches above our heads."

"The people are their own god now. Their desires, law."

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