Showing posts with label battle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label battle. Show all posts

Thursday, October 7, 2021

Yours Is the Night by Amanda Dykes

 



A story set in the last days of WW1, in France near and in the Argonne Forest. Bringing together a few people, quite different from one another, yet whose lives become entwined. A girl has been living in the forest, raised by her Father and Grandfather, who were escapees from another previous conflict. Found by a few soldiers, all vastly different men, now coming together, each with their own strengths and weaknesses to help her get to Paris and her family's great home. What a journey and learning of people, growing in strength and love, much because of their bond with one another.
"We’d scorned one another and needed one another and had left that battle-gouged land with battle-gouged hearts."
Deep, heartfelt lessons of life and faith, building of personal strength from shared experience and support. 
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.
#YoursIstheNight #NetGalley

My reviews:
Barnes and Noble

Monday, February 11, 2019

With This Pledge by Tamera Alexander

https://www.amazon.com/this-Pledge-Carnton-Book-ebook/dp/B07BB4MSG2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549923105&sr=8-1&keywords=With+this+Pledge+by+Tamera+Alexanderhttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/with-this-pledge-tamera-alexander/1128128094?ean=9780718081836#/https://www.christianbook.com/with-this-pledge-ebook/tamera-alexander/9780718081843/pd/96143EB?event=ESRCGhttps://www.powells.com/book/-9780718081836https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/with-this-pledge/9780718081843-item.html?ikwid=With+this+Pledge+by+Tamera+Alexander&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=5https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38915861-with-this-pledge?from_search=truehttps://www.booksamillion.com/p/This-Pledge/Tamera-Alexander/9780718081836?id=6163396555110https://www.walmart.com/ip/With-this-Pledge-eBook/914822377

Deeply moving.

It's November 30, 1864, Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee. Lizzie is the Governess to two children there. They look out and see an army forming between their house and the neighbors. The southern army here, federal army drenched in there. Around 20,000 men. The battle was fought over 2 1/2 miles, with nearly 10,000 killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Read that last sentence again. Can you really imagine it?

Their house quickly fills up with wounded. They tear up all the cloth they have - clothes, bed linens, towels, even underwear and Lizzies wedding dress, for bandages. She has skills learned from her father who is a pharmacist, and is able to help the surgeon. She learns that her fiancé is somewhere on the battlefield and goes to look for him - getting an even bigger shock of her life. The hem of her dress is soaked 6 inches with the blood. (Yet just a fraction of what Armageddon will be.) It literally came to their doorstep. Even the children join in helping the wounded in the house. The depth of sorrow and pain, and the eventual joy and love of the living.

Roland was one of the soldiers who had been battered, both legs and much of a hand. He and Lizzie have a special bond that grows through the story, as they both learn how to live with all the changes to their world, their lives. Since they lost the battle there, all of the soldiers on the losing side are supposed to go to Federal prison. They are given permission to stay until better healed, in the care of the McGavocks and local Catholic Sisters. Their mending is difficult, and gives them all a chance to know each other better. Relationships are forged between them all, including two black slaves. An incredible story telling from different angles of those involved. Well done, illustrating an incredible number of people.

#WithThisPledge #TameraAlexander #NetGalley #ChristianHistoricalFiction

Quotes
"Odd how war had a way of leveling out life. Of making what once seemed so important— such as propriety and decorum in conversation—not quite so significant. And in turn, it made what truly mattered— people, taking care of one another, life—of utmost urgency."

“For those who are in Christ Jesus, the best is always yet to come. Believe that.” 

My Reviews:
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Sunday, June 24, 2018

The Love Letter by Rachel Hauck

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Letter-Novel-Rachel-Hauck/dp/0310351006/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1521751533&sr=8-4&keywords=the+love+letterhttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-love-letter-rachel-hauck/1127455192?ean=9780310351009#/https://www.christianbook.com/the-love-letter-rachel-hauck/9780310351009/pd/351009?event=ESRCGhttp://www.powells.com/book/-9780785216681http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Love-Letter/Rachel-Hauck/9780310351009?id=7011643889686https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36576120-the-love-letter?from_search=true

I was prepared to not like this story. I don't generally like modern themes. And this was not just modern, but Hollywood too. The initial appeal of this story for a historical fiction lover like me is that the core of the story is a letter written at the beginning of the Revolutionary war. As I read I found that the author made it personal, both in old and new eras, and it grew on me. The modern characters became just people and meshed with the old. Their stories wove back and forth, over and under, like ribbons, then did a mobius flip. Wow what a journey. And when completed, how smooth it actually was.  Esther and Hamilton, Chloe and Jesse - each on their own journey, yet bound together - with a path to Jesus meant for each, illustrating the mountains, valleys and triumphs only He brings to lives.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the Thomas Nelson--FICTION - 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”.

#TheLoveLetter,tnzfiction #NetGalley

Description from the Publisher
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Dress comes a story of long-lost love and its redemption in future generations.
Romance has never been actress Chloe Daschle’s forte—in life or on screen. But everyone knows who to call for a convincing death scene . . . and it might be killing her career.
When Chloe is given a peek at the script for an epic love story, she decides to take her destiny into her own hands and request an audition for the lead female role, Esther Kingsley. The compelling tale, inspired by family lore and a one-page letter from the colonial ancestor of scriptwriter Jesse Gates, just might break her out of this career-crippling rut. Jesse would rather write about romance than live through it after his past relationship ended in disaster. But once on-set together, the chemistry between Jesse and his leading lady is hard to deny.
Centuries earlier, in the heart of the Revolutionary War, Hamilton Lightfoot and Esther Longfellow wrote their saga off the silver screen. Esther’s Loyalist father opposes any relationship with Hamilton, but Esther must face her beloved father’s disapproval and the dangers of war in order to convince Hamilton of their future together. Hamilton has loved Esther for years, and on the eve of battle pens the love letter she’s always wanted—something straight from the heart. 
Set in stunning upcountry South Carolina, The Love Letter is a beautifully-crafted story of the courage it takes to face down fear and chase after love, even in the darkest of times. And just maybe, all these generations later, love can come home in a way not even Hollywood could imagine.