Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another great book and story. I highly recommend – A touch of history in this fiction book. A great story of love and family.
Tag Archives: historical-fiction
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am on a roll with reading good books. I picked this one because it was the Target book club choice this month. And it was good! The story of Starla who runs away to find her momma. She hitches a ride from a black woman named Eula who promises to get her to her momma. Their journey is not easy through the south with civil rights being on the fore front of everyone’s minds. And Starla and Eula’s lives will never be the same.
The Girl You Left Behind
The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Girl You Left Behind was engaging from the first chapter. It is the story of a lost painting and Sophie, the subject in the painting. I have to admit, that I was a bit lost at the start of the 2nd part of the book when it switched to present day and the story of Liv,the woman who now owned Sophie’s painting. But I soon was engrossed in that story as well, and how we learned about Sophie’s life through Liv’s story. Love it all. For awhile I thought it might be anti-climatic but it wasn’t at all.
Calling Me Home
Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the best book I have read in quite a while. The story of 2 women – a 90 year old woman, Isabelle, and her hairdresser, Dorrie – who take a road trip to a funeral. Throughout the story, the Isabelle tells the story of her first love – a forbidden love – to a black man. A definite page turner – I couldn’t put it down.
Orphan Train
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a great book. It didn’t take long for me to get fully absorbed in it. It’s a story of a 17 year old girl and a 91 year old woman – both who grew up as orphans – how they meet and the parallels in their childhoods.
I highly recommend this one.
The House Girl
The House Girl by Tara Conklin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a great book. It started a little slow, but by 1/3 through I did not want to put it down. The story of a slave house girl and how a modern day lawyer sets out to find out what happens. The stories run parallel throughout the book, and I found myself rooting for Josephine (the slave) and Lina (the lawyer). Definitely enjoyed. This is a 4 star book, I think only because it started slow for me… so probably really closer to a 4.5 star book.
The Book Thief
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Good book. It was a bit of a slow start, but I think that is was because I was not in the mood for historical (war) fiction. But once I was into it, I couldn’t put it down. Loved the characters in it. Mostly because they were good people with sound character living in Germany during WWII.
I definitely recommend this one. Just know the style and perspective of the book is different and may throw you off initially, but also part of what I loved about it.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The first couple chapters did not have my convinced I would enjoy it, but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. Set in Seattle during WWII, Henry a Chinese-American develops a friendship with a Japanese-American girl. His father views all Japanese as the enemy. And Henry is torn…
Great book. I definitely recommend this one!
Unbroken
Unbroken: A World War II Book of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really liked this book. It took me a long time to get through it, but if the size of it intimidates you, know that almost the last 100 pages were annotations.
Story of an Olympic athelete who is drafted into WWII. His plane goes down over the Pacific and survives in a raft, then ends up in Japanese POW camps. I knew very little about the Japanese POW camps or how the war was staged over the Pacific. The book had a lot of history with the story, so that is why it probably felt a little slow, but I appreciated that too.
I would recommend.
The Help
I just finished my first book of 2010: The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Excellent book! I think it was recommended by Sarah. I know I must have requested it from the library a long time ago, because I was surprised when I was notified it was ready for me to pick up! But I figured if it was that long of a wait, it was probably a good book! And it was!
Over 400 pages and I finished in just under a week and a half (without riding the bus!). That is excellent speed for me! Good from the first page! Hope she writes more and they are just as good! If you pick it up, the reviews on the back of the book are exactly right! Check it out!
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