Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 35

How Quilts Are More Than Blankets: A Guest Post from Leah Zieber, Author of Libby Morgan: Reunion

Publication Date: September 7, 2014Formats: eBook, PaperbackPages: 283ASIN: B00O35L1MOSeries: American Heritage Quilt SeriesGenre: YA/Historical Fiction



Coming from a long line of seamstresses, Libby has yet to sew anything more than the rudimentary button or hem, but on a visit to Connecticut she learns more than just how to sew patchwork. Set in 1855 New England and London, this tender story, Libby Morgan: Reunion, follows tenacious Elizabeth (Libby) Jane Morgan through her thirteenth summer of new adventures at home and abroad. She is given a birthday gift of sewing tools and fabric, as well as old family letters to use as templates for making her first quilt. Her decision to first read the letters results in questions that only her Grandmother Morgan’s stories can answer—stories of true love, horrible loss and family connections to London nobles. Her keen eye and inquisitive nature draws her family into a mysterious investigation that tests their faith, challenges their ability to forgive, and results in a resurrection and reunion of lost hearts.





*****Guest Post from Leah Zieber*****
Book Babe asked, "Did your own family history inspire this story or anything in it? If not, is there something in your family history that would be of interest to readers?"
Quilting is only one of the many forms of needlework that are longstanding, traditional pastimes in my family, pastimes that shaped my childhood and gave significance to my adult life. My writing draws from the many memories I have of my great Aunt Ruthie who was my pseudo grandmother growing up – my own grandmother being estranged from the family. I spent many summers with her, watching television while she sewed on the applique quilts she loved to make. I formed a close connection with Aunt Ruthie, as hers was the home I would seek refuge in during my own family’s struggles. Much of Mother Morgan’s character is based upon Aunt Ruthie and her sewing abilities.  She was an incredible seamstress, like her mother before her, and she was fascinating to watch; she sewed, crocheted, tatted and knitted tirelessly and seemingly without effort. She patiently taught me to embroider and crochet and she sparked in me an interest in quilting I did not foster until later in my adult life. When I first began to make quilts, I always felt like there was part of the equation I did not posses and therefore felt my quilts lacked substance. I loved selecting fabric, cutting it to bits and putting it all back together in an esthetically pleasing pattern, but something told me there was more to making a quilt than what I knew. I struggled to figure out what was missing and it wasn’t until I joined a quilt history group that I found the element I lacked. In many of the antique and vintage quilts I examined, there was a story that equated to more than just random bits of cloth sewn together. The quilters of the past had worked meaning into their projects – meaning that could be found in their fabric choices as well as the images and the symbolism they sewed into their bedcoverings. Sometimes the meaning was political, sometimes religious, sometimes just for sentiment’s sake, but nearly always I found that the antique and vintage quilts portrayed something special for the maker or the receiver or both. I wanted to know the history that was hidden in the quilts I studied – and not just the history of the people who made them, but the history of the fabrics, the threads, the battings and most importantly the reasons why the quilts were made. This search for understanding pushed me further into studying American quilt making and the history of textiles in America. And as I began to purchase antique quilts for my own collection, I earnestly sought to know my new possession’s provenance in hope of finding out what stories might be hidden in the folds of it’s past. This revelation - that a quilt has it’s own history – is what brought new depth to my quilt making and inspired me to write the story of Libby Morgan and her family. Unlike some of the 19thcentury quilt stories available today, the quilt traditions talked about in Libby Morgan: Reunion are based upon provable, factual evidence. Significant research was done on the 19th century quilts and the other textile subjects in the story; for example, English paper piecing with letters, the bits of fabric in the ledgers at the Foundling Hospital in England, the Godey’s Lady’s Book references, and the tools used by the characters are all historically accurate. And though none of the early quilts referenced in this first book are from my family, as the series progresses, much will be drawn from the pieces of my collection that were made by my own ancestors.  I want to share with young girls and women historically accurate stories of American quilting traditions and help them to understand that quilts can be more than just utilitarian blankets. I hope the reader will come to know that the stitches and fabric and time spent making a quilt is truly a gift to posterity that can one day be looked upon with meaningful understanding of the past. Through my stories I hope to give an accurate and factual glimpse at the history behind America’s love of quilt making and bring readers closer to an understanding of all that a quilt can and does represent.


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About the Author Leah A. Zieber is a quilt historian and quilt maker from Temecula, California, specializing in American quilt history and reproduction quilts from the nineteenth century. Her quilts have been exhibited across the country in quilt shows, museums and historical societies and were most recently published in Stars: A Study of 19th Century Star Quilts. Leah has worked closely with Southern California collectors, cataloging, managing, and independently researching their textile collections. Her own collection of antique quilts and related textile items spans one hundred and eighty five years, and she shares her knowledge of American quilt history using her collection in lectures and workshops. Libby Morgan: Reunion is her debut novel and the first in her American Heritage Quilt Series.

For more information please visit Leah Zieber's website and blog. You can also connect with her on Facebook and LinkedIn.

The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth

I was expecting more of a historical tale to this. When I hear "midwife" I think of Call the Midwife or of women running from one log house to another in the last 1800s to assist with a birth. There's none of that in this book. It's about modern midwives, about how they are still doing their thing, while facing nursing boards threatening to provoke licenses and arguing with doctors who think they know it all. I found this read very insightful about the lives and careers of modern midwives and what they believe about mother and baby bonding and all that.

Despite it being different from what I expected, I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the women I met within its pages. I zipped through this in two days, dying to know what was going to happen next. There's hospital drama, marital drama, and secrets from the past. There's spousal abuse--a kind I never thought of. There's mother/daughter relationships and above all a strong moral: love is love. Biology has nothing to do with it.

It's very well written too, not overly descriptive or boring or long winded. It is a very good first novel. I'm impressed.

A quick recap for those who need it: Floss was a midwife in the fifties. She has a big secret she's been keeping from her daughter and granddaughter and now partner. It's holding her back from really enjoying her life. Grace is too pushy with her daughter, Neva. This makes Neva steer clear. Grace's drama is about her license, the board. Through her we see some of the hostility between hospital doctors and midwives and the difference in their beliefs. Neva is a modern midwife who toes the line between both worlds by working in a birth center attached to a hospital. She's pregnant and refuses to name the father. Why?

As I said above, very suspenseful, but I confess I had Floss's story figured out around page 100. Yet, Neva, I couldn't quite get it. But this is also where my quibble comes in. While kept in suspense as to who the father of Neva's baby is...it also felt too Jerry Springish as Neva decided first one man then another must be the dad. I mean, just how many men are you bedding in the course of a month, lady? Dang.

That just sort of put me off. I'm all for women taking what they want, when they want, but a nurse should have some more smarts than this. So she doesn't think she's likely to get preggers, I get it, but there are diseases out there. Hello? I'm amazed a woman in the medical profession is that dumb. I really am. To bed miscellaneous men without protection.

My only other quibble is I'd have liked more of the relationship between Floss and Lily. As it was, I had to wonder why Lily was even in the book. There was way too little to make it count.

I received this via Amazon Vine.

Agnes Canon's War

Publication Date: October 1, 2014Blank Slate PressFormats: eBook, Trade PaperbackPages: 300
Genre: Historical Fiction



“I saw a woman hanged on my way to the Pittsburgh docks..”

Agnes Canon is tired of being a spectator in life, an invisible daughter among seven sisters, meat for the marriage market. The rivers of her Pennsylvania countryside flow west, and she yearns to flow with them, explore new lands, know the independence that is the usual sphere of men.

This is a story of a woman’s search for freedom, both social and intellectual, and her quest to understand what freedom means. She learns that freedom can be the scent and sound of unsettled prairies, the glimpse of a cougar, the call of a hawk. The struggle for freedom can test the chains of power, poverty, gender, or the legalized horror of slavery. And to her surprise, she discovers it can be found within a marriage, a relationship between a man and a woman who are equals in everything that matters.

It’s also the story of Jabez Robinson, a man who has traveled across the continent and seen the beauty of the country and the ghastliness of war, as he watches his nation barrel toward disaster. Faced with deep-seated social institutions and hard-headed intransigence, he finds himself helpless to intervene. Jabez’s story is an indictment of war in any century or country, and an admission that common sense and reasoned negotiation continue to fail us.

As Agnes and Jabez struggle to keep their community and their lives from crumbling about them, they must face the stark reality that whether it’s the freedom of an African from servitude, of the South from the North, or of a woman from the demands of social convention, the cost is measured in chaos and blood.

This eloquent work of historical fiction chronicles the building of a marriage against the background of a civilization growing – and dying – in the prelude to civil war.
*****REVIEW*****I loved Agnes. Had the entire tale followed Agnes and stuck to Agnes, I'd have been an overjoyed reader. She's a terrific woman and character. The things I admired about her: her stance on slavery, her desire for independence, the fact she obtains this independence and later marries without really giving up who she is.

But I didn't care for the hero. And as much of the book focuses on him and his opinions (he's a secessionist), I got a bit tired of it and began skimming. He lost even more favor with me when he bought a pair of slaves. I don't care that he never beats them. I was already struggling with his character. He comes across as a know-it-all too and I didn't find this very romantic.

However, I must say, I like how the story showed us that even if a woman is independent and has a mind of her own, people (townsfolk) don't necessarily see it that way. I felt for Agnes as the town shunned her because of her husband's views to the point she gets kicked out of church. The story also tells the history of Missouri before the Civil War. I have read about the Kansas situation before, but not Missouri, about the war--and trust me, it's a nasty battle, on both sides--as the abolitionists from the north and the slave owners from the south duke it out on what was supposed to be neutral territory.

It's a very historically informative novel. I could have, however, done without the nasty brothers. *shudders* But violence happened and this story really does tell it like it was.Buy the Book


Barnes & NoblePowell'sAbout the Author Deborah Lincoln grew up in the small town of Celina, among the cornfields of western Ohio. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Michigan. She and her husband have three grown sons and live on the Oregon coast.

Of her passion for historical fiction, she says: “I’m fascinated by the way events—wars and cataclysms and upheavals, of course, but the everyday changes that wash over everyday lives—bring a poignancy to a person’s efforts to survive and prosper. I hate the idea that brave and intelligent people have been forgotten, that the hardships they underwent have dropped below the surface like a stone in a lake, with not a ripple left behind to mark the spot.”

Agnes Canon’s War is the story of her great great-grandparents, two remarkable people whose lives illustrate the joys and trials that marked America’s tumultuous nineteenth century.

For more information on Deborah Lincoln please visit her website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
Agnes Canon's War Blog Tour ScheduleMonday, December 8
Review at Forever Ashley
Review at Back Porchervations

Tuesday, December 9
Interview at Caroline Wilson Writes

Wednesday, December 10
Review at Too Fond

Friday, December 12
Review at Just One More Chapter
Guest Post at Mina's Bookshelf

Monday, December 15
Review at Luxury Reading

Wednesday, December 17
Review at Book Babe
Guest Post at Let Them Read Books

Thursday, December 18
Review at Griperang's Bookmarks

Friday, December 19
Review at Boom Baby Reviews
Interview at Layered Pages

Sewing Can Be Dangerous: Stories with the Threads

Publication Date: December 16, 2013Mockingbird Lane PressFormats: eBook, Paperback, Audio BookPages: 276Genre: Historical Fiction/Short Stories



The eleven long short stories in “Sewing Can Be Dangerous and Other Small Threads combine history, mystery, action and/or romance, and range from drug trafficking using Guatemalan hand-woven wallets, to an Antebellum U.S. slave using codes in her quilts as a message system to freedom; from an ex-journalist and her Hopi Indian maid solving a cold case together involving Katchina spirits, to a couple hiding Christian passports in a comforter in Nazi Germany; from a wedding quilt curse dating back to the Salem Witchcraft Trials, to a mystery involving a young seamstress in the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire; from a 1980’s Romeo and Juliet romance between a rising Wall Street financial ‘star’ and an eclectic fiber artist, to a Haight-Asbury love affair between a professor and a beautiful macramé artist gone horribly askew, just to name a few.



*****MY REVIEW*****
The first story...I'd really like the author to turn it into a novel, one of those dual-time-period stories. It's about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and a Jewish girl who has big dreams and must overcome difficult circumstances. The modern story is great too, reminding us to always do what's right and learn from the past.

The second story takes us back to the Salem witch trials. I didn't like this one as much--because something confused/bugged me (if the lady wanted to break the curse, why did she sit there and sew that pattern in the first place?) but I learned something I didn't know before: that Nathianel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter, was actually related to a Hathorne who judged the Salem trials. Out of shame, Nathianel added the W. Interesting!

I like that the third tale featured a deaf slave who stitched maps of sorts in quilts, enabling other slaves to escape. I found it slightly preposterous though. I mean, I know how hard it is to lip read and all, and her not being able to read and write before her affliction...um. Well, it's possible, but not in southern slave environment. It's not like they had the time. But moving on...
The fourth tale had me on the edge of my seat for a bit--WWII, Germany, very intense--but there were also parts that didn't contribute to the actual story and that threw me off. Yet I liked it a lot better than the next two, which weren't really historical. One was an 80s version of Romeo and Juliet and one was a doctor trying to do right and paying a price for it. And then came a story that though historical, had the kind of dialogue I loathe--thees and thous and whatnot. I skipped that one, I'm ashamed to say.

There's a mystery and then a Zodiac killer story--I didn't see how this tied into sewing. Then a pleasant, if somewhat unlikely, tale about a Native American and a woman making peace between their people through her sewing obsession.

Conclusion: The historical stories were my favorite. I'm still especially impressed with the first one. The more modern, the seventies and forward, I didn't like so much, but that's a personal preference.


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Buy the Audio BookSewing Can Be Dangerous and Other Small Threads is now in AUDIO!!! Listen to narrator, Suzie Althens, breathe life and depth into these stories!Amazon
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About the Author S.R. Mallery has worn various hats in her life.

First, a classical/pop singer/composer, she moved on to the professional world of production art and calligraphy. Next came a long career as an award winning quilt artist/teacher and an ESL/Reading instructor. Her short stories have been published in descant 2008, Snowy Egret, Transcendent Visions, The Storyteller, and Down In the Dirt.

“Unexpected Gifts”, her debut novel, is currently available on Amazon. “Sewing Can Be Dangerous and Other Small Threads”, her collection of short stories, Jan. 2014, both books by Mockingbird Lane Press.

For more information please visit S.R. Mallery’s website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Sewing Can Be Dangerous and Other Small Threads Blog Tour ScheduleMonday, December 1

Review at Unshelfish

Tuesday, December 2

Review at Bibliotica

Wednesday, December 3

Review at History From a Woman's Perspective

Thursday, December 4

Spotlight & Giveaway at Teddy Rose Book Reviews and More

Friday, December 5

Guest Post at What Is That Book About

Interview at Dianne Ascroft Blog

Monday, December 8

Review at WV Stitcher

Tuesday, December 9

Review at 100 Pages a Day - Stephanie's Book Reviews

Guest Post & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Connection

Wednesday, December 10

Review at A Book Geek

Thursday, December 11

Review at Book Nerd

Friday, December 12

Review at Based on a True Story

Monday, December 15

Review at CelticLady's Reviews

Tuesday, December 16

Review at Book Babe

Wednesday, December 17

Review at Just One More Chapter

Friday, December 19

Review at Book Drunkard

The World Unseen: Rebels Against Apartheid in the South African Indian Community

I have been interested in reading novels about apartheid South Africa ever since I read K.P. Kollenborn’s  How The Water Falls earlier this year.   I reviewed it here .  After that I read one book after another in Malla Nunn’s apartheid South Africa mystery series about the mixed race detective Emmanuel Cooper.  See the Goodreads Page on the Emmanuel Cooper Series.
This recent reading history is why I noticed The World Unseen by Shamim Sarif.  In addition to taking place in apartheid South Africa, it deals with the Indian community in South Africa.  I’ve been wanting to find out more about Indians in South Africa ever since I read that Gandhi had lived there and was radicalized by the experience.  See this page on Gandhi Before India by Ramachandra Guha on the American National Public Radio’s website.                                                                                            



The World Unseen deals primarily with two Indian families in South Africa which have non-conformist members that refuse to co-operate with apartheid.  Amina has an African business partner with whom she runs a café.    Amina is also a lesbian.  This is never stated explicitly.  There is a reference to a past relationship with a woman, but there is no explicit lesbian sexuality in this book.  So the cover might be considered misleading in the view of readers who are looking for an explicit lesbian romance.   Amina becomes attracted to Miriam.  Miriam’s husband had a sister who married an English descended South African.  They left South Africa in order to get married and reside in Paris.  The trouble starts when this rebellious couple decide to come home for a visit.  The actions that characters in this novel take in response to this visit reveals them for who they really are, and changes relationships. 
I liked the Indian perspective and the characters who wanted to be unconventional in such a repressive environment.  I only wished that the book could have been a bit longer.  There are possibilities for the future, but no indication of whether they will really develop.  There is a movie based on this novel.  Here is the official website .  Since I haven't seen the movie, I don't know which version I would prefer. Although this is still one of the best books that I’ve read in 2014, I would have liked it even better if there were more of a resolution.  

                                         

Why Someone Should Write a Novel About First Lady Grace Coolidge

Eleanor Roosevelt. Jackie Kennedy. Hilary Clinton. Those are the names most often heard when folks talk about first ladies. Those are the ladies we think of the most.
Grace Coolidge. Can't say that name has ever been at the forefront of my mind. I have a coworker to thank for inadvertently bringing this former first lady to my attention. It all started with her US Mint (coin) catalog. In it, I saw a coin with the finger spellings of USA on one side. The front of this coin, however, has a picture of Grace Coolidge. "What did this first lady have to do with the deaf?" I wondered.
The answer: she was a lip-reading instructor at the Clarke School for the Deaf. 
It was at this very school that she met Calvin Coolidge, her future husband. She was apparently watering the flowers one day when she looked up at the next-door boarding house and saw her future husband and president of the U.S. shaving in front of a mirror in his long underwear, a hat, and nothing else. Her laughter caught his attention...and love story takes off from there. Even as a first lady, her interest in the education and methods of communication for the deaf and hard of hearing continued.
Coolidge was at first a Vice President. His lovely wife was said to be an excellent hostess, the most popular lady in the capitol. She was voted one of America's twelve greatest living women in 1931 in Good Housekeeping and received a gold medal from the National Institute of Social Science as well as an honorary degree from Smith.
There's something secretive too, in her college years. She had to drop out and live with a widowed aunt due to some "health problem". And of course, every marriage has its strife. It seems the president perhaps put her under strict orders not to share her opinions with the American public, giving the impression she had no opinion, which I seriously doubt was the case. She may have had some influence behind closed doors, however. There was also a tiny hint of scandal or an incident blown out of proportion with a handsome single secret service agent. Her husband may have had a jealous streak, evident perhaps also in the fact he would not let her take a flight with the dashing Charles Lindbergh.
She was the mother of two children, was involved extensively in the Red Cross and loved animals and sports.
There's a lot that could be done with a novel about this remarkable lady. Come on, historical writers!
Read more about her here. I found this site to be the most enlightening and educational. They also share a remarkable video of Mrs. Coolidge meeting Helen Keller. Photos are from Wiki Commons.

The Reading Radar 12/13/2014

Spotted on NG and as I really enjoyed her Drowning Guard, I'm looking forward to this one: Linda Lafferty's The Shepherdess of Siena.

Raised by her aunt and uncle amidst the rolling hills of the Tuscan countryside, young orphan Virginia Tacci has always harbored a deep love for horses—though she knows she may never have the chance to ride. As a shepherdess in sixteenth-century Italy, Virginia’s possibilities are doubly limited by her peasant class and her gender. Yet while she tends her flock, Virginia is captivated by the daring equestrian feats of the high-spirited Isabella de’ Medici, who rides with the strength and courage of any man, much to the horror of her brother, the tyrannical Gran Duca Francesco de’ Medici.

Inspired, the young shepherdess keeps one dream close to her heart: to race in Siena’s Palio. Twenty-six years after Florence captured Siena, Virginia’s defiance will rally the broken spirit of the Senese people and threaten the pernicious reign of the Gran Duca. Bringing alive the rich history of one of Tuscany’s most famed cities, this lush, captivating saga draws an illuminating portrait of one girl with an unbreakable spirit.***An "oldie" but hit my radar only just now. Havana Heat by Darryl Brock. Not about a woman, but about a deaf baseball player. A former star hurler for John McGraw’s brawling Giants, Luther “Dummy” Taylor was also one of Major League Baseball’s first deaf players. Havana Heat follows Taylor’s life and fortunes when, after a strong season in the bushes in 1911, he comes to believe that he has one last shot at returning to his old dream.

He works his thirty-six-year-old arm into shape by pitching to his brother in the evenings and, after wrestling with the decision to leave his wife to pursue his dream, becomes determined to hunt down McGraw and ask for another chance.

Allowed to accompany the Giants on a barnstorming trip to Cuba, Taylor gets far more than he has bargained for as he faces the renowned Havana teams and a profound challenge thrust upon him by a deaf Cuban youngster. During quieter moments in the trip’s turbulent course, Taylor takes a long look at his career, his marriage, and his life. As he meets unexpected trials on the island, Taylor gains insight into what he can still offer the world besides his pitching arm. ***Penned by a friend of mine and just published: Eleven Miles by Lance Greenfield sounds promising. How far would you have walked to gain your high school education?

From an early age, the greatest passion in Boitumelo Tumelo's life is learning. Boi, as she is known to her friends and family, just loves going to school. Her primary school is in the local village, but when she graduates to secondary school, two obstacles stand in the path to her further education. Firstly, there are fees to be paid. Secondly, it is eleven miles to the nearest secondary school. She would have to get up very early, and walk that long distance to school every day, and walk home after school. There are many potential dangers along the remote African track between her village and her school.

This is the inspiring story of how Boi overcomes the obstacles and dangers to gain the education that she so desires. Not only does she achieve her ambitions, but she manages to make life better for the children of her village who wish to follow in her footsteps.

***
Spotted on NG: Doctor Death by Lene Kaaberbøl.
From the New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Boy in the Suitcase, a gripping historical thriller and poignant coming-of-age story set in nineteenth-century France.

Madeleine Karno is an ambitious young woman eager to shatter the confines of her provincial French town. Driven and strong headed, Madeleine is set apart by her unusual occupation: assisting her father, Dr. Albert Karno, in his job as a forensic doctor.

The year is 1894, and a young girl is found dead on the snowy streets of Varbourg. Dr. Karno is called in to determine the cause of her death, but before he can examine the body, the girl’s family forbids the autopsy from taking place. The only anomaly he manages to find is in the form of a mite in her nostril. Shortly after, several other dead bodies are discovered throughout the city, and Madeleine, her father, and the city commissioner must use the new science of forensic evidence to solve the mysterious cases before they all become the next victims of a deadly disease—or of a heinous murderer.

The Merry Marquis by Meredith Bond

The Merry Marquis was a sweet story about a second chance for the Marquis. The story starts with the heroine Teresa playing the piano at Richard--the Marquis--house. Only she doesn't know who he is and he keeps it from her. The two are instant friends which made the story quite enjoyable. No angst. However, the friendship doesn't stay hidden before long, because the two are discovered alone together and while sharing a friendly kiss. So they must marry. This is when the story gets a little more interesting because Teresa wants to marry for love. She's a strong willed woman who isn't afraid to turn down a marriage proposal--multiple time!

I found the writing flowed well with this story. The author, Meredith Bond, is a great writer. There is a lot of detail to her story. I read this quickly, not because it was short, but it kept my attention and I needed to know how it was going to turn out.

I would recommend this book to a friend who enjoys historical romance, and even one wanting to check the genre out.  The dialogue flowed well and the characters spoke in a way that made the words flow.

Lacey's Rating:


About The Book: It is only at the pianoforte with beautiful music flowing from her fingertips that Teresa Seton is happy. New to English society, she feels awkward and unsure of herself.
Only the attentions of her handsome neighbor can convince her that she is where she belongs—a stolen kiss proves that he means what he says. But the kiss is witnessed and the pair are forced to marry for propriety’s sake.

Once known as the “Merry Marquis”, Richard, the Marquis of Merrick, now lives the life of a recluse. Finding a beautiful stranger at his pianoforte strikes a chord within him, bringing back feelings he thought were lost with the passing of his wife. He is mesmerized by Teresa and her beautiful music, but can he convince her, and himself, that he can live and love again?





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Spotlight on Newborn Nazi by Rhoda D'Ettore

Publication Date: September 9, 2014Self-PublishedFormats: eBook, PaperbackPages: 338Genre: Historical Fiction
Germany, 1934 — SS officers entered the house of Hedwig Schultz and ripped her 14 year old brother, Edmund, from her arms. He has been selected for an elite division of the Hitler Youth that will train him for indoctrination into the feared SS.

Horrified, Hedwig enlists the help of her brother in America to thwart Nazi plans regarding the Final Solution of the Jewish people. It becomes a cat and mouse game as the family enters a world of Nazi spies, double agents and the Underground movement. All the while, Hedwig must prevent their brother, Edmund, from becoming suspicious. One report of treason to his Hitler Youth instructors would result in death… or worse.

This book contains FREE chapters (50 pages) of Rhoda D’Ettore’s other works: Tower of Tears, The Creek and Goin Postal.



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About the Author Rhoda D’Ettore was born in Woodbury, New Jersey, into a family of 5 siblings–which has provided her with plenty of comical material. She began working at the United States Postal Service at 25 years old, and over the past 15 years has accumulated many humorous stories about situations that the public never gets to know about. Her first ebook, “Goin’ Postal: True Stories of a U.S. Postal Worker” was so popular that readers requested it in paperback. Recently, she published the humorous “Goin’ Postal” in paperback along with another story entitled, “The Creek: Where Stories of the Past Come Alive”. Combining these two into one book may seem strange, as one is humorous and the other is a heart wrenching historical fiction, however, doing so proves to the reader Rhoda D’Ettore’s versatility.Rhoda D’Ettore received her degree in Human & Social Services while working at USPS, has travelled extensively, and loves history. Over the years she has volunteered for several community service organizations, including fostering abused and neglected dogs for a Dalmatian rescue.For more information please visit Rhoda’s website. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.Newborn Nazi Blog Tour ScheduleMonday, December 8
Guest Post at Historical Fiction ConnectionTuesday, December 9
Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the PastWednesday, December 10
Spotlight & Giveaway at Teddy Rose Book ReviewsFriday, December 12
Review at Book Nerd
Review at Book Babe
Review at Flashlight Commentary

A Pirate's Heart by Catherine Friend

...she stopped before a group of ogling men and gazed at each one, letting her eyes rest overlong at each crotch, after which she smiled sadly. She found this worked well to disarm lewd sailors.

This story is so much fun! It has a butt-whooping woman pirate, romance that has plenty of time to blossom--nothing rushed here, bits of humor in the dialogue and narrative, a modern-day hunt for a map and its treasure, thugs, and even a very lovable poodle. Poodle-doodle-noodle! LOL And the narrative is so refreshing, so honest and real. By narrative I mean the modern-day heroine's. This is one of those double-time period stories.

Obviously, the historical tale follows a lady pirate, a woman men fear at the very sight of her billowing black hair, a woman who after she takes a ship's loot, she chooses a man to bed her and then discards him because bedding men on board her own ship causes problems. She's also a woman who is tired of killing but knows no other way to make a living and she's the kind of woman who will free chained-up slaves or rescue them from the sea and kill a man for raping another woman. Did I mention she's also chasing down some Spanish treasure? And so is another pirate...who's none too fond of her. If the turbulent sea doesn't claim her...well, 'nuff said.

The historical story unfolds as the modern heroine, an "anal" librarian (Emma), and her reluctant partner, a sexy lady PI (Randi), chase after the pirate's map hundreds of years later, all the while thugs and thieves on their tails.

Unlike most stories that try to add suspense and bad guys to the tale, this story didn't come across as ridiculous...well...not until the end, anyway. It lost a point in my eyes with this the whole island-that-only-people-in-love-can-see thing.

I was kept in marvelous suspense too, all the time wondering what really happened to Tommy. Even the contemporary story line surprised me. The historical parts were my favorite, but as I said above, the contemporary narrator, her voice and wit, kept me intrigued in the modern tale too.

So why three bikes? What didn't I like? As you can see I really enjoyed this tale for the most part, but I must confess I hated the ending. I hated Randi. I didn't quite take to her. I think part of this is because the modern parts were in first-person POV--Emma's--and while Randi was aloof and distant with her, the POV style chosen to write the modern scenes meant that Randi was also aloof and distant with me, the reader, as well. But honestly, Randi is an asshole regardless and while I thought one crime could be forgiven, permitting someone to believe their dog is dead...for an entire day...hell no. HELL NO. Unforgivable. It was at this point the story could not redeem itself. Didn't matter that it was only a chapter or two left, it was ruined for me. Randi went too far and had done too many assholey things. I didn't want Emma with her and that doesn't make a very good romance, does it?

I acquired this on Paperback Swap.