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Dark Storm Rising

Jesseca Wheaton (Goodreads Author)

4.23 · Rating details · 13 ratings · 10 reviews

Helena and Max are just two normal cousins living in north-east Austria. But when Hitler takes over Germany and the unrest grows against the Jews, their families become two of many, helping Germany's Jews across the border. Then, on the night the Anschluss is signed and on their way to deliver a secret message, Helena and Max are captured by a high-ranking officer in the W ...more

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Paperback, 90 pages

Published August 29th 2015 by Lulu.com

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Average rating 4.23 ·

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· 13 ratings · 10 reviews

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Dec 06, 2016 Sarah Grace Grzy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-favorites, historical-fiction, young-adult, childrens, indie

My dear Jesseca Wheaton,
Please write more WWII novels.
Sincerely, your faithful servant, Sarah Grace.

I LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS BOOK! Yes, there were the grammatical errors, the occasional bad sentence structure, and the typos that most debut indie novels have, and usually I have a hard time getting past those mistakes. BUT, not with this one! Wowza Jesseca! This story was amazing! It grabbed me from the beginning, and I had such a hard time putting it down to go to bed. The following morning I pick ...more

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Nov 14, 2016 Bethany rated it it was amazing

Shelves: christian-books, favorites, to-re-read, children-s-christian-books, historical-christian-fiction, historical-fiction, war

Recommended: Ages 12+

I usually enjoy stories about the Jews and Nazis during WW1 and WW2, but Dark Storm Rising is one of the best I’ve come across yet! The characters are so well-developed, which is hard to do properly in a short story; the plot is brilliant, as well as perfectly believable: you can just imagine something like that happening to two teenagers during the war!

I found myself liking Major Ramond, with his heavy German accent and love of flowers, and I couldn’t help feeling sorr Recommended: Ages 12+

I usually enjoy stories about the Jews and Nazis during WW1 and WW2, but Dark Storm Rising is one of the best I’ve come across yet! The characters are so well-developed, which is hard to do properly in a short story; the plot is brilliant, as well as perfectly believable: you can just imagine something like that happening to two teenagers during the war!

I found myself liking Major Ramond, with his heavy German accent and love of flowers, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him, especially towards the end. I really liked the fact that not all the Nazis were made out to be cruel and heartless. There were a few statements I didn’t agree with, such as the Jews being God’s chosen people, but apart from that I really enjoyed this sweet story.

I especially loved the brother-sister relationship between the two cousins, Max and Helena—so often in books the cousins are arch-rivals who can’t stand each other and are always annoying each other and getting on each others' nerves; but then usually become friends at the very end. This book had none of that; instead, Max looked after Helena and worried himself sick about her when she got hurt and was alone in the care of the Nazis, as well as blamed himself mercilessly for getting her into such trouble in the first place—while Helena was always hoping and praying that Max was safe and not being badly-treated by the German soldiers. I also liked the way Max reminded Helena of Bible verses several times while they were escaping from the Nazis. That’s how cousins should be, especially if they are both Christians as in Max and Helena’s case, and I wish more books were like this one in that aspect.

The plot had several surprising twists, especially towards the end, as well as being rather suspenseful, but with several humorous moments to lighten the general mood of the story. Overall a captivating read, I wish this book was part of a series—I would have loved to read more about Max and Helena, Matthaus, Danial, and even Major Ramond!

I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
...more

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Jul 02, 2017 RebekahAshleigh rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-ve-read-in-2016, books-i-own, reviewed

“Dark Storm Rising” is a nice short book. I don’t usually read books set in this time and place, but it was pretty good.

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Aug 30, 2015 Shantelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2015, reviewed, suspense-mystery, children-to-teen, teen, historical, 1920s-to-ww2

I really enjoyed this exciting tale by Jesseca Wheaton! Dark Storm Rising is her debut novel, and is a short-ish story set in Austria and surrounding the lives of cousins Max and Helena. Their peaceful existence is suddenly thrown upside down as they come face to face with some of Hitler's men one night in a time of unrest.

As I said above, so enjoyable! Though set in a terrible time, with danger and uncertainty, it really was fun and exciting to read. This book somewhat reminded me of a Nancy Dr ...more

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Aug 29, 2015 Deborah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, books-i-edited, books-i-own

Dark Storm Rising is excellent! The plot, intriguing; the message, meaningful; and the characters are unforgettable. A must read!

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Oct 25, 2015 J.C. rated it really liked it

A quick, fun, sweet read, with deeper elements that were yet delivered in a lighthearted style, Dark Storm Rising was all-around a good read. What it lacked in length, it made up for in plot—it was full of excitement and action, the characters were well-developed, and there were lots of twists and turns.

Plotline: The plotline was very well structured, with each scene and each character contributing greatly to the plot. The characters were well done. The twists were smart and clever. The settin A quick, fun, sweet read, with deeper elements that were yet delivered in a lighthearted style, Dark Storm Rising was all-around a good read. What it lacked in length, it made up for in plot—it was full of excitement and action, the characters were well-developed, and there were lots of twists and turns.

Plotline: The plotline was very well structured, with each scene and each character contributing greatly to the plot. The characters were well done. The twists were smart and clever. The setting was detailed, and the historical aspect was very well done. However, my main setback was that I felt it lacked in delivery a bit; the writing style seemed a bit more amatuer. Despite this, though, it really was well structured and well done in every other area.

Characters: I really liked the way the author did Major Ramond’s character, with the way he changed throughout the course of the story! I wasn’t sure what I thought of him at first, but by the end, I could plainly see what the author was trying to accomplish with his character and really appreciated that. As well, I loved the way the Christian aspects were worked in, not being to subtle but also not being too in-your-face. I liked the way it all tied together in the end with the Christian themes coming through.

The characters were, like I’ve said, done very well. The one thing that confused me was the character’s actions at times. I felt it was a little bit unrealistic, such as when Helena and Max are joking around and laughing while in captivity, or when they’re barely reacting to a sudden death. But I don’t want to underestimate this story, either, and the truth is there could be more elements to this I haven’t noticed yet. I really liked the way the author developed Helena and Max, with their distinct and unique personalities.

Overall, though, despite the few setbacks I had, all around this was a good read! I can tell we’ll have even greater stories coming from this author soon! 4.0 stars.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Like my reviews? Follow my blog:
http://jcbuchanan.com ...more

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Dec 22, 2020 Katja rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, world-wars, european-fiction, 1900s-hisfic, adventure, christian-fiction, indie-authors, mystery-and-suspense, romance, standalone

3.5 stars & 4/10 hearts. This is Jesseca Wheaton's first published book. I have read all of her other works and I know that she has improved immensely in her writing. However, even this book is enjoyable--and as a copyeditor and an author, I don't say that lightly. Somehow Wheaton has the power to make you overlook the flaws. The characters are well done--I like Daniel, and I love the Major (how I hope he was redeemed!) and I thoroughly dislike Ubel, and the other characters I liked or disliked ...more

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Dec 23, 2016 Kellyn Roth rated it really liked it

Shelves: adventurous-books, books-for-children, christian-fiction, received-for-reviews, historical-fiction, books-for-teens

Originally posted on Reveries Reviews.

Title: Dark Storm Rising

Author: Jesseca Wheaton

Genre: historical adventure

Era: 1938 (WW2)

Setting: Austria, Europe

Publisher: Jesseca Wheaton

Source: from author (in exchange for honest review)

Overall Rating: 4/5

Helena and Max are just two normal cousins living in north-east Austria. But when Hitler takes over Germany and the unrest grows against the Jews, their families become two of many, helping Germany's Jews across the border.

Then, on the night the Anschlu ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2020 Lydia Coral rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020-bookshelf, mildly-christian-fiction, historical-fiction, war, standalones

A sweet story about a time and a place which is not as often written about as it should be.
My biggest problem with it was that Max and Helena told so many lies, and so did those who tried to help them. I feel that could have easily been left out. Also, it annoyed me that the characters spoke using very modern dialogue, and used modern slang (e.g., ‘guy’, ‘ok’, etc.).
But other than that, it was a nice story, and I found myself (view spoiler) ...more

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Sep 29, 2019 Angie Thompson rated it liked it

Shelves: a-my-books-physical, z-cfd-2019-childrens, z-cfd-2019-tbr-marathon

It's always interesting to read an early work by a favorite author. :) While there are aspects of this story that are pretty rough, the characters are interesting and have some intriguing flashes of depth. The lessons were good, as well, and I'd have loved to see the characters' inner struggles expanded on a bit more.

Content--gunplay, including deaths; mentions of injuries, wounds, and blood (not graphic); children threatened, intimidated, and treated roughly; mentions of Nazi exterminations of ...more

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About Jesseca Wheaton

Jesseca Wheaton

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Jesseca is a daughter, sister, and a child of God. Her days are spent reading, cooking, spending time with siblings, or playing piano. And writing, of course! At an early age words fascinated her, and her love for the printed page has only grown. She lives with her parents and seven siblings in the sunny state of Kansas, and she’s convinced there’s no place like home.