Tag: child

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#BookReview: The Pianist’s Wife by Soraya M. Lane

Not Fully German. Not Fully Jewish. Not Fully Straight. How Will They Survive The Holocaust? Yet again Soraya Lane returns to historical fiction during WWII with yet another aspect you’ve never likely considered. Before the rise of Hitler, before the collapse of Germany due to the Versailles excesses, it was possible – if perhaps frowned upon in at least some circles – for a German to marry a Jew and have kids with them. What happens *after* the rise of Hitler and Nazism to those children?

We know from the history books that homosexuals were sent to some of the same concentration -and extermination – camps Jews were during the “Final Solution”. But have *you* ever read a fictionalized version of what their lives could have been like? What if I told you that one particularly harrowing incident – you’ll know it when you see it here – was taken straight from Lane’s actual research and that that particular scene was only barely fictionalized at all?

Lane, as usual, manages to build a metric shit-ton of research into making her historical fiction as real and as tense as possible, without making it ever seem like an info-dump in any way. These people, though completely fictional, are going to *feel* like people you will think you could have known during this period. (Which gets weird if you, like me, are the grandchild of two American soldiers of this period, both of whom survived the Battle of the Bulge during the period of the story in this book, one of whom got a few fairly high ranking medals for his actions in that particular battle.)

For those that could ever doubt just how horrible the Third Reich was – and yet, just how *normal* at least some people who lived under it were – Lane is here to show you in stark imagery just how wrong you truly are. And yet she’s never going to preach to you at all – she’s simply going to tell her story her way and highlight several different very real incidents along the way. Incidents you may not have heard about, no matter how much you study that period yourself.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Pianist’s Wife by Soraya M. Lane was originally written on January 16, 2025.

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#BookReview: House Of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

Solid Suspense Takes Atypical Turns. This is one of those tales that almost seems destined for at least a sequel, if not a series of some level. There’s more than enough here to justify it, and yet this story itself is fully complete as is. In other words, coming back to this world would be interesting and compelling… but not necessarily *necessary*.

I love the way that certain elements are played in an all-too-real-yet-not-usually-shown-in-fiction manner, and the specific construction of how Stella’s past and present collide is particularly well done – and perhaps indicative that no sequel is expected here, as that particular sub plot could have been spread across a small series – while not feeling rushed or out of place fully happening within this story itself.

There *is* one particular element that could throw at least some readers off, and that is the (minor) romance subplot and specifically that it introduces an LGBT element not otherwise present in the story. Minor spoiler there, apologies, but I’d rather avoid 1*s (which I’ve seen already) specifically because of this. So just know it going forward, and yes, I know that others will praise this book specifically for that very point. *In the context of this particular story as told*, to me it felt refreshing that the author would choose to go that direction rather than feeling forced in just to have that “representation” in the book, but it is also a point where I could see others feeling that it was a touch forced, and they wouldn’t get much pushback from me beyond what I just stated – it didn’t feel that way *to me*.

Overall a truly well told, suspenseful, complex tale with a more-fleshed-out-than-many main character that clearly has a lot going on, and a tale whose world seems ripe for exploring more of. So here’s hoping we get a chance to, and here’s hoping it will be soonish.

Very much recommended.

This review of House Of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen was originally written on September 13, 2024.

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#BookReview: Emerald Heart by Grace Greene

Sometimes Life Just Breaks You. If you find yourself in this place, this is the kind of book you *need* to read. It will hurt. You will cry. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll find a modicum of catharsis here too.

If you haven’t found yourself in this place – yet – read this too. Maybe get a better understanding of the “bitter old woman recluse” in your life. Because let’s face it – we *all* either have one of these or had one of these or very likely will have one of these in our lives at some point. And to be clear, it isn’t just women, as men could very easily be shown to be dealing with identical things as are shown in this book. But this particular tale happens to be a women’s fiction tale focused on a woman and her relationships, and thus the description above.

Told with Greene’s usual great care to characterization and description, you’re both going to feel like you’re there on Emerald Isle with these characters *and* you’re going to feel their issues as though there were your own. Because, again, Greene shows us that no matter where we are in life, at some point nearly all of us will see ourselves in at least one of these characters and what they are going through in theirs.

And there, there is where Greene truly shows Grace ( 😉 ) and hope.

Very much recommended.

This review of Emerald Heart by Grace Greene was originally written on December 4, 2023.

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#BookReview: Little Ghosts by Gregg Dunnett

Chilling Thriller With A Unique Take On Ghosts. Straight up, know that this book is about a child murder – if you can’t handle that, this isn’t the book for you. For those of you still here, Dunnett does a solid job of showing the aftereffects of an unsolved child murder on the family the child leaves behind, before transitioning into a cat and mouse game to try to stop the killer before he strikes again. These elements of the story are well done, but have been done time and time and time again… and again and again and again. To the point that there is an entire genre of these types of tales, and this tale is on par with its genre mates – if you like the genre, you’re probably going to like this one, and vice versa.

What sets this book apart, really, is its take oh ghosts – how they present, what abilities they have, what they know, etc. And here, Dunnett really does a remarkable job of showing how his particular brand of ghosts could work within the overall story being told here. Overall a truly entertaining book with an intriguing take on ghosts. Very much recommended.

This review of Little Ghosts by Gregg Dunnett was originally written on May 9, 2023.

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#BookReview: Broken Angels by Gwyn Bennett

Modern Sherlock Holmes/ Police Procedural Blend. Here, we get yet another police procedural set in Great Britain, so the terms and some of the procedures are a bit different than American audiences generally expect, yet are in-line with other similar books I’ve read. This particular new series has a different bent than most in that its central (series titular) character is a trained tracker/ behaviorist, and his backstory and actions here are reminiscent of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Original Detective. His tracking abilities are also reminiscent of the more modern day author David Wood’s Bones Bonebrake, and indeed both Lane and Bonebrake have connections to the same region of the US. This book also features a bit more of a disturbed villain than usual, and some scenes may be a bit much for some readers. Nothing overly graphic, and certainly not “on screen”, but the Carrie-type religious abuse is quite heavy handed, while also being necessary to establish the full depravity and insanity of the villain. Overall, a compelling series starter – which is great, since new publisher Storm Publishing is re-releasing almost the entire series under new titles on the same day. Very much recommended.

This review of Broken Angels by Gwyn Bennett was originally written on May 2, 2023.

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#BookReview: Next Of Kin by Kia Abdullah

Legal Thriller With Most Explosions Outside The Courtroom. This is a British legal thriller where the trial actually ends with about a quarter or so of the book left to go… and *then* the explosions start. By the end of the trial, you think you know what happened. And then there is the Detective, who, like in V for Vendetta, just isn’t quite satisfied with the answers he’s been given. So he continues to poke around a bit… and in the process the reader gets put through a shock and awe campaign that would wow even the Iraqis circa 2004. Truly an excellent tale very smartly told but covering topics which make a lot of us cringe at – which is one surefire sign of a tale that *needs* to be told. Truly the only potential negative mark here is for those readers who like every single plot thread tied up neatly in a nice little bow by the end of the book. This book… is more messy and “true to reality” than that. Still, partly *because* of that abrupt ending, this book is thus very much recommended.

This review of Next Of Kin by Kia Abdullah was originally written on September 15, 2022.

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#BlogTour: Her Silent Husband by Sam Vickery

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a solid tale of a not-often-told side of one well-known issue. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Her Silent Husband by Sam Vickery.

Visceral Look At The Underbelly Of Trying To Keep Up. This is one of those books that is largely depressing and frustrating – 75% or so of the book is all about a couple’s fights, the wife/ mother’s struggles with her kids, or the aunt’s own demons. But even through here, while depressing, it is also very *real* – and that fact alone should be celebrated at times. Yes, many of us read to escape reality. But sometimes you need to see “reality” in fiction to get a degree of catharsis about your own situation, and this is one of those books that could actually help there. The flip in the last quarter or so is a bit abrupt, particularly given the characterizations to that point, and the almost Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King style check-in-with-every-major-character multiple epilogues was a bit hit or miss, but otherwise this was a solid story, one that discusses a lot of important concepts like male depression, a man’s drive to provide for his family, a wife/ mother’s drive to do the best by her kids, suicide, drug addiction (heroin specifically is particularly well done here), and a teenage boy’s struggles to do the right thing even when “the right thing” isn’t so crystal clear. Very much recommended.

Below the jump, the “publisher details”, including the book description, author bio, and a link directly to Amazon to buy the book.
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