So Many Books, So Little Time

I am currently reading The Impaler's Wife and am really enjoying it.  However, I got behind and did not have time to finish and review it today.  So here is some more information about this fascinating book and a giveaway so that you can read it too!  My review should be posted in a few days. THE IMPALER’S WIFE   BY AUTUMN BARDOT Publication Date: April 2, 2019 Flores Publishing eBook; 452 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance Legend, history, and passion collide in this gritty, evocative, and sensual story about history’s most notorious price and the woman who paid love’s ultimate price. The year is 1464, and young King Matthias controls Hungary, his family, and the fate of the world’s most notorious political prisoner, Prince Vlad Dracula. Ilona Szilágy, the king’s cousin, is young and ambitious. Dracula is determined to marry into the Hunyadi family. It is love at first sight…but the king has other plans. The Impaler Prince, ...

 Synopsis: Claiming My Place is the true story of a young Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust by escaping to Nazi Germany and hiding in plain sight. Meet Gucia Gomolinska: smart, determined, independent, and steadfast in the face of injustice. A Jew growing up in predominantly Catholic Poland during the 1920s and ’30s, Gucia studies hard, makes friends, falls in love, and dreams of a bright future. Her world is turned upside down when Nazis invade Poland and establish the first Jewish ghetto of World War II in her town of Piotrkow Trybunalski. As the war escalates, Gucia and her family, friends, and neighbors suffer starvation, disease, and worse. She knows her blond hair and fair skin give her an advantage, and eventually she faces a harrowing choice: risk either the uncertain horrors of deportation to a concentration camp, or certain death if she is caught resisting. She decides to hide her identity as a Jew and adopts the gentile name Danuta Barbara T...

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova I have really enjoyed Ms. Kostova's books in the past so when I saw this one, I knew I had to read it.  I know next to nothing about Bulgaria so I was fascinated by the history and view of the country itself that was relayed in this story.  The story has a variety of very unique characters who somehow all manage to meet up in their efforts to return the ashes to their rightful owners.  The story bounced between the past and present lives of several characters and I liked that the reader got a glimpse of Bulgaria's history from different points of view.  My one complaint about this book was that it was too long.  The story dragged on at times and I think it could have been condensed a bit.  Otherwise, a very enjoyable read.  3 stars. Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession by Alison Weir   I have always been intrigued by Anne Boleyn as a historical figure.  She's very complicated and I think th...

From Goodreads:  Lena Woodward, an elderly woman, enlists the help of both lawyer Catherine Lockhart and private investigator Liam Taggart to appraise the story of her harrowing past in Nazi occupied Poland. At the same time, Lena’s son Arthur presents her with a hefty lawsuit under the pretense of garnering her estate—and independence—for his own purposes. Where these stories intersect is through Lena’s dubious account of her life in war-torn Poland, and her sisterhood with a childhood friend named Karolina. Lena and Karolina struggled to live through the atrocity of the Holocaust, and at the same time harbored a courageous, yet mysterious secret of maternity that has troubled Lena throughout her adult life. In telling her story to Catherine and Liam, Lena not only exposes the realities of overcoming the horrors of the Holocaust, she also comes to terms with her own connection to her dark past. Karolina’s Twins is a tale of survival, love, and resilience in more w...

Béla's Letters by Jeff Ingber Publication Date: February 18, 2016 Paperback; 596 Pages ISBN: 978-0985410025 Genre: Historical Fiction “Béla’s Letters” is a historical fiction novel spanning eight decades. It revolves around the remarkable life story of Béla Ingber, who was born before the onset of WWI in Munkács, a small city nestled in the Carpathian Mountains. The book tells of the struggles of Béla and his extended family to comprehend and prepare for the Holocaust, the implausible circumstances that the survivors endure before reuniting in the New World, and the crushing impact on them of their wartime experiences together with the feelings of guilt, hatred, fear, and abandonment that haunt them. At the core of the novel are the poignant letters and postcards that family members wrote to Béla, undeterred by the feasibility of delivery, which were his lifeline, even decades after the war ended. Amazon | Barnes & Noble About the Author Jeff is a financi...

Synopsis:   The red-headed Karin is strong-willed and determined, something she inherited from her father. She tries to keep her true nature a secret to avoid being deemed a traitor by those loyal to the king. Karin and her father butt heads over her duty to her family and the Czech Crown. She is then sequestered to the Royal Viscount’s hunting lodge. Not aware of everything that is happening, she becomes the target of an individual with murderous intent. Her heart soon becomes entangled though her father intends to wed her to another. The turmoil inside Karin deepens and reflects the turmoil of her homeland, on the brink of the Hussite Wars. My Thoughts:  The Lady Bornekova is a delightfully entertaining read.  It has a great plot, interesting characters and the just the right touch of romance as well as a unique historical backdrop.  I had never heard of the Hussite Wars prior to this book and after finishing it, had to resort to Google ...

From Goodreads:  Welcome to the world of collapsing Communism. It is the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall when people are still willing to risk all to cross the Iron Curtain to the West. In this adventure-packed memoir Susan Viets, a student turned journalist, arrives in Communist Hungary in 1988 and begins reporting for the Guardian, not at all prepared for what lies ahead. She helps East Germans escape to the West at a picnic, moves to the Soviet Union where she battles authorities for accreditation as the first foreign journalist in Ukraine and then watches, amazed, as the entire political system collapses. Lured by new travel opportunities, Viets shops her way across Central Asia, stumbling into a tank attack in Tajikistan and the start of the Tajik civil war. "Picnic at the Iron Curtain" shows every day people at the centre of dramatic events from Budapest to Bishkek and Chernobyl to Chechnya. It is a memoir that spans a period of momentous historical...

Synopsis:  The book follows the story of three generation of women from 1900 through 1970, seven decades of wars and hardship. At the turn of the century, an era of strict moral codes, Angela falls in love with a priest who abandons her and her unborn child. She overcomes rejection and misfortunes, including losing her right hand, and brings up her daughter, exuberant, stubborn Ilonka. In spite of the stigma of her illegitimate birth, the girl finds happiness in love and marriage, raising five children, among them Sarika, independent and high-spirited, much like herself.  With the outbreak of WWII, however, their lives change drastically, followed by equally hard times as the country falls under Soviet-style dictatorship. When an attempt to free the country in 1956 fails and people start to flee retributions, Sarika and her brothers join the exodus to the West.  With her family torn apart Ilonka never recovers her strength. Years of fear and political p...