Tag: historical fiction

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Review: Mr. Churchill’s Secretary

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary (Maggie Hope Mystery #1) by Susan Elia MacNeal

I give this book a 3.

Okay

First thing I want to admit is that I’m just now becoming acquainted with historical fiction in books. In the cinema it has always been one of my favorite genres, but I’ve never stopped to read any of it. With that being said, I’m starting to have an appreciation that is still very new and maturing.

Maggie is a very smart, almost genius, young mathematician, who is supposed to be flattered by an unexpected opportunity to be one of Mr. Churchill’s secretaries. WWII is just beginning to take its toll on London as the Nazis and the IRA take turns dropping or planting bombs in the city where Maggie and her friends struggle to just get by and make it through.

Of course, not all is quite as it seems. For one, a man Maggie is sure can’t stand her begins to look out for her well-being, then friends begin to act strange and she’s not sure if it’s a coincidence or not, and on top of everything else not mentioned, one of the parents she thought died years ago might still be around.

I think my problem with this book is that I really enjoyed the historical aspects of the story, but had difficulty reconciling the fiction aspects and the development of the characters. All the characters are well-developed, but I just don’t know if I relate to them. As a woman, still in an age facing the glass ceiling, it was easy to relate to Maggie, but the rest of the characters are a puzzle to me.

I feel as if the emotional aspect of the story could have been more involved. I get it, Maggie is this strong-willed woman who rises above her struggles, but what about everyone else. I just feel like that emotion was put to the side because there was a war on, as it should be, but it didn’t feel real to me.

The suspense and espionage was great and kept me interested in times when I was not emotionally attached, and as much as I hate to say it, I wish Maggie had more romance in her life (I’m not a traditional romance, chik-lit kind of girl).

[A slight tangent here-I encounter more and more stories every day with homosexual characters in them, in the same manner as is on TV and in the movies so that is no big surprise, but I wonder if there is a trend involving the “special aunt”. I’ve seen this general character quite a bit now.]  Trend or not, I like the aunt. She’s one of the few characters I felt really expressed good emotion and she did it in a letter, without interacting with any of the other characters.

All in all, this was a very entertaining story and an easy read/listen. I’d recommend this for adults with a love of history, spy thrillers, and or WWII, though it does seem to be geared toward women and may not be welcomed by conservative readers.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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WARS DO NOT START IN A DAY & a gift card #giveaway!

I’ll be the first to admit that most of what I know about WWII I’ve learned from movies and TV. Before you get the wrong idea, let me explain myself. I am an educated person. I always did well in school and paid attention to all my lessons, but that doesn’t mean it all stuck with me throughout the years. Aside from reading the Diary of Anne Frank in high school, I don’t really remember much of those history lessons. I know I was taught the basics of the war, from an obvious allied point of view, because I have a basic knowledge of the matter firmly planted in my brain, but what about all the details.

When it comes to details that’s where film and TV come into play. WWII seems to be a subject that just never grows old. There have been so many fictional and non-fictional accounts of this time in history that it is hard not to be influenced by it all. Not a huge fan of historical fiction, I’ve always relied on these audio-visual media to fulfill my informative and entertainment needs whenever I’ve wanted to delve into the past and tales of WWII, but then I was introduced to an author named M.C.V. Egan.

This author has written a compelling mystery novel that epitomizes the conspiracy and deviousness of the whole WWII issue. Her book, The Bridge of Deaths, actually tells a little known story of a real-life plane crash that occurred just days before the war broke out. Since this month marks the 75th anniversary of the beginning of that war and in keeping with this month-long celebration of awareness, I’m sharing my thoughts on this book and its author. I was asked to share little known facts about history, but that’s not really my area of expertise, but if you know some, I’d love to hear them.

Also, there are some fascinating things happening on this blog tour. Click here to see for yourself…and of course, there’s a giveaway! See below.

Book Title: The Bridge of Deaths

Author Name: M.C.V. Egan

Reading Level: Adult

Genre: Historical Fiction, Metaphysical Mystery

Content Rating: PG-13

Available Formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook

Number of Pages: 372

Purchase Links: AuthorHouse.com | Amazon.com | Barnesandnoble.com

See the title article of this post here: WARS DO NOT START IN A DAY; A historical journey through roots of WW II

See my review of this book here: Review: The Bridge of Deaths

See the trailer here:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNe9psSjGio&w=320&h=240]

Meet the author:

M.C.V. Egan lives in South Florida. She is fluent in four languages; English, Spanish, French and Swedish. From a young age became determined to solve the ‘mystery’ of her grandfather’s death, she has researched this story for almost two decades. The story has taken her to Denmark, England and unconventional world of psychics. The Bridge of Deaths | 4covert2overt |
Is history the agreed upon lie?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Books

Review: The Mongoliad: Book One

The Mongoliad: Book One (Foreworld #1)
by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo , E.D. deBirmingham,
Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, Cooper Moo

I give this book a 4.

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This is an epic tale in the tradition of something like the Song of Roland, but I think this is more much accessible to modern readers. This tale covers a short period of the Mongol rule in which various knights of Christendom are charged with the task of saving what little territories are left, but instead they decided to just take out the Khan. The main character of this story is oddly enough not a Christian or a knight. She is a scout  of mixed nationality who goes along for the ride to help in any way she can, hoping she doesn’t die, and soon begins to empathize with the cause of her comrades.

I like this book for the many stories it tells. There are so many details and lives that cross in this book. It’s a true pleasure to read great stories like these. Cnan and the knights have a great adventure tale shared between them, but each of this group has a story worth learning, even though they don’t all get told in this book. Even though they are united to save Christendom, most these knights aren’t Christians, they just want to take down the Mongols.  There are a few however who remind you of such characters as the Knights of the Round Table.

Then there is Gansukh (a hunter/warrior sent to look after the Khan), and Lian (an obedient and wise slave looking for an escape), and the slave fighters of the Mongols whose names aren’t important right now. There are so many characters and interesting stories to be told in the book that it does sometimes get confusing, but if you stick with it, it all comes together.

I love the way the hunting and tracking scenes are described, and the fight scenes aren’t bad either. My main reason for not giving this book a 5 is the fact that it doesn’t really end. I mean the pages stop, but there is no type of conclusion drawn. I find this a bit irritating. I get that books in a series never really end until the series ends, but I at least expect some type of indication that this part of the series is now complete.

I will never be on board with this idea that a series is an excuse to just stop in the middle of a story so the next book can be printed. I probably would have given this book a 5 if the goal of it had been for the characters to reach the Shield Sisters. The next book could start with what happens after that, but no- this book just stopped.

This is a great historical fiction epic that I think would appeal to readers of fantasy looking to try something different. If you can read the Game of Throne books, you can read this.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords