Showing posts with label historical romance Lisa Lickel book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical romance Lisa Lickel book review. Show all posts

Friday, June 12, 2020

WWI era Alaskan adventure

Until June

Until June
By Barbara Britton
June 2020
Pelican Book Group
266 pp
Historical Romantic Fiction, Americana
Alaska

$5.99 Ebook
$15.99

Buy the book

About the book
When seventeen-year-old seamstress, Josephine Nimetz, agrees to take care of a WWI amputee in a remote Alaskan lodge, there's enough friction to melt the Mendenhall Glacier. Her position is only until June, and it pays well enough to overlook the hardship of managing a rustic home and a shell-shocked veteran.

Geoff Chambers makes it clear that he isn't too fond of the “runt” sent to take care of his needs, nor of her painful mistakes. Dealing with a depressed and addicted veteran, pushes Josephine to the brink of leaving, if not for the money her salary brings.

But Josephine is a perfectionist, determined to get Geoff back on his feet—figuratively...Although, sending a rich, handsome veteran back into society may cost Josephine the man she has grown to love.


My review
When a proper young Alaskan miss and a wounded and bitter WWI veteran are bound together by need, romance isn’t the first order of business.

Too determined to get Geoff on his feet, albeit wooden, once Jo finds the amputee’s wooden legs hidden in a closet, Jo forgoes dignity and gossip as they spend time together at an island lodge off the cost of Juneau, Alaska in 1918 and 1919. Birthdays and holidays pass over the course of nine months as Josephine turns to nurse and helpmeet from her work as a seamstress to help provide for her family after her stepfather is brutally murdered. The murder case remains open, and anxiety over the potential perpetrator keeps the sense of suspense present under the main theme of the story.

When most girls are completing high school, Josephine is stuck on a deserted island with a grumpy young man addicted to drugs. Worse yet, he’s trigger-happy, calls her a runt, and forces her to sin—by playing card games with him. When he calls her out on romantic stories she reads in a women’s magazine and dares her to enter a writing contest, Jo slowly amends her initial impressions of the soulful Geoff.

Scarcely older than Jo, Geoff had enlisted in army only to be wounded dreadfully early on. With his bad attitude, his prognosis is grim, and he’s sent away to recover or die in a secluded place where he won’t bother his stepmother and younger half-brother. But Geoff surprises everyone, including himself, when he realizes his life is far from over.

Told through our young heroine’s eyes, Britton has created an earthy and heartwarming romance filled with down-to-earth characters. Frankness and realism pepper this journey of healing from the inside out. Britton’s fans won’t find much of a leap from Biblical Israel to historical territorial America as her latest tale unfolds with her usual storytelling aplomb.

About the Author
Barbara M. Britton
Barbara M. Britton lives in Wisconsin and loves the snow--when it accumulates under three inches. Barb writes romantic adventures from Ancient Israel to Modern Day USA and especially enjoys bringing little-known Bible characters to light. She has a nutrition degree from Baylor University but loves to dip healthy strawberries in chocolate. Barb is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Wisconsin Romance Writers of America, Romance Writers of America and American Christian Fiction Writers. You can visit Barb online at www.barbarambritton.com or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Everstone Chronicles book 2 The Bound Heart

The Bound Heart October 2015, Everstone Chronicles Book2
Whitaker House
Buy on Amazon


About the Book:
One accidental kiss from Lawry Hampton. That was all it took to throw Meredyth Summercourt's world upside down. Determined to marry the ever-elusive Vance Everstone, she simply doesn't have the time or desire to fall for her best friend Lawry Hampton. But with Vance out of the country, and with Lawry at her side nearly every day, teaching her what the world is like through the eyes of a little orphan girl named Wynn. Now Meredyth can't deny that what's holding her to Vance is nothing more than a desire to redeem herself from her past. Will she marry Vance once he returns from Europe? Or will she be strong enough to break free from the tangled web she's convinced she deserves, and accept that God's plan for her life includes redemption...and, quite possibly, Lawry Hampton?

My review:
The title offers a great glimpse into what readers can expect in this sisters about a powerful and elite New England family at the close of the nineteenth century. The Everstones have everything…particularly heir to the hotel and lumber empire, Vance Everstone, who lives more like a Regency-era rake and gets almost everything he desires. The somewhat spoiled Meredyth Summercourt, family friend, harbors a secret for years that keeps her emotionally stunted and too blinded to her ambition of pretending marriage will redeem her from a bad choice.

When a man from her past returns with one goal in mind, Meredyth is thrown into a kaleidoscope of pieces of her life swirling out of control. The secrets were never as concealed as she had always believed, and their revelation is her absolution or her shame.

Told through Meredyth’s perspective, this historical drama of past, present, and future love meld in a passionate romance right under her nose. Our choices can both haunt and free us, and journeying with the author’s characters as they learn their lesson and that God is bigger than any dilemma, is a page-turning delight. I enjoyed the historical elements, but also wished for a greater world-wide picture to help solidify the time period.

Book 3, The Captive Imposter, will be reviewed on this site in December.
Book 4, The Cautious Maiden, is now available, and will be reviewed on this site in December.