Recent Reads - Life From Scratch

Life From Scratch: A memoir of food, family, and forgiveness by Sasha Martin - Sasha Martin is the food writer and blogger who became very well-known for her mission to cook a meal from every country in the world, which she shared on her blog Global Table Adventure. That project eventually introduced Martin to the world, but in this memoir she tells her own story, how her growing up years were marked by instability and uncertainty, loss and grief. She grew up with only her mom and her older brother, and were often living in poverty, but her mom was creative and resourceful, and they were happy. Sasha and her brother were eventually cycled through a series of foster homes before going to live with her mother's friends as their guardians. Though well provided for and loved, their personal struggles continued, especially when coping with the tragedy of her brother taking his own life. Many years later, after moving around Europe with the family, and returning to the USA and beginning to reconnect with her mother, Sasha was inspired to go to culinary school. (I found it fascinating that it was the movie Babette's Feast that gave her the idea. It's one of my favorite movies.) She had always enjoyed cooking with her mother and relished opportunities to get into a kitchen and experiment.

Later, Sasha met the man known as "Mr Picky"  on the blog and they married. Sasha's relationship with her mother and other family members was still complicated and often unpredictable. She renewed her love of cooking and came up with the idea to cook a meal from a different country every week, encouraging her husband to try new foods and raising their daughter to be adventurous and open to mulit-cultural experiences. Over the course of four years, Sasha researched and cooked her way around the world, blogging about it to a growing audience, and the experience helped her reconnect with family, cope with the lingering pain and questions and complicated emotions from her past, and build new friendships and bridges in her community.

I came across Global Table Adventure partway through its journey and followed with great interest. I was homeschooling my kids and wanted to try foods from other countries occasionally as part of our educational experience so the whole idea of the blog and its recipes resonated with me. It took me all these years to finally read the book and found it poignant and moving, and it renewed my appreciation for the power of sharing a meal to connect friends and family and build community. Food is much more than just functional and utilitarian, eating just to survive, but can also be an emotional, communal, and cultural experience. Sasha's journey while cooking the world is testimony to that.

From the publisher:

Witty, warm, and poignant, food blogger Sasha Martin's memoir about cooking her way to happiness and self-acceptance is a culinary journey like no other.

Over the course of 195 weeks, food writer and blogger Sash Martin set out to cook―and eat―a meal from every country in the world. As cooking unlocked the memories of her rough-and-tumble childhood and the loss and heartbreak that came with it, Martin because more determined than ever to find peace and elevate her life through the prism of food and world cultures. From the tiny, makeshift kitchen of her eccentric, creative mother, to a string of foster homes, to the house from which she launched her own cooking adventure, Martin's heartfelt, brutally honest memoir reveals the power of cooking to bond, to empower, and to heal―and celebrates the simple truth that happiness is created from within.

This is a book that spans a decade or more (#10), and has a subtitle with a comma (#15) for The 52 Book Club's 2026 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2026

This is #9 in the Connections Challenge. It shares a narrative technique with the previous book (first person with internal dialogue). (I'm continuing the connections from the 2025 challenge)

This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot.

©2008-2026 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - An Unsuitable Job

An Unsuitable Job by Bonnie Hardy - Josie MacFarland is getting a second chance with the Harvey House, and in an unusual position. She was let go as a Harvey Girl, but she's been asked to return to the Castaneda Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico as a Harvey House detective after a travelling salesman and regular guest was found murdered in his room. Josie hopes she'll have the chance to make things right with the friends she abandoned when she had to leave abruptly just a short time before.

The sheriff has a dangerous sort of charm, but he dismisses Josie as an unserious amateur. Josie wonders how hard he is really trying to solve the case, or if he is protecting someone else. The Harvey House matron was never a favorite of Josie's to begin with, and treats her and her friend Lily with disdain, but is there something more to her meanness? Josie has only her instincts and courage to recommend her, but she's determined to find out exactly what happened, and when Lily is falsely accused of the murder, Josie doubles down on her efforts to save her friend and get to the bottom of the whole story.

I enjoyed the setting and story, and the straightforward narrative style. It's definitely more in the cozy mystery style, and a mostly fun read, but I felt there were some holes and some places where the story was disjointed or would have benefited from more character development. We don't really find out why Josie was let go, and while it's not really necessary to the story, it's a huge part of her need to prove herself so it seems relevant. We also don't really find out why she was chosen as a house detective, other than some hints that as a woman she could blend in with the Harvey Girls and have access behind the scenes, which felt a little unsatisfactory. At a few places, the narrative jumped abruptly from one setting to another in a way that made me wonder if I'd missed a page. To be fair, this could be partially due to formatting since I was reading an ARC - a visual break in the text could easily solve this problem, and I hope that's all it was. 

One other aspect I didn't care for was that when Josie dressed as her alter ego, Joe Mack, the narrative immediately shifted the description as if she had indeed become "him" with the male pronouns. Readers can follow the story quite easily and understand that this is still Josie, just in disguise. The shift in pronouns did not land for this reader and seemed like an effort to tell a story set in 1929 with a nod to the preferred pronouns trends of the 2020s. I did like Josie's independent spirit and her spunk, and that the story doesn't rely on a romance to move the events along. The historical notes at the end were very interesting, and introduced some insights about the setting and the way Harvey House Girls, and women in general, were viewed at the time.

From the Publisher:

In 1930s New Mexico, a Harvey Girl takes on a job she was never meant to survive.

In this multiple award winning historical mystery, readers find themselves immersed in 1929 Las Vegas, New Mexico. When a man is murdered at the Castaneda Hotel, Josie MacFarland is given an impossible role: the first Harvey House Detective. Armed with only her determination, Josie faces a dismissive sheriff, the cold shoulder of old friends, and the hardships of the Great Depression.

She can either return home in disgrace―or fight to prove she belongs in a world determined to shut her out.

I received a digital copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a book with an uneven number of chapters (#24), published in 2026 (#52) for The 52 Book Club's 2026 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2026

It's my first case in the March '26 Mini, kicking off the full Mystery Genre Challenge with Case #12 - An amateur sleuth.

This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot.

©2008-2026 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - No Two Persons

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister - I finished this book right after Christmas but didn't get around to writing my thoughts about it until today. The rave reviews were right about the fact that this is a really special book, thugh I had trouble deciding what tags to give it ― it's sort of a series of short stories that are all tied together, and though there are some romances and some heartbreaks, and there are characters of many backgrounds and ages, what connects them all is a story. So it's a story about how one writer's personal story affected the story she wrote, and how that story touched its readers and the stories they were living.

Alice is the talented debut novelist, and we're introduced to her in the first section. She discovers words and stories and writing at an early age and dreams of writing her own stories. A family tragedy derails her education and her motivation to write for a time, but eventually she completes the novel and submits it.

Then, in a series of stories, Alice's novel touches the lives of several others. First, it is read by a struggling editor's assistant who gives it a push towards publication. It is read by an actor who has become a recluse, and he transforms it into an audiobook. It deeply affects him and he gives it a voice that allows it to touch others as well. Other readers include a free diver who has pushed his own limits too far in his attempt to deal with the pain from his childhood; a homeless teenager just hanging on until she can graduate high school; a young man working in a bookstore and navigating a difficult relationship; a widower trying to cope with his grief and regrets; and a literary agent facing her own mortality. Each reader of the book has their own set of painful circumstances, past traumas, and difficult relationships; and each one connects with the story's character in a different but meaningful way. It's implied that Alice's writing style and use of words and phrases was beautiful to read and to hear, but also that it was the story itself that touched a nerve in readers.

The book was a delight to read, and had such a satisfactory―yet open-ended―conclusion that came full circle and was an almost bittersweet celebration of how stories can touch our hearts and help us feel connected and heard and understood. 

From the publisher:

One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister's No Two Persons is "a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives."

That was the beauty of books, wasn't it? They took you places you didn't know you needed to go . . .

Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager hiding her homelessness, to a free diver pushing himself beyond endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller in search of love, a widower rent by grief. Each one is drawn into Alice's novel; each one discovers something different that alters their perspective, and presents new pathways forward for their lives.

Together, their stories reveal how books can affect us in the most beautiful and unexpected of ways―and how we are all more closely connected to one another than we might think.

This is a title that begins with the letter N (#4) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2025

This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot.

©2008-2026 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - While the City Sleeps

While the City Sleeps by Elizabeth Camden - Katherine Schneider loves her life in New York, working a late shift as a dentist (one of the few women in the profession, and at a clinic that was open late to accommodate working people), living in an all-female apartment building, and relatively independent. She enjoys her walk home from work each night, because she's escorted by a handsome police officer that she has fallen for and hopes will return her feelings.

Lieutenant Jonathan Birch makes it a point to meet Dr Schneider each evening and make sure she gets safely back to her building. He'd like nothing more than to declare his feelings for her, but he is sure his shadowy past life would be unacceptable to her, and it's important to keep it hidden from everyone in the police force as well. 

As she follows the news, Katherine realizes that the ramblings of one of her patients while under the influence of laughing gas may have been details about a bombing plot, so she seeks out Jonathan to tell him what she remembers. The information turns out to be valuable, but it also puts Katherine in danger. Jonathan's extra attention to keep her safe means that their friendship blossoms into romance, even while Jonathan is working hard to unravel the bomb threats and identify the conspirators. He has to cooperate with his rival within the police force, and that rival undermines the relationship between Jonathan and Katherine every chance he gets.

In order to bring the bombers to justice and keep the city - and particularly Katherine - safe, the rivals need to cooperate and Jonathan and Katherine will both have their abilities to forgive and to trust tested. 

 There's actually a fair amount of suspense in this romance, and the glimpse into the time period was very interesting too. Katherine is a great character - she's mature and independent and gracious, but at the same time she's a bit naive in her idealism and expectations. Jonathan is a wonderful but flawed hero - an exceptionally good and honorable man, but with a real blind spot when it comes to his rival, Gallagher. Both he and Gallagher engage in childish one-upmanship and hold onto grudges, and it could put them and others in danger, so that is an additional tension in the storyline. 

From the publisher:

Amid the hushed city, two hearts must navigate danger and deception, bound by a love that outshines the stars.

Katherine Schneider's life as a dentist in 1913 New York is upended when a patient reveals details of a deadly plot while under the influence of laughing gas. As she is plunged into danger, she seeks help from the dashing Lieutenant Jonathan Birch, a police officer she has long admired from afar.

Jonathan has harbored powerful feelings toward Katherine for years but never acted on them, knowing his dark history is something she could never abide. Now, with her safety on the line, he works alongside her through the nights as they unravel the criminal conspiracy that threatens her . . . even as he keeps his deepest secrets hidden at all costs.

By the same author: The Lady of Bolton Hill, A Daring Venture, A Dangerous Legacy, Beyond All Dreams, To The Farthest Shores, Against the Tide, Summer of Dreams, From This Moment, Until the Dawn, Into the Whirlwind

This is a book that has a moon on the cover (#12) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2025

Since I read most of this in October, I counted it for Pick Your Costume in the October Mini-Challenge.

This is #7 in the Connections Challenge. The author shares a name with a character from the previous book (Elizabeth).

This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot, and at  the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025 hosted by The Intrepid Reader and Baker.

#histficreadingchallenge

©2008-2025 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - No Safe Harbor

No Safe Harbor by Elizabeth Ludwig - Cara Hamilton leaves Ireland and arrives in New York hoping to find the twin brother she'd thought dead. Eoghan's only communication with her was a few lines of a letter and he warned her not to trust anyone, so she is very guarded with what she shares. A kind stranger points her to a boarding house and she meets a fellow Irishman named Rourke who seems trustworthy and like a good friend to her. But she heeds her brother's warning and lets everyone believe she has no living relations. For now.

Rourke and his family have been looking for Eoghan Hamilton in order to take revenge, and Rourke senses that Cara must be a sister to the man he seeks. If he can get information from her, he can get to Eoghan, but he is finding it difficult to stomach seeing Cara come to any harm and his loyalties and instincts are torn.

Cara discovers that she may have an enemy within the boarding house, and realizes that whoever is hunting Eoghan probably wishes her harm as well. Her questions may be leading her to her brother, but is she also leading an enemy closer to him at the same time? She wrestles with whether to trust and believe Rourke, just as he is wrestling with his growing feelings for Cara and growing discomfort with the path of revenge he's on.

I really enjoyed this story and the suspense throughout. Cara's desperation to find her brother made her over-cautious to share information at times, and led her to make some reckless choices in her search, but both made sense in context. She and Rourke are both very likeable characters, even as Rourke's motives fluctuate and he seems to waffle between wanting vengeance for his father's death and wanting to live in an honorable way that would have made his father proud. Even Eoghan's character is in question at times, which adds to Cara's tension. The ending isn't quite what I expected, and did set up a sequel (it is Book One of a series, after all), but I was satisfied that it didn't leave too many loose ends that it shouldn't have.

From the publisher:

Lured by a handful of scribbled words across a faded letter, Cara Hamilton sets off from 1896 Ireland on a quest to find the brother she'd thought dead. Her search lands her in America, amidst a houseful of strangers and one man who claims to be a friend―Rourke Walsh.

Despite her brother's warning, Cara decides to trust Rourke and reveals the truth about her purpose in America. But he is not who he claims to be, and as rumors begin to circulate about an underground group of dangerous revolutionaries, Cara's desperation grows. Her questions lead her ever closer to her brother, but they also bring her closer to destruction as Rourke's true intentions come to light.

This is a book featuring a found family trope (#22) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2025

This is fourth in The 52 Book Club's Connections Challenge. It was published in the same year as the previous book, 2012.

This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot, and at  the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025 hosted by The Intrepid Reader and Baker.

#histficreadingchallenge

©2008-2025 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - The Highland Heist

The Highland Heist by Pepper Basham - Frederick and Grace have had several exciting adventures on their honeymoon trip to Egypt and Italy, but before returning to England, Frederick surprises Grace with a visit to her family home in America. But the home has been sold and upon their arrival at her sister's house, there is another shock ― Lillias's husband has just been stabbed and she is the prime suspect and the household is in turmoil. Frederick and Grace try to take charge of the situation and find the real murderer. This is complicated by untrustworthy household staff, a phony police officer, and Lillias's uncooperative attitude.

Amidst all this drama, a solicitor arrives to inform the sisters that their late mother left them an inheritance in Scotland, and they need to claim it together. He has been delayed in finding them, and now time is of the essence if they are to claim the property before it is sold. Lillias grasps at this hope of salvaging her finances, but her name must be cleared before they can depart, so Frederick and Grace race to find out who killed Tony and keep themselves alive. It seems that someone wants to keep them from ever reaching Scotland and finding the original copy of the will!

When Lillias recklessly leaves for Scotland by herself, the pressure is really on Frederick and Grace to get there as quickly as possible not only to find the will but to rescue Lillias from the villain they realize is following her. More surprises await them all as they confront a ruthless killer and hunt for a will in a castle rumored to be haunted.

Coincidences and danger seem to follow Grace everywhere she goes, but her sense of adventure and love of books keeps her optimistic and high-spirited. As a character, she has matured over the series, but still seems very young, showing a childlike quality that borders on naivete at times, but her cheerful boldness and determination make her a very appealing and likeable character. She and Frederick are still in the early days of their marriage and both often reflect on the good fortune of their relationship and the devotion is accompanied by some starry-eyed newlywed behavior as well.

The adventures, coincidences, and character quirks are just exaggerated enough to provide drama and humor, although stretching credulity a bit. Grace's love of story and penchant for viewing everything through the lens of books she has read brings a lighthearted quality to the suspenseful situations, and one can't help but cheer for the fairytale happy endings along with her.

From the publisher:

Grace Storms a Scottish Castle to Save her Sister

Lord Astley surprises his wife with a trip to America to see her family before they end their honeymoon adventures. But just as they arrive, they find Grace's sister, Lillias, is the prime suspect in her husband's murder. To add to the confusion a solicitor arrives to tell the sisters they are needed in Scotland immediately to claim their mother's inheritance.

The clock is ticking to clear Lillias of suspicion, but someone is determined to keep the sisters from reaching the Scottish Highlands. When Lillias disappears, Freddie and Grace race to Scotland, sure the answers will be found in a long-forgotten castle.

With a ghost from Frederick's past leaving threatening clues along the way, the mysterious Mr. Kane waiting in the wings to grab the inheritance for himself, and an apparition haunting the infamous castle, Lord and Lady Astley must capture the castle, save Lillias, and not die in the process.

The Highland Heist is a Freddie and Grace Mystery, sequel to The Mistletoe Countess, The Cairo Curse, and The Juliet Code.

 

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley and was under no obligation to post a review.

#TheHighlandHeist #NetGalley

By the same author: The Juliet Code, The Cairo Curse, The Heart of the Mountains, Hope Between the Pages; The Red Ribbon; My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge: Laurel's Dream

This is a book featuring a character with red hair (#2) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2025

This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot, and at  the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025 hosted by The Intrepid Reader and Baker.

#histficreadingchallenge

©2008-2025 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - Killers of a Certain Age

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn - Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have certainly earned their retirement, having worked their entire adult lives as professional assassins for a secretive agency known as the Museum. And so in the opening pages of this thriller, they are meeting on board a cruise ship for an all-expenses paid vacation to mark the end of their active employment, and they have some mixed feelings about it. Their training is everything though, and they recognize a Museum operative among the crew members and quickly deduce that they are the next targets. First order of business is to get off the ship alive, and the next is to figure out why the Board of the Museum wants them dead. And naturally, if they want to survive, they will need to kill those who have signed their death warrants.

What follows is a thrilling global chase, as these four sixty-somethings disguise themselves, track down information and leads, and hunt down the hunters. Every skill they've learned in their decades-long careers, their long years of experience, and their trust in each other will be put to the test in a kill or be killed mission.

Billie is the main viewpoint character, and the present-day narrative is punctuated occasionally by flashback scenes that provide insight into Billie's recruitment and training with the Museum, and the early missions the foursome completed. It feels strange sometimes to be rooting for cold-blooded killers, but Billie and her friends are definitely likeable and the epitome of sympathetic characters. Besides, the Museum has always exercised great discretion in the targets they remove, which only adds to the tension of why the organization has now turned on its own assets.

From the publisher:

"This Golden Girls meets James Bond thriller is a journey you want to be part of." -Buzzfeed

Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that's their secret weapon.

They've spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they're sixty years old, four women friends can't just retire ― it's kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they've been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman―and a killer―of a certain age.

By the same author: A Murderous Relation, A Dangerous Collaboration, A Treacherous Curse, A Perilous Undertaking, A Curious Beginning, Night of a Thousand Stars, Bonfire Night, Twelfth Night, City of Jasmine, Whisper of Jasmine, Midsummer Night; A Spear of Summer Grass, Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary, Silent on the Moor, Dark Road to Darjeeling, The Dark Enquiry, Silent Night, The Dead Travel Fast

This is a book with cover font in a primary color (#41) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2025

I've picked this as the first book in The 52 Book Club's Connections Challenge. 

This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot.

©2008-2025 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - The Lady of Bolton Hill

The Lady of Bolton Hill by Elizabeth Camden - In the opening pages, Daniel's family faces tragedy when his father is killed in a factory accident. Daniel is comforted by his unlikely best friend, Clara, the daughter of a minister in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Baltimore. The two are separated by time and circumstance and years later Clara has made a name for herself as a journalist in London, but her articles exposing the truth about child laborers in the mines has landed her in prison, and when she's released, she must return to Baltimore and continue her work there.

In the intervening years, Daniel has become successful and wealthy as an inventor and businessman, but he is still driven by a desire to punish the man he holds responsible for his father's death. Daniel and Clara renew their friendship and rekindle the budding romance of their youth, but Daniel cannot give in to Clara's belief that he should listen to God's voice and forgive those past wrongs.

Between Clara's journalistic efforts and the machinations of Daniel's rival and an enemy, he is faced with difficult choices and having to deal with growing unrest from the labor unions. When Clara goes missing and her life is in danger, Daniel goes into action to rescue her but saving her will mean making choices to do hard things, to forgive, and to trust God.

Clara is a strong and opinionated lead character who makes mistakes and has fears, but not very many flaws. Her character does grow and change, but it is a more subtle development from good to better. Daniel, however, is a wonderful romantic hero with one major flaw - his stubborn refusal to do business with a man he considers an enemy. The danger to Clara, and the surprising way she escapes it is Daniel's crisis moment, and the catalyst is the surprising transformation of an enemy. Courage and grace are themes throughout. 

From the publisher:

Female journalists are rare in 1879, but American-born Clara Endicott has finally made a name for herself with her provocative articles championing London's poor. When the backlash from her work forces a return home to Baltimore, Clara finds herself face-to-face with a childhood sweetheart who is no longer the impoverished factory worker she once knew. In her absence, Daniel Tremain has become a powerful industry giant and Clara finds him as enigmatic as ever. However, Daniel's success is fueled by resentment from past wounds and Clara's deeply-held beliefs about God's grace force Daniel to confront his own motives. When Clara's very life is endangered by one of Daniel's adversaries, they must face a reckoning neither of them ever could have foreseen.

*********************

By the same author: A Daring Venture, A Dangerous Legacy, Beyond All Dreams, To The Farthest Shores, Against the Tide, Summer of Dreams, From This Moment, Until the Dawn, Into the Whirlwind

This is a title starting with the letter L (#12) for The 52 Book Club's 2024 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2024

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. 

©2008-2024 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - Once Upon A Prince

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. 

Once Upon A Prince by Rachel Hauck - I've had this book in my Kindle library for a very long time and finally decided it was time to read it. And I'm glad I did. It's a sweet romance that combines fairy tale charm with a contemporary setting and strong characters. 

Susanna considers herself just an ordinary young woman, working hard to succeed in her career and waiting patiently for years to marry her high school sweetheart (now a Marine). But all her carefully laid plans for her life crumble in the opening pages when he breaks up with her instead of proposing. Susanna is disturbed to realize that she was more in love with her plan than with her young man, and sets out to figure out what she really wants to do with her life. And then she meets Nate when she's in need of help, and he seems to show up as a sort of knight in shining armor for her, leading to a friendship.

While on holiday in America, Prince Nathaniel isn't looking for a romance, especially since there are restrictions on who a member of the royal family can marry. He enjoys lending a helping hand to Susanna though, and getting to know her. They do seem to get along so well, and as the days go by they both find themselves considering the possibility of love . . . but Susanna doesn't even know Nate is really a prince. 

Both Susanna and Nathaniel have many choices to make and must learn to trust God's purpose and timing for their lives. Both character arcs feature loyalty, honoring commitments, and being willing to obey God and follow him in everything. 

From the publisher:

The story that inspired the Hallmark Original movie! He's a royal prince. She's an ordinary girl. But this holiday could change everything.

Susanna Truitt never dreamed of a great romance or being treated like a princess―just to marry the man she has loved for twelve years. But life isn't going according to plan. When her high-school-sweetheart-turned-Marine-officer breaks up with her instead of proposing, Susanna scrambles to rebuild her life.

The last thing Prince Nathaniel expects to find on his American holiday to St. Simons Island is the queen of his heart. The prince has duties, and his family's tense political situation means he won't be able to marry for love or even choose his own bride.

When Prince Nathaniel stops to help Susanna, who is stranded with a flat tire under the fabled Lover's Oak, he is immediately enchanted by her. And even though he's a total stranger, Susanna finds herself pouring her heart out to him.

Their lives are worlds apart, and soon Nathaniel must face the ultimate choice: his kingdom or her heart?

This is a character-driven novel (#9) for The 52 Book Club's 2024 Reading Challenge.

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Recent Reads - Silencing The Siren

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Silencing the Siren (Ever After Mysteries) by Denise L. Barela - This novel is part of the Ever After Mysteries, a series of fairytale retellings with a mystery element. It is also a debut novel for author Denise L. Barela. It is a retelling of The Little Mermaid, set in 1920s New York City. I was curious as to how the character Annabelle would be similar to a mermaid, and how figurative that aspect would be. Annabelle has a disability - she has a deformity in her legs which confines her to a wheelchair, but as part of a Coney Island "freak show" she dons a costume and performs as a mermaid. Andrew Grayson is the "prince" who is mesmerized by the mermaid's beauty and quickly falls in love with her. Since he is from a wealthy upper crust family with domineering, controlling parents, he sneaks away from home to visit Coney Island and spend time with his little mermaid and her troupe. 

It's the prejudice and snobbery of Andrew's parents and the young lady they want him to marry that puts the challenges in the way of his relationship with Annabelle. The Graysons view Coney Island and the freak show troupe as being socially so far beneath them that they are horrified that Andrew spends time there. They are especially repulsed by Annabelle's disability. Andrew, however, has found friendship and acceptance with the troupe, and is determined to marry Annabelle. Instead, the Graysons arrange a marriage for Andrew to a wealthy socialite, Valerie. Andrew is trying to figure a way out of his dilemma when Annabelle suddenly goes missing and her father is told she is dead. In his grief, Andrew determines to find out what really happened, and he has to finally stand up to his parents to do so.

I loved that the female lead character, Annabelle, was shown as a strong and gracious heroine who happened to have a disability and was in a wheelchair. I also loved that despite his pretentious and sheltered upbringing, Andrew was a kind young man who wasn't deterred by Annabelle's much lower socio-economic standing or her disability. Both are likable and sympathetic characters who rise above the limitations and obstacles they face. In contrast, Andrew's parents and Valerie were more like stereotypical and one-dimensional fairytale villains. Andrew's age was a bit of a puzzle to me, as he was old enough to drive and to be married, but at times he acted like a very young teenager in his compliance with his parents' demands. He withdrew his own funds from a bank and opened a new account of his own, and engaged an investigator, but obeyed when he was sent to his room as if he was a small child. I would have liked to see his character developed with a bit more emotional depth and consistent with his age and circumstances.

I felt that I did need to keep in mind that this is a fairytale retelling, and as such, the characters were not as fully developed as one might expect in a novel, and there were plot devices that were coincidence straight out of a fairytale rather than fully believable occurrences in a more realistic world. It's a sweet and clean fairytale quality romance, and in my opinion would be suitable for young readers.

From the publisher:

Andrew Grayson thought he had everything . . . until he met her.

The indulged son of wealthy parents, Andrew has always gotten whatever he wanted almost before he knew he wanted it - clothes, gadgets . . . even a car! What more could a young man desire?

Enter Annabel Thompson. Freakshow mermaid extraordinaire . . . in a wheelchair!

Of course, her beauty attracts him. How could it not? Add to that a kind heart, and Andrew can't help but fall for her.

Annabel's connection with the freakshow repels his parents and their society friends. They want him to sever all ties with her and his new friends. Oh, and marry the "right" girl with the "right connections." But he won't do it. He'll defy them and marry his little mermaid.

When Annabel turns up missing, declared dead, things don't add up, andrew begins asking some difficult questions, the most important being, "What happened to the little mermaid of the Coney Island freak show?"

Find out in this next book in the Ever After Mysteries, combining beloved fairy tales and mysteries. Silencing the Siren offers a retelling of "the Little Mermaid" that will keep you gripped to the edge of your seat as you watch the story unfold.

I received a digital copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a book that includes a wedding (#44) for The 52 Book Club's 2024 Reading Challenge.

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©2008-2024 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.