The Last Checkmate by Gabriella Saab β 384 pages Book Blurb: Maria Florkowska is many things: daughter, avid chess player, and, as a member of the Polish underground resistance in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, a young woman brave beyond her years. Captured by the Gestapo, she...
The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel – 356 pagesΒ ARC from Netgalley and Gallery Books for an honest reviewΒ Book Blurb: Book Blurb: After being stolen from her wealthy German parents and raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe, a young...
The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer β 416 pages ARC from Netgalley and Graydon House for an honest review Book Blurb: In the spring of 1942, young Elzbieta Rabinek is aware of the swiftly growing discord just beyond the courtyard of her comfortable Warsaw home. She has...
The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff β 336 pagesΒ ARC from Park Row and the author for an honest review.Β Book Blurb: 1942. Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents amid the horrors of the KrakΓ³w Ghetto during World War II. When the Nazis liquidate...
Half Life by Jillian Cantor – 416 pagesΒ ARC from Harper Perennial and the author for an honest review Book Blurb: In Poland in 1891, Marie Curie (then Marya Sklodowska) was engaged to a budding mathematician, Kazimierz Zorawski. But when his mother insisted she...
The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel β400 pages ARC from Gallery Books for an honest review. Book Blurb: Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She...
Review:Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb was an intimate introduction to Frank Sinatra and his lifelong love, Ava Gardner. Admittedly, I knew next to nothing about the man or the woman behind their star status. I for sure have heard Frankβs music as my parents were, and still are, fans of his songs.The good news is that by writing in the first person from Frankβs POV and Avaβs POV, the reader is introduced to them in an accessible way. It didnβt matter if youβve been a lifelong fan or not familiar with either of them, we all start the book as equals.I was shocked at the at how fast their relationship could go from cold to hot. The way they could both love and fight with such passion and acrimony was crazy. Yet they always, well almost always, came back to one another.Learning about how they were raised, the struggles they went through, and the allowances given to men (not women) were all addressed throughout the book. Depression, alcoholism, addiction, and infidelity were commonplace in star-studded Hollywood.Fans of movies and old Hollywood will adore this book and folks like me, who knew little to none about Frank and Ava will enjoy it too!Heather Webb, Author @msheatherwebb @williammorrowbooks π What's your favorite song? π#newreview#bookreader#bookreview#goodbookfairybookreview #tbr #AddtoTBR#goodbookfairy... See MoreSee Less