Big City Girl Finds Love in a Small Town

 

The Thing About Home by Rhonda McKnight Nain

Casey Black is a famous social media influencer from New York who is ready to renew her vows with her husband of 7 years, when he backs out.  She takes off for her deceased father’s small hometown to regroup from her humiliation and discovers the secrets of her family’s life that have haunted her.

This book is written from Casey’s point of view and chronicles her discoveries and personal growth as she learns more about her family’s past.  It includes a handsome potential love interest, a spunky centenarian grandmother and hordes of new relatives.

I do think the plot was a bit predictable, and would make a great Hallmark movie, but the characters were lovable, and it was written in an easy-to-read style.  Not too many authors that I read feature modern day people of color.  This book gave me a greater appreciation for the struggles that they overcame. 

Readers who enjoy women’s fiction will enjoy this story.  I am grateful to the publisher for the complimentary arc in exchange for this, my honest review.

Realistic World War 2 novel

 Within These Walls of Sorrow by Amanda Barratt 

 

Amanda Barratt vividly brings to life the story of the Jews in Poland during the Nazi occupation. She focuses on two women, Zosia Lewandowski, a gentile, and Hania Silberman, a young Jewish girl.  

This book is meticulously researched and realistically portrayed the horrors of the suffering of the Jewish people and their supporters during the time of Hitler. 

Despite the nightmare of the occupation and their incarceration, the characters’ will to survive and to live will astound the reader. The German’s cruelty will abhor the reader.

 

I read this book to learn more about the suffering of the Jewish people and came away with an appreciation of their tenacity. It also made me appreciate the blessings of my life. 

Hania and Zosia gave me much to aspire to as they persevered during what had to have been an impossibly challenging time in which to live. Their characters were so sensitively and skillfully rendered that I found myself thinking about them after I read the last page. 

Readers who enjoy realistic WW2 fiction and historical women’s fiction will come away with much from this novel. I am grateful to the publisher for a complimentary copy in exchange for this, my honest review.