May and June Books

Here are the books I read over the past few months, some good ones! 

Tomorrow is for the Brave by Kelly Bowen 

This is the second of three Kelly Bowen book I have read this year (another coming up below). This one follows a well to do young woman from the South of France, starting in the couple of years before World War II. Her father has plans for her to marry a suitable man with business plans in mind. Then the war begins and the young woman has other goals. She becomes something of a known figure and we get to learn about different contributions made by women. There is also a man that features in the story because of course there is, but is he who he seems?

It’s a good book, I like the strong female character, exposure to the risks the Allies faced from spies, and what was going on in Northern Africa. Bonus, the author is Canadian!

Once and Again by Rebecca Serle

I like a Rebecca Serle book, she always has a bit of a mystical element to her novels. In this book the females in the family all have the opportunity use a “magic ticket” to go back in time and prevent something (usually a tragedy) from happening. Here the main character of the book is moving home to the beach in LA with her parents for the summer while her husband is working in New York. She starts slipping back into old patterns, and we hear about the times when the “magic ticket” was used by her mother and great grandmother. 

This was pretty good, although not her best. I enjoyed the characters but didn’t feel as interesting as some of her other books. I think it’s because by now I know what she’s doing with these mystical elements now. But what a good imagination to come up with these plots!

Stars in an Italian Sky by Jill Santopolo

A novel that goes back and forth from post-WWII Italy and present day New York City. After the fascists have been removed from power, the people of Italy are going to vote on becoming a republic and removing the monarchy (and by extension the royal titles). The main character of the story has lost her mother during the war, and is now a seamstress in her father’s shop, along with her sister.  Her sister wants to emigrate to the United States with her husband, but our main character likes things the way they are and wants to stay put.  She then becomes reacquainted with one of those members of the aristocracy when he comes into the shop for some alterations. He had lost his older brother in the war and is now the heir to his family’s title and estate. They strike up a relationship but the looming vote weighs on how they see their own futures.  The present day part of the story is a young couple getting married, both with links to Italy. 

This is another author that I enjoy and although some of the story was a bit predictable, I really enjoyed hearing about this period of history, one I didn’t really know about. 

The Garden of Lost Secrets by Kelly Bowen

Another Kelly Bowen book to round out my list. And another book that goes back and forth between narrators and timeframes.  The story starts with a Dutch teenage girl, visiting her grandparents in France, in the 1930s, meeting a teenage boy who is living in an old estate, managing his father who his suffering from PTSD from WWI. Fast forward a few years later when WWII is about to begin and they are young adults. They get pulled into different roles during the war and we get to learn, typical of this author, about parts of the war that do not usually get as much exposure as other things we are so familiar with. The present day story is about two sisters who have purchased that aforementioned old estate and are restoring it after a fire. They find some old papers and start making connections to the past.

No complaints about this novel, it follows the formula that she has used for The Paris Apartment, and it works. She writes a good character and I like that not everything works out perfectly for them.