Month: May 2022

Posted in Bookish and Bingeable

The Soldier’s Letters

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

By: Shari J Ryan

This is the third book in a trilogy by Shari J Ryan chronicling the life of Charlie Crane and Amelia Baylin and their family. This is Charlie’s story. 

For some reason, this is a very hard review to write. Not because the book was bad – it wasn’t. The book was brilliant and so beautifully written, I couldn’t put it down. However, it’s hard to praise a book told from “the enemy’s” perspective. Especially when talking about the Nazis. So it was intriguing to read a note from the author saying she also struggled to write this book. I could tell. This story wasn’t written in a rush of creativity but rather it was the manifestation of a ton of soul-searching and introspect. 

Charlie is a Nazi soldier, reluctantly drafted and voluntold into being in the SS. From the very start, we see how antisemitism didn’t happen overnight. It was the well-thought out brainwashing that took place over a number of years. Charlie is warm, compassionate and has his whole world stripped from him when he’s chosen to become one of Hitler’s followers. I liked how carefully Ryan handles this piece – there’s not a lot of excuses given. We get a simple clear view of a young boy who didn’t have a choice. She’s very factual but in a way that slices into your heart. 

He meets a young Amelia Baylin at one of the most horrific moments of her life. The enemy in her story, we see how this begins to unravel him. He follows her to a concentration camp and begins a forbidden relationship with him. Over the next few years, he experiences every ramification of the horrors he not only witnesses but has to inflict. I mean – is it even possible to feel sorry for a Nazi? Ryan expertly handles this in a way that doesn’t distract from the fact that Nazis WERE evil! Hitler was evil personified and six million Jews were sacrificed at the alter of his madness. Ryan doesn’t downplay this fact at all. 

As Charlie’s story goes on, switching between the past and current day, we’re invited further into the psychological breakdown that he experiences. We see his love for Amelia as the only link to life and we see how that love and hope not only kept him alive, but exhorted him to try to make amends for being a Nazi. 

Ultimately, this story is about forgiveness. But not the kind of forgiveness that’s blown around like a dandelion, light and fluffy and gone with the next wind. This is hard forgiveness, the kind that comes from deep within and see beyond evil. It’s the forgiveness that anchors itself and stays steady and strong and true, surpassing even the passing of time. 

I loved this story. It made me cry and it made me think and it made me hurt. This trilogy isn’t an easy read but it is a necessary one. One that I would highly recommend.

NOTE – Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

My rating: :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Posted in Bookish and Bingeable

Spells for Forgetting

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

By: Adrienne Young

File this book under the “books to read instead of sleeping” category. 

I started this and couldn’t put it down. This is a story of the island Saoirse and the tale of mystery and magic. It’s a story of one community willing to do anything, magical or otherwise, to keep its traditions and folklore alive. It’s a story of love and power and sacrifice. Of murder and mistakes and how sometimes, going back into the past can redefine your future. Most of all, it’s a story of secrets and lies. 

I love how this story is told from multiple perspectives. At first, I thought it would be too confusing to keep up with the story but it truly wasn’t. In fact, it was so well done that I found myself having an emotional attachment to each character – whether they deserved it or not. And I really liked how each person’s point of view was relevant to the story. Even the island has a point of view which I absolutely loved! I will always love when authors manage to give an inanimate object character and a life. 

This is one of the more atmospheric books I’ve read in a long time. I felt the chill in the air, heard the crunch of leaves, smelled the tart scent of burning wood and moved with every breath the island took. Even magic had a scent of its own and it wafted in between the pages of this book seamlessly, weaving together such enchantment that I would not put it down until I reached the very last page. 

If there’s anything that I didn’t like about this book, it was that it left me wanting to know more. I want to know what happens next. I want to know just how powerful the island is and if those that leave wind up returning permanently or not (trying to stay away from spoilers). 

Very nicely done and I cannot wait to read more from Adrienne Young. 

NOTE: Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

My rating: :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Posted in Bookish and Bingeable

The Girl With the Diary

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

By: Shari J Ryan

Emma is a girl in a dead-end relationship and a career that’s sucking up all her time and energy. She gets a call saying her grandmother is in the hospital and doing poorly. Upon arrival at the hospital, her grandmother, in and out of consciousness, calls for someone named Charlie and tells Emma to find the book that will tell her who Charlie is. 

Emma finds the book and in doing so, she finds more than just a simple story. She learns her grandmother was a survivor of the concentration camps. She learns Charlie was the enemy and she learns that true love can be found amidst incredible hate. 

Another tearjerker of a story by Shari Ryan. This is beautifully written, very descriptive and takes you on a journey of such raw emotion, you won’t be able to put this down.

Emma is a woman standing still in her life, moving neither forwards or backwards but growing stale in the life she’s leading. I think we’ve all been where Emma is at some point in our lives, in need of some miraculous but true story to reset our lives, give us new perspective and new meaning in life. 

There wasn’t a character in this story I didn’t love. Even Mike. I loved to dislike him! LOL! The relationship between all the women in this story is so beautiful and so very real. Emma;s grandmother’s matchmaking brought back memories of my own Italian grandmother and how she always had a friend who had a son who needed a wife. My sisters and I grew up having carrots in the form of houses, money and such dangled before us if only we would marry these poor mama’s boys. The only thing we were ever sure of was there had to be something wrong with them if their mama’s wanted to get rid of them so much. 

Emma is a completely different person by the end of the book, having been changed by the past only it wasn’t her past she was changed by; it was Amelia’s. Amelia’s story is told in such heartbreaking detail – I still cannot even imagine what these precious people went through or the courage it took to survive. These books have led me on a very introspective journey and my mind cannot even begin to comprehend living through such circumstances. 

Yet, Amelia survives and while her secrets threaten her happiness, she did everything out for love. And she gives that gift of love to her daughters and the story of it to her granddaughter. 

The end of this story is nothing short of the most beautiful triumph ever. Love wins all! And in the most shocking way. 

I highly recommend this book and commend the author for this lovely, lovely story. I am hiding the message of this story deep in my heart of hearts.

NOTE – Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Posted in Moments and Musings

My Compass

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

Today is my mama’s 83rd birthday. While we celebrate here on Earth, she’s celebrating in Heaven. 

We lost her 4 years ago. It seems strange to say “we lost her” when truly, she was never lost. We were at times, and like any great mother would do, she always managed to bring us home to her. 

In her home, there was so much! So much love. So much support. So much patience (Lord knows, we put that to the test time and time again). So much of everything we needed…at the right time…in the right amounts. 

She wasn’t always perfect. She made mistakes. With each one of us. It was ok. She learned. Then we learned. 

From her. 

I had this life before “we lost her” which was full of so many things – like her hugs which were always waiting for me after a difficult day. She didn’t have all the answers. She didn’t need to. She would just envelope us in her arms, dry our tears and then point us to the one who did have all the answers. 

Jesus. 

My mom was a Catholic. She defined and personified fierce faith. She didn’t pray to Mary or the saints. She didn’t have to. She knew the One who held her in His arms. She knew Who had all the answers. She knew where her help came from. And she relied on that like it was her very breath. He was her breath. And her heart. And her song. Her comfort and her wisdom. 

When didn’t know the way, she’d go to Him. Then she would wait. That was hard because she was a survivor, a fighter, a fixer and our mainstay. She was our port in any storm. 

We didn’t “lose” her. She transitioned. I know. I was there. I watched and I held her hand as she took leave of her earthly body. I’ve dreamt about it. I’ve mourned it. We all have. 

She left behind a legacy. A quintet of fighters and survivors. We’ve each had our struggles but we’ve found our way. Some of us are still looking and that’s ok because we’re on a forward path and in a forward motion. We won’t give up. Because she’s part of us and she never gave up. 

Neither will we. Because we are hers. And ultimately, we are His. Bought with His blood. 

I’m so selfish. I wish she was here. I wish she could not just see all I’ve accomplished but share in it. I would love to hear her opinion on `the little things’ like my job, how I’m thisclose to being financially independent, the home I’ve built for my girls and I, and so much more. I want to show her all of it. Then I want to sit on my couch and have a long, long chat. Just she and I. Then I want her to hug me. One of her famous hugs. The ones that never end. The ones that encourage me and give me hope. 

So Happy Birthday in Heaven, Mama! And thank you for everything you gave me. But most especially, thank you for being my compass and always pointing me to Jesus. 

I love you forever.

Photo by @songkat
Posted in Bookish and Bingeable

Three Muses

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

By: Martha Anne Toll

Three Muses is a love story that enthralls: a tale of Holocaust survival venturing through memory, trauma, and identity, while raising the curtain on the unforgiving discipline of ballet. In post-WWII New York, John Curtin suffers lasting damage from having been forced to sing for the concentration camp kommandant who murdered his family. John trains to be a psychiatrist, struggling to wrest his life from his terror of music and his past. Katya Symanova climbs the arduous path to Prima Ballerina of the New York State Ballet, becoming enmeshed in an abusive relationship with her choreographer, who makes Katya a star but controls her life. When John receives a ticket to attend a ballet featuring Katya Symanova, a spell is cast. As John and Katya follow circuitous paths to one another, fear and promise rise in equal measure. Song, Discipline, and Memory weave their way through love and loss, heartbreak and triumph

NOTE: Thank you to Netgalley and Regal House Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. This review may contain spoilers. 

Three Muses takes you on a journey through time. It’s also a journey through the lives of Katya Symanova and John Curtin, both broken, both haunted, seeking to find their place and purpose in their worlds. 

This book starts out as two separate stories. We meet Janko, later known as John, a small boy given up by his mother to the Nazis hoping his talent for singing saves his life. As he sings for those who killed his family, a chasm forms deep in his heart separating him from his love for song. Upon rescue, he travels to America where he is placed in the care of a family who recently lost their son in the war. They become his replacement family and he becomes their replacement son. He adopts the name of John Curtin and becomes a psychiatrist. 

John was my favorite character in this story. I loved how his first patient really was himself. He’s shy and courageous and respectful and so kind and he’s all these things while dealing with PTSD from WWII. I love how we get to see his transition from a scared little boy to a young man trying to please his new American family and finally, into an adult. John struggles to understand the meaning of love in all its selfless facets until he meets Katya, who helps him understand that to love is to sacrifice. 

The other story is Katherine Sillman who is gifted with ballet lessons after her mother’s death. As she grows into a proper ballerina, she catches the eye of the choreographer/composer, Boris Yanakov, who changes her name to Katya Symannova, putting the curtain up between her and everyone else in her life but him. As he grooms her, she becomes entranced with him and by him. 

Katya is probably my least favorite character in this story. While we do see a beautiful character arc and wonderful development, I cringe at the idea of any woman losing herself in a man to the degree Katya did. She allowed him to rob her of everything, her friends, her family (in a way) and finally, her relationship with John. He literally chains her to him for the duration of her life. It was sad to me to see her disregard warnings from her friend, Maya, and completely forget she even had a father. She only remembers him when he gets hurt and needs help. 

I also found her to be a little self-serving in her relationship with John. He said she gave him a lot when he said she gave him back his Papa. However, I can’t really see where she gave more than he did. The deception of it all was upsetting also in light of her relationship with Boris. John was too sweet to hurt that way. 

I will always always love when authors take their time telling a story. It’s a gift to be able to do this without making the book too long or causing it to lag in places. I didn’t have any fault with the pace of this book. It picks you up and takes you on this lovely, very visual, highly emotional yet gentle ride. I felt all the feels. And the language, the imagery was simply stunning. 

I loved how the two stories converged and then disconnected with only the very smallest tether left at the end. Wonderfully written. 

My rating: :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: