Review: Second Chance Christmas by Lori Wilde

Second Chance Christmas

by Lori Wilde 

Publisher: 384

Pages: Avon

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  It’s Christmastime in Twilight, TX. The lights are twinkling, carols are being sung, and the cookies are baking. And this year, best friends Joel and Jana discover a shocking surprise: as they are organizing the living Nativity, they find a sweet little baby in the manger with a note saying the mother will return...soon.

Jana tucks the infant into her arms, and she and Joel make the impulsive decision to take the baby home. Jana is spontaneous, Joel is a planner, but they agree that it’s better to care for this precious bundle for the holidays, in hopes that the mother really will come back by New Year’s.

As the days pass, the pair begins to fall in love with the child and they’re also forced to face facts: their relationship goes far deeper than friendship. As the spirit of Christmas—and the magic of Twilight, TX—takes over, this unlikely couple must open up to the feelings they’ve been hiding from each other all along.

Kritters Thoughts:  The 12th book in a series and with most romance series you can hop in and out as each book centers on one couple and their story and while there are other couples and their progressions in other books, it is easy to dip in and out.  This was the first book I read in this series and while I was lost about the character back stories on the surrounding characters, I felt as though I knew all I needed to know or learned it in the book about Jana and Joel.  

While cleaning up the local nativity scene, this pair come across an abandoned baby with a note that the mother will return, but needs to get some things together and she chose to leave the baby as they seemed like a good pair that could take care of her baby.  This couple isn't a true couple as they are friends and co workers, but maybe through the bonding experience of caring for a newborn some feelings could develop!

As with all romance books the journey is the reason for reading!  I enjoyed the ups and downs of this book, they seemed natural and even the kink at the very end seemed to work with the story.  While there was some repetitiveness to the conversations that the characters had, it was a great read to curl up with as the holiday season approaches.  

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 138 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Avon.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Holiday Ever After by Jill Shalvis

Holiday Ever After

by Jill Shalvis

Publisher: HarperCollins 

Pages: 352 

Format: eARC 

Buy the Book: Amazon 

Goodreads:  One Snowy Night

It’s Christmas Eve and Rory Andrews is desperate to get home to her family. Problem is, her only ride to Lake Tahoe comes in the form of the annoyingly handsome Max Stranton, her long-time crush, and his big, goofy, lovable dog. A long road trip in a massive blizzard might be just what they need to face their past…and one steamy, snowy night is all it takes to bring Max and Rory together at last.

Holiday Wishes
When Sean O’Riley shows up for his older brother’s bachelor weekend, the last person he expects to see is Lotti Hartford, the woman he lost his virginity to a decade ago. As the weekend continues, Sean realizes he wants to leave his hook-up life behind, but can he convince Lotti to open her heart to him again?

Mistletoe in Paradise
Years after their secret fling ended, Hannah isn’t eager to see James during their families’ annual joint holiday-themed yacht adventure. But when they’re the only people who show up, James and Hannah are stuck together on the high seas for days. As the former lovers try to make the best of the Christmas snafu, they soon realize the best things in life can’t be planned, and sometimes love is sweeter the second time around. 

Kritters Thoughts:  Three Christmas romance short stories in this one collection.  While there are three different stories in this collection they each share the same romance theme where each couple has a past and is reconnecting in one way or another.  While I would typically review each individually, since they share the same romance sub genre and I have similar feelings about them, I will review them as a whole.  

Each were very short in length, so the romance had to go from reintroduction to in love pretty quickly and for me that rarely works and I rarely enjoy the quickness of a short story romance.  Given that each couple had a past that was hinted at in each book, that helped a bit, but I still felt as though the author had to go from oh hello to I am in love you way too fast!  I would much rather read a longer Christmas romance, so there can be some slow burn or some back and forth before the happily ever after.

Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 137 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from HarperCollins.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

A very hard week both personally and professionally, can't share much here yet.  But it took away from the reading time.  

A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

Celebration at Christmas Cove by Carrie Jansen

Bells Are Ringing by Lacey Baker (audiobook)

Currently Reading:

The Missing Piece by John Lescroart

Next on the TBR pile:

Her Silent Husband by Sam Vickery

Review: The Attic on Queen Street by Karen White

The Attic on Queen Street

by Karen White

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 384

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Return to the house on Tradd Street for one last time as the bestselling series featuring psychic medium Melanie Trenholm comes to a hauntingly spectacular finale.

After the devastating events of the past few months, the last thing Melanie Trenholm wants is to think about the future.  Why, when her husband, Jack, has asked for a separation—a separation that might have been her fault?  Nevertheless, with twin toddlers, a stepdaughter leaving for college soon, a real estate career to resume and a historic home that is still being restored, Melanie doesn’t have much time to wonder where it all went wrong—but that doesn’t stop her from trying to win her husband back.
 
Their relationship issues are pushed aside, however, when longtime nemesis, Marc Longo, comes to them with a proposition:  allow their Tradd Street house to be used as the filming location for the movie adaptation of Marc’s bestselling book, and he will help Jack re-establish his stalled writing career. Despite Melanie’s hesitation, Jack jumps at the chance.  But Melanie’s doubts soon prove to be well founded when she uncovers ulterior reasons for Marc wanting to be back in their house—reasons that include a hidden gem so brilliant that legend links it to the most infamous jewel of all, the Hope Diamond.
 
But Melanie has an unexpected ally in protecting the house and its inhabitants—the ghost of a Civil War era girl warns her of increasing threats to her family. But she’s not the only spirit who is haunting Melanie.  A malevolent ghost seems determined to stop Melanie from investigating the decades-old murder of a friend’s sister, and this spirit will stop at nothing to protect its secrets—even from beyond the grave.
 
Melanie and Jack must work together to find the answers before evil spirits of past and present destroy everything they love.

Kritters Thoughts:  The seventh book in the series and while each mystery is self contained in each book, I would absolutely suggest starting at book one as there is a lot of character development of the main characters from book to book and you don't want to miss the build!  

Melanie is the main character and she can see and communicate with the dead.  She typically speaks to those who need resolution so they can cross over to the other side and as she lives in historic Charleston, SC, there are many spirits roaming around needing a final end.  In this book, she is having personal issues in her marriage and is in the middle of a battle that involves her own home while she has a few spirits who need her help.

While I don't typically read books with spirits, this one has so much mystery and plot that I have loved all the books in this series.  I also love the characters.  Melanie is great and her relationship with her kids, her husband and all the other large cast of characters was just fun to read.  

While in the author's note she states that this is the end of this series.  I am excited that this book sets up a spin off series and I will be excited to pick up those books in the future.  

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 135 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Pilot's Daughter by Meredith Jaeger

The Pilot's Daughter

by Meredith Jaeger 

Publisher: Dutton

Pages: 352

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  In the final months of World War II, San Francisco newspaper secretary Ellie Morgan should be planning her wedding and subsequent exit from the newsroom into domestic life. Instead, Ellie, who harbors dreams of having her own column, is using all the skills she's learned as a would-be reporter to try to uncover any scrap of evidence that her missing pilot father is still alive. But when she discovers a stack of love letters from a woman who is not her mother in his possessions, her already fragile world goes into a tailspin, and she vows to find out the truth about the father she loves--and the woman who loved him back.

When Ellie arrives on her aunt Iris's doorstep, clutching a stack of letters and uttering a name Iris hasn't heard in decades, Iris is terrified. She's hidden her past as a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl from her family, and her experiences in New York City in the 1920s could reveal much more than the origin of her brother-in-law's alleged affair. Iris's heady days in the spotlight weren't enough to outshine the darker underbelly of Jazz Age New York, and she's spent the past twenty years believing that her actions in those days led to murder.

Together the two women embark on a cross-country mission to find the truth in the City That Never Sleeps, a journey that just might shatter everything they thought they knew--not only about the past but about their own futures.

Kritters Thoughts:  Two storylines in one book.  One takes place in San Francisco as World War II is winding down and a young woman is trying to find her father who was a pilot that was shot down during the war.  The other storyline goes further back in time to the 1920s in New York City as her aunt is enjoying the glitz and glam as a Ziegfeld Follie showgirl.  

I went into this book knowing that I wanted to really dive deep into the Ziegfeld Follie storyline as I can't remember ever reading anything else about this particular subject and I have deep appreciation for all things theater related and want to know so much about the evolution of live performances, especially in New York City.  I love that the author didn't hide the connection between this storyline and the other as that wasn't the purpose of the book, it was obvious from the start - but there were still things that could unfold and surprise!

The other storyline was at moments hard to read and heartbreaking.  Without spoiling the reason for this aunt and niece adventure, the letters that are returned from her missing father's belongings have a mystery that needs to be solved.  There were a few times when reading these chapters where I felt so bad for Ellie and wanted so much for her to have a different story.  But what I loved most about those chapters was reading the relationship between this niece and aunt and how much their relationship mattered to each of them.  I am an aunt and there were times where I may have teared up as I hope my niece feels for me as Ellie felt for Iris and I hope that we have many adventures in the future.  

A historical fiction book that tackles two moments in time, but they are expertly woven together and they compliment each other so well.  This was my second Meredith Jaeger read and I loved that one also, have one in her backlist that I need to read (and soon!) and I hope she has more to come!

  

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 136 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Dutton.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Everything We Didn't Say by Nicole Baart

Everything We Didn't Say

by Nicole Baart

Publisher: Atria Books

Pages: 368

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Juniper Baker had just graduated from high school and was deep in the throes of a summer romance when Cal and Beth Murphy, a childless couple who lived on a neighboring farm, were brutally murdered. When her younger brother became the prime suspect, June’s world collapsed and everything she loved that summer fell away. She left, promising never to return to tiny Jericho, Iowa.

Until now. Officially, she’s back in town to help an ill friend manage the local library. But really, she’s returned to repair her relationship with her teenage daughter, who’s been raised by Juniper’s mother and stepfather since birth—and to solve the infamous Murphy murders once and for all. She knows the key to both lies in the darkest secret of that long-ago summer night, one that’s haunted her for nearly fifteen years.

As history begins to repeat itself and a dogged local true crime podcaster starts delving into the murders, the race to the truth puts past and present on a dangerous collision course. Juniper lands back in an all-too-familiar place with the answers to everything finally in her sights, but this time it’s her daughter’s life that hangs in the balance. Will revealing what really happened mean a fresh start? Or will the truth destroy everything Juniper loves for a second time? Baart once again brilliantly weaves mystery into family drama in this expertly-crafted novel for fans of Lisa Jewell and Megan Miranda.

Kritters Thoughts:  Two storylines, one in the current day and one fourteen years ago as the details emerge on one fateful July 4th night as a couple is murdered and maybe the mystery will finally be solved all these years later.  

I absolutely loved that there were two plot lines and I think they weaved in and out of each other so well with the chapters labeled, it was easy to know as the reader where and when we were and it was so interesting to watch an author unfold the mystery with such precision.  While I may have predicted a few things a little on the early side, I still enjoyed the ride the author provided and watching the characters pick up on the solution to the mystery.  

This book also had another theme that I love and that is when a character returns to small town for one reason or another and must confront the past.  I loved watching Juniper return home and having to see the demons and is determined to get everything right.    

I have read quite a few of Nicole Baart's books, but still have a few in the backlist that I need to read.  I hope that there are many more to come from this author!

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 134 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Atria Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

October

source

The increase in cooler weather moved me indoors and changed what took up my time - more time for reading and curing up with fun murder mysteries! I also started my holiday reads for this year, maybe a little earlier than I have in the past, but enjoying the start of the holiday season!

1. Mom Boss by Hilary Grossman

2. The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski

3. Mom Rules by Hilary Grossman

4. Wrapped Up in Christmas by Janice Lynn (audiobook)

5. The Girl on the Platform by Ellie Midwood

6. The Mother's Fault by Nicole Trope

7. Bright Burning Stars by AK Small

8. When the Nightingale Sings by Suzanne Kelman

9. A Letter from Nana Rose by Kristin Harper

10. Sisters of the Great War by Suzanne Feldman

11. Nifty: Clean Organized

12. Fan Club by Erin Mayer

13. Everything We Didn't Say by Nicole Baart

14. Wrapped Up in Christmas Hope by Janice Lynn (audiobook)

15. The Attic on Queen Street by Karen White

16. The Gable House by Ellyn Oaksmith

17. The Pilot's Daughter by Meredith Jaeger

18. Second Chance Christmas by Lori Wilde

19. Holiday Ever After by Jill Shalvis

Total pages read, clicked and flipped: 6,173

Where having I been Reading?:

New York (2)

Virginia

Kentucky (2)

Berlin, Germany

Paris, France (2)

Massachussetts

New York City, NY

Iowa

Charleston, SC

Washington

San Francisco, CA

Texas 

 

Review: Fan Club by Erin Mayer

Fan Club

by Erin Mayer

Publisher: Mira

Pages: 336

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Day after day our narrator, a gloomy millennial, searches for meaning beyond her vacuous job at a women's lifestyle website—entering text into a computer system while she watches their beauty editor unwrap box after box of perfectly packaged bits of happiness. Then, one night at a dive bar, she hears a message in the newest single by child-actor-turned-international-pop-star Adriana Argento, and she is struck. Soon she loses herself to the online fandom, a community whose members feverishly track Adriana's every move.

When a colleague notices the extent of her obsession, she’s invited to join an enigmatic group of adult Adriana superfans who call themselves the Ivies and worship her music in witchy, candlelit listening parties. As the narrator becomes more entrenched in the group, she gets closer to uncovering the sinister secrets that bind them together—while simultaneously losing her grip on reality.

Kritters Thoughts:  An unnamed narrator has a job at a fun trendy women's website and when a new co worker joins the company, her minor obsession with a pop star named Adriana develops and becomes a major life altering obsession.  

I was drawn in by this synopsis and was intrigued as this narrator is probably around my age, maybe a bit younger, if you make me admit it and I always love a book that takes a closer work at the impact on one's work life on their greater life.  BUT this book took a turn and went downhill and fast along with the character.  I started having a hard time following the narrator as she was tumbling downhill.  I couldn't tell where her conscious thought and the plot were happening and when I get confused, I get frustrated.  

If you like a book where the main character unravels and you can just watch the train wreck, then this one is for you.  It may have been the difficulties going on in my personal life that affected my ability to have the patience for this read, but this one wasn't for me.    

Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 133 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from HarperCollins.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Gable House by Ellyn Oaksmith

The Gable House

by Ellyn Oaksmith

Publisher: Bookouture

Pages: 298

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Two old rivals. One dream job. And a summer they’ll never forget.

Freya Johanssen needs a fresh start. A recently heartbroken and newly-qualified veterinarian, she will take any job that gets her away from Seattle—for now. Her plan is to spend two years in the small town of Whisper Falls, and then head back to the city and civilisation.

And then Trent Crossley shows up, and her carefully laid plans are blown to pieces. He’s the last person she expected—or wanted—ever to see again. This is the guy who thinks he’s God’s gift to women; who breezed through vet school without studying and who betrayed her in a way she’ll never forgive. She thinks he’s an arrogant party boy; he thinks she’s an uptight perfectionist. Now he’s in her clinic, and the fluttering in her stomach must mean she’s still mad at him.

It seems they have both been hired for the same job—and now neither is backing down. But as Freya works to outdo Trent at every turn, she starts to see a different side to the man she thought she knew. Falling in love was never part of her plan. And if she wants the new beginning she’s worked so hard for, can she afford to give away her heart?

Kritters Thoughts:  Two recent grads of veterinarian school both head to a small town in Washington state wanting the job that would service the typical range of pets with a side of farms that have horses and sheep and lambs and so on.  Freya graduated first in the class and while she has a reputation of being a great vet, her human bed side manners could be improved!  Trent was second in class and has much more of the charm and a speciality with horses as he was supposed to return to his family's farm to repay his schooling debt and be the family vet. 

This was one of those fun semi enemies to lovers romance book.  I was glad that they weren't complete enemies, so it was more believable that they could go from mild distaste to love in the course of the novel!  I wish we would have had a few more scenes from their veterinarian school days so we could see the foundation of the knowledge of each other and how they orbited each other in those years.  

The characters make this book from Trent to Freya who are great main characters, but the other ones in this book are just fun.  I loved the small town feel with the small town characters and the juxtaposition of the big farms colliding in this book and in this town.  This author built such a fun town that I wouldn't mind visiting in another story.  

This is only my second Ellyn Oaksmith book and I would love to catch up on her backlist and also anticipate her upcoming releases.    

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 136 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Bookouture.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: A Letter From Nana Rose by Kristin Harper

A Letter From Nana Rose

by Kristin Harper

Publisher: Bookouture

Pages: 198

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  “My darling girls. You were once so happy in this house. Now I’m gone, all I ask is that you spend one last summer here together on Dune Island. And please forgive me, your Nana, for the secret I’m about to tell you…”

Arriving at the honeysuckle-covered beach house inherited from her beloved grandmother, recently heartbroken Jill hopes to convince her two feuding sisters not to sell a place so full of happy childhood memories. But the envelope waiting on the driftwood table changes everything. In her elegant handwriting, Nana Rose promises a new letter will arrive each day of the summer revealing a family secret she took to her grave.

Shaken, Jill anxiously awaits each letter filled with Nana’s bittersweet memories of her own sister who she loved more than anyone—and lost far too young. But why did Nana never speak of this tragic loss to her grandchildren?

Watching the sunset each night and wondering how well they really knew Nana Rose, Jill feels her family is closer than they’ve been in years. And after a chance encounter with blue-eyed tree surgeon Alex, she wonders if Nana believed being back on Dune Island would help Jill find love, too?

But when Nana’s final letter arrives, the revelation about how her sister died is more shocking than Jill ever imagined. Suddenly, despite the chance of happiness with Alex, selling the house seems the only way forward. Will Jill find a way to forge new bonds of sisterhood and save their inheritance, or will Nana Rose’s secret tear them all apart?

Kritters Thoughts:  Three sisters lose their grandmother, but when she passes she leaves them the vacation home that shaped their childhood.  Each in different ways, these three sisters found solace in this home.  Their grandmother charges them to spend two weeks together and to come to an unanimous decision on the future of the home.  While a plot line that sounds familiar and I may have read more than one set of siblings that inherit a home, they never get old!

Without completely switching between each sister's points of view, this book does allow each sister to give their side of the story and share the personal struggles they are battling while also trying to decide what to do with this beautiful home in a remote vacation location.  I think the author balanced what each sister was dealing with with ease and nothing felt over the top.  I loved the journey that each sister had individually, but also how they had together with each other.  

I have read all of Kristin Harper's books up to this point and I have loved each of them, so I have high hopes that she has many more to come!  

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 132 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Bookouture.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

Another quiet week and weekend, so some great reading time!

A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

Nifty: Clean Organized

Fan Club by Erin Mayer

Everything We Didn't Say by Nicole Baart

Wrapped Up in Christmas Hope by Janice Lynn (audio)

The Attic on Queen Street by Karen White

The Gable House by Ellyn Oaksmith

Currently Reading:

The Pilot's Daughter by Meredith Jaeger

Next on the TBR pile:

Holiday Ever After by Jill Shalvis

Review: Twelve Days to Save Christmas by Elizabeth Neep

Twelve Days to Save Christmas

by Elizabeth Neep

Publisher: Bookouture

Pages: 297

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  On the first day of Christmas, my true love… dumped me.

Poppy loves Christmas and always goes all out to make this magical time of the year extra special for her boyfriend George. But George is strangely not in the Christmas spirit this year. As Poppy wrestles him into her Christmas jumper built for two for a holiday snapshot, she finds out why.

He’s leaving her. With only twelve days to spend together before Christmas.

Poppy is heartbroken. Her perfectly planned Christmas lies in tatters. She knows they are meant to be together and she’s not going to give up on their five-year relationship without a fight. She still has twelve days to get her man back and save Christmas…

But festive surprises aren’t only found under the tree. In her quest to make George see they are destined for each other, Poppy might end up finding out the truth about him. And discover the man she is truly meant to spend this Christmas with…

Kritters Thoughts:  Poppy is ready for her favorite time of the year - the days leading up to Christmas when her boyfriend drops a bomb, after the holiday season he thinks they should part ways and that this relationship isn't working for him anymore.  So Poppy will spend the next twelve days trying to convince George that their relationship is one for the ages and that she is the one for him.  

The second holiday book this season where the female is convincing the guy that she is right for him and while I don't love this kind of romance, there was a little more to this story that I could enjoy the other things beyond this core plot.  Poppy's own self discovery and her confronting her own past were the parts of the story that I loved the most.  I loved that while she was trying to win back George she basically won back herself!  

There were moments where I felt as though the book went off a little, but then it went back to center and I enjoyed it again.  I was a fan of Elizabeth Neep and will continue to be after this one, while this wasn't my favorite of hers, I will wait for the next one to arrive!

Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 122 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Bookouture.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Sisters of the Great War by Suzanne Feldman

Sisters of the Great War

by Suzanne Feldman

Publisher: MIRA

Pages: 400

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  August 1914. While Europe enters a brutal conflict unlike any waged before, the Duncan household in Baltimore, Maryland, is the setting for a different struggle. Ruth and Elise Duncan long to escape the roles that society, and their controlling father, demand they play. Together, the sisters volunteer for the war effort--Ruth as a nurse, Elise as a driver.

Stationed at a makeshift hospital in Ypres, Belgium, Ruth soon confronts war's harshest lesson: not everyone can be saved. Rising above the appalling conditions, she seizes an opportunity to realize her dream to practice medicine as a doctor. Elise, an accomplished mechanic, finds purpose and an unexpected kinship within the all-female Ambulance Corps. Through bombings, heartache and loss, Ruth and Elise cherish an independence rarely granted to women, unaware that their greatest challenges are still to come.

Kritters Thoughts:  Two sisters head to Belgium to give what they can to the efforts of World War I.  One has an unfinished nursing degree with the hopes of becoming a doctor at a time where female doctors were few and far between.  The younger sister has always tinkered with things from clocks to cars and after looking into the Ambulance Corps, Elise may have found just the right place for herself.  

Switching back and forth between each sister's points of view, this book gave such a perspective on this war that is unlike anything else I have read.  It was easy to know who was narrating the story and I loved that while they were stationed close they had their own lives and the reader received a full perspective from the battlefield to the hospitals near the front lines what life during the Great War would look like.  

Beware there is definitely some romance in this book and while it worked within the context of the story, I know some historical fiction readers like their books to omit most of the romance and sexy times!  I think it worked in this one and fit within the story, but I could see how some readers could be put off by it.  

With only one other book in her backlist, I want to read that one soon and will hope for more to come in the future.

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 131 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from HarperCollins.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.