Svetlana's Reads and Views

Diverse Reads on my Blog #16 Luckily enough, certain things went far better than I thought they would, although just because something impossible has been achieved, it doesn't mean I still like or approve of the person. Still, as always in these times, new scandals are brewing and its up to us to take care of ourselves and to make sure to remember that we have more commonalities than differences. Blast from the Past Evelina by Fanny Burney Evelina, the first of Burney's novels, was published anonymously and brough her immediate fame. It tells the story of a young girl, fresh from the provinces, whose initiation into the ways of hte world is frequently painful, though it leads to self-discovery, moral growth, and, finally, happiness. Hilarious comedy and moral gravity make the novel a fund of entertainment and wisdom. Out of the graceful shifts from the idyllic to the near-tragic and realistic, Evelina emerges as a fully realized character. And out of its treatment of...

Title of the book: Bending toward the sun Author: Mona Hodgson Publisher: Water Brook Publishing Date: 2014 ISBN: 978-0-307-73114-2 Summary: Once a week, Elsa Brantenberg hosts the Saint Charles Quilting Circle at her farmhouse on the outskirts of the riverside town of St. Charles, Missouri. The ladies who gather there have all experienced heartache related to the intense hardships of the Civil War, and together, they are facing their painful circumstances with friendship and prayer. Can the tattered pieces of their hearts be stitched together by God’s grace? Bending Toward the Sun Dedicated to her education and to helping her father in his general store, Emilie Heinrich is convinced she doesn't have time for love. But when a childhood friend returns to St. Charles, Missouri, after serving in the Civil War, his smile and charm captures Emilie’s eye and her heart. Will she be forced to choose between honoring her father and a future with a husband and family of he...

Name of Book: Ice Author: Lauren Carr ISBN: 9781983743382 Publisher: Acorn Book Services Type of book: Mystery, thriller, family, relationships, pets, dogs, Harper's Ferry West Virginia, "book club" talents, moving on, romance, present times, gambling, murder, cold case, dysfunctional families, incest, rape, dreams Year it was published: 2018 Summary: When Sandy Lipton and her unborn child disappeared, the court of public opinion found young Chris Matheson guilty. Decades later, the retired FBI agent returns home to discover that the cloud of suspicion cast over him and his family has never lifted. With the help of a team of fellow retired law enforcement officers, each a specialist in their own field of investigation, Chris Matheson starts chipping away at the ice on this cold case to uncover what had happened to Sandy and her baby and the clues are getting hot! Characters: There are quite a lot of characters, and luckily the author did provide ...

Name of Book: Free Food For the Millionaires Author: Min Jin Lee ISBN: 978-1-4555-7167-3 Publisher: Grand Central Type of book: Korea-America, rape, negative portrayal of Korean men who like Caucasian women, New York, 1990s, haves and have-nots, pride, kindness, marriage, relationships, family, church, faith, struggling, surviving, class, Asian women/Caucasian men relationships, money, debts, working at a bank Year it was published: 2007 Summary: Casey Han's four years at Princeton gave her many things, "But no job and a number of bad habits." Casey's parents, who live in Queens, are Korean immigrants working in a dry cleaner, desperately trying to hold on to their culture and their identity. Their daughter, on the other hand, has entered into rarified American society via scholarships. But after graduation, Casey sees the reality of having expensive habits without the means to sustain them. As she navigates Manhattan, we see her life and the lives...

Name of Book: Whats is Forgiven Author: C.F. Yetmen ISBN: 978-0-9988890-0-9 Publisher: Ypsillon & Co. Press Part of a Series: Anna Klein Trilogy Type of book: Post WWII Germany, 1945, relationships, decisions, gray life, Holocaust, Lebensborn, families, romances, Monument Men, high stakes decisions, resources Year it was published: 2017 Summary: “What is Forgiven is danger, mystery and intrigue wrapped around a love story, but it’s much more than that: it’s an in-depth study of loyalty, justice and the moral aftermath of the war.” Martha Louise Hunter, Author, Painting Juliana At the end of 1945 in a shattered Germany, Anna Klein is faced with tough choices about her future. Her plum job working as a translator for Captain Henry Cooper, one of the American Monuments Men, means she has a house and an income, as well as hands-on access to some of the world’s most precious art. But her life is falling apart on all fronts: her family is displaced, the boy in her...

Name of Book: The Roses Underneath Author: C.F. Yetmen ISBN: 978-0-615-86836-3 Publisher: Ypsilon &Co. Press Part of a Series: Anna Klein Trilogy Type of book: Post WWII Germany, 1945, Monuments Men, paintings, art, families, mother/daughter relationships, translation, filing, scarcity, mystery, Lebensborn, Hitler's museum, complicity Year it was published: 2014 Summary: It is August 1945 in Wiesbaden, Germany. With the country in ruins, Anna Klein, displaced and separated from her beloved husband, struggles to support herself and her six-year old daughter Amalia. Her job typing forms at the Collecting Point for the US Army’s Monuments Men is the only thing keeping her afloat. Charged with securing Nazi-looted art and rebuilding Germany’s monuments, the Americans are on the hunt for stolen treasures. But after the horrors of the war, Anna wants only to hide from the truth and rebuild a life with her family. When the easy-going American Captain Henry Coop...

Name of Book: The Service of the Dead Author: Candace Robb ISBN: 978-1-68177-127-4 Publisher: Prometheus Part of a Series: Kate Clifford Mysteries Type of book: 1399, family, England, widow, woman, resourcefulness, mystery, life, Richard II, feuds, war, weapons Year it was published: 2016 Summary: Political unrest permeates York at the cusp of the fifteenth century, as warring factions take sides on who should be the rightful king--Richard II or his estranged, powerful cousin in exile, Henry Bolingbroke. Independent minded twenty-year-old Kate Clifford is struggling to dig out from beneath the debt left by her late husband. Determined to find a way to be secure in her own wealth and establish her independence in a male dominated society, Kate turns one of her properties near the minster into a guest house and sets up a business. In a dance of power, she also quietly rents the discreet bedchambers to the wealthy, powerful merchants of York for nights with their mis...

Name of Book:  The Vineyard Author:  Maria Duenas ISBN:   B071DDL9V3 Publisher: Atria Year it was published: 2017 Summary: The New York Times bestselling author of The Time in Between returns with a magnificent new novel set in 1860s Mexico City, Havana, and Spain about a self-made man who loses his fortune overnight but finds his destiny as he works to restore a legendary vineyard to its former glory, and to win the love of the combative widow who once owned the property. Mauro Larrea sees the fortune that he had built after years of hardship and toil come crashing down on the heels of a calamitous event. Swamped by debts and uncertainty, he gambles the last of his last money in a daring move that offers him the opportunity to resuscitate his fortune. But when the unsettling Soledad Montalvo, wife of a London wine merchant, comes into his life, her passionate intensity lures him toward an unanticipated future. The Vineyard spans diverse worlds...

Name of Book: White Chrysanthemum Author: Mary Lynn Bracht ISBN:   B0722T7JXQ Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Year it was published: 2018 Summary: The Korean Nightingale, a sweeping historical debut for fans of Lilac Girls, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Kristin Hannah that brings to life the heartbreaking history of Korea through the deeply moving and redemptive story of two sisters separated by World War II. Korea, 1943. Hana has lived her entire life under Japanese occupation. Following her mother’s footsteps into the sea as a haenyeo, one of the famed female divers of beautiful Jeju Island, she enjoys an independence that few other Koreans can still claim. Until the day Hana witnesses a Japanese soldier threatening her beloved younger sister on shore. Desperate to save her, Hana is captured and transported to Manchuria where she is forced to become a comfort woman in a Japanese brothel. But haenyeo are women of power and strength and Hana holds close the lesson...

Name of Book: Louisiana Catch Author: Sweta Srivastava Vikram ISBN: 978-1-61599-352-9 Publisher: Modern History Press Type of book: India, New Delhi, abuse, relationships, divorced women, New York, Louisiana, catfish, friendships, modern times, conference, hidden strengths Year it was published: 2018 Summary: A grieving daughter and abuse survivor must summon the courage to run a feminist conference, trust a man she meets over the Internet, and escape a catfishing stalker to find her power. Ahana, a wealthy thirty-three-year-old New Delhi woman, flees the pain of her mother's death, and her dark past, by accepting a huge project in New Orleans, where she'll coordinate an annual conference to raise awareness of violence against women. Her half-Indian, half-Irish colleague and public relations guru, Rohan Brady, who helps Ahana develop her online presence, offends her prim sensibilities with his raunchy humor. She is convinced that he's a womanizer. Mea...

Book Details: Book Title: The Ticket by Fred Shackelford Category: Adult Fiction, 320 pages Genre: Mystery/Suspense Publisher: Black Opal Books Release date: December 2016 Tour dates: April 2 to 13, 2018 Content Rating: PG Book Description: Channing Booker, a compulsive gambler, drug abuser, and philanderer whose marriage is failing, finally gets lucky and wins the Mega Millions lottery. Expecting an imminent divorce, and hoping to hide his new fortune from his wife Susan, Channing devises a scheme to have a friend claim the $241-million jackpot and secretly return the money to Channing after the divorce is final. But Susan flees with all of her possessions, including the rare book in which Channing hid the winning lottery ticket. With time running out before the lottery ticket expires, Channing launches a desperate search to find Susan, but she’s covered her tracks well, fearing his retribution. In need of money to fund her furtive new lifestyle, Sus...