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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Dec 17, 2021  
Cover reveal alert! Check out the awesome cover for PERFECT PAYBACK, a mystery/thriller/suspense, by Bill Briscoe! (This book sounds amazing!)

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/12/cover-reveal-perfect-payback-pepperman.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
When Jim and Laura Pepperman find a musty German Olympic jacket and an old journal in their attic, they stumble onto a gripping pre-World War II story of a cousin Jim knows nothing about.

After a career-ending injury forces Hans Pepperman to lose his spot on the 1936 Olympic boxing team, he trades his athletic aspirations for a degree in mechanical engineering and secures his dream job working for the famous Willy Messerschmitt. Tasked to solve the stalling issues of the BF109 fighter plane engine, Hans finds himself smack in the middle of the Abwher Intelligence Service’s radar. Pro-Germany but anti-Nazi, he reluctantly agrees to help flush out the spy leaking secret information on the BF109 engine to foreign agencies . . . and finds himself a suspect of espionage and murder. Unsure who to trust, he must unravel the tangle of lies he’s caught in before he falls prey to the Nazi agenda slowly and stealthily taking over the country he loves.
     
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Merissa (12069 KP) rated A Lightness in My Soul in Books

Jan 18, 2021 (Updated Aug 7, 2023)  
A Lightness in My Soul
A Lightness in My Soul
Annette Oppenlander | 2020 | Biography, History & Politics
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A LIGHTNESS IN MY SOUL is a fictional novella based on a true story, one that happened in Germany many years ago.

Just like the British evacuated their children, so did the Germans, although not everyone was put into homes, but camps instead. This is a heartbreaking and harrowing tale, told in the first person, as Arthur goes to a KLV camp. You stay with him as he begins to question just what is going on, then the Americans arrive, and you stay with him in the aftermath of that.

The conditions Arthur has to face are very well-written, managing to give the reader the horror and hopelessness of the situation without making it gruesome or unnecessarily violent.

For anyone with an interest in the history of WWII, especially if you are interested in the German perspective, then this is definitely one for your bookshelves. A one-sitting, engrossing read highly recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jan 18, 2021
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2206 KP) rated Danger on the Atlantic in Books

Apr 1, 2022 (Updated Apr 1, 2022)  
Danger on the Atlantic
Danger on the Atlantic
Erica Ruth Neubauer | 2022 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Cruising with a Spy
Jane Wunderly is making her way back to America, but she isn’t crossing the Atlantic alone. She’s crossing with Redvers, and she’s been asked by his employers to help him track down a German spy on board. Then, Jane meets Vanessa, a socialite who claims that her new husband has vanished from the ship. Can she solve the two cases? Or will one distract from the other?

There is plenty going on here, which is why it surprises me to find the pacing is slightly off. It was a bit slow at the beginning and it felt rushed at the end. Overall, there was still a good mystery here with plenty of twists. I didn’t have everything worked out by the end. I loved the setting, and felt like I was traveling in style with Jane. Well, style for 1926. Jane and Redvers are the only returning characters, but I didn’t mind since I loved watching them interacting. The new characters are strong and helped pull me into the book. If you are looking for a charming historical mystery, this series is for you.
  
Flight (Gay Fairy Tales #3)
Flight (Gay Fairy Tales #3)
Keira Andrews, Leta Blake | 2015 | LGBTQ+, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is a retelling of the old Brothers Grimm German classic, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, with an M/M twist put on it by the authors.

Although I enjoyed this one, it didn't have the same impact as Levity did. There just seemed to be something missing. Perhaps it was Mateo's cake? He came across quite well in some parts, spoilt in others, and even cruel as he refused to even think about him loving anybody. Instead, he was happy to use Ópalo as a booty call! I don't think I'm giving away any spoilers when I say that it ends well, after all the Grimm version has been around since 1812! However, the ending just seemed to fizzle out, in a "oh, I realised years ago" way.

I did enjoy this story, just not as much as other books by these authors. Still very well written though, with no editing or grammatical errors that I could see.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jun 14, 2016
  
Friedrichstrasse 19
Friedrichstrasse 19
Emma Harding | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Friedrichstrasse 19 is 6 stories set in the same building over its lifetime. We see Berlin through the eyes of those that lived in the building between 1906 and 2019, and there are some serious historical moments as well as cultural highlights: a woman in the RAF (Rote Armee Fraktion) in 1986; a photographers apprentice in 1906; an unhappily married Jewish woman who meets an actress pre-WW2; the Berlin Airlift post WW2 era, when the actress is trying to find her Jewish lover (she knows there’s little chance); 1969 and a photographer finds a young GDR escapee and decides to help her; 2019, a divorcee originally from the East, who met her ex-husband on the night that the Wall fell.

All intriguing characters and stories that give a glimpse into urban life in Berlin, as well as its history. It probably helped that I was familiar with the history of Germany generally (thanks to a German degree many years ago!), and I make a point of reading fiction set in Germany when/ if I come across it. And this is a pleasure when I come across books like Friedrichstrasse 19!