Genre: War Drama

Blog Book Tour | “Repentance” by Andrew Lam One part medical drama, one part war drama – this is a uniquely told realistic look into how a father and son come to terms of their disconnection.

Posted Wednesday, 15 May, 2019 by jorielov Andrew Lam, Repentance, Tiny Fox Press 4 Comments

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! HFVBTs is one of the very first touring companies I started working with as a 1st Year Book Blogger – uniting my love and passion with Historical Fiction and the lovely sub-genres inside which I love devouring. It has been a wicked fantastical journey into the heart of the historic past, wherein I’ve been blessed truly by discovering new timescapes, new living realities of the persons who once lived (ie. Biographical Historical Fiction) inasmuch as itched my healthy appetite for Cosy Historical Mysteries! If there is a #HistRom out there it is generally a beloved favourite and I love soaking into a wicked wonderful work of Historical Fiction where you feel the beauty of the historic world, the depth of the characters and the joyfulness in which the historical novelists brought everything to light in such a lovingly diverse palette of portraiture of the eras we become time travellers through their stories.

I received a complimentary ARC copy of “Repentance” direct from the publisher Tiny Fox Press in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I was drawn towards “Repentance”:

As you know, I love reading a heap of Historical Fiction throughout the year – I’ve had to pull back from reading certain kinds of war dramas these past several years, ever since I read Citadel and found myself unable to ‘let go’ of the haunting story of what happened during that period of the war after I concluded my readings of it. It was a firm reminder that we all have limitations in our readerly lives and it also, encouraged me to seek out the writers who are writing human interest stories set during the war generation as much as the stories on the homefront or the after effects of war in the ensuing years following the end of WWII.

I have previously read a Historical drama set round the internment of the Japanese in America during WWII – it opened my eyes to what they went through but also, how I hadn’t learnt nearly enough in school to see a fuller picture of what was going on during the forties and how there are hidden pockets of information kept just out of reach until we find a writer who can bridge the past to the present – re-affirming a lost generation’s truth and instilling us with a memory of the past which bears reckoning to acknowledge in the present. This first story I read was called “How Much Do You Love Me?” by Paul Mark Tag – it is keenly insightful and I loved how he paced the revelations of what is disclosed. You truly feel jettisoned back to a time where Japanese were dealing with the impossible and where the mindset in America was not as it is today..

This is the second novel I’ve found highlighting this hidden history and I was thankful it also lead me to discovering a new #IndiePub at the same time! I am always overjoyed whenever I find a new publisher in the Indie side of publishing as I love championing Independent Press & Publishers who are publishing the stories which might have become overlooked by larger publishers of the same genre(s) of interest.

Repentance
by Andrew Lam
Source: Publisher via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

France, October 1944. A Japanese American war hero has a secret.

A secret so awful he’d rather die than tell anyone–one so entwined with the brave act that made him a hero that he’s determined never to speak of the war. Ever.

Decades later his son, Daniel Tokunaga, a world-famous cardiac surgeon, is perplexed when the U.S. government comes calling, wanting to know about his father’s service with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during WWII. Something terrible happened while his father was fighting the Germans in France, and the Department of Defense won’t stop its investigation until it’s determined exactly who did what.

Wanting answers of his own, Daniel upends his life to find out what his father did on a small, obscure hilltop half a world away. As his quest for the truth unravels his family’s catastrophic past, the only thing for certain is that nothing–his life, career, and family–can ever be the same again.

Genres: Historical Fiction, War Drama

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781946501127

Also by this author: Repentance Interview (Andrew Lam)

Published by Tiny Fox Press

on 1st May, 2019

Format: Paperback ARC

Pages: 297

Published By: Tiny Fox Press (@TinyFoxPress)

Formats Available: Trade Paperback and Ebook

About Andrew Lam

Andrew Lam, M.D., is the award-winning author of Repentance, Two Sons of China, and Saving Sight. His writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Born in Philadelphia and raised in central Illinois, he graduated summa cum laude in history from Yale University, where he studied military history and U.S.-East Asian relations. He then attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by specialty training to become a retinal surgeon. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and resides in western Massachusetts with his wife and four children.

His newest book is Repentance, a historical novel and riveting family drama entwined with the history of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a group of Japanese American soldiers who fought valiantly in Europe during WWII while many of their families were incarcerated in camps like Manzanar at home. The 442nd became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | LibraryThing

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Posted Wednesday, 15 May, 2019 by jorielov in 20th Century, Author Interview, Blog Tour Host, Content Note, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, The World Wars, Vulgarity in Literature

Author Interview | Learning about Nellie Bly and the vision Kate Braithwaite had of her life as shared with us through her novel “The Girl Puzzle”

Posted Monday, 6 May, 2019 by jorielov Crooked Cat Books, Kate Braitwaite, The Girl Puzzle 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts,

When I originally signed on for this blog tour, I had confused it with another tour – I had a lot on my mind at the time and for whichever reason, I had two of the titles confused for each other. When the novel arrived by Post, I was quite surprised and then, a bit worried – could I handle reading the story or would it be a bit much for me? Over the past years I’ve been blogging my readerly life – there are some stories which I have had a bonefide interest in reading but had learnt the harder truth that some stories out there are just not my cuppa tea or they are a bit outside the scope of what I regularly read – to where something inside them has affected me.

When it came to sorting out how to read about Nellie Bly – my first instinct was to think this might be too much for me as when I read “Emmy Nation” I found myself having issues getting through some of the harder points within the story-line as much as I generally have noticed plots surrounding asylums are ones which are a bit much for me to handle as they tend to dig into areas I might not personally feel motivated to explore.

Despite having a bad week with my Spring allergies which led-in to a migraine as I had a side effect to the new allergy medicine I was taking – I did attempt to read “The Girl Puzzle” which is how this interview was inspired to be shared with my readers. I was hoping to get further along than where I had left off for the questions I pitched to the author in this conversation – however, my head has been crushing me and the allergies – unfortunately are quite severe at the moment to where I haven’t had the chance to give this story the attention it deserved. I wasn’t sure if I could finish the story as it were but I had wanted to progress a bit more into the story – as one thing I observed about how it was written is how well in-tune Ms Braithwaite was with Nellie and how she understand the people she surrounded herself with in life. I found Bly to be a complicated woman but one whom understood herself well and kept her circle of acquaintances to those of whom would understand her best. I believed Braithwaite might have actually tapped into a truer voice of whom Bly had been as she had lived her life similar to how Fowler gave us “Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald”.

I hope as you read through this interview, you’ll have a better scope of understanding this infamous woman from History but with the sensibility Braithwaite instilled into her story. She truly loves writing Historicals and breathing new life and awareness into the people she is exploring through her own vision of their lives.

Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa, sit in a comfy chair and enjoy where the conversation leads! If your a reader of Historical novels with a penchant for Biographical Historical Fiction (as much as I am) I hope this conversation might encourage you to pick up this novel.

The Girl Puzzle Interview (Kate Braithwaite)
by Kate Braithwaite

Her published story is well known. But did she tell the whole truth about her ten days in the madhouse?

Down to her last dime and offered the chance of a job of a lifetime at The New York World, twenty-three-year old Elizabeth Cochrane agrees to get herself admitted to Blackwell’s Island Lunatic Asylum and report on conditions from the inside. But what happened to her poor friend, Tilly Mayard? Was there more to her high praise of Dr Frank Ingram than everyone knew?

Thirty years later, Elizabeth, known as Nellie Bly, is no longer a celebrated trailblazer and the toast of Newspaper Row. Instead, she lives in a suite in the Hotel McAlpin, writes a column for The New York Journal and runs an informal adoption agency for the city’s orphans.

Beatrice Alexander is her secretary, fascinated by Miss Bly and her causes and crusades. Asked to type up a manuscript revisiting her employer’s experiences in the asylum in 1887, Beatrice believes she’s been given the key to understanding one of the most innovative and daring figures of the age.

Genres: Historical Fiction, War Drama

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781798936382

Published by Crooked Cat Books

on 5th May, 2019

Published By: Crooked Cat Books (@crookedcatbooks)

Formats Available: Trade Paperback and Ebook

How did you approach digging into the truer history and legacy of Nellie Bly after so much has been disclosed on her behalf? How did you find a new voice to bring her life into our purview which would give us a better insight into who she was and what had motivated her personally as well as professionally?

Braithwaite responds: My starting point for getting to know Nellie Bly was with her own writing. I bought and a copy of Ten Days in a Madhouse and read it in one sitting. In some ways it was a let-down – I think I was expecting great drama, but Nellie was a newspaper reporter, tasked with setting out facts. She didn’t dwell on how the experience felt to her at all, but that was the aspect that really intrigued me. After all, she was only 23 years old in 1887. So I kept reading about her.

I read Brooke Kroeger’s excellent biography and Matthew Goodman’s wonderful book about Nellie and Elisabeth Bisland racing around the world. From Kroeger’s biography I was able to source articles from Nellie’s life after her great initial success and that gave me a whole new perspective on her story. Although there is a very public record of her work, she was very private and didn’t keep diaries or write volumes of deeply personal letters. For a novelist, that can be mean opportunity. It’s often the gaps in the record where you explore the most. That said, I kept rigidly to her biography, while trying to convey my idea of who she must have been as a person. Read More

Posted Monday, 6 May, 2019 by jorielov in Author Interview, Blog Tour Host, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

#PubDay Author Interview | Discovering a new voice in war drama [Andrew Lam] and a lovely new #IndiePub in the process (Tiny Fox Press) – “Repentance” celebrates its #bookbirthday, today!

Posted Wednesday, 1 May, 2019 by jorielov Andrew Lam, Repentance, Tiny Fox Press 2 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts,

I wanted to have a healthy conversation to begin my journey into “Repentance” inasmuch as the fact, I was blessed with the ability to kick-off the blog tour! As you will soon read – Dr Lam and I openly discuss the key components of his novel alongside his writing process and what motivates him as a Historical novelist. It is a wonderful conversation which roots you into his passion for war dramas but also, highlights how the stories of the people are an illumination of hope and strength for all of us.

Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa, sit in a comfy chair and enjoy where the conversation leads! If your a reader of Historical novels & war dramas, I hope this conversation might encourage you to pick up this novel. Also, how lovely is it the tour begins on “Repentance”‘s #bookbirthday!?

Repentance Interview (Andrew Lam)
by Andrew Lam

France, October 1944. A Japanese American war hero has a secret.

A secret so awful he’d rather die than tell anyone–one so entwined with the brave act that made him a hero that he’s determined never to speak of the war. Ever.

Decades later his son, Daniel Tokunaga, a world-famous cardiac surgeon, is perplexed when the U.S. government comes calling, wanting to know about his father’s service with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during WWII. Something terrible happened while his father was fighting the Germans in France, and the Department of Defense won’t stop its investigation until it’s determined exactly who did what.

Wanting answers of his own, Daniel upends his life to find out what his father did on a small, obscure hilltop half a world away. As his quest for the truth unravels his family’s catastrophic past, the only thing for certain is that nothing–his life, career, and family–can ever be the same again.

Genres: Historical Fiction, War Drama

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781946501127

Also by this author: Repentance

Published by Tiny Fox Press

on 1st May, 2019

Published By: Tiny Fox Press (@TinyFoxPress)

Formats Available: Trade Paperback and Ebook

I have a particular interest in reading war dramas – however, I’ve shifted my focus into human interest stories from the war generations and/or stories of the homefront moreso than direct narratives set at war. What interested me most about your novel is how you’ve presented a curious question suspending through a narrative anchoured to WWII. What originally inspired the story behind “Repentance” and what did you hope readers who love reading war dramas would recognize as uniquely different about how you approached writing this story?

Lam responds: Great question. My inspiration for the novel was the amazing true story of WWII’s 442^nd Regimental Combat Team, which became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history. The 442^nd was a segregated unit of Japanese American soldiers that fought with uncommon valor in Europe while many of them had families unjustly incarcerated in internment camps (like Manzanar) at home. They fought ferociously to prove they were just as loyal as other Americans.

But you’re right, I DID want to do something very different. Because there are already many books and even movies that pay homage to these heroes, I did not want my novel to simply glorify the soldiers and victimize the internees. My goal was to humanize the Japanese American WWII experience. So, instead of writing a novel about a “hero,” I wrote one about a coward. I’ve tried to show how combat can make ordinary men behave in surprising and unexpected ways, some good, some bad, and how the effects of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) can adversely affect veterans and their families for the rest of their lives. I’ve tried to humanize this history, which I hope makes the sacrifices of our WWII heroes even more poignant. Read More

Posted Wednesday, 1 May, 2019 by jorielov in 20th Century, Author Interview, Blog Tour Host, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, The World Wars

Author Interview | #JorieReads a healthy array of #HistFic but it is a rare treat of golden blissitude to find such a hearty entry for #YA #HistoricalFiction such as “All is Fair” by Dee Garretson

Posted Wednesday, 23 January, 2019 by jorielov All is Fair, Dee Garretson, Feiwel & Friends, MacMillian Publishers, Swoon Reads 3 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I am wicked thrilled to bring to you this riveting conversation I had with Ms Garriston – whose written an engaging Historical narrative set during war where the women who were codebreakers truly impacted all of our lives & redirected History one code at a time. I was instantly keen to read this lovely due to my love of the new series #BletchleyCircle which is rooted in the original series which laid down the foundation of the new serial via BritBox which takes place in San Francisco after the war has ended.

The actresses who portray the women bring history to life in such a way as to prove how difficult it was to be a woman who had an intellectual mind in a day & age where using your mind to fuell your career was not acceptable nor understood by men. Or, in many regards by fellow women who felt a woman’s place was in the home and not in the workforce. This series also highlights how hard it was for these women who were on the cutting edge of breaking codes during the war who had to step back into civilian life as if their work during the war years *never happened* and how that impacted their spirits and minds after they tried to resume life as if nothing had happened at all.

Having seen the first few episodes of #BletchleyCircle and one of the original episodes – I knew I was keen to enter into the world of spies, codes and the Historical backdrop Gerriston was going to give us in her story “All Is Fair”. As the tour only had ecopies available for review (as you know as a migraineur I can only read print or listen to audio) I opted instead to host a conversation with her as I wanted to tuck into her writerly process, the components of the story itself and how Historical Fiction illuminates such an enriched knowledge of humanity’s past, present and future.

All is Fair
by Dee Garretson

Lady Mina Tretheway knows she’s destined for greater things than her fancy boarding school, where she’s being taught to be a proper English lady. It’s 1918, and war is raging across Europe. Unlike her father and brother, who are able to assist in the war effort, Mina is stuck sorting out which fork should be used with which dinner course.

When Mina receives a telegram that’s written in code, she finally has her chance to do something big. She returns to her childhood home of Hallington Manor, joined by a family friend, Lord Andrew Graham, and a dashing and mysterious young American, Lucas. The three of them must band together to work on a dangerous project that could turn the tide of the war.

Thrilled that she gets to contribute to the war effort at least, Mina jumps headfirst into the world of cryptic messages, spycraft, and international intrigue. She, Lucas, and Andrew have to work quickly, because if they don’t succeed, more soldiers will disappear into the darkness of war.

Genres: Feminist Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction, Spy Fiction, War Drama, Young Adult Fiction

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1250168696

Published by Feiwel & Friends, Swoon Reads

on 22nd January, 2019

Published by: Swoon Reads (@SwoonReads)
a publishing subsidiary of Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan

Formats available: Hardback and Ebook

Converse on Twitter via: #YALit & #HistoricalFiction; #CodeBreakers

as well as #HistFic & #HistNov or for readers who love #BletchleyCircle

About Dee Garretson

Dee writes contemporary, science fiction and historical adventure stories for a wide range of ages. Her books have been chosen as Junior Library Guild selections, the Scholastic Book Club, and have been nominated for numerous state awards lists. In addition to books published under her own name, she also writes for the Boxcar Children series.

Posted Wednesday, 23 January, 2019 by jorielov in 20th Century, Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight, Children's Literature, Code-breakers and Ciphers, Feminine Heroism, Historical Fiction, History, Reader Submitted Author Interview, The World Wars, War Drama, Xpresso Book Tours, Young Adult Fiction

#SaturdaysAreBookish | “The War Between Us” by Sarah Creviston Lee

Posted Saturday, 8 December, 2018 by jorielov Sarah Creviston Lee, Self Published, The War Between Us 4 Comments

In keeping with the change of name for my Romance & Women’s Fiction Twitter chat [@SatBookChat previously known as @ChocLitSaturday] – I am announcing a change of features here on Jorie Loves A Story. Since January, 2014 I carved out a niche of focus which I named #ChocLitSaturdays as I have felt the best time to read romantic and dramatic stories are the weekends. This spun into a Twitter chat featuring the authors of ChocLit whilst I supplied weekly topics which would appeal to readers, writers and book bloggers alike. We grew into our own Saturday tribe of chatters – then, somewhere round the time of my father’s stroke in late [2016] and the forthcoming year of [2017] I started to feel less inspired to host the chat.

I had new plans to re-invent the chat in its new incantation as @SatBookChat but I also wanted to re-invent the complimentary showcases on my blog which would reflect the diversity of stories, authors and publishers I would be featuring on the chat itself. As at the root and heart of #ChocLitSaturday the chat were the stories I was reading which complimented the conversations.

After a difficult year for [personal health & wellness] this 2018, I began anew this Autumn – selecting the stories to resume where I left off featuring the Romance & Women’s Fiction authors I am discovering to read whilst highlighting a story by the author I am chatting with during #SatBookChat. Every (forthcoming) Saturday will feature a different author who writes either Romance or Women’s Fiction – wherein I concluded the year of hosting @SatBook during October & November featuring special guest authors whose stories I have either read, were reading or had hoped to read in the future if their newer releases. Going forward, the reviews on Saturdays might inspire the topics in the forthcoming chats or they might be directly connected to the current guest author.

Our holiday break for the month of December will find us resuming #SatBookChat the week after New Year’s, 2019 where new guests and new stories will lay down the foundation of inspiring the topics, the conversations and the bookish recommendations towards promoting Romance & Women’s Fiction.

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “The War Between Us” direct from the author Sarah Creviston Lee in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

On reading about the author:

What is interesting is the story within The War Between Us was directly inspired by the author’s Great Aunt and Uncle, though, her Aunt married a Chinese man during the war era not Korean, which is where history and the novel take their separate directions. What is curious is how her Great Aunt went against convention and traditionalism at a time in our history where being independently different was challenging. I also, noticed it was quite lovely to think her Great Aunt was inspired to take a risk in love due to a book she had read – as it speaks to the embodiment of life bubbling inside the pages of the stories we’re reading – of how, stories themselves can ignite inspiration for life and how sometimes, it is the stories which guide us forward.

The artfulness of her attention to details and the clever passageways she took towards researching this novel was wonderful to read about – as I especially love when authors go into a bit of detail about how their stories took shape. There is a process behind the words – of where the research encourages the writer deepen into the heart of the narrative – which you can clearly see is true of Ms Lee as you read the Appendixes of this novel. She happily shares all the little bits of real life vs fictional life with you – from how she sourced her information to how she fell in love with war era rationing cooking!

I also hadn’t heard V-Mail described as easily as she had herself – as it gave a better impression of why it was was a preferred way of writing correspondences during the war and how it helped everyone stay in touch far faster than traditionally posted letters! It was these kinds of tidbits which made reading the end pages of the novel ahead of the story itself a charming way of feeling introduced to the writer’s style, her inspiring story of what fuelled her passion for writing this novel and all the curious bits we, as writers, discover along the path of carving out a story from the ethos of our imaginations!

The War Between Us
by Sarah Creviston Lee
Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

Alex Moon is not the enemy.

Six months after Pearl Harbor’s tragedy, Korean American Alex Moon is sent away from his home in California for refusing his father’s request to join the fight against the Japanese. On his journey, Alex is attacked and stranded in the small town of River Bluff, Indiana just for looking like America’s most hated enemy.

Unexpectedly, Alex is befriended by a local girl, Lonnie Hamilton, who comes to his defense, saving him from doubt and despair while placing herself in the cross hairs of prejudice. Alex falls in love with his ally—a love that is clearly forbidden. Torn between his dual identities, Korean and American, and grappling with how everyone sees him, Alex must wage the war within himself—of defending who he is, resolving his tortured feelings about the war, and fighting for the woman he loves.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, War Drama

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781516988679

Published by Self Published

on 14th December, 2015

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 330

Self-Published Author

Converse via: #HistFic or #HistNov

Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook

About Sarah Creviston Lee

Sarah Creviston Lee was born and raised as a proud Hoosier. She can usually be found tinkering in the kitchen with WWII ration recipes, haunting local antique shops, homeschooling her kids, clacking away on her laptop writing one story or another, or watching old school movies with her family.

She currently lives in Maryland with her husband, three children, and flock of feisty chickens.

In 2016, her book, The War Between Us, received the Editor’s Choice Award from the Historical Novel Society.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2018 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Saturday, 8 December, 2018 by jorielov in #SaturdaysAreBookish, 20th Century, Aftermath of World War II, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Indie Author, Postal Mail | Letters & Correspondence, the Forties, The World Wars