Thomas Nelson Fiction

Whenever You Come Around by Robin Lee Hatcher

April 14, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

In need of a quiet place to write her novel, Charity Anderson returns to her parents’ home in Kings Meadow, Idaho after because her house has flooded and is undergoing renovations. Returning to the small town and reliving painful memories is not the best option for Charity, it is her only option. And to top everything off, Buck Malone, her high school crush, lives next door. When Charity’s dog causes Buck a broken wrist and ankle, a loss of employment, and a lot of downtime, there is no choice but for Charity to assist her neighbor as he recovers. As she spends more time with him, she bases the hero for her romance novel off of him

Buck is perfectly content with his life. Perhaps he never went to college and gave up some dreams, but he has no complaints about his bachelor lifestyle. The more time he spends with Charity, the less he’s convinced remaining a bachelor is what he really wants. He senses pain and sadness in Charity but she shuts down whenever he tries to get her to talk. Should he get involved emotionally? And what will happen when Charity moves back to her home in Boise?

As a former resident of Idaho, I really enjoy Hatcher’s books and the memories of the area (this one even mentioned my alma mater—University of Idaho in Moscow). I’ve been small towns like Kings Meadow. There are plenty of them. But what is even better about the books are the characters. In Whenever You Come Around, both Charity and, especially Buck, are likable. Sure, Charity is running from mistakes she’d made in her past and hiding from her friends and her family. Buck is hiding in a way too but it’s not as obvious as it is with Charity. Loved the addition of Charity’s dog in this one too. Cocoa is another character in her own right. There are some familiar faces in the book as well but this story is most definitely built around Charity and Buck and their story.

Release date: May 12

Thomas Nelson Fiction provided me with a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and fair review. All opinions expressed are my own.

A Sparrow in Terezin by Kristy Cambron

March 30, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

Sera James looks forward to marrying William Hanover, but when they are immersed in a legal battle immediately after their wedding, the life she’s dreamed of now becomes a nightmare she never anticipated. As she and William fight to clear his name, William’s refusal to open up to her about his past causes Sera even more concert. When she’s given some more life changing news, she’s determined to solve the mystery.

In 1939, Kàja Mokovsky flees Nazi-occupied Prague at her parents’ request with a promise in her heart that she will return to her beloved city some day. Working in London as a secretary at the Daily Telegraph, Kàja is thrown into the war during the London Blitz. When a report comes across her desk stating Jews are being killed by the thousands, she knows she must return to Prague to find her half-Jewish family.

Kristy Cambron once again seamlessly combines the two stories throughout A Sparrow in Terezin. I enjoyed spending time with William, Sera, Penny, and Sophia again (from The Butterfly and the Violin) and the struggle between Sera and William is true-to-life (marriage still takes work after you say, “I do.”). While it took a little longer for the connection between the two stories to come together, once they did, there were two mysteries that held my interest through the end of the book. Cambron’s insight into the children in the concentration camps and ghettos is original and tugs on the heartstrings. While her stories are fiction, they are steeped in the real horrors and atrocities of the Nazi regime.
While heavy reading, I found myself crying a couple times during this one, The Sparrow in Terezin is steeped in hope—the hope of a happy future for the main characters. Cambron is quickly becoming one of my new favorite authors, and I can’t wait to see what she shares with her readers next. You will definitely want to pick this one up (available everywhere April 7)

****Thoman Nelson Fiction (via NetGalley) provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. All opinions expressed are my own