A Girl Child – Donna Nitz Muller

Started – 3/7/13

Finished – 6/7/13

Format – Kindle e-book

 

Synopsis – Tillie is a German concert pianist in 1915. She is assigned by the German Military to an American tour in order to provide good-will and to spy. All the while she does her duty, she has an agenda of her own. She must rescue her sister from kidnappers. Tillie changes from a young lady on the brink of promise to a resourceful woman willing to sacrifice everything. As Tillie learns, desperate times lead to desperate acts. Her journey takes her from Frankfurt to Washington DC to France and to England. Even as she runs for her life, she finds love with a German Intelligence Officer. While she risks being shot as a spy, she performs her music. While she grieves for her fallen friends, she works to reach the child, Rose.

 

My Thoughts – I downloaded this book onto my kindle as it was free for a day and it had a lot of things in it that i thought I might enjoy reading. It is set during the first world war, it has Germany in it and is also about spying so I thought it might be a good book.

 

However I didnt really enjoy this book. It seemed to jump about a fair bit and it could have been a lot better if it had been padded out a bit more and things explained as to why it was all happening. This book had two plots one that involved the spying and one that involved Tillie getting her sister back. FOr some reason it seemed to have been thrown together a bit and should have concentrated on one or the other.

 

This book is the second in ther series and while i havent read the first i didnt think that it made all that much sense. I did enjoy reading about the German side of the first world war though.

 

Rating – 2/5

Its Monday! What are you Reading? (8th July)

Its Monday! What are you Reading? is a weekly bookish meme held on Book Journey by Sheila. It’s a great place to discuss your week in reading and see what others are reading too.

Books Read

This is the first week that I have managed to read more than one book in a week for a long  long time! The first book I read was Brothers Fury by Giles Kristian. I got sent this from the publishers and it is set in the English Civil War. It is the second book in a series but have not yet read the first, something I will be sorting out very soon! I really enjoyed the book and I’m hoping that there are more in the series as it ends on rather a big cliff hanger.

 

 

 

I am currrently reading Mistress of the Sea by Jenny Barden. I got sent this book by the publishers too and I only started it last night so I am hoping that its going to be good. Its a book about sailing to the new world so it does sound very good!

Up Next

Next up is a book from my kindle one that I downloaded a long time ago but have never started, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I have never read a Dickens book, much to my shame but hopefully I’ll end up loving it.

Synopsis – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, “It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known” – so the novel begins and ends with  some of Dicken’s best-known words, and between the two is every Briton’s view of  the worst excesses of the French Revolution.

Brothers’ Fury – GIles Kristian

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Started – 22/6/13

Finished – 3/7/13

Format – Paperback Book

 

Synopsis –

Rebel Cast out from his home, rejected by his family, Tom Rivers returns to his regiment. But his commander believes the young hothead’s recklessness and contempt for authority has no place in his troop. But to a spymaster like Captain Crafte, Tom’s dark and fearless nature is in itself a weapon to be turned upon the hated Cavaliers – who else would dare to infiltrate Oxford, now the Royalist capital, to destroy the King’s printing press and strike a blow at the very heart of the enemy? Renegade Raw with grief at the death of his father, Edmund Rivers rejects the peace talks between Parliament and the King. He chooses instead to lead a hardened band of marauders across the moors, appearing out of the frozen world to fall on unsuspecting rebel columns like wolves. But Prince Rupert – recognising in Mun a fellow child of war – has other plans for him, from stealing a colossal gun, to tunneling beneath the walls of Lichfield. The only peace the enemy will get from Mun Rivers is that of the grave. Huntress Her heart broken following the deaths of her beloved Emmanuel and her father, Bess Rivers takes the hardest decision of her life: to leave her new-born son and depart Sheer House in search of tghe one person who might help her re-unite what is left of her broken family. Risking her own life on the road, Bess will do whatever it takes to find her brother Tom and secure his Royal pardon

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My Thoughts – I was sent this book by the publishers for a review.

 

Tom Rivers is a rebel fighting the King’s army during the British civil war. Left for dead on a battlefeild and nursed back to health after having his finger cut off by looters for his ring he has a point to prove to all those on the enemy side.

 

Edmund ‘Mun’ Rivers is fighting for the Kings course however he is now fighting with a group of marauders killing those who fight against the King.

 

Bess Rivers fresh from the loss of her father and Emmanuel, the father of her young son, sets off on a task to search out her brother for a royal pardon. However in order to do this she has to cross the English countryside during the civil war.

 

This is a very interesting book set during the Bristish civil war about three siblings that all have there own struggles to contend with while trying to stay alive and reach there own personal goals. I have read a few books set in this time period however they are normally on one side or the other. What makes this book unique is the fact that the story is told from both sides and more interestingly from the perspective of two brothers, both of whom think that there side is the better and should be the ones winning the war.

 

The brothers story is full of action and what it was like to fight during those times. It also brings into perspective just how many people died from the British Civil War. At times there is a lot of battle scenes and these are a little gorey but what with the type of book that it is it is to be expected and also to add to the story. It was a little sad with some of the battle scenes where some of the horses died but again that is another factor of the war during that time.

 

Bess’ story broke up the fighting and i feel that this really made the book. She is trying to get her brother back and get him a pardon but he proves to be a difficult person to find. She is not without danger though and this is told throughout the book.

 

This is the second book in the trilogy and unfortunatly I have not read the first one but now that I have read the second I really want to read the book. I found it very easy to pick up the story and while it may have been easier to pick up the story first if I had read the first in the series it wasnt to hard to get into it.

 

I found this book very easy to get into and I really enjoyed the story to it. I am going to get my hands on the first book in the series and also I cant wait for the next book to come out as it left on a very big cliffhanger.

 

Rating – 4/5

June 2013 Book Round Up

Wow its the first day of July already! Where did that come from? I’ve not had the most fantastic of months this month. I was ill for around a week and then I quit my job so I’ve been very stressed out. Unfortunatly this has impacted on my reading rather a lot.  According to Goodreads I am 16 books behind my target of 80 books. I have read 23 out of 80 books or 21% of my target reached. I really need to have a good month this month if i am going to have any hope of reaching my goal.

Books Read

22)The Crimson Petal and the White – Michel Faber (2012 book, paperback book)  I really enjoyed this book. It was the choice for the reading circle for the month and I really got into it. It was a massive book though at 700 pages long so this took me most of the month to read.

23)Avery Nolan: Private Dick of the Dead – Tony Faville (2012 book, e-book) I brought this when I first got my kindle and if I’m honest I didnt really enjoy it much.

Books carried over

I am currently reading Brothers Fury by Giles Kristian. I got sent this book from the publishers and I’ve finally had the time to pick it up. I am really enjoying this book. I’m about halfway through already.

Reading Challenges

Rory Gilmore – The Crimson Petal and the White.

Books Brought

Mistress of the Sea – Jenny Barden

How I Live Now – Meg Rosoff

The String Diaries – Stephen Lloyd Jones