Setting: Israel Time Period: 1948 I’ve come to really enjoy Robert Elmer’s YA (young adult) novels. This one, True Betrayer, is set in Jerusalem around the time of World War II and is a story of loyalty, trickery and adventure during turbulent times. Elmer’s series are a great way to introduce kids to what happened…
Setting: South Africa Time Period: 1849 – 1850 Over the last few years, I’ve accumulated a lot of ebooks from Amazon Kindle by Andrew Murry. After reading several of them, I wanted to read about the man who wrote such challenging and inspiring works. This biographical novel by Olea Nel is the first in a…
Setting: Barbados and US Time Period: Modern Day “Second Chance” by Nicole Taylor is a chic flick novel with a millionaire, Hollywood style plot. She’s a model – he’s a movie star – and they just happen to have enough in common to fall in love. And by in love, I mean marriage. So often,…
Setting: Philippines Time Period: 1981 A cruise to the Philippines sounds like the perfect vacation, right? However, it turned into a nightmare for the characters in “Stranded.” The emergency signal sounded, passengers were loaded into lifeboats and then the unthinkable happened… The lifeboats exploded. You would assume there would be no survivors, but there are,…
Setting: Somalia Time Period: 2011-2012 “The Tears of Dark Waters” by Corban Addison is a lengthy, deep novel about social issues that plague our times; both in the US and around the world. In this fictional story, an American family tries to restore their relationship with their wayward son, a Somalian teen gets in with…
Setting: North Korea Time Period: Modern Day “Thunder In The Morning Calm” by Don Brown was a thrilling suspense novel that takes you behind enemy lines in North Korea. When lead character, Lieutenant Commander Gunner McCormick, was briefed on his mission to the Yellow Sea, he discovers a hopeful, yet disturbing piece of information about…
Setting: Guatemala Time Period: Modern Day When I began my journey with the “Around The World In 80 Books” reading challenge, I learned very quickly to appreciate authors who dig into out of the way settings. One of those authors is Jeanette Windle, and her novel, “Betrayed,” is set in the country of Guatemala. When…
Setting: Carcas, Venezuela Time Period: Modern Day “The Missionary” by William Carmichael and David Lambert is one of the most page turning, suspenseful books I’ve read this year. It follows a complex plot of missionary, David, and how he unknowingly got caught up in a drug cartel’s plan to assassinate the president of Venezuela, the…
Setting: Sweden and Chicago, USA Time Period: 1897 Every time I read one of Lynn Austin’s books, I’m blown away by how powerful and deep her stories are. No matter what setting or time period, her novels transport you back in time in such a real, life like way. In this case, “Until We Reach…
Setting: Burma Time Period: 1849 You’ve heard about books that have a “rags to riches” theme, right? Well, this book had a “riches to rags” story line. With the death of Jack’s father, his mother decides it’s time to reveal that he was actually an illegitimately born son and send him off to the lowest…
