reecaspieces

The Day Lincoln Lost
Charles Rosenberg
On Sale Date: August 4, 2020
9781335145222, 1335145222
Hardcover
$27.99 USD, $34.99 CAD
Fiction / Alternative History / Thrillers / Historical
432 pages

Overview

An inventive historical thriller that reimagines the tumultuous presidential election of 1860, capturing the people desperately trying to hold the nation together – and those trying to crack it apart.
Abby Kelley Foster arrived in Springfield, Illinois with the fate of the nation on her mind. Her fame as an abolitionist speaker had spread west and she knew that her first speech in the city would make headlines. One of the residents reading those headlines would be none other than the likely next President of the United States.
Abraham Lincoln, lawyer and presidential candidate, knew his chances of winning were good. All he had to do was stay above the fray of the slavery debate and appear the voice of compromise until the people cast their votes. The last thing he needed was a fiery abolitionist appearing in town. When her speech sparks violence, leading to her arrest and a high-profile trial, he suspects that his political rivals have conspired against him.
President James Buchanan is one such rival. As his term ends and his political power crumbles, he gathers his advisors at the White House to make one last move that might derail Lincoln’s campaign, steal the election, and throw America into chaos.
A fascinating historical novel and fast-paced political thriller of a nation on the cusp of civil war, The Day Lincoln Lost offers an unexpected window into one of the most consequential elections in our country’s history.

Review

Lucy is a runaway slave. She has a goal of reaching Canada. However, she is captured in Springfield. This is the town of Abraham Lincoln. It is also a town divided with abolitionist and people who capture slaves for a living. A riot breaks out just as she is about to be sent back to her plantation in Kentucky.

This story started really well. I was captivated by Lucy and her plight, escaping slavery. But, the story changed and moved to Lincoln’s bid for the White House and his decisions that affect a runaway slave. That’s when the story just fell apart for me. The characters just did not keep my interest and the alternative history was a miss.

But, some people enjoy alternative history and this could be right up your alley. Check it out!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

About the Author:

Charles Rosenberg is the author of the legal thriller Death on a High Floor and its sequels. The credited legal consultant to the TV shows LA Law, Boston Legal, The Practice, and The Paper Chase, he was also one of two on-air legal analysts for E! Television’s coverage of the O.J. Simpson criminal and civil trials. He teaches as an adjunct law professor at Loyola Law School and has also taught at UCLA, Pepperdine and Southwestern law schools. He practices law in the Los Angeles area.

Social Links:
Author website: https://www.charlesrosenbergauthor.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharlesRosenbergAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/whomdunnit
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whomdunnit/

Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Day-Lincoln-Lost-Charles-Rosenberg/dp/1335145222
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-day-lincoln-lost-charles-rosenberg/1133354517
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/the-day-lincoln-lost/9781335145222
IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335145222
Books-A-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781335145222?

Book Summary

“Masterful. Magnificent. A passionate story of survival and a real page turner. This story will stay with me for a long time.” —Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey
Living through World War II working in a Paris bookstore with her young daughter, Vivi, and fighting for her life, Charlotte is no victim, she is a survivor. But can she survive the next chapter of her life?
Alternating between wartime Paris and 1950s New York publishing, Ellen Feldman’s Paris Never Leaves You is an extraordinary story of resilience, love, and impossible choices, exploring how survival never comes without a cost.

Review

Charlotte survived Paris during WWII. She worked in a bookstore to help support her and her daughter. Charlotte eventually leaves Paris to join a publishing company in NYC. But, Charlotte has secrets. Can she continue to keep these secrets about what she did to survive the war.

This story is told in two different timelines, the 1950s in New York and wartime Paris. And it should have been right up my alley! Sadly, the tale is very disconnected and really did not meld together well. It lacked flow and I had trouble relating to the characters. I eventually just lost interest. I did finish it. I just felt the story needed some more tweaking. And don’t get me started on the romance! I want to insert and eye roll here.

This novel does have some very good reviews. And it just might hit the spot for some people. I am very much a mood reader…so it definitely could be me.

But, this cover is fabulous!

Author Bio

ELLEN FELDMAN, a 2009 Guggenheim fellow, is the author of Terrible Virtue, The Unwitting, Next to Love, Scottsboro (shortlisted for the Orange Prize), The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank (translated into nine languages), and Lucy. Her novel Terrible Virtue was optioned by Black Bicycle for a feature film.

Buy Links
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Overview

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF THE SUMMER BY POPSUGAR, FROLIC, PARADE, TRAVEL & LEISURE, SHE KNOWS, and SHE READS!  

NAMED A REAL SIMPLE BEST BOOK OF 2020 (SO FAR). 

“Fast Girls is a compelling, thrilling look at what it takes to be a female Olympian in pre-war America…Brava to Elise Hooper for bringing these inspiring heroines to the wide audience they so richly deserve.”—Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics and The House Girl

Acclaimed author Elise Hooper explores the gripping, real life history of female athletes, members of the first integrated women’s Olympic team, and their journeys to the 1936 summer games in Berlin, Nazi Germany.Perfect for readers who love untold stories of amazing women, such as The Only Woman in the Room, Hidden Figures, and The Lost Girls of Paris. 

In the 1928 Olympics, Chicago’s Betty Robinson competes as a member of the first-ever women’s delegation in track and field. Destined for further glory, she returns home feted as America’s Golden Girl until a nearly-fatal airplane crash threatens to end everything. 

Outside of Boston, Louise Stokes, one of the few black girls in her town, sees competing as an opportunity to overcome the limitations placed on her. Eager to prove that she has what it takes to be a champion, she risks everything to join the Olympic team. 

From Missouri, Helen Stephens, awkward, tomboyish, and poor, is considered an outcast by her schoolmates, but she dreams of escaping the hardships of her farm life through athletic success. Her aspirations appear impossible until a chance encounter changes her life. 

These three athletes will join with others to defy society’s expectations of what women can achieve. As tensions bring the United States and Europe closer and closer to the brink of war, Betty, Louise, and Helen must fight for the chance to compete as the fastest women in the world amidst the pomp and pageantry of the Nazi-sponsored 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Review

The 1928 Olympics allow the first ever women to compete in Track and Field. It opens many opportunities for other young ladies to try for the 1936 Olympics. Betty, Louise and Helen all come from different parts of the country and different backgrounds. But each one is determined to make their dream come true.

This story is told through a different woman’s point of view. However, all have some of the same difficulties. People, mainly men, telling them they should not run. They should not compete. It will make them too masculine. They will lose their girlish figure. The list goes on and on. And that is not even touching on the African American competitors. Their challenges were doubled and tripled and then some!

I enjoyed following these athletes through their struggles. All of these women were true leaders of their time. I don’t think I have quite understood the challenges these women athletes, which have gone before us, actually experienced. I was mesmerized through this whole tale.

This novel is very well researched and very well written! Grab your copy today!

I received a copy from Go Spark Studios for a honest review.

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Book Summary:

LIES LIES LIES (MIRA Trade Paperback; August 4, 2020; $17.99) centers on the story of Simon and Daisy Barnes. To the outside world, Simon and Daisy look like they have a perfect life. They have jobs they love, an angelic, talented daughter, a tight group of friends… and they have secrets too. Secrets that will find their way to the light, one way or the other.
Daisy and Simon spent almost a decade hoping for the child that fate cruelly seemed to keep from them. It wasn’t until, with their marriage nearly in shambles and Daisy driven to desperation, little Millie was born. Perfect in every way, healing the Barnes family into a happy unit of three. Ever indulgent Simon hopes for one more miracle, one more baby. But his doctor’s visit shatters the illusion of the family he holds so dear.
Now, Simon has turned to the bottle to deal with his revelation and Daisy is trying to keep both of their secrets from spilling outside of their home. But Daisy’s silence and Simon’s habit begin to build until they set off a catastrophic chain of events that will destroy life as they know it.

Review

Simon and Daisy struggled most of their marriage to have a child. Then along comes sweet, little Millie. But all is not as rosy as it seems. Simon drinks way too much. And all it takes is one night for everything to fall apart.

Daisy is a character I just wanted to shake! Shake some sense into her! And don’t even get me started on Simon.

I really was not a huge fan of this book. But do not judge it by my opinion…it is an opinion. I was not a fan of the characters. They really were unlikeable. It is also very slow at the start of this read. Took too long to get to any action. And when it came down to the part about the cat, that just about did me in!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

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Social Links:

Twitter: @AdeleParks
Instagram: @adele_parks
Facebook: @OfficialAdeleParks

Author Bio:
Adele Parks was born in Teesside, North-East England. Her first novel, Playing Away, was published in 2000 and since then she’s had seventeen international bestsellers, translated into twenty-six languages, including I Invited Her In. She’s been an Ambassador for The Reading Agency and a judge for the Costa. She’s lived in Italy, Botswana and London, and is now settled in Guildford, Surrey, with her husband, teenage son and cat.

Overview

A blistering plot and crisp writing make The Night Swim an unputdownable read.” –Sarah Pekkanen, bestselling author of The Wife Between Us

In The Night Swim, a new thriller from Megan Goldin, author of the “gripping and unforgettable” (Harlen Coben) The Escape Room, a true crime podcast host covering a controversial trial finds herself drawn deep into a small town’s dark past and a brutal crime that took place there years before.

Ever since her true-crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall has become a household name—and the last hope for people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The new season of Rachel’s podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season 3 a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation—but the mysterious letters keep coming. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered—and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody in town wants to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases—and a revelation that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?

Review

Rachel is a famous true crime podcaster. She is always on the look out for justice. She is after the truth. This season she is trying to discover the truth about a rape. Did a future Olympic swimmer rape a young 16 year old? Rachel is at the trial to discover what actually happened. But, as she is arriving into town, she stops to grab a bite to eat. When she comes back to her car, there is a letter. No one knows Rachel via her face. They know her voice. So how did someone know where she was or WHO she was???

Rachel continues to get cryptic letters about a murder years ago in this same town. And boy, do these letters open a can of worms and hidden secrets.

This story is packed full of whodunnits! I swear…I did not figure it out for quite a while. The author did a fabulous job masking the real killer. I loved the guessing game and all the tangents she had me chasing. And the ending!!

This novel also touches on the differences between rape and murder in the justice system. It is a tragedy to see what the victim of a rape has to go through to see the perpetrator punished.

This is a tragic, well-written, wonderful story with many unique twists and turns. Grab your copy today. You will stay up late into the night! Do not miss it!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

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Overview

From the internationally bestselling author of What She Left Behind comes a gripping and powerful tale of upheaval—a heartbreaking saga of resilience and hope perfect for fans of Beatriz Williams and Kristin Hannah—set in Philadelphia during the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak—the deadly pandemic that went on to infect one-third of the world’s population…

In the fall of 1918, thirteen-year-old German immigrant Pia Lange longs to be far from Philadelphia’s overcrowded slums and the anti-immigrant sentiment that compelled her father to enlist in the U.S. Army. But as her city celebrates the end of war, an even more urgent threat arrives: the Spanish flu. Funeral crepe and quarantine signs appear on doors as victims drop dead in the streets and desperate survivors wear white masks to ward off illness. When food runs out in the cramped tenement she calls home, Pia must venture alone into the quarantined city in search of supplies, leaving her baby brothers behind.

Bernice Groves has become lost in grief and bitterness since her baby died from the Spanish flu. Watching Pia leave her brothers alone, Bernice makes a shocking, life-altering decision. It becomes her sinister mission to tear families apart when they’re at their most vulnerable, planning to transform the city’s orphans and immigrant children into what she feels are “true Americans.”

Waking in a makeshift hospital days after collapsing in the street, Pia is frantic to return home. Instead, she is taken to St. Vincent’s Orphan Asylum – the first step in a long and arduous journey. As Bernice plots to keep the truth hidden at any cost in the months and years that follow, Pia must confront her own shame and fear, risking everything to see justice – and love – triumph at last. Powerful, harrowing, and ultimately exultant, The Orphan Collector is a story of love, resilience, and the lengths we will go to protect those who need us most.

Review

Pia is a young, German girl living in the slums of Philadelphia with her twin brothers and her mother. Her father is fighting in the war overseas and they are struggling to survive. Then her mother dies of the Spanish Flu and the struggle worsens. Pia does everything she can to keep her family together. She slips out one day to find food and leaves her brothers at home alone. She collapses in the street and wakes up in a hospital sick with the flu. She is desperate to get to her brothers, but sadly, she is sent to an orphanage.

Pia struggles through most of her life. She is constantly trying to find a way to find her brothers. Adding to her stress is the orphanage…don’t even get me started! Then there is Bernice. She is pure evil and you MUST read this to find out why!

When I finished this read, I honestly said, “WOW!” This story is ripped straight from today’s headlines. Even though it is set in 1913, we are still fighting the same battles, immigration, racism and an epidemic. This novel also pulls at your heartstrings and I swear you just want to cry over some of these children.

You DO NOT want to miss this one! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

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