A Refuge Assured

By: Jocelyn Green

Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction

Rating: 4 stars

Summary:

Vivienne Rivard fled revolutionary France and seeks a new life for herself and a boy in her care, who some say is the Dauphin. But America is far from safe, as militiaman Liam Delaney knows. He proudly served in the American Revolution but is less sure of his role in the Whiskey Rebellion. Drawn together, will Liam and Vivienne find the peace they long for?

My Thoughts:

I have never read a book about the French refugees that fled to America during the revolution. Nor have I at all read (or studied) the Whisky Rebellion. To have a book containing both worlds was delightful. 

This is my first experience with Jocelyn Green and I don't plan on it being my last.

I do feel like this book is character driven, which is always my preference. Vivienne is amazing. She is strong - having to have nursed her mother until her death, secure her escape from the bloody regime and get to Pennsylvania and then learn a whole new way of living - gah! I wish I was able to do it with even half of her grace and determination. She knows who she is, she knows her worth and she knows and values work. But she is also proud - she doesn't forgive easily, she isn't always happy with everyone and felt real to me.

While it did take me a couple of chapters to get into the story once there I was hooked and didn't want to go back to work. (I typically spend my lunch break reading...this is a risky venture.) When looking at the comparisons between the French and American revolutions I was intrigued by the twist she brought to it. With so much of the Whisky Rebellion at the front and seeing the idea of freedom for all being changed to freedom "from" all. No taxes, no rule of law, if I don't want to do it, then i shouldn't have to and I must rebel. It was interesting to explore the themes of rule of law balancing with the personal rights/freedoms of the people. (Side note: It was fun to see Hamilton being name dropped, one of my favorites and I liked him before it was cool...)

The details of the world were amazing. Green's writing is vivid in its descriptions and moves at a nice pace. In particularly the way the romance between Liam and Vivienne worked out. It was a gradual build and the friendship grew along with the romantic feelings.  And it was simply lovely.

I most definitely have put the rest of her other books on my to-read list.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book for review.

The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill

By Julie Klassen
Genre: Christian Historical Fiction
Rating 4.5 Stars


Summary: On a rise overlooking the Wiltshire countryside stands the village of Ivy Hill. Its coaching inn, The Bell, is its lifeblood--along with the coach lines that stop there daily, bringing news, mail, travelers, and much-needed trade.
Jane Bell lives on the edge of the inn property. She had been a genteel lady until she married the charming innkeeper who promised she would never have to work in his family's inn. But when he dies under mysterious circumstances, Jane finds herself The Bell's owner, and worse, she has three months to pay a large loan or lose the place.
Feeling reluctant and ill-equipped, Jane is tempted to abandon her husband's legacy and return to her former life of ease. However, she soon realizes there is more at stake than her comfort. But who can she trust to help her? Her resentful mother-in-law? Her husband's brother, who wanted the inn for himself? Or the handsome newcomer with secret plans of his own . . . ?
With pressure mounting from the bank, Jane struggles to win over naysayers and turn the place around. 


My Thoughts:
Julie Klassen is one of my favorite authors. She could have her own sub category on this blog because of how many of her books I have read. This start of a series - a first for her. Unlike a majority of Christian writers seem to crank out trilogies like there is no tomorrow, capitalizing on their characters to keep us coming back for more - Klassen usually ties everything up in one book. I'm not complaining about this series approach. There are stories at in Ivy Hill and I'm excited to see how they fold out.

This approach also allows for the slow and steady pace which fits in perfectly with the setting. I didn't feel like it was dragging, it was merely taking its time and letting us enjoy the journey of Jane and Thora. The story unfolds gently, but with twists that I wasn't expecting, but with character growth that felt real. No one changed with a single revelation, they grow and change with minor set back the way we all do on our own little journeys.  (I hate it when books try to have someone change like a switch going off. Yes, I have those sparks of inspiration where I'm going to be a better person and make my bed every day, meal prep and go to the gym 3 times a week. But we all know that within a week I'm back to where I was but perhaps with the bed made 2 times a week) 

As usual, I fell in love with the characters - not all of them, I still don't know how I feel about Patrick and I don't think I would mind if he fell off the map. But Jane and Thora, Mercy and Rachel are all women I wanted to spend more time with. Each woman is strong in her own right and are all showing different facets of femininity. That perhaps is one of the greatest strengths of Klassen's characters I don't feel like these women are overly stereotyped or one dimensional. They are human and we get to see their strengths and weaknesses and grow closer to all of them.  

Overall if you like Christian Fiction that isn't too preachy, gentle stories that are reminiscent of Gaskell and Austen this is one I would recommend. I'm very excited to read the next book in the series.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Philospher's Flight - Guys and Gals, you have to read this!

The Philosopher’s Flight

By: Tom Miller

Genre: Fantasy, Revisionist History

Rating: 5 stars

Reader Advisory: For my more gentle readers, this does have many instances of four letter language and sexual encounters

Summary:

Eighteen-year-old Robert Weekes is a practitioner of empirical philosophy—an arcane, female-dominated branch of science used to summon the wind, shape clouds of smoke, heal the injured, and even fly. Though he dreams of fighting in the Great War as the first male in the elite US Sigilry Corps Rescue and Evacuation Service—a team of flying medics—Robert is resigned to mixing batches of philosophical chemicals and keeping the books for the family business in rural Montana, where his mother, a former soldier and vigilante, aids the locals.

When a deadly accident puts his philosophical abilities to the test, Robert rises to the occasion and wins a scholarship to study at Radcliffe College, an all-women’s school. At Radcliffe, Robert hones his skills and strives to win the respect of his classmates, a host of formidable, unruly women. 

Robert falls hard for Danielle Hardin, a disillusioned young war hero turned political radical. However, Danielle’s activism and Robert’s recklessness attract the attention of the same fanatical anti-philosophical group that Robert’s mother fought years before. With their lives in mounting danger, Robert and Danielle band together with a team of unlikely heroes to fight for Robert’s place among the next generation of empirical philosophers—and for philosophy’s very survival against the men who would destroy it.

My Thoughts:

I read this book too early. I can’t believe that the sequel isn’t coming out until next year! Faster please Mr. Miller!

I rarely win things in my life. This is one of the things that I won from a Goodreads Drawing and I’m supremely glad that I did. The cover art is wonderful and fits in with the period of the piece and I loved the revisionist/alternative history this story presents. This of course is a free and honest review – thank you goodreads for giving me the chance to read this.

Ok, now that disclaimers are over:

This was fascinating. I feel sorry for my coworkers because I started it during a quiet moment at work (should I have been reading…probably not but it was the end of the day and I was tired of dealing with the ins and outs of account maintenance) and after the prologue I was already telling me reading buddies “YOU HAVE TO READ THIS!”

What a wonderful concept, to have a sort of magic, it of course is science/alchemy, that allows you to fly, to transport, make things grow or to utterly destroy. Then take that one step further from our views of the world by making it a power that typically only women can wield. Sure, there are men who can do it with a bit of success, but the true power lies with the ladies. This sets up a lot of politics that is an interesting contrast to the world at the time (this takes place at the beginning of the 20^th century) and can be a study in contrasts with certain cultures and industries that are around even until today. And because it’s looked at through a lens that is so incredibly alien to what we see today it is made that much more striking.

Robert does not have an easy go of it at Radcliffe. He faces harassment, misandry and all sorts of terrible actions done to him simply because he is a man who has the nerve to enter into a woman’s world. The Radcliffe women are an eclectic bunch. Robert though lucks out into finding some other fliers who instantly take him under their proverbial wing, and while it doesn’t stop the attacks on his person and his progress, he does have friends who stand up for him. It was a good School type of book, these are young students who are coming into their powers as sigilists and who are still growing up themselves. 

With all that going on there is also the Trencher movement that has become more active and more deadly. Trenchers are the Anti-Philosophers. A group that wants women back where they belong and to know they have full control again. (I imagine it’s hard to put a woman down in a world where she could, with almost no effort at all dissolve your bones where you stand so that you die in a puddle of your own organs) This group has been pressing for more and more Anti-Philosopher Legislation at DC, has been doing random lynching’s of women and their families. Robert’s mother has been known to pick of more than one Trencher in her time and Robert needs to determine how he is going to face the political battles of his parents generation that are now a part of his own.

And there is a lovely and, in my opinion, real story of a relationship that blooms between him and Danielle Hardin. A heroine transporter who had saved the lives of countless men at war overseas. She is also African American and not at all what one would imagine a leading lady to look like nor act like. I loved them. Their story wasn’t first and foremost in the plot. It wasn’t the end goal, it simply happened, and the story was richer for it.

This just recently came out. I recommend it highly. It presents an interesting look at class warfare, gender warfare and the next book I am fairly certain will be looking into the actions taken in war and their consequences.

Read it, tell me what you thought. Let’s chat about it because I thought there is much that can be discussed.