"Meet Me in the Margins" by Melissa Ferguson

Savannah Cade is a low-level editor at Pennington Publishing, a prestigious publisher producing only the highest of highbrow titles, but she has a secret: she’s writing a romance novel. After leaving her manuscript behind one afternoon in her secret room off the ARC room, she returns to the nook only to discover someone has written notes in the margins. Savannah’s first response to the criticism is defensive, but events transpire that force her to admit that she needs the help of this shadowy editor after all. As the notes take a turn for the romantic, and as Savannah’s madcap life gets more complicated than ever, she uses the process of elimination to identify her mysterious editor—only to discover that what she truly wants and what she should want just might not be the same.

This was an entertaining rom-com--my favorite story by the author so far. It's perfectly predictable, but it didn't detract from the fun. I did disagree with editor's recommendation of putting Savannah's story (and, for that matter, this actual book) in present tense; it always takes me a few chapters to get used to it, but at least the story was fun enough that I pushed through. It's cute, clean, and humorous. Nothing heavy about it, and the Nashville setting was fun and different, especially without a music focus (not that country music was completely neglected).

"Shadowed Loyalty" by Roseanna M White

Sabina Mancari never questioned her life as the daughter of Chicago’s leading mob boss until bullets tear apart her world and the man she thought she loved turned out to be an undercover Prohibition agent. Now she sees how ugly the underworld can be. Ambushes, bribes, murder, prostitution—she thought her beloved Papa was above all that, but clearly he isn’t. What does that mean, though, for her and their family? Maybe Lorenzo, the fiancé who has barely paid her any attention in the last two years, has the right idea by planning to escape their world. Despite his morals, Lorenzo knows at the core he isn’t so unlike his father and brothers, which terrifies him. Has he, in trying to protect Sabina from his flaws, in fact harmed her? It sure seems that way when he realizes he all but forced her into the arms of the Prohibition Agent now bent on tearing her family apart. But how can they rebuild what has so long been neglected…and do it in the shadow of the dark empire of the Mafia? 

This was an interesting romance set between two people trapped by familial bonds and cultural heritage within the mafia. I know that the early 1920's were quite a bit different than the mid- and late 20's, but I hadn't realized that applied to the mafia too, particularly in the codes they followed. It was very interesting to learn how the Italian mafia once worked and why it developed as it did, before it evolved with the rise of crime syndicates that refused to play by the rules (Al Capone).

The lines between good guys and bad guys are really blurred in this story, reflecting how messy real life can be. Roman, the prohibition agent, is ostensibly on the side of good, trying to take down crime and uphold the law. But he's hypocritical (and delusional) as all get out, and obsessed with his mission. You want to love Manny, Sabina's father, who adores his family and will do anything for them, yet he's also a crime boss with very little conscience when it comes to everything outside that nucleus (and almost nothing is too low for him). Do you hope--for Sabina's sake, and because Roman is such a jerk about it all--that Enzo can acquit Manny of his crimes? Or hope that he gets put away forever, but would mean the antagonist (Roman) wins and hero (Enzo) fails?

I enjoyed the complexity of the relationships, and Enzo was wonderful. It was quite a bit shorter than I was expecting, and it didn't feel as full and intricate plot-wise as some other books by the author, but it was an entertaining and thoughtful read.

"The Italian Ballerina" by Kristy Cambron

Rome, 1943. With the fall of Italy’s Fascist government and the Nazi regime occupying the streets of Rome, British ballerina Julia Bradbury is stranded and forced to take refuge at a hospital on Tiber Island. But when she learns of a deadly sickness that is sweeping through the quarantine wards—a fake disease known only as Syndrome K—she is drawn into one of the greatest cons in history. Alongside hospital staff, friars of the adjoining church, and two Allied medics, Julia risks everything to rescue Italian Jews from the deadly clutches of the Holocaust.

Present Day. With the recent loss of her grandfather—a beloved small-town doctor and WWII veteran—Delaney Coleman returns home to help her parents, even as she struggles to pick up the pieces of her own life. When a mysterious Italian woman claims she owns one of the family’s precious heirlooms, Delaney is compelled to uncover what’s true of her grandfather’s hidden past. Soon, everything Delaney thought she knew about her grandfather comes into question as she wrestles with the possibility that the man she’d revered all her life had unknown ties to Rome and may have taken noble secrets to his grave.

Sometimes book descriptions don't paint an accurate description of the story. This one isn't wrong per se, but I feel like the description neglected the main character: Court Coleman, Delaney's grandfather. Both Julia and Delaney feel like secondary characters next to Court--I'd say about half the novel is from his viewpoint, and only a quarter each for Julia and Delaney. And I'm not positive the title refers to Julia--I'm more inclined to think it's about Calla, the little girl Court rescues, and who has a role in the present-day story.

I did really enjoy the novel. Kristy Cambron knows how to write a captivating story, and she incorporated a piece of history that offered a fresh perspective on WWII. But that said, I think the story would have been stronger if it had only followed Court. The contemporary timeline was fine, but it didn't add much, and I really wanted to delve more into the fascinating history of the Italian hospital and their Syndrome K. I had never heard about it before, and I'd have loved a deeper focus on it, especially through Court's eyes. 

The timelines jump around a bit (Court's present, Court's past, Julia's timeline, and Delaney in the modern day). I didn't find it too difficult to follow, once I caught onto the rhythm, but it's a bit different from the norm. There was a significant plot twist I didn't see coming.

Thank you Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

"Long Way Home" by Lynn Austin

Peggy Serrano couldn't wait for her best friend to come home from the war. But the Jimmy Barnett who returns is much different from the Jimmy who left, changed so drastically by his experience as a medic in Europe that he can barely function. When he attempts the unthinkable, his parents check him into the VA hospital. Peggy determines to help the Barnetts unravel what might have happened to send their son over the edge. She starts by contacting Jimmy's war buddies, trying to identify the mysterious woman in the photo they find in Jimmy's belongings. Seven years earlier, sensing the rising tide against her people, Gisela Wolff and her family flee Germany aboard the passenger ship St. Louis, bound for Havana, Cuba. Gisela meets Sam Shapiro on board and the two fall quickly in love. But the ship is denied safe harbor and sent back to Europe. Thus begins Gisela's perilous journey of exile and survival, made possible only by the kindness and courage of a series of strangers she meets along the way, including one man who will change the course of her life.

This book has two excellent stories in it. I especially enjoyed Peggy's story as she's trying to reconstruct what happened to Jim in the war and bringing Jim's veteran friends to come help him, all the while--without realizing it--she's helping each one of them, too. She's sweet and relatable. Gisela's story tells a bit of history I had never heard before--about a luxury liner full of Jews that legally left Germany for Cuba, only to be turned away at Havana, rejected by America and Canada, and sent back to Europe, where the Jews were largely spread back across countries that Germany would soon conquer. Gisela is a strong heroine, whose friends and family and comforts keep being whittled away.

I love how the title fits both storylines: Gisela and her people, after being chased from Germany, are just looking for a home, be it in Cuba, Ecuador, Belgium, the US, or--ultimately--Palestine. And it's a long time coming. In Peggy's storyline, the GI's have returned home physically, but so many of them lost their faith and hope overseas. With PTSD, it's a long, long road home for many of them.

The one thing that bothered me (and this is a common complaint of dual timeline books) is that it could have been published as two separate books--one about Gisela, one about Peggy--and you could read one without reading the other and still have a complete story without losing much impact. They intersect, of course, near the end, but Gisela's story didn't really have an impact on Peggy's, and vice versa. Only because they both know Jimmy do the heroines ever cross paths. I prefer a dual timeline where the two stories are so intertwined that to separate one ruins the other, and that definitely wasn't the case with this book.

Thank you Tyndale House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

"In Honor's Defense" by Karen Witemeyer - Hanger's Horsemen, book 3

Luke Davenport has been fighting all his life--for respect, for country, and most recently, for those unable to fight for themselves. But now that his Horsemen brothers are domesticated, he's left alone to battle the wildness within. When an opportunity arises to take a job on his own, he jumps at the chance. Damaris Baxter has mastered the art of invisibility. Plain and quiet, she hides in books and needlework, content to be overlooked. Until her brother dies suddenly, leaving her custody of her nephew. She moves to Texas to care for Nate, determined to create the family for herself that she never thought she'd have. When Nate stumbles into the path of the rustlers Luke is tracking, Luke acts to protect him and winds up gravely injured. Feeling indebted, Damaris nurses Luke back to health. But suspicions grow regarding the death of her brother. And the more questions they ask, the more danger appears, threatening the family Luke may be unable to live without.

This was an excellent book. Not as funny as some of the others by Witemeyer, but I really enjoyed the depth to the characters and the journeys they go through. Damaris is one of the most relatable heroines I've seen; not terribly pretty, not outstanding in any field, out of her depth in violence and danger--mostly just normal. But she's also tenacious and smart, and she doesn't give in to evil. Luke is a bit of a paradox, but in a very realistic way (a lot like some people I've known); he can quote bible verses from sunup to sundown, and he has no trouble relying on the Lord, but he still struggles with feelings of unworthiness. Finally--and most impressively--Nate is a believable kid; he's not cute and precocious, he's not easy to fix. He's just an angry young teen who's rebelling out of grief and anger. Having known kids with similar attitude problems, I can sympathize with Damaris's helplessness in his situation. It's hard to wield authority when the person you're trying to guide won't allow you to have any. 

It was fun to see the Horsemen back together in the end. I enjoyed the series, but this book especially!

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

Hanger's Horsemen
1. At Love's Command
2. The Heart's Charge
3. In Honor's Defense

"When the Day Comes" by Gabrielle Meyer - Timeless, book 1

Libby has been given a powerful gift: to live one life in 1774 colonial Williamsburg and the other in 1914 Gilded Age New York City. When she falls asleep in one life, she wakes up in the other without any time passing. She has one conscious mind but two very different lives and bodies. In colonial Williamsburg, Libby is a public printer for the House of Burgesses and the Royal Governor, trying to provide for her family and support the Patriot cause. The man she loves, Henry Montgomery, has his own secrets. As the revolution draws near, both their lives--and any hope of love--are put in jeopardy. Libby's life in 1914 New York is filled with wealth, drawing room conversations, and bachelors. But the only work she cares about--women's suffrage--is discouraged, and her mother is intent on marrying her off to an undesirable English marquess. The growing talk of war in Europe further complicates matters and forces her to make sacrifices she never imagined. On her twenty-first birthday, Libby must choose one path and forfeit the other forever--but how can she possibly choose when she has so much to lose in each life?

In spite of the fantastical dual-timeline/dual-body concept, I wouldn't call this book a fantasy; it would be better described as a dual timeline historical, with a bit of a fantastic twist. It flirts with some of the time travel problems (like changing the future), but manages to bypass some of the bigger controversies (if you enjoy time travel fiction, you know how it can be; all those paradoxes, splintering realities, etc). Libby isn't really time travelling so much as occupying two different bodies in two different times, which simplifies matters.

This book did not go in the direction I was expecting. Before beginning, I assumed that Libby would eventually have to decide between two good options (probably falling in love in both, that sort of thing), but that's not it at all; she knows from the start where she wants to end up, but the circumstances of her dual lives puts her desires in jeopardy. And from that point on I had no idea where the story was going (a most enjoyable circumstance). It could have had several different endings, and the one it did have I didn't give serious consideration to until about a page before it was actually revealed. 

I enjoyed it and look forward to the next book.

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

Timeless
1. When the Day Comes
2. In This Moment

"Written on the Wind" by Elizabeth Camden - Blackstone Legacy, book 2

Natalia Blackstone is a rarity in Gilded Age America. As a trusted analyst for her father's bank, she is helping finance the legendary Trans-Siberian Railway. From her office in New York City, Natalia relies on a charming Russian aristocrat to oversee the construction of the railroad on the other side of the world. But while overseeing the work, Count Dimitri Sokolov witnesses the deadly result of the Russian Monarchy's will to see the railway built. To silence him, the state has stripped Dimitri of his title, his lands, and his freedom . . . but Dimitri has a key asset the czar knows nothing about: his deep and abiding friendship with Natalia Blackstone. From the steppes of Russia to the corridors of power in Washington, Natalia and Dimitri will fight against all odds to save the railroad and share the truth of what happened, but how can their newfound love survive the ordeal?

I really liked both Natalia and Dimitri from the snapshot of their relationship in Carved in Stone, and Written on the Wind did not disappoint! Dimitri would have been merely an amusing fop if he hadn't had the tenacity to cross the Russian taiga on foot and the drive to fight against some of the highest powers in the world to see that the atrocities of the Russian-Chinese border were never repeated. Which is to say, he was wonderful. And Natalia is smart and practical with a dry wit--the perfect balance to Dimitri's flamboyant nature. 

Having taken numerous courses in Russian studies in college, I love it when I come across books with a focus on Russia. A lot of novels focus on the Russian Revolution and afterward, but this one takes place in the lead-up to the 1905 revolution (a precursor to the more significant 1917 revolution). One thing that always impresses me about Camden's books is her research, and it definitely concurred with what I learned, both the cultural and historical aspects. But I also loved having learned something new, and I hadn't known about the Blagoveshchensk Massacre, the atrocity that propels this story.

Highly enjoyable!

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

The Blackstone Legacy

1. Carved in Stone

2. Written on the Wind
3. Hearts of Steel