Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Jun 21

1

Lighting the Stars by Gabriele Wills- Review

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on June 1, 2021
Posted in Book Tours • Books Read in 2021 • Historical Fiction • WWII  | Tagged With: , , , | 4 Comments

Lighting the Stars by Gabriele WillsLighting the Stars by Gabriele Wills

Publisher:  Mindshadows, November 2020
Category: Historical Fiction, World War II, Historical Romance
Tour dates: May-June, 2021
ISBN: 978-1775035411
Available in Print and ebook, 477 pages
Lighting the Stars

Description Lighting the Stars by Gabriele Wills


A riveting tale of a generation torn apart by war.

Tucked into the rugged Canadian wilderness of Muskoka’s majestic lake country, Merilee Sutcliffe’s peaceful town seems worlds away from the escalating conflict in Europe. But life is about to change dramatically in the Summer of 1940. As her patriotic friends and relatives leave for battle, her small town is thrust into the war machine. Merilee’s formerly tranquil skies soon roar with aircraft from the Royal Norwegian Air Force, stationed nearby to train young men determined to liberate their country from Nazi occupation.  When German Prisoners of War march into her shocked community, they become Merilee’s closest neighbours – and biggest threat.

What unfolds in her remote town and on foreign shores sets Merilee and her growing circle on a collision course with an unimagined destiny. Caught up in the chaos is Luftwaffe pilot Erich Leitner. Shot down during the Battle of Britain and transplanted to a lakeside prison in Muskoka, he discovers he has more to fear from his comrades than his captors.

While her cousin-in-spirit, Elyse Thornton, navigates the treacherous skies of Britain as a Spitfire Girl, audaciously ferrying warplanes from factories to airfields, Merilee becomes quietly entangled in her own dangerous liaisons on the home front. Caught between worlds, with conflicted loyalties and a sense of duty, she joins the Royal Canadian Air Force, Women’s Division, and soon finds herself in ground-zero London, focussing her photographer’s lens on a city under bombardment.

Far from carefree summers on the lake, struggling to survive the relentless demands and sacrifices of war, Merilee, Elyse, and their friends wonder if they dare to risk their hearts as well.

As unlikely lives intersect, ideologies and social hierarchies are challenged, loves and friendships are forged or broken, and countless heroes are made and lost.  But even those who return to the serenity of Muskoka are changed forever.

My Thoughts Lighting the Stars by Gabriele Wills


​‘Lighting the Stars’ is book 4 of ‘The Muskoka Novels saga’.  Gabriele Wills has brought WWI to the end of WWII in this beautiful series.  It is from a Canadian perspective with a vast and lively cast of characters.

In ‘Lighting the Stars’, the next generation has to step up and go to war, as their parents did in WWI. Most of the men either train pilots to fly and fight in areal combat and the women join The Royal Canadian Air Force, Women’s Division in various positions. Elyse Thornton becomes what was known as a “Spitfire” girl, delivering airplanes for combat and Merilee Sutcliffe, with her skill as a photographer is sent all over Great Briton to photograph the aftermath of bombings from the Germans and other war interests.

The story opens right before Canada enters the war. We are introduced to the character’s while they enjoy their annual summer at Lake Muskoka in Ontario. Merilee is a 17-year-old girl and spends mot of her time with her best friend Peggy.  Through their eye’s as well as the other characters, we see a carefree summer turn to getting ready for battle.  As their older male friends and relations go off to Europe to fight and some of their female friends go to fly planes, nurse, and other duties also in Europe, German POW’s move in to a prison camp, right in Muskoka.  In fact, right next door to Peggy and her parents’ house! Now the two girls can no longer swim there.

‘Lighting the Star’s is teeming with friendship, romance, action, adventure, heart breaking loss, and of course history.  I have rarely read an entire book series but The Muskoka Novels saga’ is irresistible! After each book ends, I miss the characters so much!  They are so well written that they come to life, grab the reader by the hand and yank them right into their lives.  I wish someone would buy the rights to this series.  It would make an amazing move or television series!

I don’t know if Wills will be writing a fifth book for the series but I hope so! This is my favorite book series of all time! I give it 5 plus stars!

Note, ‘Lighting the Stars’ can be read without reading the other books in the series however, there are a huge cast of characters and you may feel a bit lost at first when the older characters appear.  It is best to start with book,1.  Once you read that, you will want to read the entire series!

I received the eBook for my honest opinion.

About Gabriele Wills


Lighting the Stars by Gabriele Wills

Gabriele at the location where ‘Lighting the Stars’ begins

Gabriele Wills is the author of 6 highly acclaimed historical novels, including 4 in The Muskoka Novels saga set in North America, Britain, and Europe through the two cataclysmic World Wars and the seductive Jazz Age.

Her passion is to weave compelling stories around meticulously researched and often quirky or arcane facts in order to bring the past to life, especially with regard to women’s often forgotten contributions.

The first novel in her ‘Muskoka Novels’, ‘The Summer Before the Storm’ was the “Muskoka Chautauqua Reading List Winner”

Website: https://www.themuskokanovels.co
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GabrieleWills
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GabrieleWills

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May 21

25

September To Remember by Carole Bumpus: Review

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on May 25, 2021
Posted in Book Tours • Books Read in 2021 • Memoir • Travel  | Tagged With: , , | 2 Comments

September To Remember by Carole BumpusA September to Remember: Searching for Culinary Pleasures at the Italian Table (Book Three) – Lombardy, Tuscany, Campania, Apulia, and Lazio (Roma) (Savoring the Olde Ways Series, 3) by Carole Bumpus


Publisher:  She Writes Press (April 27, 2021)
Category: Culinary/Travel Memoir & Non-Fiction
Tour dates: April 12-May 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-1631527272
Available in Print and ebook, 245 pages
A September to Remember

Description September To Remember by Carole Bumpus


This culinary travel memoir is an invitation to join in on a month-long trek through Italy, all in the search of the true Italian experience. Sprinkled with unforgettable characters, you will sup on sumptuous traditional foods, sip regional wines, and enjoy vast panoramas of extraordinary beauty. You may find yourself dancing at harvest festivals, climbing through Etruscan tombs, traipsing among Roman ruins, or bathing in ancient Roman termes (hot springs).

You may also enjoy climbing to the heights of wonder in Capri or to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica. Or delight in soaking up the ancient and cultural history in Milan, Firenze (Florence), Amalfi, Pompeii, Lecce and Rome. You can bask in the sun and rugged beauty of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Adriatic Sea, or the gorgeous Amalfi Coast. Or you can chat for hours over family meals while collecting a compendium of regional and traditional recipes (cucina povera), while you capture a rare glimpse inside the secrets to the Mediterranean psyche. It is truly a trip of a lifetime.


My Thoughts September To Remember by Carole Bumpus

“While traveling abroad, have you ever strolled down a cobblestone street, passed an open window, and heard laughter flowing out to greet you? Have you ever stopped to listen to the banter while wondering what it would be like to live there? In that house? That village? And, oooooh! What are those wonderful aromas? Well, you were not alone. I have too.”

I swear, this book should be officially endorsed by the Italian tourism board. I have never wanted to take a vacation to this beautiful country so much as I have after reading this memoir! Where else are you going to get locally grown olive oil, colorful festivals and historical buildings and sites that date back thousands of years?

I’m assuming that Carole Bumpus asked herself the same questions and it was this interest in Italy that led her and her husband, Winston to take a trip there in 1998. That very trip is immortalized in this memoir, ‘A September to Remember: Searching for Culinary Pleasures at the Italian Table.’

This is a true tale with historical settings, wonderfully friendly people and food that is absolutely to die for, if it were veganized, of course).

If there is anything that the Italian people do better than everyone else, it’s probably food and Bumpus proves this by not only describing delectable meals, but also including many of the recipes for these meals in the end of the book. Luckily, some of these recipes can be easily be made vegan but be ware, some cannot. This way, you can sample some of them for yourself and decide if they are everything that she describes. If you’re like me, you won’t be disappointed.

This memoir has much to love and salivate over, without dragging on like some others do. I loved Bumpus’ writing style and I plan to read more from her in the future! I actually read her novel, ‘A Cup of Redemption’ back in 2014 and loved it as well.  You can read my review here.

Nothing says love quite like food, and Carole Bumpus has hit on that perfectly in this one-of-a-kind memoir. I highly recommend that you read it.  Great arm chair traveling, especially during a pandemic. 5/5!

Note: For my fellow vegans, I found several vegan friendly restaurants in Italy via a Google search and there is also a vegan tour company to help you plan your trip there. Check out this article: How To Travel As A Vegan In Italy

I received the ebook for my honest review.


About Carole BumpusSeptember To Remember by Carole Bumpus

Multi award winning author, Carole Bumpus is a retired family therapist, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She began writing about food and travel when she stumbled upon the amazing stories of women and war in France. Her historical novel, A Cup of Redemption, was published in October 2014, and her unique companion cookbook, Recipes for Redemption: A Companion Cookbook to A Cup of Redemption, was released in August 2015.

Books One and Two of her Savoring the Olde Ways series, Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, were published in August 2019 and 2020; her third book in the series, A September to Remember: Searching for Culinary Pleasures at the Italian Table is due out April 27, 2021. All five books have been published by She Writes Press which is part of SparkPoint Studio, LLC.

Website: https://carolebumpus.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolejbumpus
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaroleBumpus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carole.bumpus/

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May 21

4

Birth of a Unicorn by Heather Wilde: Review

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on May 4, 2021
Posted in Book Tours • Books Read in 2021 • Non-Fiction  | Tagged With: , , , , , | 4 Comments

Birth of a Unicorn by Heather WildeBirth of a Unicorn: Six Basic Steps To Success by Heather Wilde

Publisher:  Sunbury Press, Inc (November 11, 2020)
Category: Business: Women & Business, Entrepreneurship, Personal Finance, Self-Help/Motivational, Non-Fiction
Tour dates: April-May, 2021
ISBN: 978-1620063347
Available in Print 158 pages and ebook 184 pages
Birth of a Unicorn

Description Birth of a Unicorn by Heather Wilde


Birth of a Unicorn: Six Basic Steps to Success is the story of what it takes to found a billion-dollar company — also known as a unicorn. It’s told from the perspective of a founding employee, and shows the years and years of emotional strain, stress and dedication that building a successful company takes — and a framework to follow if you’d like to try it yourself.

In this book, you’ll find the true story behind one of Silicon Valley’s famous companies on its rise to the top. Peek behind the curtain as you see the highs and lows from an insider perspective, on the roller coaster that is the start-up life. What emerges is a lasting friendship, a billion-dollar company, and an understandable framework of success for you to replicate.

 My Thoughts Birth of a Unicorn by Heather Wilde

‘Birth of a Unicorn: Six Basic Steps to Success,’ by Heather Wilde is a blend of two beautiful worlds: memoir and self-help guide.

Wilde and her husband, Leon are two of the foundational members of a team that is responsible for Evernote, a note-taking app that has become wildly successful in recent years, and now has a user base of over 200 million people worldwide. But how did they do it? How does anyone take an idea in their head and turn it into a billion-dollar company?

Well, before Evernote, Wilde already had some experience with this, having worked on teams at several other successful start ups, including a security company called Corestreet, that worked with the government.

In order to figure out the steps that lead to Wilde’s success, you must read this book and really pay attention, not just to her story but to her advice. I really enjoyed every tidbit of wisdom in this book, because it seemed like it was coming from a good place and a really smart person who was very experienced with this industry.

At the end of the book, there is an ‘assessment’ or a little quiz that helps you determine what things matter most to you in life and how you can help fulfill those needs to manage your life. This is all part of Wilde’s emphasis in the book of balancing your work life and personal life in harmony, and how to make sure that one doesn’t take too much from the other. definitely something I personally need to work on! Personal life and self-care are essential to becoming a success in any industry that you choose and Wilde’s understanding of that really makes this book something special.

I can see myself thinking about this one for a long time and referring back to it.   I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good, inspiring read!

About Heather WildeBirth of a Unicorn by Heather Wilde

Heather Wilde was the eighth employee of Evernote, where she oversaw the company’s growth from thousands to 100 million customers. She has published popular games, trained Fortune 500 brands, advised hundreds of start-ups, and managed some major non-profit programs. At her non-profit, Serenze Global, and as a fractional CTO through her company ROCeteer, her award-winning work keeps the Unicorn Whisperer constantly traveling across the globe to find the next unicorn.

Website: https://heathriel.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/heathriel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/heathriel
IMDB:  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7705219/

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