The Wartime Book Club

by

Kate Thompson

BLOG TOUR

Jersey, 1943. Once a warm and neighbourly community, now German soldiers patrol the cobbled streets, imposing a harsh rule on the people of the island. Grace La Mottée, the island's only librarian, is ordered to destroy books which threaten the new regime. Instead, she hides the stories away in secret. Along with her headstrong best friend, postwoman Bea Rose, she wants to fight back. So she forms the wartime book club: a lifeline, offering fearful islanders the joy and escapism of reading. But as the occupation drags on, the women's quiet acts of bravery become more perilous - and more important - than ever before. And, when tensions turn to violence, they are forced to face the true, terrible cost of resistance... 

Review

Bea and Grace are the best of friends and live on the island of Jersey during the occupation of the Germans in 1943. 

Grace is a librarian and even though the Germans tried their hardest to ban many books, Grace manages to find copies and distribute them among the people of her community, putting herself and everyone around her in danger.

Bea is smitten with Grace's brother Jimmy and is absolutely distraught when he is killed, but when a few weeks after his death, she misses her "monthly", she panics and tries to hide the pregnancy for as long as she can. 

When Bea gets a job as a Postie, she puts herself in danger by delivering messages to people warning them that the Germans were going to raid their property as some people were hiding Americans. Once such soldier was "Red" who takes a real shine to Grace and she to him, but love never does run smooth in war time and they try to hide their feelings during the invasion. 

This was such a lovely and sometimes emotional read. I loved that every chapter started with the name and description of a book that the Germans banned for whatever reason. The research that the author did for this book was second to none and it makes you think how close the Germans came to the British Isles during WWII.

Thank you Kate for writing such a thought provoking and interesting story about the lives of the people of Jersey and how a library and the books inside kept a community together during the war. I can't wait for your next one! My dear Mum would have loved this book. 

You can also listen to the author's podcast "From the Library with Love" about the people of London during the war. It is such a great podcast.

About the Author

Kate Thompson is an award-winning journalist, ghostwriter and novelist who has spent the past two decades in the UK mass market and book publishing industry. Over the past eight years Kate has written twelve fiction and non-fiction titles, three of which have made the Sunday Times top ten bestseller list. Find Kate online: X: @katethompson380 Website: www.katethompsonmedia.co.uk Kate’s new podcast, ‘From the Library with Love’, is available to listen to now.

 ** COVER REVEAL **

Love, Julie

by

Jamie Anderson

Today, I'm delighted to share the cover reveal for Love, Julie by Jamie Anderson. What a fabulous cover! and as we share the same name, I felt it my duty to reveal this cover! Publication date is 30th April, so not long to wait. 

A Poignant and Humorous Journey of Self-discovery, Resilience, and Redemption

Once, Julie dreamed of a life filled with love and laughter. Now, in her mid-forties, she faces a starkly different reality. She's single, lonely, and reeling from breaking her hard-earned sobriety in front of her family and friends.

Opting for self-recovery over romance, Julie dives into planning her best friend Kate’s wedding. However, sharing this task with the irritatingly cheerful best man, single dad Luke, proves to be an unexpected challenge.

As Luke’s persistent kindness chips away at her icy exterior, a friendship forms, stirring a longing she’d sworn to suppress. But with self-forgiveness as her biggest hurdle, and her past ready to sabotage her future, can Julie confront the shame and trauma that have darkened so much of her life and find the courage to love again? Or will her demons shatter both her and Luke’s hearts in the process?

About the Author

Jamie Anderson is based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. A proud Canadian and Saskatchewanian, she wanted to set her first two novels in the place she was born and raised.

She’s been writing for as long as she can remember, and has been reading for longer than that. She lives happily with her mountain of books, her TV and her two plants.

You can read Jamie’s first novel Someone to Kiss here: https://mybook.to/someonetokiss