Archive | March 2026

Secrets Of The Desert Rose by Marilyn Turk

Mar31

The Bonds We Form

Secrets Of The Desert Rose by Marilyn Turk is a powerful Christian dual timeline novel that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The novel is set in 2019 America and Algeria, and during World War II in Algeria. The time periods are linked by a great grandmother and her great granddaughter as the latter wants to step into her great grandmother’s wartime footsteps.

We see that friendships formed in the early 1930’s between English Audrey and French Monique have strong bonds. They both share a secret which they keep for many years.

The two women are more like sisters than friends. Audrey spent years searching for love from her cold-hearted parents. It is in Monique’s family that she finds love.

Audrey is the more adventurous of the two. Monique prefers to watch from the sidelines. Monique’s family are wealthy. During the 1930’s there were many parties with a common goal “to find a husband.” This changes with the advent of war. Both women fight two very different wars but both are very brave.

In both time periods we hear of the archaeological digs and the landscape of Algeria. It is vibrant and comes to life under the author’s descriptive pen.

Continue reading →

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Mar29

Love Is The Beginning & The End

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is such a powerful book about women during World War II. Everything about it is fabulous, which makes it a hard book to review – what to include? What to leave out?

This is a book about women at war and the love that binds them together.

In war, it is men’s stories that we hear. The Nightingale addresses this balance. “It’s a fact that women are useless in war. Your job is to wait for our return” says a male character! It is women who are the glue that hold everything together. “Maman had been the glue that held them together.”

We follow two sisters. The younger one works for the resistance. The older one has her own battles at home where she lives with her young daughter, who has to grow up very quickly during war. The setting is France and both are very much on the frontline.

The younger sister has spent her whole life searching for love. “She was tired of begging people to love her.” The truth is that she has always been loved. It proves to be a love that makes the ultimate sacrifice, which will end up breaking her.

We witness the bravery needed to help allied airmen to safety, evading capture – but the more successful trips, the bigger the target on a sister’s back.

Life inside concentration camps was brutal. Luck and a strong willpower to survive were needed. Bodies were broken but minds remained free. “In the camp, she fought back the only way she knew – by caring for her fellow prisoners, and helping them stay strong.” The women had to be their own support system to hopefully, survive. There are some very hard to read scenes of Nazi brutality.

Continue reading →

Hearts In Circulation by Sarah Monzon

Mar26

So Delightful

Hearts In Circulation by Sarah Monzon is a very charming Christian contemporary novel that I absolutely loved and savoured every minute.

Sarah Monzon has a wonderfully fun style as her lead character Hayley has a joi de vivre about life. Her enthusiasm is infectious, spreading not only to the characters but to the reader too. Hayley’s casual, fun outlook on life helps others to relax, especially mechanic Levi who finds mixing with people hard – he has a sensory disorder. The kindness of Hayley sees Levi coming out of his shell. “He’d never thought it would happen, but Levi had… found… someone who quietened his spirit and calmed the chaos inside him.” We all need that one person who ‘gets’ us.

Having had a liver transplant at age twelve, Hayley lives every day as if it were her last. “You simply cannot repay someone for saving your life… especially when that person had to die to do it.” We hear how she wants her life to “make it count.” She does not want the sacrifice of another to be in vain.

Every day is the opportunity to ‘pay-it-forward.’ “Intentionally trying to bless someone with a random act of kindness.” Hayley has been given the gift of life and tries to do good deeds daily. She is trying to repay what was given as a gift. She wants to think herself worthy of that gift – but it was a gift and she can never work her way to payment. “It’s a blessing I feel the weight of responsibility for every single day.”

Hayley learns about the gift of salvation. “You can’t earn the gift of salvation by good works.” Jesus paid for our sins by His blood. We can never repay Him. It was a free gift to us that cost Jesus everything. Jesus was motivated by His love for us.

Continue reading →

The Last Baby In Auschwitz by Anna Stuart

Mar23

The Spider Keeps On Spinning

The Last Baby In Auschwitz by Anna Stuart is a powerful and heartbreaking historical novel that consumed me from the start. It is based in facts.

The reader follows the plight of the Greek Jewish people from freedom to the hell that was Auschwitz. They were always “a heartbeat from death.”

We follow two Jewish female cousins and their fight to survive. It was hope, love and luck that kept them going. “They can’t wash away my heart. They can’t shave off my spirit. The spider keeps on spinning.” The webs of love and friendship were woven in Auschwitz. They had to focus on each other and hope for a better future. They needed to survive in order to tell the world of the horrors.

Even in Auschwitz, the women retained their humanity. “As Naomi sang… she knew that love, not hatred, was the way to truly rouse a rabble, the way to fight oppression.” The women shared what little they had. They did what they did in order to survive, and to help others to survive. “Survival was their only weapon against Nazi oppression.” They realised “guns were strong, but hearts were stronger.”

In the hell that was Auschwitz, it was easy to lose sight of God. “Naomi tried to pray, but it was hard to get through to God these days.” As the months went on, “God was becoming harder and harder to see through all this darkness.” But love was stronger than hate. “She had to… pray that love would win out against the grinding hate.”

There was a powerful quote about the futility of war (from a Nazi Soldier). “I went off to fight thinking it was all about glory and honour, but… it’s just horror and fear and… waste. Waste of money, waste of resources, waste of lives.”

Continue reading →