Showing posts with label Daughters of New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daughters of New York. Show all posts

Thursday, 7 July 2022

The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue - Ella Carey

New York, 1938: Martha pulled the door of her Fifth Avenue apartment closed, her heart thumping, re-reading the telegram she’d been dreading. Her beloved sister Charlotte needed her help. She was alone in Paris, and the threat of Nazi invasion was growing ever stronger. The time had come for Martha to make the bravest decision of her life. She needed to bring Charlotte home.


As 
Martha looks out of her bedroom window at the blossom-covered trees in Central Park, she is a world away from Europe and the threat of war. But when a telegram arrives from her sister Charlotte telling of the death of their Jewish friend Anita, Martha’s quiet life changes in an instant. With the threat of the Nazi invasion growing, Martha knows she must travel to Paris to convince Charlotte to return home.

When Martha arrives, she finds a city preparing for war. Soldiers patrol Paris’ cobbled streets and families talk of packing up and fleeing with whatever they can carry. Clutching her sister tightly, Martha knows that Charlotte has already decided to stay. Charlotte’s heart is in France, and as an American in Paris she believes she will be safe.

When the Nazis march through Paris’ streets and raise their flags over the city’s most beautiful buildings, Charlotte is determined not to give in. She works for the Resistance with a Frenchman named 
Louis, carrying messages, and hiding Anita’s family’s precious art collection from the Nazis. Meanwhile, Martha vows to help a female Jewish professor to safety in America, only to be faced with impossible odds.

But as the war rages, Martha and Charlotte’s determination will be tested like never before. And when Charlotte uncovers a shocking secret about her family which threatens her own life, can she find the strength to protect those she loves the most?

From top ten bestselling author Ella Carey comes an utterly heartbreaking novel about the strength of sisterly love and the courage of the women of the Resistance. Perfect for fans of The NightingaleAll The Light We Cannot See and Fiona Valpy.

Author Bio:

Ella Carey is the international bestselling author of The Things We Don’t Say, Secret Shores, From a Paris Balcony, The House by the Lake, and Paris Time Capsule. Her books have been published in over fourteen languages, in twelve countries, and have been shortlisted for ARRA awards. A Francophile who has long been fascinated by secret histories set in Europe’s entrancing past, Ella has degrees in music, nineteenth-century women’s fiction, and modern European history. She lives in Melbourne with her two children and two Italian greyhounds who are constantly mistaken for whippets.


Ella loves to connect with her readers regularly through her facebook page and on her website.


http://www.ellacarey.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ellacareyauthor/

https://www.instagram.com/ellacarey_author/

https://twitter.com/Ella_Carey


Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Ella Carey here: https://www.bookouture.com/ella-carey

Buy Link:

You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you'll love at: http://ow.ly/Fkiz30lnzdo


My Review


The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue is the fourth book in the Daughters of New York series. Although this is a series, the books are only loosely connected, with some of the same characters being mentioned. As such you can read any of these books as standalone stories.
Set mostly in wartime France, during the German occupation of the second world war. The lost sister in question is Charlotte, who remains in France after her sister returns to the US. She travels with treasures from the Louvre and from a family friend's gallery but finds herself drawn into the resistance, putting herself in great danger.
This is a gripping and heartbreaking story, with the two sisters who feature in it both suffering loss and deep challenges.
I really enjoyed this and it was a good read. I did think that there was a little too much repetition at times. I'd already gathered how a character was feeling or reacting to something and didn't feel that I needed to keep being told. I also found the number of times the phrase 'worked her mouth' was used irritating. I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to mean, but characters were described as doing it all the time. I started to imagine cows chewing the cud. These were just minor irritations though, that didn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.




Friday, 7 January 2022

The Girl From Paris - Ella Carey

 Vianne rushes through the crowded streets of Paris as the German bombs begin to fall. As she
rounds the corner she sees the familiar spires of the old church burst into flames. Too late, she realizes that her mother and sister are trapped inside…


Paris, 1918. The end of war is in sight, and young seamstress Vianne Mercier is longing for the day when she can stop sewing military uniforms and start creating the beautiful dresses that she has been dreaming up in her head.

But just when it seems like peace is within reach, Vianne’s mother and sister are killed in a terrible air raid. To make matters worse, Vianne’s brother has returned home a changed man. Controlling and cruel, he presents Vianne with an ultimatum; give up her dreams of becoming a designer, or be forced onto the streets, penniless and alone.

With nothing left for her in Paris but sad memories, she decides to sail for New York. Determined not to look back, she throws herself into her new life—spending her days sewing dresses for wealthy Upper East Side women, and her evenings dancing the Charleston to Duke Ellington in the new downtown clubs. When Vianne meets handsome Italian Giorgio Conti, he encourages her career, and she feels safe for the first time since she lost her family.

Then news of a terrible accident compels Vianne to suddenly return to France, where she discovers proof of a wartime secret that changes everything she thought she knew about her family. Facing the threat of sickness and ruin, the people who forced Vianne out of her home now suddenly need her help.

Will Vianne find the courage to follow her heart, return to New York and her life with Giorgio? Or will duty bind her to the family she had left behind and force her to remain in France?

From Amazon Charts bestseller Ella Carey comes an utterly gripping and emotional historical wartime novel about the terrible choices people made during humanity’s darkest days. Fans of Fiona Valpy, Rhys Bowen and The Nightingale will adore this novel.

Author Bio:

Ella Carey is the USA Today and Amazon charts bestselling author of eight novels of historical fiction, including the Secrets of Paris Series, published with Hachette imprint, Bookouture. Ella’s novels have reached over one million readers and have been translated into fourteen languages. Ella has recently signed a six book deal in Germany and a nine book deal in Denmark. Ella’s latest novels are A New York Secret, and The Lost Girl of Berlin, both published with Bookouture in 2021. The Girl from Paris is the third novel in this new series, and will publish in January, 2022. Ella has a music degree in classical piano, and an arts degree majoring in English and history. Her novels have been shortlisted for ARRA awards. For further information:


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My Review

Unlike the first two books in this series, this book doesn't take place close the the second world war, instead it begins during the first world war in France. These books are all standalone stories, but they have links to the other books. Vianne, who is the Girl from Paris of the title, has appeared before in A New York Secret but there she was a sucessful businesswoman and designer. Now we see her story of how she got there.
The book deals with the effect that the first world war had on those who lived through it. For Vianne and her family it destroyed them. Ripping the family apart and having both an emotionally and physically. Vianne moves to New York to start a new life and there she faces the new modern world that is open to young women, but also the constraints that still exist.
I don't want to give away spoilers to this book. I think that it might be enough to say that I read it in just over a day as I wanted to see what was going to happen and how Vianne's life would unfold. This was a great read.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.