Not By Sight - A Review

Published - August 2015, Bethany House Publishers
Author - Kate Breslin
Title - Not By Sight
Format - ebook, paper
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In the midst of WWI, Jack Benningham is the heir to the Stonebrooke earldom. While most other young men his age are fighting in the trenches in France, Jack's wild reputation as a rogue as well as his high status in society provide the perfect cover for him to track down German spies on English soil. Grace Mabry has a twin brother fighting on the front. She's fiercely patriotic. She's also a wealthy suffragette. When she sees Jack across a ballroom, she is determined that he pay for his cowardice by handing him a white feather. She never dreams that her actions would have far reaching results. To escape London, she seeks work with one of the haying crews in the countryside. When her path crosses with Jack's again, will Grace be able to find the courage to admit she was wrong? Neither of them can predict the danger and betrayal that follows them.

I LOVED this book! After loving the author's debut book last summer, I was almost afraid to pick up the second book. I didn't want to be disappointed. I worried for nothing. I wasn't disappointed at all. I was quickly drawn into a tale rich in history, full of adventure and romance, and had the pain of suffering.

Both Jack and Grace were deep characters. There was so much to them than what appeared on the surface. As the story unfolds and their layers are pulled back, my heart hurt for the child Jack was once. I hurt over Grace's unknowing if her twin was dead or alive. And I cried when all the secrets came to light.

I wondered about the title "Not By Sight" and how it came about. Yet it's revealed rather quickly that one must learn to see with the eyes of faith as well as to trust. There's another more obvious reason, but I'm not going to be mentioning that for fear of spoilers.

This may very well be the best book that I've read this year. I know it's been one of my most highly anticipated ones. It's certainly one of the most character driven ones. I literally got the book in one evening, started it the next day AND finished it about 6  hours later.

Fans of historical fiction will love this book.

I received a copy for free from the author for the purpose of promoting. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Recommended to fans of historical fiction, Francine Rivers, Laura Frantz, Jody Hedlund, Sarah Sundin, Julie Klassen

Rating - 5 stars

Springtime of the Spirit - A Review

After the end of the Great War, Christophe Brecht returns to his home in Braedon, Germany in hopes of peace. What he finds there is that the home that he longed for no longer exists. When family friends ask him to travel to Munich to look for their daughter, Annaliese Duray, he agrees. Arriving in Munich, he finds the city in the midst of a political upheaval and Annaliese in the thick of it all. She's not the girl he remembers. He's not the man that she once had a crush on. The years of the war have changed them both. But as the situation in Munich grows more and more violate, they each find themselves drawn to the other. Will love prevail or will these two let the politics drive them apart?

This is the third book in the Great War Series, and thankfully I didn't need to read the others to make sense of this one. This is also the first book I've read of Maureen Lang's. While the book did start off slow, as the story moved along, I found myself drawn into it. I don't think I've ever read a book that was set in Germany after WWI. To see the political upheaval following the war brought to light, made me wish I knew my history a bit better. Christophe is a very strong character and I love the way that though the War changed him, he held fast to his faith and didn't let circumstances take that from him. Annaliese's character is one that shows just how frequently we as humans can question why bad things happen to good people. She grows a lot in the course of the book, and is even able to figure out what she exactly believes.

Fans of historical fiction will enjoy this book. Especially people who want to read a book set in a setting that most authors don't write about.

Rating - 4 stars