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A Bridge Across the Ocean by Susan Meissner

I have been on a huge historical fiction kick lately. I read the book, The Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner and loved it. I wanted to read the other books she had written. Looking online I came across her newest book, due out in March, A Bridge Across the Ocean.

I received a free copy of A Bridge Across the Ocean for review from Netgalley! 

About the book:

February 1946. World War Two is over, but the recovery from the most intimate of its horrors has only just begun for Annaliese Lange, a German ballerina desperate to escape her past, and Simone Deveraux, the wronged daughter of a French Resistance spy.

Now the two women are joining hundreds of other European war brides aboard the renowned RMS Queen Mary to cross the Atlantic and be reunited with their American husbands. Their new lives in the United States brightly beckon until their tightly-held secrets are laid bare in their shared stateroom. When the voyage ends at New York Harbor, only one of them will disembark…

Present day. Facing a crossroads in her own life, Brette Caslake visits the famously haunted Queen Mary at the request of an old friend. What she finds will set her on a course to solve a seventy-year-old tragedy that will draw her into the heartaches and triumphs of the courageous war brides—and will ultimately lead her to reconsider what she has to sacrifice to achieve her own deepest longings.

My Thoughts:

I was born in Long Beach, where the Queen Mary is today and reading about the War Brides was so very interesting! I would love to plan a visit to see the Queen Mary again the next time I am in California.

The War Brides were foreign wives of US Military men who married during WW2. They had been separated from their American husbands and their trip across the ocean was going to reunite them after the war. Some of these women hadn’t seen their husband in months or even close to a year. As a military spouse myself, I can imagine how excited these women felt but also how nervous they must have been getting ready to start their new lives in America.

The only thing about this book is the multiple storylines. I felt like there was one too many. It made the book a little more confusing than it needed to be. But other than that, this book was another amazing read!

I am now on my library’s waiting list for A Fall of Marigolds, another one of Susan Meissner’s books!

A Bridge Across the Ocean will be published on March 14, 2017 🙂

10 Favorite Books of 2016 You Might Want to Read Too

If you didn’t already know this, but I love to read. I have read 55 books this year and I feel like this number is too low. I want to read all the books! In 2016 I read a lot of different books, some of them I really enjoyed, some of them I thought were good reads and others I gave up on early since I didn’t really enjoy them.

I just looked over my list of the books I have read in 2016 and picked out my top 10. This was a hard decision to make as I read so many great books this last year! You can see the rest of my 2016 reads on Goodreads!

10. The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer- This book takes place in England and goes back and forth between mother and daughter. Carmel Wakeford is a young child in the beginning of the book. She is kidnapped by a man claiming to be her Grandfather. The book is all about what is going on with Carmel and her mother even though they are separated. Even though this book was about a child being kidnapped it didn’t feel that dark to me, more about what happens and how both mother and daughter deal with their current situations.

9. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood- I had watched this movie years ago but had never read the book. I decided to do so. I read this on audio and Claire Danes is the narrator. The Handmaid’s Tale is the story of a dystopian world. The main character, Offred is a Handmaid and has to breed so that the couple she lives with can have babies. The book is about her and her world and how she isn’t going to fully accept it, even if she knows that is what she is supposed to do. There will be a mini-series coming out in April with Elisabeth Moss on Hulu.

8. Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes- Hidden Bodies is the sequel to You. This book is so interesting because of the point of view. Joe Goldberg is a murderer and You and this book is all about his thoughts, his fears, how he sees the world, etc. Hidden Bodies takes place mostly in California and is about what Joe does after the end of You.

7. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell– Eleanor & Park is the story of two teenagers in the 1980s. They come from very different homes and their love story is unique but an interesting one. This was the first book I read from Rainbow Rowell and I would love to read some of her other books too.

6. Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews- I had heard of Flowers in the Attic but I never read it back in the day. So I started off 2016 reading the series. The story of 4 children being forced to live in an attic for years and years is s strange one but I really enjoyed reading the 1st book. By the 4th? It was just too much and I ended up not finishing that one. But the whole dynamic of the kids, the sibling relationships, etc that were in Flowers in the Attic was an interesting story.

5. Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal- This is a sweet story about a girl named Eva and food. Throughout the book, we are introduced to different people that connect with Eva throughout her life. This book will make you hungry and a lot of the book takes place in Minnesota.

4. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom- The Kitchen House is the story of a girl, Lavinia, who is orphaned and then taken in by a rich family on a plantation. She is given to Belle, the master’s illegitimate daughter. As Lavinia grows she is accepted into the big house with a lot of struggle. This book was a deep one and one that touches you in your soul.

3. The Girls by Emma Cline- Girls was a very well written story of a girl, Evie who is 14 years old. She gets involved in a Manson-like cult in 1969 Petaluma, CA. This book is not going to be for everyone but the story the author told drew me in. The story was told from the point of view of Evie as an adult going back and forth between that summer and present day. This was the writer’s first book and looking forward to what she creates in the future.

2. Secrets of a Charmed Lie by Susan Meissner- This book was truly amazing! I couldn’t put it down! What a story! Set among the backdrop of WW2 and the Blitz in London, the story of two sisters, choices that were made and the result of those choices. Such a great historical fiction book!

1. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly- Lilac Girl was truly something special. The story of three women during WW2 and the aftermath. This book was my favorite all year. There was just something about the characters, what they went through and how they handled what happened to them that drew me in and made me want to stay with them throughout the book. This was also the first book for the author and plan to read more of her in the future.

I asked some of my military spouse blogger friends what their favorite book read in 2016 was and this is what they said:

Dear Mr. Rogers by Fred Rogers- Jo, My Gosh

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg- Burke Does

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman-Christ Walk

Lila by Marilynne Robinson-Anna Blanch Rabe

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown-Kayla Roof

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah-See You Next Tuesday

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins-Away We Run

Me Before You by JoJo Moyes- Brenda MacCutcheon

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman-Royal Little Lambs

15 Years of War by Kristine Schellhaas-Servant Mama

Orphan Train: A Novel by Christina Baker Kline-Kristine Schellhaas

The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman-Being Briana

Favorite Books of 2016–Ramblings of a Marine Wife

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin-The Coastie Couple

Under Magnolia: A Southern Memoir by Frances Mayes-Nutrisha

Wild Justice by Kelley Armstrong- Hello World

Landline by Rainbow Rowell- Michelle Volkmann

Have you read any of these books? What was your favorite book in 2016???

2015 is almost over and it has been a good book year for me. I have read 55 books this year which is up from previous years. I read a lot of fiction this year. I love to lose myself in a good book. As I look back over all the books I read this last year, I wanted to talk about my top 5 and encourage you to add these books to your list if you haven’t read them yet yourself. I think you will enjoy them.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

This book takes place in WW2 France. Vianne has to say goodbye to her husband as he goes off to war. Her sister Isabelle is a young 18-year-old looking for her purpose. She is sent to stay with her sister when the Nazis invade France. The book goes back and forth between the sisters and what they are dealing with during the war. This is one of those books that really gets to you. Even though it is fiction, you know that a lot of what the sisters experience really happened to people during the war. This was such an emotional book, but even weeks later I can’t stop thinking about the characters and how their lives were changed because of what they went through. Purchase on Amazon.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

This one was a pretty quick read for me. I have never read a book like this before and I found it hard to put down. Louisa Clark takes a job working as a caregiver for Will Traynor. He is wheelchair bound after an accident. Up until that time he lived a pretty amazing life and he is having a very difficult time with the way life is after the accident. The book is about their relationship and how Lou grows as a person. I really liked her character and you just didn’t know how the book was going to go. The other characters, like her family also play a role and add a little bit of humor to the book as well. Purchase on Amazon.

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

If you are a fan of historical fiction you will love this book. It is the first book in a three book series about five families. This books has them going through WW1, the Russian Revolution and the struggle for women’s suffrage. There are the stories of a Welsh working class family, an American law student, the aristocratic family, a German spy and two Russian brothers. It is so interesting to watch all these characters interact and go through their lives interacting with real events and people. The story starts in 1911 and ends in 1925. It is a long book but worth it, even if it takes you a long time to read it. Purchase on Amazon. 

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Alice is 29, in love with her husband and expecting their first child. Then she comes to on the floor of a gym to find out that she is 39, getting divorced and has three kids. She can’t remember any of the time in-between. The book is all about her learning about her “new” life and trying to adjust, but it isn’t always easy. I can’t imagine what it would be like to wake up from something like that and hear that you hated your husband or that you had kids you didn’t remember. This book is a mix of humor and relationships as Alice tries to remember what she forgot. I plan to read all of Liane Moriarty’s books as I love each one of them. I have also read The Husband’s Secret and have started Big Little Lies.  Purchase on Amazon.

The Forgotten Garden By Kate Morton

A little girl has been left abandoned in 1913 Australia. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised along with their own children. When she is 21, she finds out how she ended up in her family but doesn’t know much more then that. Years later her granddaughter Cassandra follows up on the searching she did during her life in hopes of finding out the truth. I loved how this book went back and forth between the time periods, revealing a little more of the story the more you read. I had heard about Kate Morton a few years ago, but 2015 was the first time I read one of her books. Purchase on Amazon. 

What were your favorite books of 2015? What do you want to add to your reading list in 2016???