Book Review: Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

December 16, 2024December 15, 2024 ~ Cindy Thomson ~ Leave a comment

December 1952. While the young Queen Elizabeth II finds her feet as the new monarch, she must also find the right words to continue the tradition of her late father’s Christmas Day radio broadcast. But even traditions must evolve with the times, and the queen faces a postwar Britain hungry for change.

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I enjoyed this novel about two lovers, Jack and Olive, who are separated by circumstances, including Jack’s marriage to another woman, Andrea, he loved. As the story opens Andrea is killed in a car accident. She leaves behind the dream she and Jack had for Jack to open his own restaurant. Olive harbors a secret, and these two things keep them apart for most of the book. It’s the classic romance formula.

What made this book intriguing for me was the glimpse into the royal family and the Queen’s preparations for her annual Christmas address. (However, readers should understand, despite the title and setting, the book is about Jack and Olive who both have jobs that take them into the lives of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip). Another intriguing aspect for he was Jack’s character. He enjoys cooking the recipes that his grandfather, from New Orleans, taught him. The way he puts his dishes together and the way he introduces them to the British people was interesting. I also loved how he wooed Olive by figuring out what she liked and setting up one-on-one cooking lessons.

The only drawback for me was the prolonged period of time (years!) that it took for Jack and Olive to reunite as a couple. I found it a little annoying. I also didn’t like that we weren’t able to witness a proposal or a wedding. After all that back and forth, this part deserved a place in the story, I thought. Even so, this didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this story by two very talented authors. I’ve read several of their books and I love how they take ordinary people and show readers how they endured and prospered during the times they lived in.

This is a fun Christmasy read with a gorgeous cover that I think readers will enjoy.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I received a free review copy from the publisher via NetGalley and was not required to leave a review. These are my own opinions.

Reviewed by Cindy Thomson, www.cindyswriting.com

Book Review: Three Words for Goodbye by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

February 28, 2022 ~ Cindy Thomson ~ 1 Comment

On the eve of World War II, two sisters embark on a journey that changes everything.

William Morrow Paperbacks (July 27, 2021)

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In 1937 two estranged sisters are sent by their dying grandmother on a European trip to deliver messages to people from their grandmother’s past. I was transported to Paris, Venice, and Vienna through these pages. The authors are wonderful writers, highly skilled at drawing readers into the times and places they write about. The sisters travel on the Queen Mary, the Orient Express, and the Hindenburg, which indicated that the ending was going to be dramatic. But the inner journey each sister takes is more impactful. They learn what it means to be a family, even when the family looks different from what they imagined.

I liked the format, alternating between each sister’s point of view with a few chapters from their grandmother’s point of view as she waits for their return. The voices were distinct and effective at showing their different personalities and reactions to events. There is a love interest for each sister but the authors do not take the easy way out with either. The sisters do not instantly fall into a man’s arms because of the romantic setting, even though they are told many times it could happen. I love how talented, strong-willed, but not impulsive these characters are. This story explores the importance of relationships in the midst of challenges, dangers, misunderstandings, and mishaps. You’ll enjoy this one!

Review by Cindy Thomson, https://www.cindyswriting

Book Review: Last Christmas in Paris: A Novel of World War I by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

January 5, 2022January 24, 2022 ~ Cindy Thomson ~ 1 Comment

Published October 2017 by William Morrow Paperbacks

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This story, told mostly as an epistolary novel, was so well done and so touching that I was completely engrossed by the characters of Evie and Thomas as they corresponded throughout the war. The letters are filled with humor and fun banter between childhood friends and as the war progresses they turn more serious at times and deep with soul-searching thoughts and ideas and finally with desperation. Sprinkled throughout we see the elderly Thomas in 1968, obviously without Evie but it isn’t until the end we understand why he’s come back to Paris to read all the letters they had exchanged plus a new one he doesn’t open until he finishes the wartime letters. The description of the agonies the characters endured plus their hopes and dreams feels so real as I imagine they were, although not usually spoken, for those who lived through those times.

I can imagine these two authors, quite successful as solo novelists, took on particular characters as the voices are as distinct as they would be with real people, and that is the strength of this novel, in my opinion. It’s a love story, but not just a love story. It’s filled with history, as we who love to read historical fiction look forward to when we open a book.

Highly recommended!

—Reviewed by Cindy Thomson