Blackbirds: A London Blitz Novel (The Bluebird Trilogy Book 2)


Melvyn Fickling - 2018
    Bryan Hale and Bluebird Squadron fight on into the autumn of 1940, chasing down the new threat of ‘Jabo’ hit-and-run raids by bomb-laden enemy fighters over the capital’s rooftops.Bryan’s chance encounter in a London pub with Jenny, an acquaintance from his school-days, starts them both down the road to a relationship that neither wants or can afford. But the deadly perils of London’s Blitz ignite a passion that neither can resist.Bluebird Squadron rotates out of the front-line to Scotland. Bryan transfers to night-fighters, partly to sate his desire for combat, but also to stay close to Jenny.Struggling with fledgling radar technology, Bryan and his operator, Tommy Scott, eventually become calculating hunters of the night, stalking and slaying Nazi raiders in a chilling, deadly game of cat-and-mouse in England’s pitch-black winter skies.The stresses of combat, the loss of friends and the daily grind of mortal danger weigh ever more heavily. As the new year dawns on the battered, bohemian streets of the blitzed capital, Bryan’s life begins to fray and unravel.

Call & Response


J.J. Salkeld - 2014
    Set in Carlisle - on the border between England and Scotland and much else besides - Call & Response introduces DS Samantha 'Pepper' Wilson and her North Division CID team. In this first episode Pepper struggles to cope with the madness and sadness of everyday policing, whist covering for an absent boss and adapting to a new Superintendent who's come straight from a supermarket's supply chain to British policing's chain of command. And matters take a serious turn when a case of 'revenge porn' is reported, involving members of a minority ethnic group, and one of Pepper's young DCs is assaulted, within spitting distance of Carlisle's shiny new Police HQ. Both cases are delicate and potentially inflammatory, and Pepper's short fuse is trimmed still more by the return to Carlisle of a dangerous career criminal with whom Pepper grew up, and whose reappearance could have dangerous implications for her, the city, and its now almost vanishingly 'thin blue line'.

Make It Last


Christine Gray - 2020
    ​I’m gut punched. I have to fight hard to control my breathing. Her one question holds all my dreams, wants, and needs. **** ZAHN- “Do me a favor.” ​ Four words to fuck up my already fucked up world. Although I’m dealing with enough shit, my dumb ass agrees. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would be standing face to face with her; the Naomi Henson. Oh, the countless times I wacked off to her growing up. I should be on a cattle drive, yet here I am, training her to ride horses for a role. I don’t doubt my friend asked for this ‘favor’ knowing damn well I wouldn’t pass up the chance of possibly teaching Naomi how to ride a beast of my own. It’s Austin’s way of forcing me stick around, to deal with people that are more like lingering shit on the bottom of my boots. Yeah, it’s time I dealt with these fucker of the past…and hopefully, I’ll get a sweet piece of Naomi as my reward. **** NAOMI- Washed up. Has been. Past her prime. All the phrases that has been used to describe me and my acting career. I guess you can add reformed crack head and whore to the list, too. No one is to blame. Well, many are, but complaining won’t change the nature of the beast that says that a man in this industry can work till he’s wheeled out, with wrinkles and a shady past. However, a female actress, no matter how great her talent, has a limited shelf life. The doors her age doesn’t close, her mistakes being played out in a constant loop will. I faced the hard facts that it’s a man’s world in Hollywood a long time ago. Being 42 years young is a death sentence in the industry. Yet, here I am. Completely godsmacked at the offer of the role of the century. We’re talking leading lady, Oscar worthy. Then fast forward to- “Can you make it last?” ​ What the hell am I saying? I’m here to train for my comeback role, not for whiskey and a roll in the hay. Now this good looking, tall, 48 year old joker that seems to say all the right lines from the raunchiest Native American romance novels is fucking me up. Zahn Ewing needs to get a clue. I’m just faking it in hopes that I make it, again. If he knew, I mean really knew my history, my secret, he would understand why I pop pills just to be able to look at myself in the mirror. He would understand why I, of all people, don’t deserve a second chance at anything…and I damn sure don’t deserve the likes of him.

Blood on the Bighorns


Carson McCloud - 2019
    First it took his mother, then his father, and now it threatens to end his own life as well. Merciless killer Kip Lane found Brett and his sweetheart, Allie, while they were out for an afternoon ride. Now Allie is missing and Brett lies at the bottom of a deep hole carrying three bullet holes. He’s got to escape and then rescue Allie from Kip’s clutches, but first he’s got to survive the cold lonesome night. Kip Lane isn’t Brett’s only concern though. There’s another man lurking behind the dashing outlaw. A dangerous man with money, powerful friends, and more than one gunfighter on his payroll. He aims to be the territory’s biggest rancher and Brett’s ranch is the key. Brett has a few allies he can count on. Gideon Sweeney and his daughter Lisa at the local Mormon settlement along with Red Elk, an old Crow medicine man, and Mourning Song, a beautiful Cheyenne woman with her own tragic history. Will it be enough to take back Brett’s heritage or will young Rawlins find his end beneath the guns of his enemies? Either way there will be Blood on the Bighorns.

Light From Other Windows


Chris Chalmers - 2015
    Unputdownable.” — Penny Hancock, author of Tideline How many secrets can a family hide? 19-year-old Josh Maitland is at the end of a gap-year trip round the world when the tsunami hits the Canary Islands. His family are devastated at the loss of someone they thought would outlive them all: mother Diana, advertising executive and shatterer of glass ceilings; older siblings Rachel and Jem, each contemplating a serious relationship after years of sidestepped commitment; and stepfather Colin, no stranger to loss, who finds himself frozen out by his wife's grief. It's only with the discovery of the private blog Josh was writing for his friends that the significance of his travels becomes clear. It reveals secrets he knew about everyone in the family — and one about himself that will change the way they think of him forever.

HMS Aphrodite (Sea Command Book 1)


Richard Testrake - 2015
    Further political machinations have secured a command for this new officer. It is now up to the new Lieutenant Charles Mullins to make a success of his new command on his own.

Heronfield


Dorinda Balchin - 2012
    At its heart is a cast of characters who draw us into their lives from the defeat of Dunkirk to final victory:Tony, a young man barely in his twenties who experiences the horror of Britain’s first defeat and offers his unique talents to the war effort, only to find that his secret work threatens his relationships with those he loves. David, Tony’s elder brother, fighter pilot and hero of the Battle of Britain. Sarah, whose work with the VAD’s brings her into contact with so many, forcing her to choose between a man with loyalty and honour or another with all the characteristics of a coward. Bobby, a young American GI for whom a posting to England brings love and hope. And at the centre of it all, Heronfield, the manor house set amongst the gentle rolling downs of southern England, one time home for Tony and his family and now a war-time hospital.Heronfield, witness to six long years of loyalty and love, anger and hatred, loss and betrayal.

The Wretched Needle Worker


Iris Cole - 2021
    Her father was a monster.How could Vera have been so blind to what was right before her eyes?After the death of her kind and loving Papa, Vera’s home is claimed by ne’er do well Uncle Merritt, who drives the household with cruelty and deprivation. Working for her keep, the once privileged Vera is driven to skin and bone and dreads the harsh beatings that Merritt regularly delivers.Ralph, Papa’s loyal and brave stableboy, cannot bear to see Vera shrinking daily under the hand of Merritt. In an attempt protect her, he challenges Merritt and now, tossed to streets, must survive however he can.With the loss of Ralph, Vera’s soul aches, made worse as she watches her father’s elderly servants treated with cruel indignity. In a desperate bid to protect them from Uncle Merritt, his rage is fuelled, and Vera is delivered an ultimatum, causing her to flee from her home. With nowhere to go, Vera too, finds herself on the streets.As starvation threatens, it is only Ralph and her new friend, Maggie, that keep her alive. But when Maggie unexpectedly reveals the truth about Vera's Papa, Vera is plunged to new despair. Will the truth destroy her? Can she keep secrets for the rest of her life? Will she ever be able to make things right? And will she agree to Ralphs’s plan, even though it means she may lose him forever?For fans of Dilly Court and Historical Romance

A Question of Duty


Martin McDowell - 2012
    England rules the waves and Wellington is taking on the French in the Spanish Peninsula, but the French Navy yet remains a potent threat, especially their fast, well-armed frigates. Also, another threat is creeping Northward; slaver/pirates in fast galleys from the North African coast, are raiding North, taking advantage of the warring Navies preoccupation with each other, to capture for slavery the highly valuable women and children of Northern Europe. Into this, Captain Reuben Argent sails his first command, HMS Ariadne, a fast, 32 gun, Spanish built frigate. He has moulded both his ship and crew into a tight fighting unit, which he immediately uses to capture La Mouette, a French 42 gun frigate. A brilliant start, but all is not well at home. The Enclosures movement could force his family from their farm, and his Admiral is their immediate neighbour, who hates the Argent family and will use any means available to force them from their home and gain their land. On top is Argent’s rivalry with “Flogger Cheveley” the Captain of the Herodotus, who has a very different concept of how to run a ship of the Royal Navy. Also, as Captain, Argent has to contend with the machinations within the community that is his own crew. The day comes when Argent has to make a career threatening choice, either, as ordered, to take a vital despatch to Wellington at the fastest possible speed or to search for the slaver that has just captured Cornish women and children, including members of his own family. In the background is the smuggling of linen from Ireland to France and his relations with the feisty Sinead Malley and the society beauty Charlotte Willoughby

The Urchin of Walton Hall (The Victorian Village Sagas)


Emma Hardwick - 2020
    She was promptly sent away by her philandering father, the colliery owner Robert Harvey, to become an educated and accomplished young woman - and to escape the beatings at the cruel hand of her vengeful stepmother, Hannah. As Bess finishes boarding school, a tragic accident strikes Robert Harvey, almost killing him, and the decline of the family's fortunes means Bess and her siblings must find spouses to provide for them. After a series of doomed arranged encounters with potential suitors, Bess's stepmother is forced to take drastic action against her to protect herself and her family. Who is the mystery fiancé Hannah Harvey has in mind? And how will Bess feel knowing the decision means she will never be free to marry her childhood sweetheart?

Raid of the Wolves: A fast-paced Viking Saga filled with action and adventure (Ormstunga Saga Book 2)


Donovan Cook - 2021
    

The Giving Tree


Anya Fincham - 2016
    They say, every wish can be fulfilled. Kito is a little orphan, living in a village, who got to know about a magical tree, that can make his innermost desire true. But at the same time all the other villagers want their desires to be fulfilled as well...

In Hitler's Backyard


Gare Tthompson - 2012
    Amid rising tensions among the Jews and the reigning Nazi party, Carl Mann--the patriarch of the Mann family--is forced to take a job in one of the scariest places imaginable: Literally in Adolf Hitler's backyard. In this unusual coming of age tale, curious young girls may say or do the wrong things, but how many times can the high-ranking German officials (and Hitler himself) look the other way? Can they survive in his backyard? This book is filled with suspense, historical detail, family life, and even a little romance. A great choice for book clubs with Book Club questions @garethompson-writer.com. The perfect gift for those who are love reading about World War II, as the setting is authentic. For middle schoolers, compare it to Diary of Anne Frank.

The Crimson Gauntlet (The Long Fuse Book 3)


Jason Born - 2018
    Born gets the action humming swiftly and continues at a breakneck pace, while weaving in elements of devotion, loss, and greed along the journey. Amid the virgin forests of North America, civilizations collide. 1755 A.D. Following the defeat of Braddock and his army, the Western Wilderness has suddenly become deadlier than ever. French and Canadian troops patrol at-will. Tribal warriors strike every settlement and traveler within reach. Ephraim Weber, a young scout and trader, must return to the scene of the battle and perhaps beyond to recover Bess, his betrothed and the mother of his children. Successful or not, he then must rush to warn the remaining British campaigns. The French have a hold of their plans, knowing when and where to strike! Along the trail, death and destruction pursue Ephraim at every turn. Allies may prove to be foes. Former enemies may become friends. The tale reaches a crescendo on a single day of bloody battles that run to and from a string of erstwhile serene locales. The Crimson Gauntlet is a tale of adventure and woe. It is a yarn of explosive personalities, failures, and triumphs. The Crimson Gauntlet is for anyone who yearns to become a firsthand witness to the pangs that foretold the birth of a great nation.

From the Ashes of Amiens


Jana Petken - 2021