Book picks similar to
A Hospital Summer by Lucilla Andrews


romance
wartime-romance
wwii
ww2-historical-fiction

Under the Light of the Italian Moon


Jennifer Anton - 2021
    The daughter of a strong-willed midwife, she is determined to define her own destiny. But when her brother emigrates to America, she promises her mother to never leave.When childhood friend Pietro Pante briefly returns to their mountain town, passion between them ignites while Mussolini forces political tensions to rise. Just as their romance deepens, Pietro must leave again for work in the coal mines of America. Nina is torn between joining him and her commitment to Italy and her mother.As Mussolini’s fascists throw the country into chaos and Hitler’s Nazis terrorise their town, each day becomes a struggle to survive greater atrocities. A future with Pietro seems impossible when they lose contact and Nina’s dreams of a life together are threatened by Nazi occupation and an enemy she must face alone…A gripping historical fiction novel, based on a true story and heartbreaking real events.Spanning over two decades, Under the Light of the Italian Moon is an epic, emotional and triumphant tale of one woman’s incredible resilience during the rise of fascism and Italy’s collapse into WWII.

Sketches of a Black Cat - Full Color Collector's Edition: Story of a night flying WWII pilot and artist


Ron Miner - 2012
     Howard Miner never expected to contract the first documented case of the mumps in Guadalcanal history.    As a Navy Black Cat, he took his share of chances during the ten-hour, night long flights in darkened PBYs painted entirely black, searching the seas for enemy ships and downed fliers ~ the original stealth aircrafts.  But wartime was unpredictable, and whether landing on an exotic tropical isle where the women he saw from the air turned out to be topless, or dropping wing tanks containing a strange new substance called “Napalm,” this was clearly a very different world than he had known as a college student in Indiana. His is a tale of seven buddies, all pilots who flew at night, slept and got into mischief by day, then repeated. Their PBY Catalina odyssey stretched from the Solomon Islands to the northern tip of the Philippines and included a full range of missions, from search, attack, and bombing runs, to daring sea rescues. Howard’s journey through training and tours of duty is skillfully captured in his art and narratives, framing a wartime drama with a personal coming of age story. The descriptive verse from the artist’s viewpoint gives us a creatively told and intriguing portrayal of WWII’s Pacific Theater. * * * * Miner combines his father's writings and interviews with WWII veterans to craft a loving tribute to the young men who fought in WWII...He does his father and other WWII veterans proud. ~Publisher's Weekly/Booklife * * * * "Sketches of a Black Cat" is a unique and fascinating memoir of a World War II combat aviator ~ with original and previously unpublished sketches and photographs. This artfully crafted book is a must read for anyone in search of a new and completely different view into the world of war in the Pacific and on the home front during America's greatest conflict." ~ Larkin Spivey, military historian and author. * * * * “From boxes of notes and drawings comes a book illuminating a WWII pilot’s experiences as part of the Black Cat Squadron…accounts of support missions, rescues of airmen and interactions with indigenous island peoples told in vivid but unembellished detail…a handsome volume that reads breezily and is punctuated with photos and drawings from Howard’s war years. ~ Mike Francis the Oregonian * * * * "Wonderful and beautifully real stories such as this are dying every day as we lose our WWII veterans. Kudos to Ron Miner for preserving and sharing with the rest of us the gold of his father's journals, photos, and drawings to bring us such a compelling look at life during the war. This is not only a valuable and insightful historical document but a dramatic and warm personal story." ~ Don Keith, WWII author * * * * “... Howard Miner’s memoirs are a wonderful view into the world of a patrol squadron at war. Miner sees the war through the eyes of an artist, revealing details of day-to-day life that are often overlooked in war time narratives. A wholly enjoyable story!” ~ Stewart Bailey, Curator, Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum * * * * " “As a former flight engineer aboard a PBY in WWII… I can truly say I felt as though I was on Howard’s Catalina…so many similarities to my own experiences.

Star Sand


Roger Pulvers - 2016
    Alongside it are the remains of three people.The journal reveals the story of Hiromi, a sixteen-year-old girl who’d grown up in the United States before living in Japan in the midst of World War II. One day, while collecting star sand—tiny star-shaped fossils—Hiromi finds two army deserters hiding in the seaside cavern—one American, one Japanese. The soldiers don’t speak the same language, but they’ve reached an agreement based on a shared hope: to cause no more harm and survive. Hiromi resolves to care for the men—feeding them and nursing their ailments—despite the risk that, if caught, she’ll die alongside them as a traitor. But when a fourth person joins in on their secret, they must face a threat from within. The diary abruptly ends, leaving everyone’s fate a mystery.Decades later, in 2011, a young female university student decides to finally determine who died in that cave and who lived. Her search will lead her to the lone survivor—and bring closure to a gripping tale of heroism at a time when committing to peace was the most dangerous act of all.

The Lavender Keeper


Fiona McIntosh - 2012
    When the Second World War breaks out he joins the French Resistance, leaving behind his family's fortune, their home overrun by soldiers, their lavender fields in disarray.Lisette Forestier is on a mission of her own: to work her way into the heart of a senior German officer – and to bring down the Reich in any way she can. What Luc and Lisette hadn't counted on was meeting each other.When they come together at the height of the Paris occupation, German traitors are plotting to change the course of history. But who, if anyone, can be trusted? As Luc and Lisette's emotions threaten to betray them, their love may prove the greatest risk of all.From the fields of Provence to the streets of wartime Paris, The Lavender Keeper is an extraordinary, moving story of action and adventure, heartbreak and passion, devotion and treachery from an internationally bestselling author.

Wildflowers of Terezin


Robert Elmer - 2009
    A Danish Lutheran pastor’s complacent faith is stretched to the breaking point during World War II when he meets a young Jewish nurse Hanne Abrahamsen and becomes deeply involved in Resistance efforts to save Denmark’s Jews from the Nazi prison camp at Terezin, Czechoslovakia—also known as Theresienstadt.Challenged by his evangelical brother and swayed by his own attraction to Hanne, Pastor Steffen abandons his formerly quiet, uninvolved life and hesitantly volunteers to help smuggle Denmark’s Jews out of the country before a Nazi roundup. Steffen finds that helping his Jewish neighbors is the most decent, spiritual thing he has ever done. As he actually does God’s work, rather than just talking about it, Steffen’s faith deepens and he takes greater risks in his sermons.When things go terribly wrong and Hanne is sent to Terezin, Steffen finds his heart fully engaged. He undertakes protests and rescues that are more and more dangerous, never imagining where it will lead him, or the ultimate cost of his decision to get directly involved.

A Hand Me Down Heart


Becki Willis - 2019
    Even as children, Hope was always the talented one and Grace the smart one. Hope received the attention, the boyfriends, and the beautiful clothes; Grace received the hand-me-downs. The leftovers never bothered Grace, until it came to one boy. Her sister went through boyfriends and their affections like she did her clothes, carelessly tossing one aside in favor of another. Often left to stall her sister’s adoring public, Cruz Colton was the one boy Grace never objected to entertaining. As their friendship grew and Grace found herself falling for the boy with the quiet sense of humor, she began to imagine he really came to see her, and not her sister. But one fateful night changed that perception, and she realized his was only a hand-me-down heart, after all. Long ago, Grace banished thoughts of Cruz from her mind, even if her heart was reluctant to let his memory go.Ten years later, their paths cross again. Grace is living her dream as a registered nurse, Hope is a brilliant concert violinist, and Cruz has a distinguished career in the military. Recently discharged from service, Cruz checks in at Texas General Hospital where Grace works. And just like that, Grace’s heart picks up where it left off.She tells herself she’s over him. These sparks between them are nothing but leftover embers from bridges burned, a decade past. The adult Cruz is a changed, hardened man. The shadows in his dark eyes speak of hidden secrets and the horrors of war. Is Grace strong enough to help him battle his inner demons? And with Hope back in town, can Grace stand up to her sister’s domineering presence? Grace may have been content in the shadows as a girl, but she’s a woman now, and she knows what she wants. It’s time to let her own light shine, because Cruz Colton’s is definitely a hand-me-down heart worth fighting for.From the best-selling author of Texas General Cozy Cases of Mystery, The Sisters, Texas Series, and Forgotten Boxes, don’t miss this first book in the series!

Wartime Brides


Jeannie Johnson - 2002
    Three women from very different backgrounds meet when they find themselves on Bristol Temple Meads station waiting for the return of their loved ones. Edna's fiance , Colin, comes home crippled. Charlotte's doctor husband, who was a loving and gentle father, returns a violent, disturbed man with no love for her and even less for their children. Polly, who is waiting for her GI boyfriend Aaron, is once again disappointed when he doesn't arrive. Adjusting to men who are very changed and, in Polly's case, to no man at all, is the core of this enthralling novel. However, during the war years, the women have had to cope. They too have changed and they harbour secrets that would be best kept.

The Girl from Krakow


Alex Rosenberg - 2015
    Rita Feuerstahl comes to the university in Krakow intent on enjoying her freedom. But life has other things in store—marriage, a love affair, a child, all in the shadows of the oncoming war. When the war arrives, Rita is armed with a secret so enormous that it could cost the Allies everything, even as it gives her the will to live. She must find a way both to keep her secret and to survive amid the chaos of Europe at war. Living by her wits among the Germans as their conquests turn to defeat, she seeks a way to prevent the inevitable doom of Nazism from making her one of its last victims. Can her passion and resolve outlast the most powerful evil that Europe has ever seen?In an epic saga that spans from Paris in the ’30s and Spain’s Civil War to Moscow, Warsaw, and the heart of Nazi Germany, The Girl from Krakow follows one woman’s battle for survival as entire nations are torn apart, never to be the same.

Raiding Forces Series Boxed Set (Books 1 & 2): Those Who Dare & Dead Eagles


Phil Ward - 2017
    Meticulously researched (the author was an instructor at the Army Ranger School), the series begins with the birth of special operations—as seen through the eyes of a young American officer who has volunteered to serve with British Forces. With over 500 reviews and a 4.3 star average, Those Who Dare and Dead Eagles are sure to appeal to WWII military historical fiction fans. Two books for the price of one—$9.99. Those Who Dare (Book1) May 1940, 10th Panzer Division has decimated France and is driving on Calais a short distance from Dunkirk. Lieutenant John Randal, a veteran of the US 26th Cavalry Regiment volunteers to serve with the British Forces and arrives on the continent three days before the town falls. What unfolds is a blend of guerrilla tactics learned in the Philippian jungles, the first small-scale Commando raid, tough training at No.1 Parachute Training School, the Commando Castle, Special Operations Executive. suspense, humor and a little romance with the drop dead gorgeous widow Lady Jane Seaborn. The author—a decorated Ranger combat veteran covers the details of war extensively putting the reader right in the middle of the action. As the novel ends newly promoted Major Randal, upon returning from the first British parachute raid of the war is alerted that Raiding Forces will deploy within 48 hours via sea transport for their next mission off the Gold Coast of Africa. Dead Eagles (Book 2) U.S.Major John Randal, Commander of Strategic Raiding Forces is back, leading a crew of British Commandos, Royal Marines and Royal Navy raiders on bigger and bolder missions to foil Hitler's Third Reich. Off the Gold Coast colony in Africa, the Germans are operating a naval intelligence ring that gathers information about British convoys in the southern sea-lane. Couriers carry the data to nearby Rio Bonita, a tiny Portuguese island protectorate, whence they are broadcast to Nazi U-boats and surface raiders from a clandestine radio station onboard one of three interned enemy ships. As a result, British convoys vital to the war effort are ravaged. Major Randal and the Raiding Forces mission is to invade neutral Rio Bonita and spirit away the three ships. Failure means either imprisonment or hanging for piracy-and that Portugal will declare war on its oldest ally. Peopling Dead Eagles are colorful characters new and old. There is Wild West showman Captain "Geronimo Joe" McKoy, the stunning Special Operations Executive operator Lady Jane Seaborn, who adopts the Raiding Forces as her own pet project; and Lady Jane's bombshell of a driver, Pamala Plum-Martin. Even Commander Ian Fleming puts in an appearance, submitting a plan for "Operation Ruthless", the goal of which is to board a Luftwaffe bomber and crash it into the English Channel in order to capture an Enigma coding device from a Nazi air-sea rescue craft. This action packed adventure story features Lovat Scout Snipers, the take down of the Vichy French fleet in English ports, daring Commando raids, an epic sea battle, beautiful spies and culminates in a deadly shoot-out in a crowed bar in Occupied France.

The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II


Madeline Martin - 2021
    Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and blackout curtains that she finds on her arrival were not what she expected. And she certainly never imagined she’d wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop nestled in the heart of London.Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies, Grace discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed—a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.

Just Perfect


JoMarie DeGioia - 2013
    William Chesterton, the Earl of Chester, might be the perfect gentleman, but his feelings for Constance Bridgewater are anything but gentlemanly.Constance Bridgewater, the daughter of the late Earl of Bridgewater, might be the perfect lady, but her feelings for the Earl of Chester are anything but ladylike.They both know that if they were together, everything would be just perfect.So what is keeping them apart?

Blue Skies and Gunfire


K.M. Peyton - 2006
    Their relationship takes off, despite the difficulties of the war, which interrupts their idyll from time to time with stories of tragedy and death. But when Josie meets Chris, Jumbo's heroic fighter pilot brother, she experiences feelings that are out of control and dangerous; is this what real love feels like? She is torn between the two young men - one who is steady and loving, the other wayward and challenging. Yet it may not be her choice to make, as the German attack on England becomes more and more dangerous...Set against the backdrop of the second world war, where people diced with life and death every day, this is a wonderfully moving story of love, passion and tragedy.

31 Inspirational Christmas Romances: Sweet Christmas Romance Box Set


Indiana Wake - 2017
     Do you like your romance sweet, and inspirational? Then you will love the 31 romances in this box set. They are all readers favorites and have been brought together for a short time only for your reading pleasure. 31 Bestselling romances by four bestselling authors giving you enough stories to keep you reading for a long time to come. If you love sweet and inspirational romance then you will love this because all the stories are suitable for any age and all are guaranteed to have a happy ever after. 31 Books, over 2000 pages, over half a million words, yes 500,794 words of wonderful romance. Enjoy these sweet romances which include historical, western, mail order bride, inspirational, Amish, Regency, and of course Christmas there is something here for every reader. Included: Christmas Miracle The Duke’s Secret Christmas Escape Amish Christmas Baby Christmas Baby The Duke’s Holiday Seduction The Christmas Bride & the Surprise Wedding The Duke’s Christmas Ball Selection The Burned and Rejected Bride A Twelfth Night Rendezvous A Sweet Amish Christmas A Christmas Miracle The Duke’s Christmas Visit Amish Christmas Gift The Shamed and Shunned Bride The Duke the Lady and the Christmas Rescue Amish Christmas Peace The Plump & Pregnant Second-Time Bride The Duke’s Christmas Memories A Season of Abundance The Frightened Bride & the Second Chance Groom The Wrong Duke His Amish Christmas Grace A Christmas Celebration A New Year Proposal Baby Rose – A Gift of Love A New Life for a New Year Kept from the Earl Young Rose – The Lost Girl A Christmas Gift for the lonely Doctor Rejected by the Duke Amish Rose – A Prayer for Rose Scroll up now and grab this Christmas Box Set now.

Cut Nose


Ron Schwab - 2019
    Little did Will know this would make him a witness to countless horrific deaths on both sides of the conflict and, ultimately, to the largest mass execution in United States history. Amidst the chaos, Will’s life intersects with the Dakota warrior called “Cut Nose,” so named after having part of his nose bitten off in a fight, and Anja Lund, a young schoolteacher whose spirit is unyielding despite heartbreak at every turn. As the stakes grow increasingly higher, these three form powerful and mysterious connections with each other, intertwining their fates through both love and war. Featuring heart-stopping battles, intrigue, and romance, Cut Nose will keep readers electrified until the last page.

The Silver Suitcase


Terrie Todd - 2016
    Seventeen-year-old farm girl Cornelia has been heartbroken since the day her mother died five years ago. As a new tragedy provides Cornelia still more reason to reject her parent’s faith, a mysterious visitor appears in her hour of desperation. Alone and carrying a heavy secret, she makes a desperate choice that will haunt her for years to come. Never telling a soul, Cornelia pours out the painful events of the war in her diary.Many decades later, Cornelia’s granddaughter, Benita, is in the midst of her own crisis, experiencing several losses in the same week, including the grandmother she adored. The resulting emotional and financial stress takes its toll on her and her husband, Ken, who is unemployed. On the brink of divorce, she discovers Cornelia’s diary. Now the secrets of her grandmother’s past will lead Benita on an unexpected journey of healing, reunion, and faith.