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With World War II raging across the world, no one remains unaffected.  Even the peaceful Delaware Amish community where Miriam Coblentz lives has been turned upside down by the far away conflict.  Miriam's fiancé, 25-year-old Henry Mast, was drafted six months ago.  As a conscientious objector, he has been assigned to a Civilian Public Service Camp in Maryland for two years of service.  The months have dragged by, leaving Miriam's vulnerable heart open to the flirty advances of Henry's best friend, Eli Brenneman.  While she longs for her beloved, she receives troubling news from Maryland.  Going against everything the Amish believe, Henry has decided to enlist.  Although he feels that God is calling him to fight, Miriam can't understand why he'd risk being Shunned by his family and friends to join a bloody battle that could send him home in a body bag.  Torn between the rules of her faith and the convictions of her fiancé, Miriam must make a difficult choice.  Does she remain loyal to her Amish upbringing or follow her heart, even if it means losing almost everything—and everyone—she's ever loved?

Promise to Return by Elizabeth Byler Younts is the author's debut novel and the first in a trilogy.  It tells a gentle story about faith, forgiveness, family, and following one's heart.  Because Younts was raised Amish and, despite leaving the community, remains in close contact with relatives in the faith, her portrayal of the Amish is tender, but realistic.  Her characters are regular people with the kind of common fears and struggles to which we can all relate.  While Promise to Return doesn't pack quite the punch that The Solace of Water, Younts' most recent Amish novel (and one of the best books I've read this year), does, it's still an engaging, thought-provoking novel about tradition vs. forging a new path.  I enjoyed it and can't wait to read the sequels, both of which I've purchased but not yet opened.

(Readalikes:  Promise to Cherish and Promise to Keep, both by Elizabeth Byler Younts)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for some subject matter more suited to readers 12 and older

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of Promise to Return from Amazon with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.

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Kate Moore will do anything to escape her grim, impoverished past.  So, when she attracts the attention of Matthew Lemont, a wealthy businessman from Chicago, while working as a governess on an ocean liner, she sees in him a way out.  After only a couple weeks of knowing him, Kate marries the serious, reserved 28-year-old.  Despite her misgivings, the couple goes to live at Lakecrest, the Lemont Family's ancestral home on Lake Michigan.  Kate detests the mansion, an ugly, brooding pile that looks like "a Frankenstein's monster of architectural castoffs" (130).  She's even more distressed to be stuck there with her controlling, manipulative mother-in-law and Matthew's sister, a party girl whose over-familiar affection for her brother gives Kate the heebie jeebies.  Add to that Matthew's frequent night terrors, which he never bothered to mention, and Kate realizes she's jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.  

It soon becomes apparent that creepy old Lakecrest keeps a myriad of Lemont Family secrets, dating back to the time of its piecemeal construction.  Most infamous is the 1912 disappearance of Matthew's aunt into the labryinth on Lakecrest's sprawling grounds.  Three decades later, Cecily Lemont is still missing.  It's obvious the family knows more about the incident than they're saying.  In fact, Kate begins to believe Matthew's nightmares stem from something he saw—or did?—the night Cecily vanished.  

Isolated at Lakecrest with a new family she doesn't trust, Kate is determined to unearth the Lemont's well-kept secrets.  The more she learns, however, the more unnerved she becomes.  Just what kind of family has she married into?

Gothic novels featuring old, creepy houses are my jam, so I was eager to read In the Shadow of Lakecrest by Elizabeth Blackwell.  As promised by its intriguing premise, the story it tells is tense, compelling, and eerie.  It kept me guessing, not knowing who among its cast could be trusted and who could not.  While Kate isn't exactly a likeable character herself, she is sympathetic.  I wanted to know what was going to happen to her.  Certain plot elements make In the Shadow of Lakecrest a difficult read, even though overall, the book would only be rated PG-13.  All in all, then, I didn't love this one.  It kept me turning pages, despite a sometimes sagging storyline, but it felt predictable and not all that satisfying in the end.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a little of books by Kate Morton [although Blackwell's novels are darker] as well as those by Carol Goodman)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for violence, blood/gore, disturbing subject matter, references to illegal drug use, mild sexual content, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

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As a Jew living in Nazi-occupied Krakow, 16-year-old Chaya Lindner knows her days are numbered.  Members of her family and community, including her younger sister, have already disappeared, whisked off to fates worse than death at Nazi concentration camps.  Furious at the injustice, Chaya vows to use her Aryan features to help her people fight the Nazis in any way they can.  Posing as a flirty German girl, she works as a courier, making deliveries inside the Jewish ghettos.  Under this guise, she smuggles things—messages, food, papers, even people—inside and out.  It's a dangerous job that could prove deadly if she's ever caught.  Still, the risk is exhilarating, her tasks fulfilling.  Plus, it gives her the chance to scour the ghettos for her missing brother.

Grade:

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Few people can match the infamous Sherlock Holmes in intellect and deduction reasoning.  Even though he's been retired from the detective game for over a decade, his mind remains sharper than the proverbial tack.  So, when he meets young Mary Russell, who literally runs into him at Sussex Downs, Holmes is startled—not only by the 15-year-old's sudden appearance, but also by her remarkable acuity.  Although she's an odd, gawky teenager with loud opinions, she's also insatiably curious, uncommonly smart, and surprisingly teachable.  Mary just might be the apprentice Holmes never knew he needed.

When the daughter of an American senator is kidnapped in Wales, the duo is called in to investigate.  With all of their combined skill, they put their great minds to the test in their search for the missing child.  Can they find her?  Or will the mystery stump the brightest detective to ever live and his very promising young apprentice?

More literary fiction than propulsive thriller, The Beekeeper's Apprentice is the first installment in Laurie R. King's popular Holmes/Russell series.  Although it's denser than the typical mystery, the novel remains clever, charming, and entertaining.  The characters are fun, the plot's engrossing, and the prose is solid.  I enjoyed The Beekeeper's Apprentice overall and while I'm not rushing to continue with the series, I will read more.

(Readalikes:  Um, nothing is coming to mind.  You?)

Grade:

   

for brief, mild language (no F-bombs), violence, and mild innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find