Review & Giveaway: Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War By Hazel Gaynor, Beatriz Williams, Jennifer Robson, Jessica Brockmole, Kate Kerrigan, Evangeline Holland, Lauren Willig, Marci Jefferson, and Heather Webb

Top voices in historical fiction deliver an unforgettable collection of short stories set in the aftermath of World War I—featuring bestselling authors such as Hazel Gaynor, Jennifer Robson, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig and edited by Heather Webb.

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month... November 11, 1918.

After four long, dark years of fighting, the Great War ends at last, and the world is forever changed. For soldiers, loved ones, and survivors the years ahead stretch with new promise, even as their hearts are marked by all those who have been lost. As families come back together, lovers reunite, and strangers take solace in each other, everyone has a story to tell.

In this moving anthology, nine authors share stories of love, strength, and renewal as hope takes root in a fall of poppies.

Publication Date: March 1, 2016 

William Morrow Paperback &

eBook; 368 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction/Anthology  

****

The theme of Fall of Poppies is the end of World War I.

  Penned by 9 different authors, seven of which I am familiar with, this collection of short stories pulls at the heart strings and reminds the reader that even if the war is over mentally and physically it lives on.

"Not even the end of the war means the war is over.    It will never be over for some of us."

I will admit to being new to the short stories genre, my fear has always been that the stories will be light and fluffy, lacking depth and the ability to connect with the characters in such a short time.  The stories here averaged less than an hour to read each, so really how can the writer provide the reading experience that I enjoy?   As I am slowly learning it can be done and it was done quite nicely here.

This book is a collection of stories of love, hope and survival.  Told from the both the male and female pov's it wasn't hard to connect and feel compassion.  I won't go into details about what each of the stories were about, but will say that they were all different.  From a young mother in Belgium who lived through the horrors of war, she survived caring for others and learned to trust again. Another mother seeking revenge on Germany when her son is missing and presumed dead. There are pilots. an English midwife fighting to save to life of a newborn and more.

I had my favorites here, Jennifer Robson's "All for the Love of You" because of the connection to her last novel and I love her writing style.  Her's was an interest subject, the making of face masks for those disfigured.  She was able to not just explain the process but threw in a good love story to boot.

Jessica Brockmole's "Something Worth Landing For" also hit the mark for me.  An unlikely union, but watching the relationship evolve through letter writing reminding me so much of why her book Letters from Skye was one of my 'best of 2015'.  Her writing style is flawless, witty and a treat to read.

The stories here are varied, each stand alone's but focus on Armistice, bringing that time to life with different struggles, misunderstandings, relationships and romance.  Definitely one that I recommend and one that has me adding new authors to my tbr pile.

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About the Authors

Jessica Brockmole is the author of the internationally bestselling Letters from Skye, an epistolary love story spanning an ocean and two wars. Named one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2013, Letters From Skye has been published in seventeen countries.

Hazel Gaynor is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home and A Memory of Violets. She writes regularly for the national press, magazines and websites in Ireland and the UK.

Evangeline Holland is the founder and editor of Edwardian Promenade, the number one blog for lovers of World War I, the Gilded Age, and Belle Époque France with nearly forty thousand unique viewers a month. In addition, she blogs at Modern Belles of History. Her fiction includes An Ideal Duchess and its sequel, crafted in the tradition of Edith Warton.

Marci Jefferson is the author of Girl on the Golden Coin: A Novel of Frances Stuart, which Publisher’s Weekly called “intoxicating.” Her second novel, The Enchantress of Paris, will release in Spring 2015 from Thomas Dunne Books.

Kate Kerrigan is the New York Times bestselling author of The Ellis Island trilogy. In addition she has written for the Irish Tatler, a Dublin-based newspaper, as well as The Irish Mail and a RTE radio show, Sunday Miscellany.

Jennifer Robson is the USA Today and international bestselling author of Somewhere in France and After the War is Over. She holds a doctorate in Modern History from the University of Oxford, where she was a Commonwealth Scholar and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow. Jennifer lives in Toronto with her husband and young children.

Heather Webb is an author, freelance editor, and blogger at award-winning writing sites WriterUnboxed.com and RomanceUniversity.org. Heather is a member of the Historical Novel Society and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and she may also be found teaching craftbased courses at a local college.

Beatriz Williams is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of The Secret Life of Violet Grant and A Hundred Summers. A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from Columbia, Beatriz spent several years in New York and London hiding her early attempts at fiction, first on company laptops as a corporate and communications strategy consultant, and then as an at-home producer of small persons. She now lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore, where she divides her time between writing and laundry. William Morrow will publish her forthcoming hardcover, A Certain Age, in the summer of 2016.

Lauren Willig is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven works of historical fiction. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages, awarded the RITA, Booksellers Best and Golden Leaf awards, and chosen for the American Library Association’s annual list of the best genre fiction. She lives in New York City, where she now writes full time.

Blog Tour Schedule

Tuesday, March 1 Review at Let Them Read Books 

Thursday, March 3 Review at Just One More Chapter

Saturday, March 5 Review at 100 Pages a Day 

Monday, March 7 Review at Bookish 

                                Review at CelticLady's Reviews 

Tuesday, March 8 Review at Ageless Pages Reviews 

Friday, March 11 Review at Creating Herstory

Giveaway

To win one of three copies of Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War please enter the giveaway via the GLEAM form below.

Rules – Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on March 11th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to US residents only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion
– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

  Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and The Great War

Waiting on Wednesday: Fall of Poppies - Stories of Love and the Great War

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill  at  Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.   

 This week I am waiting for:

Paperback, 356 pages

Expected publication: March 1st 2016 by William Morrow Paperbacks 

Top voices in historical fiction deliver an intensely moving collection of short stories about loss, longing, and hope in the aftermath of World War I—featuring bestselling authors such as Hazel Gaynor, Jennifer Robson, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig and edited by Heather Webb.

A squadron commander searches for meaning in the tattered photo of a girl he’s never met…

A Belgian rebel hides from the world, only to find herself nursing the enemy…

A young airman marries a stranger to save her honor—and prays to survive long enough to love her…

The peace treaty signed on November 11, 1918, may herald the end of the Great War but for its survivors, the smoke is only beginning to clear. Picking up the pieces of shattered lives will take courage, resilience, and trust.

Within crumbled city walls and scarred souls, war’s echoes linger. But when the fighting ceases, renewal begins…and hope takes root in a fall of poppies.

What are you waiting for?

Enchantress of Paris by Marci Jefferson

Fraught with conspiracy and passion, the Sun King's opulent court is brought to vivid life in this captivating tale about a woman whose love was more powerful than magic.

The alignment of the stars at Marie Mancini's birth warned that although she would be gifted at divination, she was destined to disgrace her family. Ignoring the dark warnings of his sister and astrologers, Cardinal Mazarin brings his niece to the French court, where the forbidden occult arts thrive in secret. In France, Marie learns her uncle has become the power behind the throne by using her sister Olympia to hold the Sun King, Louis XIV, in thrall.

Desperate to avoid her mother's dying wish that she spend her life in a convent, Marie burns her grimoire, trading Italian superstitions for polite sophistication. But as her star rises, King Louis becomes enchanted by Marie's charm. Sensing a chance to grasp even greater glory, Cardinal Mazarin pits the sisters against each other, showering Marie with diamonds and silks in exchange for bending King Louis to his will.

Disgusted by Mazarin's ruthlessness, Marie rebels. She sacrifices everything, but exposing Mazarin's deepest secret threatens to tear France apart. When even King Louis's love fails to protect Marie, she must summon her forbidden powers of divination to shield her family, protect France, and help the Sun King fulfill his destiny.
 

Hardcover, 336 pages

Expected publication: August 4th 2015 by Thomas Dunne Books 

arc via netgalley

****
  France is not one of my regular stomping grounds, it's when my reading of English HF overlaps that I get my taste of the french.  I am trying to change that and what better place then with Marci Jefferson's Enchantress of Paris.  Having heard of the Sun King before but not knowing much background I looked forward to this book.  I'll admit it was the cover that initially caught my eye - look at it, gorgeous, then the author.  I've heard so many good things about her debut Girl on the Golden Coin but haven't read it yet.  Since reading Enchantress of Paris that book has been moved closer to the top of my tbr pile.  I had the privilege of meeting the author in Denver recently where we talked about this book (why didn't I take a pic?!).

The Mazarin's are also unknowns to me and I love that aspect of 'first time'.  There are no preconceived notions, no likes or dislikes just an open mind taking everything in.  It wasn't hard to like Marie, to dislike her uncle and be totally captivated with this book.  Marie is strong willed, independent and clashes so much with the Cardinal who is the opposite, ruthless and just as strong willed, a rather powerful man.

Anything I've read about French kings has always been how they lack control of their future, how then bend to the wishes of others (this is where I think of the English kings who married whomever they wanted to, so why can't the french do that too?)  Why couldn't Marie and the King would just run off and marry? The author does a great job of explaining the why and why not.  Her knowledge of the time period is evident and also the amount of research that went into writing this book.

This wasn't just an entertaining read but an educational one as well. Highly recommend to those that like character driven stories and the French court.