Hello there, bookworms! It’s been a little bit, right? At least, it’s been long for me. I was expecting to get back from vacation and get right back to things posting reviews and getting caught up. I knew I’d have a fair amount of catching up to do at my day job as well, but I didn’t plan on it being so much that I’d fall asleep every night this past week before ten pm. Combine that with staying at the office a bit past 5 a couple of times this week, and you have where I am now. I’m pretty depleted.
Anyway, I spent eight days in Walt Disney World, and while it was fun, it was very hot and very crowded. As one of my friends said, “Disney is not a vacation, it’s a trip”. I didn’t catch up on rest properly when I got home (after a canceled flight and a snow storm back in New Jersey). All of these factors snowballed into a perfect storm of putting me farther behind on my reading and reviewing than I planned on and boom. Here we are.
The good news is that I have at least four reviews coming your way in the near future. I also have an inbox full of release blitzes, cover reveals, excerpt teasers and more to share, so let’s get to it, okay?
Since I began listening to one of my favorite series, The Bronze Horseman, by Paullina Simons, on Audible a few months back, I’ve been collecting and obsessing over stories surrounding World War II. I feel like WWII books are in a genre all their own and I’ve always found them interesting, devastating, scary, and romantic depending on the plots involved.
Needless to say, I was ecstatic when I was offered the chance to read Searching for Gertrude by D.E. Haggerty. A WWII tale with a little mix of espionage and romance thrown into the mix, and I was sold. This is the first story of hers I’ve read and I was not disappointed!
Rudolf has been in love with a girl he’s known since childhood in Germany. Her name was Gertrude, and now he’s searching high and low through Europe to find her. With tensions growing in Germany with the rise of the Nazi party, as a Jewish girl, Gertrude must emigrate with her family to Turkey before they find themselves in danger.
Vowing to reunite with the love of his life years after she was forced to leave Germany, Rudolf travels and does everything he can to follow Gertrude’s tracks and be with her once more.
When he finds himself at the German Consulate in Istanbul as an associate of sorts, his research unites him, in a roundabout way, to a girl named Rosalyn. An American girl living and working as a nanny for a Jewish family in Turkey, she wants to do what she can to help with the war effort and rescue families in danger. In meeting Rudolf and hearing of his plight, she decides to do a little digging on her end and help him find his long lost love.
This book had everything for me. There was romance, action, drama, sadness, and danger as Rudolf and Rosalyn went about their secret mission to locate Gertrude. As they snooped through neighborhoods, paperwork at the consulate, and asked around, I couldn’t help but have my heart in my throat. I was paranoid that at some point in the story, emotions would take precedence over caution and logic, and the pair would be found out as to their intentions in Istanbul.
I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated this tale. The only downside I found amongst this text was the lack of Gertrude’s story. I think I might’ve felt more invested and connected to her and Rudolf’s relationship if this story had a sprinkling of flashbacks within the pages. However, as the story progressed and became more about the work and relationship Rosalyn and Rudolf were building together, I guess it made sense that I wasn’t invested in Gertrude’s character. I think either way, the story would’ve worked and been quite the adventure.
If you’re into historical fiction, romance, and drama, do yourself a favor and grab this book. It was quite the journey and I can’t wait to check out what other stories Haggerty has to offer!
My Final Rating: four out of five stars
Read This Book:
