Jencey's Writer's Corner

  Ready for a little cat-and-mouse game?  If so, you're ready for The Last 12 Miles by Erika Robuck.  She pits a crypto analysis agent, Elizabeth Friedman, against Spanish Marie, a rum runner.   The story takes place during the roaring twenties when prohibition was part of life.  Which side will you pick? Synopsis:  “1926. Washington, D.C. The Coast Guard is losing the Prohibition Rum War, but they have a new, secret weapon to crack smuggler codes, intercept traffic, and destroy the rum trade one skiff at a time. That secret weapon is a 5'2" mastermind in heels, who also happens to be a wife and mother: Mrs. Elizebeth Smith Friedman, one half of the husband-and-wife pair who invented cryptanalysis.  Bahamas Cleo Lythogoe, the Bahama Queen, announces her retirement while regaling the thugs at the bar with tales of murder and mayhem on the high seas. Marie Waite, listening in, knows an opportunity when she hears it, and she wants the crown for herself so...

  Today I am sharing We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter.  This novel was her debut.  You might also be familiar with this novel slightly because of the limited series for television by the same name.  I am dying to see it!  Can you say that your family would have a compelling story like this?   Synopsis: “It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety. As one sibling is forced into exile, another attempts to flee the continent, while others struggle to escape certain death, either by working grueling ...

  Today I am sharing book 4 in the Peachtree Bluff series, Christmas in Peachtree Bluff.  Normally, I would wait, but the fifth book in the series just came out this month: Falling for Peachtree Bluff. Who doesn’t love a good Christmas story? Also, if you are new to this series, there will be spoilers coming.  If you love small towns and wonderful communities, keep reading! Synopsis:  “When the Murphy women are in trouble, they always know they can turn to their mother, Ansley. So when eldest daughter Caroline and her husband announce they are divorcing—and fifteen-year-old daughter Vivi acts out in response—Caroline, at her wits end, can’t think of anything to do besides leave her with Ansley in Peachtree Bluff for the holidays. After all, how much trouble can one teenager get into on a tiny island? Quite a lot, as it turns out. As the “storm of the century” heads toward Peachtree Bluff, Ansley and her husband, Jack, with Vivi in tow, are grateful they’re planning t...

   I am sharing another book set during World War II, but on a different front.  Today, the focus is The Diamond Eye.  This book was really not what I thought it would be.  Yes, it is another World War II book, but this time readers are taken to the Soviet front.  They get to learn about Mila Pavlichenko .  Synopsis:  “In the snowbound city of Kiev, wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son—but Hitler’s invasion of Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper—a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour. Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glitter...

  I received a copy of Sunset Beach by Mary Kay Andrews in exchange from  Tandem Literary for an honest review.   This book was published in 2019.  I will leave details for her current release, Road Trip, at the bottom of the page.   Now back to Sunset Beach.  Have you ever had life circumstances that offer new opportunities?  Synopsis:  “Drue Campbell’s life is adrift. Out of a job and down on her luck, life doesn’t seem to be getting any better when her estranged father, Brice Campbell, a flamboyant personal injury attorney, shows up at her mother’s funeral after a twenty-year absence. Worse, he’s remarried – to Drue’s eighth grade frenemy, Wendy, now his office manager. And they’re offering her a job. It seems like the job from hell, but the offer is sweetened by the news of her inheritance – her grandparents’ beach bungalow in the sleepy town of Sunset Beach, a charming but storm-damaged eyesore now surrounded by waterfront McMansions. With no...

  Thank you for reading with me.  I hope that you enjoy the books that I have shared.  Today I am going to share an older Elin Hilderbrand book, Summer Affair.  This book is book one in the Nantucket series.  It was one of the few that I haven’t read by Elin.  Let’s explore one more summer on Nantucket.  Synopsis:  “Claire has a problem with setting limits. All her life she has taken on every responsibility, assumed every burden, granted every request. Claire wants it all―and in the eyes of her friends, she has it: a devoted husband, four beautiful children, even a successful career as an artist. So when she agrees to chair the committee for Nantucket's social event of the year, she knows she can handle it. Claire can handle anything. But when planning the gala propels her into the orbit of billionaire Lock Dixon, unexpected sparks begin to fly. Lock insists on working closely with Claire―often over a bottle of wine―and before long she can't ignor...