Twitterature April 2014: World War II Edition

My whole family read a lot this past month.  We were home more than normal due to the elections here and a few other things.  My husband and son read a bunch of fantasy specifically a lot of Brandon Muller’s books.  My daughter read through whatever she could get from the library online.  I seemed to gravitate towards books set in WWII.  It didn’t start off that way but I had started two different series that headed in that direction.   Once I start a series, I often find myself invested in the characters so would rather continue in the series before moving onto another series or book.  So here are the two series that I enjoyed this past month.

The Danforths of Lancashire by Murray Pura

• ASHTON PARK  This book is set in England during WWI and sort of like a Christian Downton Abbey.  I enjoyed the story line, but it was hard at times to keep up with all the members in the family.  A nice easy read with some predictability and some surprises. 

• BENEATH THE DOVER SKY  I enjoyed the second book better than the first.  The characters had more depth due to hard times and hard choices as the author tried to deal with some prejudices of that time period.   This book led up to WWII with the setting both in Germany and England.  With my husband being a pilot, I especially enjoyed the aviation side of it.

• LONDON DAWN  In this final novel, the Danforths have family in the RAF, Army and Navy fighting to defend England.  My favourite part was when the father with two of his young adult children helped with the evacuation of Dunkirk.  My children are studying WWII so it was fun reading about history in this fictional book as they were learning it from their textbook.  This third book gave closure, but there could still be more stories about this family.  

A Maggie Hope Mystery by Susan Elia Macneal

• MR. CHURCHILL’S SECRETARY  I read this book on the recommendation of others’ twitterature posts.  I love how Maggie, the main character, is a mathematician and uses mathematics to help solve some problems in the story.  It is also interesting to read what it might have been like in England during that time.  Maggie who is English but grew up in American becomes a secretary for Churchill and gets caught up with clues leading to her past plus helping to stop a plot to blow up a English landmark.  The plot even has some surprising twists.  

• PRINCESS ELIZABETH’S SPY   The second book is still an enjoyable read but not as good as the first. Maggie is assigned to be a tutor to the Princess.  She feels out of place but plugs on because she is really there on another assignment.  The plot reminds me a lot of Alias Season one but set in England during WWII.  Once again mathematics is an interesting addition to the action.   

• HIS MAJESTY’S HOPE This third book is my least favourite, but I wanted to figure out what happened to one of the characters from the first book.  In this book, Maggie heads to Germany as a spy and encounters more than she planned for.  Not sure if I will read the 4th book or not coming out later this Spring.  Some parts of the book seemed to have an agenda more than a story.   I would recommend the first two books in the series but not this one.

So what books have you enjoyed this month?  Do you find yourself reading around a certain theme or is your reading more random?    I am joining up with Anne at the Modern Mrs. Darcy in her twitterature linkup.

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