cherryblossommj
Originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.
*This post has been updated with my new format
on February 9th, 2016, thanks to the Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin.*
When I was preparing the Coming Soon from the Pen post featuring historical Irish-fiction author Cindy Thomson, I was planning to link back to my review of Grace's Pictures, An Ellis Island Novel #1 that I read in July 2013 and loved beginning to end. I was surprised to discover while that review is prominently on my Goodreads shelf it seems to have either disappeared or never quite made it to my blog. But then, that was a drastic summer (surgery and all). Now I'm delighted to post that review as well as the brand new interview with Cindy to entice you to the entire series!
Grace is a different character from what I usually read and I did not take to her at first. However, our hero had me as a fan from before Grace was even sure what she thought of him. Grace's story starts in Ireland, continues on a ship and then in New York from about three or four different settings if you include Owen's locations. December 1900 America - Irish lass. While reading, I was taking blip notes as I bookmarked and said, Interesting start. "I already like Owen, definitely hero worthy so far. :) Grace is timid, but growing on me. I'm not sure what I think about Grace, but then I have no way to really relate to her experiences and fear. Owen, however, is seemingly a dream right off the bat. I have no clue how they might end up together, which I assume is the end direction. I'm definitely reading this book for Owen but I have hope for Grace..." By the end of the story, I'm definitely fond of Grace as she grew as a person and a character. While this is not seemingly the normal historical fiction I read it was enchanting throughout and kept me entertained and turning pages.
At the end, I did not expect certain things with her step-father and mother as it has been painted a different way, but I think that made the growth and knowledge of the characters past and presents all the more. The mixture of gang issue with the police force of the time was really neat to read as I'm sure I haven't seen it anywhere else before. The cover calls this An Ellis Island Novel, so I'm intrigued to see if Cindy will come out with more I'm delighted to be reading the sequel and second novel of Irish Immigrants through Ellis Island in Annie's Stories right now! I definitely wouldn't mind reading them even more stories if they were to come to publication. After all, this got a five star from me, and that's a hard score to reach. :)
http://youtu.be/_PL5lAQeaEc
This review was originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.