Spotlight Feature: LOVING ELEANOR by Susan Wittig Albert

02_Loving Eleanor

Loving Eleanor By Susan Wittig Albert

Publication Date: February 1, 2016
Persevero Press; Thorndike (Large Print)
Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Large Print
Genre: Historical Fiction/Biographical Fiction
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When AP political reporter Lorena Hickok—Hick—is assigned to cover Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the wife of the 1932 Democratic presidential candidate, the two women become deeply, intimately involved. Their relationship begins with mutual romantic passion, matures through stormy periods of enforced separation and competing interests, and warms into an enduring, encompassing friendship that ends only with both women’s deaths in the 1960s—all of it documented by 3300 letters exchanged over thirty years.

Now, New York Times bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert recreates the fascinating story of Hick and Eleanor, set during the chaotic years of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Second World War. Loving Eleanor is Hick’s personal story, revealing Eleanor as a complex, contradictory, and entirely human woman who is pulled in many directions by her obligations to her husband and family and her role as the nation’s First Lady, as well as by a compelling need to care and be cared for. For her part, Hick is revealed as an accomplished journalist, who, at the pinnacle of her career, gives it all up for the woman she loves. Then, as Eleanor is transformed into Eleanor Everywhere, First Lady of the World, Hick must create her own independent, productive life.

Drawing on extensive research in the letters that were sealed for a decade following Hick’s death, Albert creates a compelling narrative: a dramatic love story, vividly portraying two strikingly unconventional women, neither of whom is satisfied to live according to the script society has written for her. Loving Eleanor is a profoundly moving novel that illuminates a relationship we are seldom privileged to see and celebrates the depth and durability of women’s love.

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Review: The Tsarina’s Legacy by Jennifer Laam

The book begins with flashbacks to the Empress Catherine of Russia, and the relationship she had with Grigory  ‘Grisha’ Potemkin.

Grisha is in love with Catherine, and is trying to win back her heart. Unfortunately, Catherine has a new lover named Platon Zubov.

Platon is a threat to Grisha, not only because he is Catherine’s lover, but also because he tries to influence Catherine.

He is determined to preserve Catherine’s legacy he must save her from Zubov’s dangerous influence and win back her heart.

Veronica Herrera receives news that she is an heiress to the Romanov throne, and receives an invitation to go to Russia.

Seeking purpose, Veronica agrees to act as an advocate to free a Russian artist sentenced to prison for displaying paintings critical of the church and government.

Veronica is both celebrated and chastised. As her political role comes under fire, Veronica is forced to decide between the glamorous perks of European royalty and staying true to herself.

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Review: The Girl from the Paradise Ballroom by Alison Love

Soho, 1937. When struggling Italian singer Antonio meets the wife of his wealthy new patron he recognizes her instantly: it is Olivia, the captivating dance hostess he once encountered in the seedy Paradise Ballroom.

Olivia is afraid that Antonio will betray the secrets of her past, but little by little they are drawn together, outsiders in a glittering world to which they do not belong.

At last, with conflict looming across Europe, the attraction between them becomes impossible to resist – but when Italy declares war on Britain, the impact threatens to separate them for ever…

That’s the description of this latest historical fiction novel and to my surprise…..the description didn’t really match the novel which was unusual for me. I noticed other reviewers noted the same thing.

I think what caught me off guard was the implication of an ‘epic romance’ based on the description of the novel. The description, to me, implies epic based on using the war as a backdrop. In most war time romances that I’ve read, they are typically pretty long and the war plays a larger role in the story overall.

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Review: The Winemakers by Jan Moran

Caterina Rosetta has got some big time choices to make in her life but her options are limited.

She’s had a daughter out of wedlock with a man who she thinks has abandoned her….and since it’s the 1950’s, having a child out of wedlock basically means social suicide.

She hasn’t told her mother about the baby because she knows her mother will basically disown her so she needs to give the baby up for adoption…..but she can’t bring herself to do that either.

Her mother basically raised her all on her own, so why can’t she raise her daughter by herself? Caterina is an accomplished sommelier who has grown up in a family of winemakers. She is sure she can support herself in some way.

On a fateful trip to visit her mother, she confesses that she has a child and after a row between the two, Caterina is not sure what to do about her situation. Then a man shows up at the vineyard looking for Caterina.

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Review: Waging War (The Immortal Descendants #4) by April White

For the last couple of years I’ve been a big fan of the Immortal Descendants series! It’s been really fun watching the series evolve and mature over the years!

I love the main characters and the premise for the story so when Waging War came out I naturally agreed to review it!

In the previous books, Clocker Saira Elian, time travels through multiple different periods to save friends, family, of course stop the Mongers from gaining power. This book is no different….this time we find Saira time traveling to WWII to try and stop a brutal massacre.

Saira and her friend Ringo, travel back to WWII Bletchley Park to team up with vampire (and Saira’s love interest) to try and stop said massacre. Together they work to crack the Nazi code and expose a Monger traitor intent on changing the course of history.

They also meet up with some new characters, one being a female commando from the French resistance, to hunt down an elite unit of Monger soldiers – Hitler’s Werewolves – before the terror squad can strike a fatal blow at the heart of the Allied war effort.

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