I really tried to prepare myself. I knew this was a historical novel about World War II. I knew reading From Sand and Ash was going to be emotional, it was going to dragged me places I was sure I didn’t want to go, and I knew even before I opened it to page one, that Amy was going to make me take this journey and I was going to be changed by the end. I absolutely was.
Most people in the world know the stories of WWII. You either learned them in school or maybe you had a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle who lived through it. What Amy gives you in this book is a story of two young people, Angelo and Eva, who are thrown into this horrific war and work to do whatever they can to help people. There is laughter along the way and joy, there is family and love, there is sorrow and horror, there is commitment and trust but most of all there is determination to keep going.
Amy Harmon is Magical. There are no other words to describe her. She puts a pen to paper and gives us everything from deep down in her soul and I for one am truly grateful. Each of her novels have filled me with such joy, even with a few tears. If you don’t normally read historical novels, please do me a favor and give this one a try. You will not regret it.
I’ll leave you with these:
“Fear is strange.
It settles on chests and seeps through skin, through layers of tissue, muscle, and bone and collects in a soul-sized black hole, sucking the joy out of life, the pleasure, the beauty.
But not the hope.
Somehow, the hope is the only thing resistant to the fear, and it is that hope that makes the next breath possible, the next step, the next tiny act of rebellion, even if that rebellion is simply staying alive.”
“Life is hard. What an understatement! Hard is too mild a word for the trouble we’ve seen. Life is hell shot with just enough heaven to make the pains of hope all the sharper. Life is impossible. Ugly. Agonizing. Inexplicable. Torture.”
“Our immortality comes through our children and their children. Through our roots and branches. The family is immortality. And Hitler has destroyed not just branches and roots, but entire family trees, forests. All of them, gone.”
Italy, 1943—Germany occupies much of the country, placing the Jewish population in grave danger during World War II.
As children, Eva Rosselli and Angelo Bianco were raised like family but divided by circumstance and religion. As the years go by, the two find themselves falling in love. But the church calls to Angelo and, despite his deep feelings for Eva, he chooses the priesthood.
Now, more than a decade later, Angelo is a Catholic priest and Eva is a woman with nowhere to turn. With the Gestapo closing in, Angelo hides Eva within the walls of a convent, where Eva discovers she is just one of many Jews being sheltered by the Catholic Church.
But Eva can’t quietly hide, waiting for deliverance, while Angelo risks everything to keep her safe. With the world at war and so many in need, Angelo and Eva face trial after trial, choice after agonizing choice, until fate and fortune finally collide, leaving them with the most difficult decision of all.
Pick up From Sand and Ash here: Amazon.
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To read more of my reviews of Amy’s books, click here: janisf Amy reviews
This was a wonderful, romantic and extremely well written love story. Jane Keegan does something completely out of her comfort zone and ends up meeting Ryan Zeigler. Jane is an amazing character but I’ve got to tell you, Ryan stole my heart. I laughed with them, I smiled with them, I cried with them, I loved with them and there were even a few awww moments. There were ups and downs for this couple but I couldn’t help but cheer them on with every single page I turned. If you love a really excellent love story, then you must pick up Fire and Midnight. You will not be disappointed.
He could be her best worst decision… With a glass of wine in hand, Jane Keegan’s finger is poised to delete the account her pushy BFF created for her on “The Cowboys” escort service website. Sure, she’s lonely, but not desperate. Then an image of sky-blue eyes and warm, tanned muscles jumps off the screen. And she finds herself hitting the “Book Now” button. After all, why not? She’s a free, divorced woman on business in San Antonio. There’s nothing to lose…except her nerve. Especially when Mr. Tall Dark And Incredibly Sexy meets her at a River Walk bar—and his only-for-you smile turns her insides into a quivering mass of second thoughts. Ryan Zeigler is enduring one last escort assignment as a favor before hanging up his Cowboys hat to run his own restaurant. Yet there’s something about the pretty New Yorker’s vulnerable grin and I’ve-got-baggage eyes that halts his usual dating M.O. in its tracks. When Ryan sweetens the deal—no strings, no payment expected—Jane the good girl takes the bold step of letting her vixen out to play. But when it’s time to go home, her heart is at a crossroads. Is Ryan the real deal? Or is she letting yet another man take her heart for a ride?
Sandra is an author of romance who stays up too late dreaming up sexy heroes. When she’s not writing, shoe shopping or saving wayward turtles, Sandra can be found with a cup of coffee browsing the shelves of an indie bookstore. As a social media junkie, Sandra loves to chat with readers and formed the Bookalicious Babes Facebook group where members share their love of books.
Book Reviews - janisf & leisha 