K. Williams's Blog - Posts Tagged "america"
Book Review P. Bond for "The Bugle"
Book Review P. Bond for "The Bugle" - Newsletter of the 125th New York Regimental Association, Inc.
Blue Honor by K. Williamshttp://www.bluehonor.com/
Hello Pards,
I am writing this and listening to one of my fav singers (Jeff Buckley) hoping his song "Hallelujah" can help me find all the words I want to say in this review. If he fails me, I will put on some U-2...lol
Okay! Lets get down to business. Shall we pards?
Back in September, at the Civil War Encampment, I had the Pleasure and Honor of meeting the very beautiful Miss Williams under her tent. She was selling her Civil War historical fiction book Blue Honor. As I was talking to her, I found out it was a love story during the Civil War. As she was explaining the story line to me, I missed what she said because I was thinking to myself "I never read a love story book," and "Love stories are not me. I want action and shoot 'em up type books," and "What would the guys think of me reading a love story book?"
Well, I owe buying the book to Corporal Bob Sandusky (editor's note: I'm innocent I swear I had nothing to do with this) who stated in front of Miss Williams that he wanted a review on Blue Honor for "The Bugle" and I think that was right after he stated to Miss Williams: "I don't know why we put stripes on him. He is a marshmallow." I think my face blushed as red as the British Regimental Coat I wear for Rev War.
So, I just got done reading Blue Honor and I have to say it was one of the best historical fiction books I have read in a very long time. I am putting her book up there with Alan Eckerd's historical fiction book on the French and Indian Wars: Wilderness Empire.
As I was reading Miss Williams's Blue Honor, I felt like I was one of her characters. When she wrote about the lads sitting around the fire drinking and passing spirits, I thought about myself and my pards at past events. I felt the rain and being wet while eating my rations around a fire or crawled up in my dog tent eating. We've all been there.
There was a part in the book that I really enjoyed. It was when an Irish soldier was playing the banjo. I thought about myself since I play banjo and period music, but I also could not help thinking about my Great Great Grandfather Patrick Fitzpatrick and what it must have been like for him and his pards in the 69th NY during the war.
Miss Williams captured everything in one book: love, the home front for the soldiers' families, the battles, the officers and their mistake's, what it was like to be captured by Johnny's and having to suffer life in a prison camp and an army hospital. Most important, what Miss Williams really caught onto was the life of the soldiers themselves and the harsh suffering they had to live day in and day out, every single day of their lives, wondering if they would return home, or be wounded, or worse, be killed.
There was, in fact, a soldier who was wounded and I thought about my Patrick at Fredericksburg, wondering if his pard helped him in the same manner. (If you want to know who got wounded, you have to buy the book. I am not telling.)
The letters between Emily and her lover Joseph, I thought made the book and kept your interest to read more. I found it very hard to put the book down. As soon as I put it down, I picked it right back up. I had to know what happened next. I felt like if I closed the book, I was putting the characters' lives on hold and dragging out the suffering of those in pain because of the deep love they held for each other.
Miss Williams outdid herself in a wonderful and outstanding work of art. Miss Williams, Thank you for a wonderful book and bringing the Civil War to life like no one has before.
I HIGHLY recommend all to go get this book!
Review by 3rd Sgt Peter M. Bond
Blue Honor by K. Williamshttp://www.bluehonor.com/
Hello Pards,
I am writing this and listening to one of my fav singers (Jeff Buckley) hoping his song "Hallelujah" can help me find all the words I want to say in this review. If he fails me, I will put on some U-2...lol
Okay! Lets get down to business. Shall we pards?
Back in September, at the Civil War Encampment, I had the Pleasure and Honor of meeting the very beautiful Miss Williams under her tent. She was selling her Civil War historical fiction book Blue Honor. As I was talking to her, I found out it was a love story during the Civil War. As she was explaining the story line to me, I missed what she said because I was thinking to myself "I never read a love story book," and "Love stories are not me. I want action and shoot 'em up type books," and "What would the guys think of me reading a love story book?"
Well, I owe buying the book to Corporal Bob Sandusky (editor's note: I'm innocent I swear I had nothing to do with this) who stated in front of Miss Williams that he wanted a review on Blue Honor for "The Bugle" and I think that was right after he stated to Miss Williams: "I don't know why we put stripes on him. He is a marshmallow." I think my face blushed as red as the British Regimental Coat I wear for Rev War.
So, I just got done reading Blue Honor and I have to say it was one of the best historical fiction books I have read in a very long time. I am putting her book up there with Alan Eckerd's historical fiction book on the French and Indian Wars: Wilderness Empire.
As I was reading Miss Williams's Blue Honor, I felt like I was one of her characters. When she wrote about the lads sitting around the fire drinking and passing spirits, I thought about myself and my pards at past events. I felt the rain and being wet while eating my rations around a fire or crawled up in my dog tent eating. We've all been there.
There was a part in the book that I really enjoyed. It was when an Irish soldier was playing the banjo. I thought about myself since I play banjo and period music, but I also could not help thinking about my Great Great Grandfather Patrick Fitzpatrick and what it must have been like for him and his pards in the 69th NY during the war.
Miss Williams captured everything in one book: love, the home front for the soldiers' families, the battles, the officers and their mistake's, what it was like to be captured by Johnny's and having to suffer life in a prison camp and an army hospital. Most important, what Miss Williams really caught onto was the life of the soldiers themselves and the harsh suffering they had to live day in and day out, every single day of their lives, wondering if they would return home, or be wounded, or worse, be killed.
There was, in fact, a soldier who was wounded and I thought about my Patrick at Fredericksburg, wondering if his pard helped him in the same manner. (If you want to know who got wounded, you have to buy the book. I am not telling.)
The letters between Emily and her lover Joseph, I thought made the book and kept your interest to read more. I found it very hard to put the book down. As soon as I put it down, I picked it right back up. I had to know what happened next. I felt like if I closed the book, I was putting the characters' lives on hold and dragging out the suffering of those in pain because of the deep love they held for each other.
Miss Williams outdid herself in a wonderful and outstanding work of art. Miss Williams, Thank you for a wonderful book and bringing the Civil War to life like no one has before.
I HIGHLY recommend all to go get this book!
Review by 3rd Sgt Peter M. Bond
Kirkus Review: OP-DEC: Operation Deceit
Williams’ World War II spy thriller brings to life a shadowy world of espionage, Nazis and secret
agents.
In 1933, Boston socialite Claire’s domineering industrial tycoon father inexplicably sends her mother away from their home. Claire goes to live with her aunt Noreen until, nearly a decade later, as World War II rages, Claire returns home. She finds her father as unpleasant as ever and embroiled in business with a mysterious and off-putting foreigner named Carsten Reiniger. Claire’s suspicions are confirmed when she and Noreen are kidnapped by Reiniger and her father, who are both working for the Nazis. Tailed by the U.S. government, the women and their captors flee to Germany. But Claire soon discovers that Reiniger may not be what he seems, and she must try to decipher the mystery while attempting to escape with her aunt. Williams vividly evokes the pre-war and wartime eras, depicting days of chaos, confusion and uncertainty. Likewise, she is mostly successful in avoiding the trap of drawing the Nazi characters as cartoonish villains or goose-stepping stooges; Williams’ Nazis are real folks with all the foibles of ordinary people, making them that much more chilling. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Claire’s father, who is introduced as an unrepentant bad guy and never moves beyond that one-dimensional characterization. The narrative crackles with intensity in the beginning but slows once the women are abducted. The bulk of the novel, a chronicle of Claire and Noreen’s passage to Germany as captives, presents a travel itinerary peppered with dialogue between the principals. Including several more intriguing situations, in addition to the mystery of Reiniger’s allegiance, would further the theme of duplicity. The book does pick up steam at the end but ratcheting up the suspense and editing for brevity would have made this a taut, lean thriller.
Excels at historic details and characterization but lacks intrigue.
agents.
In 1933, Boston socialite Claire’s domineering industrial tycoon father inexplicably sends her mother away from their home. Claire goes to live with her aunt Noreen until, nearly a decade later, as World War II rages, Claire returns home. She finds her father as unpleasant as ever and embroiled in business with a mysterious and off-putting foreigner named Carsten Reiniger. Claire’s suspicions are confirmed when she and Noreen are kidnapped by Reiniger and her father, who are both working for the Nazis. Tailed by the U.S. government, the women and their captors flee to Germany. But Claire soon discovers that Reiniger may not be what he seems, and she must try to decipher the mystery while attempting to escape with her aunt. Williams vividly evokes the pre-war and wartime eras, depicting days of chaos, confusion and uncertainty. Likewise, she is mostly successful in avoiding the trap of drawing the Nazi characters as cartoonish villains or goose-stepping stooges; Williams’ Nazis are real folks with all the foibles of ordinary people, making them that much more chilling. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Claire’s father, who is introduced as an unrepentant bad guy and never moves beyond that one-dimensional characterization. The narrative crackles with intensity in the beginning but slows once the women are abducted. The bulk of the novel, a chronicle of Claire and Noreen’s passage to Germany as captives, presents a travel itinerary peppered with dialogue between the principals. Including several more intriguing situations, in addition to the mystery of Reiniger’s allegiance, would further the theme of duplicity. The book does pick up steam at the end but ratcheting up the suspense and editing for brevity would have made this a taut, lean thriller.
Excels at historic details and characterization but lacks intrigue.
