Hideaway Home

Hideaway #10

by Hannah Alexander

Soldier Red Meyers had looked forward to the day he could return to Hideaway, Missouri, and to his sweetheart, Bertie Moennig. But his dreams were shattered when he was wounded in the last stages of World War II in Europe. Bertie was beautiful inside and out--she deserved a whole man. Red was determined to keep his distance.

But a tragedy on the home front brought the couple face-to-face for the first time in years, and now a dangerous mystery threatened both their lives. As they fought for survival in their tiny Ozark town, Red had to summon the faith and courage to protect the woman he'd never stopped loving.

Genres: Fiction, Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Love Inspired Historical, Love Inspired, Historical Romance, Mystery

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

READY FOR THE NEW YEAR?

At this time of year, we have just finished reflecting on Christmas, when God gave us the greatest Gift ever possible. Now our thoughts are to the new year, with its upcoming rewards and challenges. Many of us will once again come up with New Year’s resolutions. This year I’m going to stick to my diet. This year I’m going to get into shape. This year I’m going to break that 5-minute mile. Okay, okay; it’s been a LONG time since I had that New Year’s resolution. And many will once again fail to live up to those resolutions, with their often unrealistic expectations. But enough about that.

Cheryl has chosen her word for the new year. It is solace. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, solace means:

1. comfort in grief: alleviation of grief or anxiety

2. a source of relief or consolation

Rather than discouraging anyone, our prayer for you is that God will grant you solace as you face the new year's rewards and challenges.

Happy reading and God bless you.

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Good book, in a pretty good series. It was nice to finally read Red, and Berties story.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoy the first half of this book but then Red’s stubbornness and how he acted really irritated me. It went on too long!

[Lynn Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the multi-blog TBR Challenge, our theme of the month was series catch up. Now, I have an embarrassment of riches on this one because I tend to be pretty lackadaisical about finishing up entire series of books. Since I have so many books to choose from, I took forever to pick out a book to read. In the end, I happened across Hannah Alexander’s 2008 release, Hideaway Home and decided to give it a whirl. I’ve enjoyed several of the Hideaway books published for Love Inspired’s contemporary suspense line, so I was curious about this World War II-era prequel.

Hideaway Home tells a homefront story from the end of the War. V-E Day has passed, and most people’s attention has shifted to the war in the Pacific. As the book opens, injured soldier Red Meyers is headed home from Italy to Hideaway, Missouri. It’s a difficult journey home for Red because he has not yet come to terms with his war injury and feels rather useless due to his limp. He had planned to marry his childhood friend and sweetheart, Bertie Moennig, but now he thinks he has nothing to offer her.

Bertie has her own troubles. All through the war, she had written faithfully to her beloved Red, and she has been both hurt and worried by the fact that his letters to her suddenly stopped. In addition, she had worked in a aircraft plant, but now feels compelled to return home following the mysterious death of her father. Though warned that she may not be safe at home due to suspicions surrounding what happened to her father, she feels determined to come home for his funeral and to keep the family farm running.

This book really was a mixed bag. On the one hand, the story was filled with all kinds of interesting historical detail. Instead of a history lecture, I felt like I really did get transported to small-town America in the 1940s, complete with references to the prejudices faced by German-Americans during the War and the hardships seen on farms recovering from the Great Depression.

This is a partial review. You can find the complete text at All About Romance: http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=11591

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hideaways Secrets

Red and Bertie had written many letters while he was off to war. Many changes had taken place in Hideaway, so expected some not. Some deaths, such as Bertie's as Dad, Red and best friend Ivan coming home, strange things happening in the town. Red had completely changed and Bertie could not figure it out. She could not understand the roughness in him where there was such gentleness before he left for the war. Read and enjoy, you will turn the pages quickly to see who is responsible for the problems in Hideaway. It will surprise you who did it and why they did it.

[Shelly J. Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book!

This last book of the Hideaway series goes back to the beginning with Bertie and Red Meyers it is filled with God’s grace and love as well as romance and mystery and it does not disappoint. I love this series and I am a little sad to be at the end. Hannah Alexander write so well that I want to visit Hideaway and be a part of this wonderful group of people they have created. So good! Thank you for doing it again Hannah Alexander!

[Dianne McMahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about the War's ending when Germany surrenders.
A small Southern town is besieged with prejudice, as there are German/Americans living in the town.
A death of a much loved & respected farmer is met with shock & awe.
A soldier comes home that has been wounded in battle & knows nothing will ever be the same with the girl he has loved for forever.
The book comes together & life goes on.
Had not read this author before,but it was a fast read & kept my interest.

[Phylisha Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good romance set in rural Missouri, with the backdrop of world war two. The book dealt with negative aspects of war injuries, an accidental murder and the ostrasizing of americans of german desent and the roll women played in working in the factories that supplied the war efforts. . Good read.

[Louise E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story.

[Awjtf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked it

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Sweet story, but I felt like the middle dragged out and the ending was rushed.

[Cat Talarico · Rating 5 out of 5]

The prequel you didn't know that you always wanted! Beautiful!

[Noof · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t expect the plot twist until the last few minutes. Heheh
It was a pretty good and refreshing read.
100% clean read :)

[Megan]

Childhood friends separated during WWII return home to find conflict seeping through their quiet Ozarks town, as well as through their own relationship. I liked both of the main characters and I enjoyed the very first part of the book, with the two of them separated, thinking of each other, and reading their letters. That they would have to live with how the war changed them, that was pretty compelling. However, the suspense plot was unengaging and not very strongly or clearly developed. Reading the last half of the book, even if I wanted to see how the main characters reconciled, took some unfortunate slogging-through on my part and left me wishing that the focus was just on their relationship. I can't really speak about the historical accuracy of the book, but 1945 felt too early for an average joe to be familiar with the term genocide. As for the inspirational aspect, it was present and well-integrated into the characters, but it didn't overwhelm the storytelling.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, really. It was an interesting set up for a romance novel...childhood friends, high school sweethearts, separated by the war for three years, sure, but he came back home to the Ozarks and she was in California. Fully half the book had them separated and thinking back on their times together and rereading war letters. Then there was a mystery that each was trying to solve. There wasn't actually much time for romance, honestly. They ran parallel to each other more than coming together. I liked it (for some parts, I couldn't put it down), and I loved finding a world war II romance, but it wasn't quite it for me.

[Bronwyn Rykiert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red Meyer has come home from the war in Italy a wounded and broken man and he decides that he is not good enough for his sweetheart Bertie Moennig. Bertie has other ideas and when her father dies and Red tells her not to come home to Hideaway, Missouri she does not listen to him. Her father has died under mysterious circumstances and needs to find out why.

This is the last book of a series and I think I missed out by not reading them in order. This book was okay but it does not make me want to read any other books in this series

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters right off the bat, Bertie and Red just grabbed my heart. I loved the mingling of history and mystery and romance. The author did a wonderful job of pulling you in and trying to figure out what was going on and even had me convinced it was someone else for a while and did all of this while keeping it clean and showing how God was working in these characters lives.
Loved it....going back now to read the whole series!

[Nike Chillemi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hideaway Home plunks the reader down smack in the middle of World War II America where Bertie (Roberta) Moenning, is being trained as a machinist in the Hughes aircraft factory in California that's putting out military equipment for the war effort. The book is a mystery with an underlying theme of the distrust and hatered German Ameicans faced during the war.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The conclusion of the Hideaway series takes us back to the beginning, telling the love story of Bertie and Red during WWII. I liked how it changed time period from the rest of the series, making it a completely different story, yet with familiar characters. The suspense kept me guessing, and I was completely surprised by how things turned out.

[Ralynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

it sounded like a good story, but was soooo slow and boring, no drama, no suspense, nothing to keep you wanting to read more. very disappointed with this book. giving it one star is being really nice.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. The plot was slow, and the authors filled the gaps with lots of repetitive details. How many times did we have to read that Arielle Potts doesn't quite fit in the town of Hideaway? There was somewhat of a surprise twist at the end, at least.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book to a certain extent, and I'm glad I read it, but there were parts where it seemed like not much was happening. The details from history that the author put in were nice and helped set the scene, and I enjoyed the two main characters, Red and Bertie.

[Cheryl-Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't a bad book it was just "okay." Pretty predictable and just sort of...boring.

[Rebecca "Rebaka" Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful end to a wonderful series by a great author

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8