Julie's Review: The Last Green Valley

Author: Mark Sullivan
Series: None
Publication Date:  May 4, 2021
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Pages: 328
Obtained: Amazon First
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: A courageous story about a family that never gave up, even in their darkest times
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: In late March 1944, as Stalin’s forces push into Ukraine, young Emil and Adeline Martel must make a terrible decision: Do they wait for the Soviet bear’s intrusion and risk being sent to Siberia? Or do they reluctantly follow the wolves—murderous Nazi officers who have pledged to protect “pure-blood” Germans? The Martels are one of many families of German heritage whose ancestors have farmed in Ukraine for more than a century. But after already living under Stalin’s horrifying regime, Emil and Adeline decide they must run in retreat from their land with the wolves they despise to escape the Soviets and go in search of freedom. Caught between two warring forces and overcoming horrific trials to pursue their hope of immigrating to the West, the Martels’ story is a brutal, complex, and ultimately triumphant tale that illuminates the extraordinary power of love, faith, and one family’s incredible will to survive and see their dreams realized. ~amazon.com

Review: This book is not an easy read at all. It is criminal what other humans will do to each other under the guise of war. It is heartbreaking to know that The Last Green Valley is based on a family's 

story at the end of WWII. Emil & Adeline live a simple life on their farm in the Ukraine when they decide that they can no longer live under Stalin and use the offer of the Nazi's to go West. 

For Emil and Adeline the question becomes to stay with the devil you know or to travel with the devil you don't know but that might get you closer to freedom. They know the travel won't be easy, but they are hoping it's worth it. Through flashbacks we learn about the struggles they have gone through both together and separate. Through it all Adeline retains her faith and never doubts God. The opposite is true for Emil who struggles with his faith and to trust in God. It is one area where the Martel's disagree. 

Throughout their travel West, they suffer difficulties, horrors and others all while continuing to believe that they will find their "Green Valley" that Adeline believes is their end game. 

For most of the book you are holding your breath as you read about their struggles and their flee to cross various countries. Their sons are incredibly strong and brave to endure what they did as well. While this book isn't a biography, it is based on the true story of the Martel family, which is seriously amazing. At the end of the novel, I cried because of so many things but the sheer grit of this family will astound you. 

Mr. Sullivan has written another brilliant historical fiction novel. Highly Recommend. 

Google+

Julie's Review: Beneath the Scarlet Sky

Author: Mark T. Sullivan
Series: None
Publication Date: May 1, 2017
Publisher: Lake Union
Pages: 524
Obtained: Little Bird Publicity
Genre:  Historical Fiction, Biography
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: A stunning novel about love, loss and living. A must read!
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary: Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier—a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich’s most mysterious and powerful commanders. Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share. Fans of All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale, and Unbroken will enjoy this riveting saga of history, suspense, and love. ~amazon.com  

Review: I really feel that  Beneath a Scarlet Sky should come with a warning regarding how you will have a serious book hangover when you finish this one. Pino Lella is a typical 17 year old hanging with his friends, trying to find love when things start to take a turn for the worse in the war and Milan gets sucked right into it. In order to keep his family safe, Pino's father sends him to the Italian Alps to help serve with Father Re and to keep him out of harms way.

It is here that he finds his purpose by hiking the mountains and gaining strength. It is here that he helps the Catholic church get Italian Jews out of harms way and into Switzerland. Pino has a way with helping people and keeping them calm even in the scariest moments. It wasn't always the Nazis that you had to worry about but the weather in the mountains. So when he is sent back to Milan he isn't very happy about it. Even more so after he finds out that his Uncle and Father want him to enlist so that he's not drafted. If he enlists, they can help him get a better job. It still doesn't keep him out of harms way and after he's injured in a bombing, he is inadvertently made the driver for General Leyers, who sits on Hitler's counsel. By being his driver this gives Pino the opportunity to be a spy and gain the Allies some advantages. Things never go as planned and Pino often wrestles with what he is doing and how he is helping.

What I absolutely loved about the book was that you felt like you were living Pino's experiences with him. You felt what he felt. You felt the shame and pride. You felt how young and innocent he was when he first went to Father Re and how at the end of the war he had seen things he would never forget. Some things he would spend the rest of his life trying to forget and running away from. You felt the terror of the war and at the same the bliss of first love between Anna and Pino. It is this love that gives him hope in times of despair.

In the end, Beneath a Scarlet Sky, is a gorgeous and heart-wretching story about being brave in the face of evil. It's about finding happiness when you think it's been taken from you and remembering that each day is a gift. Pino Lella is an ordinary person, who did extraordinary things when it counted the most and cost him as well. I don't always read the author notes at the end of a novel, but I felt compelled to because of the preface. In some ways I believe Pino's story saved Mark Sullivan's life.


  Google+

Julie's Review: Rogue

Summary: Two years ago, Robin Monarch was a top level CIA operative—perhaps the best they had when it came to black bag operations. Then one day, in the middle of an operation, with his team around him in the field, Monarch walked away, leaving his old life and friends behind without a word of explanation. Now this ex-soldier, ex-operative, and orphan with a murky past is a thief, stealing from the super-rich and has surfaced in St. Tropez. But when a complicated, high profile jewel heist goes wrong, Monarch is led into a carefully woven trap designed to force him to complete the very same mission he walked away from years ago. It will take all of his skills (as well as those of the team he burned) and all of his cunning, if Monarch is to thwart the violent and deadly goals of the very powerful cabal who will do whatever it takes to bring the very dangerous "Green Fields" technology under their control. ~amazon.com

Review: Robin Monarch: Thief, CIA Agent, Friend, Lover, modern day Robin Hood. Sure his past is a bit shady but he steals to make life easier for those who don't have much but he's also a well trained agent who does the right thing in the end.

I love books about spies, mobsters, and the Russians. I mean I grew up during the Cold War, how can you not still think of the Russians as the enemy? (Only in fiction of course). Mr. Sullivan has done a bang up job of making Monarch a likable character even if he is a bit questionable at times. As you edge towards the end of the book, you know that he's a good guy trying to do the right thing, even if he makes millions by doing that.

Rogue starts with an adrenaline shot and then gives you a boost of it on the last line! Not only is Monarch a great character but the rest of his team is as well. Tatupu, Fowler, Chavez and Barnett go to bat for Robin even if he left them in the wind during an operation. Those are true friends and people who really have your back.
A lot of people are comparing Monarch to Bourne and while I love Jason Bourne (Matt Damon movie versions), there are definite differences between him and Monarch. Sure they have the special training but Monarch knows who he is and where he came from. Those are the demons he wrestles with and eventually comes to terms with.

I can't wait to see what Mr. Sullivan has for us readers next and I really hope it involves Robin Monarch.

Final Take: 4.25/5

Thanks to Minotaur Books and Kaye Publicity for my copy!

Julie's Review: Triple Cross

Summary: The Jefferson Club is a remote, private resort for the super-rich – the buildings, the amenities, and the security are state of the art and beyond compare. Many of the world’s wealthiest people – business leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians, celebrities – gather for the most exclusive New Year’s Eve party in the world. As expensive champagne flows and multibillion dollar deals are arranged, the unimaginable happens – a highly trained, heavily armed paramilitary force calling itself the Third Position Army breaches the world’s best security system and takes everybody hostage.
“Mickey” Hennessey, former U.S. Special Agent, is the head of security for the Jefferson Club. A divorced father of three teenagers, he’s spending the holiday with his kids. When the club is attacked, his entire team is wiped out and only he makes it out of the club alive. Now he’s outside while his kids are trapped inside, hostages of the Third Position Army who are putting seven of the ten richest men on “trial” for their crimes against humanity, live on the internet for the world to see. While a top FBI rescue team works feverishly to rescue all the hostages, Hennessey is determined to do all he can, to overcome every obstacle, to ensure his children’s safety – or die trying. ~St. Martin's Press.com

Review: I was lucky enough to get Triple Cross from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers club in February but given my huge pile, I was just now able to get to it. Triple Cross is an exciting adventure/action/thriller book. I was definitely not disappointed by this book. The book starts off with a bang and never lets up. I really enjoyed the main characters even if you pretty much knew off the bat that Mickey and Cheyenne were going to hook up. Now I don't mind a romantic hook up in a book, but in this situation I really don't think it was completely necessary. That being said, I LOVED the triplets. I thought they had a lot of heart, moxy and guts for being 14 years old. I don't know if I could have done what they did when I was 14. I don't know if I was that brave. I didn't have a hard time picturing the Jefferson Club in my mind. I just pictured the most decadent hotel/spa I could imagine tucked away in the mountains of Montana.

I've stated before that I don't like politics shoved down my throat from either side of the views, but this book didn't do that even though it did have a political slant to it. Now I didn't agree with the way the Third Position Army went about making their point, but wouldn't it be interesting and scary to know what companies and politician were truly made of? That's what this book does. It exposes corporate greed and political corruption, or does it? There is quite an interesting twist at the end of the book about the true motive behind the mastermind of the takeover.

There really isn't a boring page in the book, even if I kind of figured out early on that one of the main characters was involved. Although I don't think the author really meant to keep it a secret either.

If you are looking for a fast-paced thriller with well developed characters, check out Triple Cross. It's an interesting look at today's society and capitalism.

Final Take: 3.75/5