Tag Archives: American Journey

Hannah’s Moon ( American Journey #5) by John A. Heldt-a review

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Hannah’s Moon (American Journey #5) by John A Heldt-a review

Hannah's Moon

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon. uk /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 8, 2017

After struggling for years to have a child, Claire Rasmussen, 34, turns to adoption, only to find new obstacles on the path to motherhood. Then she gets an unlikely phone call and soon learns that a distant uncle possesses the secrets of time travel.

Within weeks, Claire, husband Ron, and brother David find themselves on a train to Tennessee and 1945, where adoptable infants are plentiful and red tape is short. For a time, they find what they seek. Then a beautiful stranger enters their lives, the Navy calls, and a simple, straightforward mission becomes a race for survival.

Filled with suspense, romance, and heartbreak, HANNAH’S MOON, the epic conclusion of the American Journey series, follows the lives of four spirited adults as they confront danger, choices, and change in the tense final months of World War II.

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REVIEW:

5 out of 5 for this reader folks!

Predictably AMAZING John A. Heldt! Predictably INCREDIBLE John A. Heldt! I say predictably because I expect you to always deliver an easy flow, rich in history and charming time travel story with a dose of romance. You did it once again! 🙂

Hannah’s Moon by John A. Heldt is the 5th book of his American Journey, time travel, historical fiction, romance series and please PLEASE do yourself a favour and go back and read the first four books. This fifth book is his last book of this series and I am so sad to see it go. Truely! (small disclaimer .. all books can be read as standalones, but characters are revisited).

Claire Rasmussen is our leading lady and she was my fave of all the characters John has ever written. The book begins with utter devastation as Claire and Ron realize that holding their own child in their arms is too far out of their reach. Adoption is hard in current time, and both want a baby badly. Fate just so delivers a time travelling relative that thrust both Claire, Ron and David into 1945 just as WWII is slowing down. All three are soon met with the culture shock of what 1945 brings and while they have travelled with the intent of adopting a child during a time when orphans were plenty, they all begin to realize they are getting much more than they have bargained for.

Ron soon finds himself enlisted at a time when enlistment could mean death, Claire’s brother David is falling in love with a woman and Claire has to deal with being a woman with a child in an era she is not familiar with. So much more to it than all that but I am not spoiling any of this book for you!

John is an expert in my humble opinion, of writing many storylines concurrently and having them all flow together with no confusion what so ever. His writing style is so easy to follow, yet there is so much rich story packed into his pages. I always get a history lesson when reading this series and being a history lover you know I love that. I often find myself thinking about these books long after I am finished and I have concluded I think I may be living in the wrong era at times. LOL What an experience it would be to be a character in John A. Heldt’s book.

Speaking of characters .. incredibly developed, easy to fall in love with, easy to empathize and sympathize with, easy to grieve/be happy/be angry etc with them. Easy to identify with.

I feel like I have gushed so much in previous reviews, I am trying to find new ways to say the same thing. Hannah’s Moon is packed full of adventure, intrigue, suspense, romance and tied up in the end in a perfect way. As expected, I had a box of tissues on demand just incase and I absolutely needed them for this story!

Thank you John A. Heldt for allowing me to be one of your “go to” reviewers for this series. I strongly recommend this series to my fellow history lovers and anyone else who likes an intense ride when they allow themselves to get swept away in a story.

HAPPY READING!

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
September Sky
Mercer Street
Indiana Belle
Class of ’59
Hannah’s Moon

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Rachel T.

About The Author

John HeldtFollow John: Goodreads / Website/Blog/ Twitter /

John A. Heldt is the author of the critically acclaimed Northwest Passage and American Journey series. The former reference librarian and award-winning sportswriter has loved getting subjects and verbs to agree since writing book reports on baseball heroes in grade school. A graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of Iowa, Heldt is an avid fisherman, sports fan, home brewer, and reader of thrillers and historical fiction. When not sending contemporary characters to the not-so-distant past, he weighs in on literature and life at johnheldt.blogspot.com.

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Indiana Belle (American Journey #3) by John A. Heldt-a review

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Indiana Belle (American Journey #3) by John A. Heldt-a review

Indiana Belle

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 14, 2016

Providence, Rhode Island, 2017. When doctoral student Cameron Coelho, 28, opens a package from Indiana, he finds more than private papers that will help him with his dissertation. He finds a photograph of a beautiful society editor murdered in 1925 and clues to a century-old mystery. Within days, he meets Geoffrey Bell, the “time-travel professor,” and begins an unlikely journey through the Roaring Twenties. Filled with history, romance, and intrigue, INDIANA BELLE follows a lonely soul on the adventure of a lifetime as he searches for love and answers in the age of Prohibition, flappers, and jazz.

REVIEW

5 out of 5 for this reader folks!

INSERT LARGE PIC OF EMPTY TISSUE BOX …. Sniff … oh boy that was an absolute fantastic book!

Indiana Belle by John Heldt is a time traveling/mystery/suspense/history/romance novel that happens to be the third book in his “American Journey”series .. oh and it’s really really good. While this novel can be read alone, please read the first two books an then pick up the rest of John’s books while you are at it. Aside from Outlander, I am not a time travel fan, and John Heldt has made me a believer in this genre. I am a history lover however, and every time I read his books, I am swept right back in time with the main character. He hits upon some serious history in the 1920’s when prohibition and jazz were in full swing, and the KKK was rampant.

Cameron Coelho is a student collecting research on a project. He opens a package that was sent his way only to find the most captivating image of a woman who existed in 1925. Candice Bell is this woman who worked as an Society Editor in 1925, and Cameron cannot shake that he needs to dig deeper in the past. You see, Candice became a murder victim and her case was never solved. Digging deeper has lead Cameron to good ole professor Geoffrey Bell (notice victim and professor share the same last name) .. the time travelling professor.

Deals are struck and before we know it, Cameron is back in 1925 (I do it no justice in this simple sentence, but if I were to write out what this story entailed, I would have written my own version of it as it cannot be summed up so easy) and begins to track down his source. Here is where the problem lies with time travel though … what happens when you are placed in a situation where everything inside you wants to change the history you know is going to happen. What kind of aftermath has to be dealt with in order to save a life .. a life you grow to love?

So full of angst .. but really solid, hearty angst, not teeny bopper angst. I have to applaud John for hitting his mark every single time he releases a book. I felt every possible emotion he wanted me to feel, and his heros/heroines are so unbelievably rich in character you have no choice but to feel a connection to them. But it is not all that, that sticks out. It’s the attention to detail he offers by inserting his story in a true piece of history and enabling it to thrive. When you are in 2017 .. that is where you are. When you go back with Cameron to 1925, you see the styles, taste the drink, dance the steps and fear the KNOWN.

Thank you John for allowing me to be part of your creative world. You excite me with a new release as I kind of know what I can expect by now .. then you offer me more!

If you are a time traveling fan, John Heldt is a perfect fit for you. If you like suspense, romance, mystery .. he does that too! LOL

HAPPY READING! 🙂

Reading Order and previous reviews
September Sky
Mercer Street
Indiana Belle

Copy Supplied by the author

Reviewed by Rachel T

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Mercer Street (American Journey #2) by John Heldt-a review

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Mercer Street (American Journey #2) by John Heldt-a review

 

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 21, 2015

Weeks after her husband dies in the midst of an affair in 2016, Chicago writer Susan Peterson, 48, seeks solace on a California vacation with her mother Elizabeth and daughter Amanda. The novelist, however, finds more than she bargained for when she meets a professor who possesses the secret of time travel. Within days, the women travel to 1938 and Princeton, New Jersey. Elizabeth begins a friendship with her refugee parents and infant self, while Susan and Amanda fall for a widowed admiral and a German researcher with troubling ties. Filled with poignancy, heartbreak, and intrigue, MERCER STREET gives new meaning to courage, sacrifice, and commitment as it follows three strong-willed souls on the adventure of a lifetime.

REVIEW

5 out of 5 for this reader folks!

Oh John Heldt … is there anything you write that I won’t fall in love with? NOPE! LOL

I have come to expect one heck of a journey when I pick up a John Heldt novel, one that brings time travel, history, shock, love, sniffly “I just peeled an onion” moments, the need for a box of kleenex, nods of the head and a deep satisfaction that all is how it should be. Mercer Street is the second book of John’s American Journey series and like his first one I was completely smitten and captivated.

Susan Peterson has recently become a widow and decides to take a vacation in hopes of some healing. Bringing along her mother Elizabeth and her daughter Amanda, little does Susan realize that this vacay is going to throw her back into history and change her life forever. After meeting with a professor who is an expert on time travel, all three ladies soon find themselves on their own time travelling journey… together!

Thrown back into 1938 with New Jersey as the backdrop, Susan, Elizabeth and Amanda are not only flabbergasted at the experience of time travel, but completely at the mercy of what 1938 means. Pre WW2, being women, each having a different perspective on life as naturally three generations would, it was incredible to read these women navigate from 2016 to 1938.

As we bounce from one woman’s story to the other it amazed me how different their experiences were. Elizabeth befriends her parents as young immigrants (and meets herself as a baby .. that was weird …lol). Susan, after finding out her husband was unfaithful, has a tendency to have issues with trust. When she finds herself falling in love with an admiral, these issues surface. Amanda falls in love with a German and this brings much left to be desired as a war is brewing, and German’s were not on the same side as Americans.

SO MUCH MORE than all of this to the story (it’s hard to touch on details without giving too much away), and while all three main characters have their own spotlighted stories, it is amazing how weaved together these three individuals are. They each require healing in their own way, and they each seek to find something poignant and meaningful. I dare say they find all and so much more. One thing I came away with while reading this, is a mother will never stop being a mother. In spite of all good intentions, advice and suggestion wasn’t always adhered to, but a sense of learning and acceptance can be seen in all three strong willed women.

I often imagine how hard it has to be to be thrown back in a time, and want to do everything one can to prevent a harsh history from happening. I am glad this struggle is touched upon. John writes complex characters and story line that in my opinion are completely refreshing and engaging. His descriptions blow me away and I feel like I am experiencing the time as much as his characters are.

THANK YOU John for writing another captivating time travel novel. I have never made it a secret that I am not a huge fan of time travel, but you have erased any doubt I had and set a bar that is very high to match. I always look forward to reading one of your books and I sure hope there is more to come!

HAPPY READING! 🙂

Copy supplied by the author

Reviewed by Rachel T.

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