#historicalfiction – Page 15 – Rosepoint Publishing

May Rosepoint Reviews Recap—Welcome June Promise

June is always so full of promise. Weddings, sunny and warm outdoor activities, gardening and around here, birthdays. My head fills with visions of a full, healthy garden just about the bunnies and deer line up for fresh, sweet seedlings. This year I armed myself with miles of stretchy netting. It took me two times to figure out how to contour it up and over my veggie patch (about 10’ x 20’), work on the fairy garden, and the flower bed (much smaller). I’m still taking inventory of the plants lost in the fairy garden during the winter. Not so much snow or ice, or even February/March rain, so I’m not sure why some plants didn’t make it back. Many volunteer tomatoes, I’ve had to do some heavy culling.

To make the schedule just a little more hectic, I decided to tackle some stair-steps down the slight slope between the veggie and flower bed and discovered, as usual, it took at least twice as long and again more materials than I’d calculated. Hauling the pavers in the trunk of our little car was an experience. Still, it’s done, and while not quite the vision I’d had, doesn’t look too bad. In the meantime, the mallard pair were back to check on the birdseed scattered by the birds at the bird feeder.

We are continuing to look for homes with our daughter. Haven’t found one yet but the target is June, July being too hot to move. Gees, so when did I have a chance to read? (Well, not as much as usual!) The CE’s reads and reviews are getting mighty handy!

We posted sixteen book reviews for May, half from the CE that included ARCs from NetGalley, author requests, and audiobooks from our local library.

A Trail of Lies by Lylie Logan
TV Netflix Movie-The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society vs Audiobook
Pieces of Home by Tammy L Grace
The Big Gamble by Mike Faricy – CE review
Hell’s Half Acre by Jackie Elliott – CE review
The Searcher by Tana French – audiobook
Elizabeth and Monty by Charles Casillo
The Cuts That Cure by Arthur Herbert – CE review
The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji – CE review
The Arrangement by Robyn Harding – audiobook
Once Upon a Rhyme by Antony L Saragas – CE review
Gone Too Far by Debra Webb – CE review
Key West Dead by Mark Nolan – CE review
Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr – audiobook
Money Bear by Kerry K Cox
Hellhound, Take Me Home by Stu Lane – CE review

NetGalley – Still running about 95% on NG, but at 43 will need to do some hustling if I’m to make the goal of 75.

Goodreads has me at 85 towards my challenge of 175.

Four books for the Audiobook challenge bringing the total to 21.This one will be no sweat.

Historical Fiction – One book in May—ten total–which means this goal is completed.

You can check out my challenges progress by clicking on my Reading Challenges page.

Hope all of you in the US had a safe Memorial Day Weekend, always tough for me as I remember my brother.

And again, a welcome to my new followers—and I so appreciate all my active followers, your likes and comments. Thank you—have a wonderful and happy, hopefully COVID free June—finally!

Hellhound, Take Me Home by Stu Lane – #BookReview – #warfiction

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Singapore,1942. Ken Hazel, an Australian soldier, is captured during the Japanese invasion and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Japan where years of hard labour, torture and hardship await.

Australia, 1944. Ken’s wife, Ann, a young nurse and mother, encounters an escaped Japanese prisoner of war, Hito Egami, hiding out in the Australian bush. Against all her instincts, Ann takes in Hito and shelters him from the authorities.

Soon, an opportunity presents itself to both of them. For Ann, it is a chance to free Ken from captivity. For Hito, it is to return home and be reunited with his family. This leads to a dangerous journey over thousands of miles against the cataclysmic backdrop of World War Two, with Hito hated by the Allies as an enemy soldier, and by his fellow countrymen for being a coward.

For both Ann and Hito, a perilous and nail-biting adventure lies ahead…

His Review:

No matter what side you are on, war and propaganda indoctrination are the same. The enemy is heartless and ruthless and will show no mercy. As a soldier in the Emperor of Japans’ military it is better to follow the “Path of Bushido” (to die in battle or commit suicide rather than be captured by the enemy). The Battle of New Guinea was such a battle. Torrential downpours and excessive heat were a daily occurrence and yet fresh water was very scarce.

Ken Hazel and his platoon are part of the military divisions assigned with the mission of defending New Guinea at all costs. The Japanese juggernaut was taking the peninsula and this Australian platoon were tasked with stopping them. At this point in the war the Japanese seemed almost impossible to stop. Ken’s platoon is over-run and he and some of the others are taken hostage. They are shipped to prisoner of war camps in Japan and forced to do slave labor with minimum food and drink.

Hitoshi Egami (Hito) is a Japanese soldier who is captured by the Aussies during one of the battles and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Australia. The prisoners of war receive Red Cross packages and occasional letters from home. However, as a Japanese they are required to attempt to escape and not remain in an enemy prisoner of war camp. The Japanese POW’s find that the Australians are not as they were led to believe during basic training.

During a prison escape, Hito is discovered by Ann, an Australian woman who helps him. She discovers that her husband Ken is in a POW camp called Naoetsu POW camp in Japan. She decides to devise a plan to get Hito back to Japan to help her husband. Hito’s brother Noriaki is the camp commandant at the Naoetsu camp. Ann is a trained nurse and volunteers to help and smuggles Hito back to Japan.

Hito did not die for the Emperor nor did he commit harikari. He is a discredit to his family and his brother has no use for him. Trying to assist Ken in getting out of the camp ends in a tragedy. Noriaki hates his brother for bringing dishonor to the family. CE Williams

I highly recommend this WW II saga. It is well written and entertaining. The ends to which Ann works with the military and smuggles Hito back to Japan is astounding. 5 stars – CE Williams

Book Details:

Genre: War & Military Action Fiction, War Fiction, Action Thriller Fiction
ASIN: B07TMG2V22
Print Length: 306 pages
Publication Date: June 25, 2019
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link: Hellhound, Take Me Home [Amazon]

The Author: Hi to all goodreads members, I hope you are well.
My book, ‘Hellhound, Take Me Home’ has just been added to goodreads so with doing that, thought I should also add a bit about me.
I live in the East Midlands region of the UK. ‘Hellhound’ is my second published book. The first, Trolling Jemma Harvey’ was published in 2016 and is available as an e-book on Amazon right now.

The idea for ‘Hellhound, Take Me Home’ gradually formulated in my mind after reading Bill Bryson’s ‘Down Under’ (which is one of the best books I’ve ever read, definitely recommend it!)
In this, he describes an incident that occurred in Australia during World War II known as the Cowra breakout. A large group of Japanese POW’s escaped from their prison camp and fled into the Australian bush. Eventually, all of the escapees were re-captured. However, in my mind I had the thoughts of ‘What if one of them was never captured?, What if one of them was taken in by an Australian woman? And what if her husband is already a prisoner of the Japanese?
I built on the possibilities these questions raised, added various strands to it as I went along and the end result is the book now available on goodreads.
If you choose to read this book, then I hope you enjoy it. Any feedback is gratefully received and I am happy to answer any questions that you yourself have following the reading of this book.
Best wishes,
Stu Lane