Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers: A Gripping WWII Historical Mystery About a Mother’s Search for Truth

By Sara Ackerman

"A close-up look at how wartime chaos affects a tight-knit group of women living on Hawaii in 1944 at the height of Pacific combat.... [Violet's] journey overcoming her trials and grief through friendship, family, and romance is a story of strength and perseverance."--Booklist Violet Iverson and her young daughter, Ella, are piecing their lives together after the disappearance of her husband. As rumors swirl and questions about his loyalties surface, Violet believes Ella knows something. But Ella is stubbornly silent. Something--or someone--has scared her. With the island overrun by troops training for a secret mission, tension and suspicion between neighbors is rising. To get through the difficult days, Violet bands together with her close friends and they open a pie stand near the military base, offering the soldiers a little homemade comfort. Try as she might, Violet can't ignore her attraction to the brash marine who comes to her aid when the women are accused of spying. Desperate to discover the truth behind what happened to her husband, while keeping her friends and daughter safe, Violet is torn by guilt, fear and longing as she faces losing everything. Again. Don't miss THE GUEST IN ROOM 120, Sara Ackerman's enthralling new novel with dual-timelines intertwining a 1905 mystery surrounding Jane Stanford's mysterious death in Honolulu and a 2005 writer's quest to uncover the truth at the same historic hotel... More captivating stories from Sara Ackerman: - The Maui Effect - The Unchartered Flight of Olivia West - The Codebreaker's Secret - Radar Girls - Red Sky Over Hawaii - The Lietenant's Nurse "A bittersweet story of cinematic proportions."--BookPage

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Published Feb 13, 2018

400 pages

Average rating: 5.9

10 RATINGS

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Giigiibelle
6/10 stars
This book had a very slow start for me. It wasn't until a little over halfway that I began to actually connect with the characters and enjoy the story. In the end I fell in love with the relationship between Parker and Violet. It was hard for me to determine Ella's age which made it difficult to connect with her. At times she felt like she was in kindergarten and other times it gave the impression that she was in early/late middle school. Overall, I didn't dislike the book but it also wasn't a favorite of mine by Sara Ackerman.

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