Excerpt
Bonnie lay on her side staring across the small bedroom. A faint light from the street filtered through the curtains, touching hard lines with pale illumination. Beside her, Glen breathed deeply as he slept, his body spooned against hers, his arm draped over her torso. She held on to his arm, feeling his warmth and sureness. She clung to him as if he were an anchor, as though if she were to let go, she’d drift away from him forever.
They’d been married only three short weeks, and still she could scarcely comprehend how she came to be in this bed with a husband who loved her. It had all seemed an impossible dream not so long ago. Her only aspiration then had been to survive, to find work, and become invisible. She never expected to fall in love, had never even hoped to. And now that she was, Bonnie felt certain she didn’t deserve it.
The thought of losing her new found happiness terrified her. She never wanted to go back to the dark days she’d lived before, the empty days of lies and secrets. She never wanted to live even one day without Glen. There were no guarantees, she knew, but Bonnie vowed to make Glen happy, to do everything in her power to keep his love for her alive. But most of all, she wanted to prove herself worthy of his love.
My Review
(I gave the book 4 out of 5 stars)
I enjoyed reading ‘Secrets of the Red Box’. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it reading the description, but I did. The book is set in the 1940′s, during World War II, when Roosevelt was president. I think all women are fascinated by the 1940′s. Most movies you see of that time period romanticize the 1940′s. The women’s hairstyles were lovely and what was not to love about their clothes.
Bonnie is a young woman that was physically abused by her father growing up, as was her mother. She was made to work in the fields at a very young age picking strawberry’s. She never felt love from her father, and all she ever wanted was to feel loved and that she mattered to someone. As a little girl Bonnie promised herself that she would have money and would never have to work again. She was a runaway at the age of 16, and was very determined to make a better life for herself.
I didn’t like Bonnie much in the first part of the book. She was selfish, manipulative and a liar. Lies rolled off of her tongue very, very easily. She didn’t let anyone get close to her, for the fear of being hurt and she didn’t want anyone to know her past. As in the title of the book, …Red Box, Bonnie carried the red box with her every where she moved to. You don’t really know what is in the box, until the end of the book. She does hint to the contents of the box though. You learn that it has something from her past, something that she doesn’t want anyone to know about, something that she is ashamed of, but doesn’t really admit that do herself.
Throughout the book you see that Bonnie carries no real affection for any of the men she meets. She uses them for what they can give her. She picks military men, men that are lonely and that crave love and attention. When she met Glen all of that changed. Then we see a different side of Bonnie, one that is softer, caring and giving. I started to care about Bonnie in the second half of the book. She genuinely loves Glen, and they are happy together. Then something happens to change that.
Throughout the book I thought the Red Box held evidence of Bonnie killing someone, or a horrible family secret she didn’t want revealed. You don’t find out the contents of the Red Box til almost the very end. I was actually surprised of it’s contents. I would have never guessed what was in there.
If you have never read one of Ms Hall’s books you should pick this one up. It has a little of everything, history, romance, mystery and a little drama. The first few chapters were a little slow, but keep reading and you want be disappointed. Secrets of the Red Box was very well written, and I will be reading more of Ms Hall’s books.
You can enter the giveaway to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card or $50 PayPal Cash from Author Vickie Hall, for Secrets of the Red Box
Happy Reading!
**I received a copy of this book to review. I was not obliged to review or give a good review. This review are my own thoughts about the book and were in not way influence by the author. This review includes 1 affiliate link.
