Monday, March 4, 2024

Celebrate Lit Blog Tour: What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma

Book: What I Promise You

Author: Liz Tolsma

Genre: Christian Fiction / Romance / Historical Fiction

Release Date: February 1, 2024

A Family’s History Is Lost to the Ravages of WWII in Southwest France

1942
Noémie Treves, a young, pregnant Jewish woman, had her entire world shattered when she is arrested and taken to the Camp de Rivesaltes transit camp in Southwest France. No sooner does she arrive, though, than she assists in helping two young girls scheduled for transport escape to a nearby maternity hospital. The matron there befriends her and changes her name to help hide her. But nothing goes according to plan, and Hannah finds herself doing the unimaginable to save one precious life.

2022
Caitlyn Laurant is haunted by recent events in her life and hopes becoming a nurse on the mission field will help her forget. While in training, she and her friends travel to France where her grandfather was born. What should have been an easy search for his birthplace turns into anything but and reveals secrets that no one alive has ever heard.

Click here to get your copy!

What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma is a Historical Fiction with a Dual-Time Spilt. It is Book 2 in the Echoes of the Past series. I have been anxiously awaiting the release of this book as I read Book 1 and really enjoyed it.

The time is 1942 in Southwest France. Noémie Treves is a Young Jewish woman and she is arrested. She is taken to Camp de Rivesaltes. Noémie immediately helps a couple of young girls escape to a Maternity Hospital. The lady in charge at the Hospital helps Noémie by trying to help hide her and also gets her name changed to Hannah. Hannah has to do something that she never imagined doing to be able to save a life. The time is now 2022 and Caitlyn Laurant is about to become a nurse in the Mission Field and she hopes she is able to move forward in life. She and a few friends travel to France during their training and she discovers some things about her Grandfather that others never heard. Caitlyn's grandfather was born in France and she wants to learn the family history, but what she discovers is shocking. What is the connection between Caitlyn and Hannah? Will Caitlyn learn the information she is seeking by visiting France?

WOW, Book 2 in this series certainly did not disappoint. I started reading and could not put the book down until I finished 5 hours late. Caitlyn's promise to a friend who recently passed away by becoming a Nurse leads her to France, where he grandfather was born. I found it quite interesting that she learned some shocking information about her Family History that was certainly life changing. The connection between 1942 and 2022 was a very important part of this storyline. I really felt that I was in both time periods throughout this book! World War II was a very important time in History and I feel I truly learned some things reading this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Historical Fiction, and dual-time split novels! FANTASTIC BOOK!

Liz Tolsma is the author of several WWII novels, romantic suspense novels, prairie romance novellas, and an Amish romance. She is a popular speaker and an editor and resides next to a Wisconsin farm field with her husband and their youngest daughter. Her son is a US Marine, and her oldest daughter is a college student. Liz enjoys reading, walking, working in her large perennial garden, kayaking, and camping.

More from Liz

The Story behind the Cover of What I Promise You

In the late summer, I got the preliminary cover for What I Promise You. While Barbour Publishing always does a great job with their covers, and the one they sent was very nice, I wasn’t crazy about it because it didn’t tell the story at all. The mansion that plays such a big part in the novel was nowhere to be seen. Barbour is fantastic when it comes to working with me to get great covers, so I asked if we could include the real mansion that the story is based on. Turns out that they were having trouble getting copyright permission to use any image they could find of the maternity home.

That was disappointing. But I got brave and let them know that I took a picture of it when I was in France last year, and they could use it, but I’m not a very good photographer and I only used my iPhone. I attached the photo to the email and didn’t hear anything for a while.

Then in October, I wanted to include a preorder link to the book on social media or something and went to Amazon to grab it. And there was the cover. I went back and forth between the cover and my picture, and sure enough, it was the picture of the maternity home I had sent them! So I not only wrote What I Promise You, but some of my photography is on the front. I never thought that would happen. Am I in the wrong profession?? Just kidding!