My Review: Temperance's Trial

Description:

The Third Reich Seeks to extract the information she alone knows.
 Marie Gilbert and her elder brother flee from Vichy France after the Gestapo arrest her father for suspicion of aiding Jewish children to escape the oncoming fascist front. Once in London, Marie is recruited into an experimental all female cohort dubbed the Virtues, a collection of seven extraordinary women with highly specialized skills. Known only by her code name, Temperance, she is trained to operate a wireless radio and returns to her beloved France. With a new identity, Marie clandestinely communicates vital intelligence directly back to Headquarters but unwillingly attracts the attention and apparent adoration of a handsome but ruthless Nazi officer, Oberleutnant Leopold Schfer. As the H-hour to execute their daring mission draws ever closer, Marie plays a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the unrelenting and merciless young Lieutenant Schfer and the Nazi soldiers under his command.



About the Author:
An Army brat turned Floridian, Hallee finally settled in central Kentucky with her family so that she could enjoy the beautiful changing of the seasons. She enjoys the roller-coaster ride thrills that life with a National Guard husband, a teenaged daughter, and two elementary aged sons delivers.
A prolific writer, when she's not penning novels, she blogs about all things cooking and homemaking at Hallee the Homemaker(tm) (http://www.halleethehomemaker.com). Her passion for cooking spurred her to launch a whole food, real food "Parody" cookbook series. In addition to nutritious, Biblically grounded recipes, readers will find that each cookbook also confronts some controversial aspect of secular pop culture.
Hallee is a member of the Published Author Network (PAN) of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) where she serves as a long time board member in the Faith, Hope, & Love chapter. She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and the American Christian Writers (ACW) as well as being a member of Novelists, Inc. (NINC).
Hallee loves coffee, campy action movies, and regular date nights with her husband. Above all else, she loves God with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength; has been redeemed by the blood of Christ; and relies on the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide her. She prays her work here on earth is a blessing to you and would love to hear from you. You can reach Hallee at hallee@bridgemanfamily.com.
(Book description [variations mine] and cover photo from Deeper Shopping. Author photo from Amazon and about the author copied from A Carol For Kent. No infringement intended.) 

My Review: 4 stars
Great start to the series!
 Temperance’s Trials is the first “episode” in Hallee Bridgeman’s new Virtues and Valor serial novel. A new episode will release each month, ending with the seventh novella. I’m typically not all that into serial novels, but when I saw Hallee was writing one, I knew I had to read it. She’s one of my favorite authors, so I knew I would love it!
Because this is the first one in the series, a lot of it was spent setting the stage for the following stories. There is a lot of historical detail packed into this novella, so at times it seemed as though I didn’t get to know Marie (aka Temperance) as well as I may have liked, but I do understand why so much time was spent on other things. Plus, she should be in the rest of the stories too, so getting to know her completely now would have seemed redundant later on. I really enjoyed the details that were included and appreciate all the time and research Hallee put into this whole series. I was also fascinated that each of the Virtues is based on a real person who fought in WWII in their own ways and there is a short biography at the end about the person who inspired each one. 
Marie Gilbert is the main character in this episode. She is the radio and transmissions operator of the group. I really liked Marie and found her to be very realistic. I was able to sympathize with her struggles and her fears, even though I personally have never been there. I don’t want to give away anything, but I will say that her bravery really touched and inspired me. I wanted to cry with her near the end, when I was shown clearly what they faced in war-time. I’m anxious to learn what happens with her and the Lieutenant.
I became so engrossed in the story and everything that was going on that I was very upset when it ended rather abruptly. I knew we’d be left with a cliffhanger at the end, but I didn’t think the story would just stop there! Now I have to read the next one to find out what happens next! I applaud Hallee for leaving it at a great place to hook the reader, but at the same time I want to demand the next part. I don’t want to wait a month before I get to read the next one! 
I highly recommend this novella and the whole series to anyone who enjoyed WWII fiction and suspense.

I received a free download of this book from the author through The Book Club Network for my honest review, which I have given. I was not required to write a positive review and have not been compensated for it in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my review!  I hope you enjoyed it and will consider checking out the book! 
I actually only have one link this time, to Amazon.  Sorry about that!
I hope you have a lovely day!