🌑 "Silver Moon" (By The Light of the Moon #3) (2020) 🌑 - Book Tour & Review #SMBkTour

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Silver Moon

(By the Light of the Moon #3)

By Jenny Knipfer

Christian Historical Fiction

Paperback & ebook, 411 Pages

June 30, 2020

A tale of courage and hope in the darkest of times...

Silver Moon, the third book in the series: By the Light of the Moon, paints a stunning and poignant picture of life on the home front in Webaashi Bay, Ontario, and of three men who are a part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during WWI.

Shamed into joining the war, the tide turns for Luis Wilson when he is steered into the depths of espionage. Injured and presumed missing, will he lose his heart to the very woman who presented him with a white feather?

Oshki and Jimmy offer a grim perspective on life in the trenches. They despair of ever returning home to the women who hold their hearts.

Meanwhile, Lily fights for the cause in her own way and rallies the female troops at home as prejudices run high and the local cafe owner is accused of being a spy.

Will the women of Webaashi Bay receive their men back unscathed? Can the power of love win out over insurmountable odds? All this drama and more plays out under the light of a silver moon.

Fans of WWI historical fiction, Christian historical fiction, and literary fiction will find Silver Moon a moving, powerful read!

Praise for the Book

Taking an original angle on a tumultuous time in history, Silver Moon by Jenny Knipfer is a sparkling slice of historical fiction. Ambitiously detailing a diverse collection of characters, this World War I story bounces across space and time, delicately filled with vivid descriptions, nuanced moral dilemmas, and authentic relationships..." --Self-publishing Review

"Silver Moon is a highly recommended read for fans of historical wartime fiction, powerful emotive drama, and excellent atmospheric writing." --Readers' Favorite

"I am stunned by the amount of detail the author gave in this single story. On one hand, we have powerful characters... and on the other, we have a plot that demands all our attention. Jenny Knipfer pulls no punches and holds nothing back." --Readers' Favorite

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About the Author

Jenny lives in Wisconsin with her husband, Ken and their pet Yorkie, Ruby. She is also a mom and loves being a grandma. She enjoys many creative pursuits but finds writing the most fulfilling.

Jenny's education background stems from psychology, music, and cultural missions. She spent many years as a librarian in a local public library but recently switched to using her skills as a floral designer in a retail flower shop. She is now retired from work due to disability.

She authored and performed a self-published musical CD entitled, Scrapbook of a Closet Poet.

Jenny's books, Ruby Moon, Blue Moon, and Silver Moon earned five-star reviews from Reader's Favorite, a book review and award contest company. Their praise: Ruby Moon is entertaining, fast-paced, and features characters that are real. Blue Moon continues a well-written and highly engaging saga of family ties, betrayals, and heartachesSilver Moon is a highly recommended read for fans of historical wartime fiction, powerful emotive drama, and excellent atmospheric writing.

She holds membership in the: Midwest Independent Booksellers Association, Historical Novel Society, Wisconsin Writers Association, Christian Indie Publishing Association, and Independent Book Publishers Association.

Jenny's favorite place to relax is by the western shore of Lake Superior, where her novel series, By The Light of the Moon, is set. She has self-published the first three books, Ruby Moon, Blue Moon, and Silver Moon, in her four-part series. One more novel to complete the series is planned for 2020. She is currently writing a new historical fiction series called, Sheltering Trees.

Photo Credit: Craig Jentink

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Tour Schedule

Tour Giveaway

One winner will receive ebooks of all three books in the By the Light of the Moon series by Jenny Knipfer (Ruby Moon, Blue Moon and Silver Moon) and a $25 Amazon eGift Card

Open internationally to those who can use one of Amazon's branches
Ends September 9, 2020

ENTER HERE

My Review

Thank you in advance to the author, Jenny Knipfer, and Prism Book Tours for providing an advanced review copy as part of a launch team. A positive review was not required or requested, and all words are my own.

This is one of those books that will not be a “feel good” read. Yet, it is poignant, stunning, viciously graphic, richly complex, and deeply captivating. It is based on a real life event. It is at times, brutally honest and realistic, beginning with the haunting, yet eye-catching, cover.

Knipfer (a new-to-me author) does all this with such vivid, candid, and descriptive writing. And, it is obvious the writer did her research when it comes to this story. Though, there are some typos and one questionable word (wh@re) in this. And, there is an on-page mention of a sex scene.

I have not read the previous two novels, and while this is part of the series. Some readers noted they needed to read the two. I didn’t seem to need the previous two to understand this story. For me, it stood very well on its own.

There were also so many POVs and characters to keep track of. I might’ve missed something here or there. And, there are times it alternates in POV – not only first (1^st) and third (3^rd) person narrating, but the character telling the story. There was also Rose, Mauve, Oshki, Lily, and Natalie.

The author does a splendid job of including those from the Ojibwe Nation as well. Her use of the vernacular for the time as well as the characters given their backgrounds helps the reader immerse themselves into the story.

Some interesting facts were the age perception (pg. 41) with someone who is 51 years old, and thus they are past their prime. Yet, some of today’s people who are 50+ don’t look their age. There are a few I could name right off. Some of them are even lead characters on TV shows. So, that perception is quite telling of the time period.

This is set in Canada, but it was interesting to see some of the prejudices and doubts there towards the German people. And, this is where one plot hole comes into play – what eventually happened to one character’s parents. I may have missed it, but I was waiting to see what happened.

The readers see three sets of “couples”/soldiers:

** Luis/Rose (their meeting and re-meeting is a complicated and complex story)

** Oshki/Mauve

** Jimmy/Lily (their budding romance is one of the most interesting given how he treated her when they were in school together).

Using a fictional story set during the real war; Knipfer weaves a tale of war time atrocities, tragedy, realistic warfare and its consequences, along with the uncertainty at home. She also shows the lengths of support that the women go to so that their men come home. And, she also shows the post-war impact – not everyone returns whole whether physically or mentally.

There are quite a few bible quotes, some of them prior to the chapters. The characters do tend to have a strong faith in God and often quote the bible – the faith displayed is not pivotal to the main story or the plot.

As this took place at the beginning of the 1918 pandemic, I was surprised that there was no mention of it. In addition, the writer did mention the Halifax explosion that occurred, even noting that what Michael reads was from the actual newspaper.

What I dearly loved reading about was “The Christmas Truce” which started along the Western Front on December 25, 2014 (actual dates December 24-26). This included the soldiers from Austria-Hungary, French Third Republic, German Empire, Russian Empire, and the United Kingdom.

During that time there were unofficial ceasefires, carol singing, football games, fraternization, and gift exchanges. Even prisoner swaps and join burials occurred. However, by 1916, soldiers were no longer amenable due to commands from their superiors. It is a fascinating event that I wish could’ve been expanded more.

The author included so much detail in this book that it is hard to include everything.

The ultimate lesson is that those in the trenches (quite literally) and those at home did what they had to do to survive, even sacrificing supplies at home to help out.

Some readers might find this a daunting read. For me, it wasn’t easy or hard, but there was a challenge. It was difficult for me to take notes for a review because I didn’t think I could adequately rate a novel so engaging that even the discussion questions are must read with their thought-provoking nature.

Readers who are unfamiliar with this series will understand the “colors of the moon” explained in the epilogue of this book.

Fans of the author’s two previous novels will more than likely enjoy this. Also, fans of the genre may also be piqued by this book.

RATING:

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Bookbub

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Personal Rating (see rating explanation in this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html)