I hope you’ve got some extra money in your book-buying account, because Sherri Stewart mentions so many great books today that I want to buy them all! Here’s a look at what this writer of historical romance reads …

What was your favorite chapter book? What did you love about it?

Like so many kids my age at the time, I started reading the Bobbsey Twin series and couldn’t stop. They were like the perfect family and they solved mysteries. I guess that’s where I started loving mysteries. A few years later, I graduated to Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books. Now there was a hint of romance added into the mix with Ned. Isn’t it funny? I can still remember all their names. When I discovered that author, Carolyn Keene, was really a group of authors, it made me sad. Guess I like to think that the author and the main character are very much alike.

What was the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?

I absolutely loved The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham about a midwife who’s taken from a concentration camp to supervise the pregnancy of a famous German. Contrived? Possibly, but Mandy writes with such empathy that I believed it could happen. And can she ever turn a phrase!

Have you ever finished a story and wished it had ended differently? Which story? How would you have changed the ending?

When I was a teenager, my favorite book was American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. It was also made into a movie called, A Place in the Sun. It’s a rags-to-riches tale, through illegal means, and the lead male ends up going to the electric chair. I wish it had ended differently—guess I’m a sucker for a happy ending even when it’s not deserved. But the book ended as it should because the lead male’s greed and ambition led him to kill his girlfriend so he could marry the boss’s daughter.

If you could be part of any fictional family, which would you pick?

I would like to be the eighth sister of The Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. All seven sisters are adopted by a wealthy man. All the daughters come from different countries and know nothing about their past since they were adopted as babies. They grow up in Switzerland, each girl with her own unique personality. After the father dies, each receives a letter from their father telling them a bit about their past and encouraging them to go find out who they really are.

If you could turn any of your books into a movie, which would you pick? Who would cast as the main characters?

I would definitely turn A Song for Her Enemies into a movie. It’s about a young opera singer who joins the Dutch resistance during WWII and ends up in a concentration camp. There’s romance, angst, action, and history. I would cast Hailee Steinfeld for Tamar because she can sing, although she may be a bit too old. I’d choose Alden Ehrenreich for Daniel and Kate Blanchett as Neelie Visser.

Share five books from your TBR (to be read) pile.

For my book club, I have five books waiting for me to read over the next few months:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (A. Christie)
The Lilac Girls (Hall Kelly )
The Judge (R. Singer)
Winter Garden (K. Hannah)
The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop (Flagg)

Who’s your favorite author?

Right now, it’s Mandy Robotham, the author of The German Midwife and The Messenger, which I’m reading now. Why? Because her writing is like fine art. Her words are beautiful, and maybe if I read enough of her books, her words will rub off on my books.

A Song for Her Enemies https://amzn.to/2YJBkRn

After Nazi soldiers close the opera and destroy Tamar Kaplan’s dream of becoming a professional singer, she joins the Dutch Resistance, her fair coloring concealing her Jewish heritage. Tamar partners with Dr. Daniel Feldman, and they risk their lives to help escaping refugees. When they are forced to flee themselves, violinist Neelie Visser takes them into hiding.

Tamar’s love for Daniel flowers in hardship, but she struggles with the paradox that a loving God would allow the atrocities around her. When Tamar resists the advances of a Third Reich officer, he exacts his revenge by betraying the secrets hidden behind the walls of Neelie’s house. From a prison hospital to a Nazi celebration to a concentration camp, will the three of them survive to tell the world the secrets behind barbed wire?

Sherri Stewart loves a clean novel, sprinkled with romance and a strong message that challenges her faith. She spends her working hours with books—either editing others’ manuscripts or writing her own. Her passion is traveling to the settings of her books, sampling the food, and visiting the sites. She loves the Netherlands, and she’s still learning Dutch, although she doesn’t need to since everyone seems to speak perfect English. A recent widow, Sherri lives in the Orlando area with her lazy dog, Lily, and her son, Joshua, who can fix anything. She shares recipes, tidbits of the book’s locations, and pix in her newsletter. Subscribe at http://eepurl.com/gZ-mv9

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