Review: Celine's Landing by Steven A. Segal

With the Second World War ravaging France, the Nazis prepare to annihilate the Jews living in the French Alpine village of Treaire. Six mid-twenties Treaire citizens, lifelong friends—Remi, Celine, Amaury, Felicien, Daniel and Alexis—all born within ten days of each other, risk everything to rescue their Jewish neighbors and save the strategic Saint Laurnee railroad trestle and tunnel from Nazi sabotage.
Combining forces with the brilliant but reclusive Doctor Gasper Chabot, this tiny band of Resistance fighters, known only by their code name “the Tristan”, confront the callous brutality of the Nazi army—the most powerful military force in Europe.
Each of the friends are irreversibly changed by the crushing demands of war as they surreptitiously undermine the Nazis by taking control of their radio communications, destructively attacking their military installations, and disrupting the supply lines supporting Hitler’s troops fighting the Allies in Italy.
Despite the Tristan’s cleverness and good fortune, the power of the Nazi forces is relentless. After months of struggle, the friends’ only hope for survival is if General Alexander Patch’s 7th US Army can battle their way to aid the “Tristan” in their final fight for the strategic Falauge rail depot where they are mired in life and death combat defending the areas’ Jews and the Saint Laurnee Passage they have pledged their lives to protect.

Paperback, 394 pages

Published June 30th 2014 by Steve Segal (first published April 25th 2014)

Genre: Historical Fiction

Kristine's Thoughts:

I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I just finished this book minutes ago and I have to say that it far exceeded my expectations. I was a little reluctant to start this book. I try not to judge a book by its cover but I have to admit that I was guilty in this case. Without sugar coating...the cover of this book is terrible and I found myself putting off reading it for way longer than I should have. It wasn't until I re-read the synopsis and remembered why I had entered the giveaway in the first place that I eventually began reading.

The story takes place during the Second World War and centres around a small group of life long friends as they try to protect their small country town of Treaire from the Nazi soldiers. The Tristan prove that numbers don't necessarily mean anything when your belief in a cause is so strong.

This book is not a love story but there is more love within the pages than in any romance. There is love of a country, people, freedom and friends. The reader is drawn in by the love that this small group of people have for all these things. You connect with the characters and fight the fight right along with them. Each one of them possess qualities that draw the reader in and has them routing for them the entire way.

I liked the fact that the writing style was simplistic. I have read hundreds of war stories and often find that the terminology can be overwhelming when describing the German Army and its different ranked officers. This was not the case with this book. Everything flowed nicely and was easy to understand. I was extremely thankful that I didn't need to look up any words to understand what was being told.

I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book and am an even stronger believer in not judging a book by its cover because of it. If you do not enjoy historical fiction then I do not recommend reading it but if you do you will find a real gem in this one.

About the Author

Steve spent his career as CEO of NAP-Gladu the nation’s largest supplier industrial carbide and diamond tipped cutting tools to the woodworking and metal sawing industries. Steve and his wife Lavonne live in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is a second marriage for both of them and between them they have three daughters, a son and eleven grandchildren.

“I have always been fascinated with historically based events wondering what it would have been like having lived through the challenges of life at those times. Life is challenging. It presents us with serious problems and how we deal with its challenges determines our future, the future of our children and our society.”