American Tapestries – Queen of the Waves by Janice Thompson

About the book:

When pampered Jacqueline Abington secretly elopes with the family gardener, she asks another woman to take her place on the much anticipated maiden voyage of the Titanic. Tessa Bowen hails from a poor corner of London but has been granted the opportunity of a lifetime—a ticket to sail to America aboard a famed vessel. But there’s a catch: she must assume Jacqueline’s identity. For the first time in her life, Tessa stays in luxurious quarters, dresses in elegant gowns, and dines with prestigious people. Then a wealthy American man takes an interest in her, and Tessa struggles to keep up the ruse as she begins falling for him. When tragedy strikes, the game is up, and two women’s lives are forever changed.

Buy the book: http://ow.ly/e0YHw

My Thoughts:

This is another one of those novels that is heavy with History. We all know the story of the Titanic and that is the setting for Queen of the Waves. My family and I will actually be visiting the Titanic Pigeon Forge Museum in a couple of weeks so this story really came at the perfect time! I know that Jackie and Tessa aren’t “real” but part of their stories are. Queen of the Waves deals more with Tessa and Jacqueline’s story leading up to the Titanic disaster and only a little bit of the actual sinking. I LOVED THAT!

We all think about the people aboard the ship and how they must have felt when the Titanic hit that iceberg. The terror, the frigid temperatures, etc. But I don’t think we ever really give much thought to the people themselves. I mean, their lives before climbing aboard RMS Titanic. What their daily lives were like. What class they fit into. Who they left behind. What brought them to Titanic, etc. But in Queen of the Waves, we get to glimpse into that. We get to see what someones life them might have been like and why they may have been going or felling to America in the first place. But we also get a story to read. Tessa is dealing with something terrifying. Not just the sinking ship, but her entire move to America. And she can’t even be honest with the new friends she is making. How horrible that would be in real life! That is the kind of story I love. One that does have tendrils of History, is still a fictional story but really makes you think about facts and periods of time.

Janice Thompson has done a wonderful job creating Queen of the Waves. I can’t wait for our trip to Titanic Pigeon Forge. After having read Queen of the Waves, I think I am better prepared for some of the stories I will be seeing there. In my opinion, it is a wonderful book!

Meet Janice:

Award-winning author Janice Thompson, who also writes under the name Janice Hanna, has published nearly eighty books for the Christian market, crossing genre lines to write cozy mysteries, historicals, romances, nonfiction books, devotionals, children’s books and more.

She formerly served as vice president of the Christian Authors Network and was named the 2008 Mentor of the Year by the American Christian Fiction Writers.
Thompson lives in Spring, Texas, near her four grown daughters and young grandchildren. She leads a rich life with her family, a host of writing friends and two mischievous dachshunds.

Readers can keep up with Janice Thompson by visiting janiceathompson.com, becoming a fan on Facebook or following her Twitter.

Find out more about Janice at http://janicethompson.com.

Litfuse Blog Tour for Queen of the Waves: http://litfusegroup.com/campaigns/american-tapestries-thompson

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of Queen of the Waves as a member of the LitFuse blog tour. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own.