Part of Heroines of WWII series.
Set in 1941 in England and Germany.

Beryl Clark- a Courageous and selfless woman, who loves taking care of the people she loves, her family, friends and neighbors. She works as a secretary at Waddington's, a company that makes board games and as a volunteer for ARP.
Her Brother James and friend Kenneth are prisoners in Germany at a POW camp. She desperately wants to help them. She hears from a friend that they are making escape kits and putting them in board games to send to the POW through Red Cross. She has an idea. She sends them a letter explaining about the board game and hidden clues in the letter. When they receive the monopoly game they figure out the clue from the letter and find other clues in the game to help them escape. She prays that the Germans will not get a hold of it and that her Brother and Kenneth can get out safely without the Germans spotting them and killing them.
This is the first book by this author. It is very well written and kept my interest. I always read the authors notes. ( )

(2.5 / 5)

Beryl Clarke is doing her part in England during WWII, working as an air raid warden and helping her mom get through the devastation of her husband's recent death during a bombing. More bad news comes when they learn that Beryl's brother James has been captured by the Germans. The women will do whatever they can to help, even if it's just packing Red Cross boxes and their own care packages for James and his friend Kenneth, who is also in the camp. But then Beryl learns of an escape kit disguised as a Monopoly game that is headed to various POW camps and knows she has to try to give the prisoners a heads up about it.

This book promises intrigue, adventure, and romance, but I found very little of any of those things. Most of the story was just showing life in Leeds during WWII, as well as life in a POW camp. James's friend Kenneth is actually the second MC and is captured and taken to a POW camp before James is. He attempts to escape several times, unsuccessfully, but more detail is given to his time in the camp than the actual escapes. Kenneth and Beryl knew each other before the war started, when the two of them and James all attended Oxford University, and Kenneth and Beryl both thought fondly of each other at that time. This is what we're told. So when Kenneth starts writing letters for his crippled friend James, Kenneth and Beryl remember each other fondly and start to hope for more some day. This we're also told. The romance doesn't really develop as much as it is just there for us to be told about. Maybe some flashbacks to the time they knew each other before would have helped, but overall, it just felt forced and empty.

The story of the Monopoly game being sent to POWs with an escape kit hidden inside is such a tiny part of this book. I feel like the story would have been better to have been more focused on the camp and less on Beryl's life, but then, the series is called "Heroines of WWII," so clearly she needed to be a main character. I also think it would have been better if Kenneth had been a stranger that Beryl met and got to know through letters he wrote for her brother, and then maybe the romance could have been more of a budding one by the end of the book, rather than what it was. Also, the epilogue was completely unnecessary, and that reminds me of the incredible coincidences that happen throughout the book. After several of these moments, I still thought for sure that my suspicion about the identity of a certain character's relative would turn out to be wrong, because there was no reason I could think of to have such a huge coincidence. But sure enough...well, I won't give away any spoilers. And the truth is, most people probably won't be bothered by most of this. If you're a fan of WWII-related Christian romance and aren't bothered by the things I mentioned in my review, please do give the book a try. It does have plenty of good reviews.

Thank you to Netgalley and Barbour Publishing for providing me a copy of this book to review. ( )

The Escape Game by Marilyn Turk is the ninth book in the multi-author Heroines of WWll series. Beryl Clark is now working for the Waddington game company in Leeds, England and taking care of her mother. Her brother James is shot down and sent to a Nazi prison camp. Beryl learns that her company is making board games with escape information in them. How can she let her brother know about the game without revealing the secrets to the enemy? This was a very interesting story. I was expecting more about the escape games, but they were only talked about in a few chapters. It was a very clever way to help the POW’s escape! Now I’m curious to find out more how these games were made and used during the war!

I received this book from Celebrate-Lit for my honest review. ( )

I love it when I read and learn history at the same time especially little tidbits that I had no idea happened. This is one of those books and I loved everything about it from the characters to the writing style to the facts contained within. I felt like I could visualize those POW camps and how they looked forward to those Red Cross boxes especially when they found secrets hidden within a game that could help with a plan of escape. So innovative and clever and to keep hope alive for freedom. The element of faith tied everything together and showed how important it is when everything else seems hopeless. Beryl was an outstanding character to me with the compassion she had for her mother, her friends, and even strangers that became friends because she was willing to help and be what God intended her to be. I loved this Heroines of WWII installment and it will go on my keeper shelf with the other books in this series. It’s nice that each one is a standalone and show how important women were in the war effort. I highly recommend reading as soon as possible.
I received a complimentary copy from CelebrateLit. The honest review and opinions are my own and were not required. ( )

The Escape Game by Marilyn Turk is a historical fiction work with intrigue, suspense, and romance elements. Set during the time of the bombing blitz of England by Germany, this book centers around Beryl Clarke, who works as a secretary at the Waddington Game Company. While she cares for her mother and deals with the war at home, her brother James and his best friend Kenneth Anderson meet at a POW camp in Germany.

Beryl cares for her mother in Leeds and serves as an air warden for their town. Meanwhile, Kenneth, James, and their fellow prisoners work to escape their prison. With elements of suspense surrounding escaping and then being recaptured, Kenneth endures a lot. I wanted to see Kenneth, James, and the others escape.

When MI5 agents request assistance from the Waddington Game Company, someone at the company shares crucial information with Beryl. I was intrigued by the idea of hiding items to help prisoners escape in a board game. Plus, trying to share that information in letters to prisoners who must go through sensors caused me to pause for a minute.

I had to keep reading this book to discover the ending. I recommend it. With times of loss, heartbreak, and devastation, the author includes moments of joy through a wedding, hope through helping an aging woman whose husband died under tragic circumstances, and a kitten with personality; this book has a lot to offer.

So if you enjoy works of Christian historical fiction, check out The Escape Game by Marilyn Turk for yourself. I received a complimentary copy of this book, but this in no way influenced my review. All opinions are my own. ( )