I wish I could find the enthusiasm for this book that many other reviewers have. I loved the setting of 1940s wartime, and I thought that aspect was handled well. The story's concept intrigued me. Unfortunately, it was muddled and mired in pages of nothing in particular happening. Too much of the writing did not advance the story forward. Instead, I often felt stagnant, desperately waiting for something of interest to happen.

My biggest problem here was the characters. First, I didn't particularly like Bonnie. Despite her tragic background, I found her difficult to care about. Rather than coming across as a sympathetic character, her rash behavior and uncaring treatment of others made me want to avoid her.

The secondary story line of Glen took forever to make sense to me. He had absolutely no obvious (or even tenuous) connection to Bonnie at all. Furthermore, his character needed to be better developed before I could make a connection or care about him.

A caution to Kindle owners: this book's formatting is problematic. There are no spaces or paragraph indents. It's one steady stream of run-on text. Also words often lack spacing between. If you want to read this one, you might consider going with the print version. ( )

I enjoyed reading ‘Secrets of the Red Box’. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it reading the description, but I did. The book is set in the 1940′s, during World War II, when Roosevelt was president. I think all women are fascinated by the 1940′s. Most movies you see of that time period romanticize the 1940′s. The women’s hairstyles were lovely and what was not to love about their clothes.

Bonnie is a young woman that was physically abused by her father growing up, as was her mother. She was made to work in the fields at a very young age picking strawberry’s. She never felt love from her father, and all she ever wanted was to feel loved and that she mattered to someone. As a little girl Bonnie promised herself that she would have money and would never have to work again. She was a runaway at the age of 16, and was very determined to make a better life for herself.

I didn’t like Bonnie much in the first part of the book. She was selfish, manipulative and a liar. Lies rolled off of her tongue very, very easily. She didn’t let anyone get close to her, for the fear of being hurt and she didn’t want anyone to know her past. As in the title of the book, …Red Box, Bonnie carried the red box with her every where she moved to. You don’t really know what is in the box, until the end of the book. She does hint to the contents of the box though. You learn that it has something from her past, something that she doesn’t want anyone to know about, something that she is ashamed of, but doesn’t really admit that do herself.

Throughout the book you see that Bonnie carries no real affection for any of the men she meets. She uses them for what they can give her. She picks military men, men that are lonely and that crave love and attention. When she met Glen all of that changed. Then we see a different side of Bonnie, one that is softer, caring and giving. I started to care about Bonnie in the second half of the book. She genuinely loves Glen, and they are happy together. Then something happens to change that.

Throughout the book I thought the Red Box held evidence of Bonnie killing someone, or a horrible family secret she didn’t want revealed. You don’t find out the contents of the Red Box til almost the very end. I was actually surprised of it’s contents. I would have never guessed what was in there.

If you have never read one of Ms Hall’s books you should pick this one up. It has a little of everything, history, romance, mystery and a little drama. The first few chapters were a little slow, but keep reading and you want be disappointed. Secrets of the Red Box was very well written, and I will be reading more of Ms Hall’s books. ( )

The story begins in the 1940's, our Country is at War..and Bonnie Cooper is on the run for her life.
Throughout the book there are flashback to her childhood...it is a wonder she made it to adulthood. You walk with her and see her trying to be the little child she is, only to be beaten back. Literally, both she and her Mother are beaten, by her Father. You wonder how can a man be so cold, and unfeeling?
By reading you find out why Bonnie is so afraid to let people close to her. She is afraid to have any friends, and never lets anyone very near her. She is a compulsive liar...and wow what a tangle she can weave.
You will wonder if she will settle for a man with money...not love, just for security? Will she ever find security, or is that impossible.
You will have to wait to near to the end of the book to find out what could possibly be in the box. Then you wonder why she even ever kept it??
A real compelling read, and one you can't stop once you start. You need to turn that page and find out what is happening now!

I received this book through The Book Blasts and Blog Tours Promotions, hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer, and was not required to give a positive review. ( )