World book day 2022

Part of today’s blog was planned for the week of February 14th as that Monday was International book giving day. However, I’ve been in doubt to effectively publish as not sure if it would turn out as a book recommendation. But as beauty is in the eye of the beholder and today is World book day (https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/world-book-day/), I’m sharing all World War II novels I read in February.

I started with Flying Angels from Danielle Steel. In this book, we follow 4 American nurses and 2 English nurses in the Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron.
The subject seemed very interesting and promising. However, the execution could have been better for me. I was never emotionally connected with the characters and found some events could have been more elaborate. Overall the reviews on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57378152-flying-angels) are positive. So don’t take my word for it.

The second book, The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester, is more about fashion than the second world war.
https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Seamstress-Natasha-Lester-ebook/dp/B079L51HZG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=19SW0FJB87ZYO&keywords=the+paris+seamstress&qid=1646327198&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+paris+s%2Cdigital-text%2C231&sr=1-1
Despite that, there is some mystery with a look-alike of the main character Estella Bissette, and we are also introduced to a spy of MI9.
Both characters are on the birth certificate of Estella’s son, so how are they all connected, and what happened all those years ago. That is what her granddaughter Fabienne is trying to find out in 2015, together with her path in life.
Here I did connect with the character and out of the four books on this page, I rate this one the highest.

In second place of my list spanning the books of this blog is Goodnight Vienna by Marius Gabriel. (https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Goodnight-Vienna/dp/B09L57C92V/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2Y8SIIX0VDDP0&keywords=goodbye+vienna&qid=1646327240&s=digital-text&sprefix=goodbye+v%2Cdigital-text%2C247&sr=1-2-catcorr)
It starts in 1937 and focuses more on escaping Austria after the Anschluss than the actual wartime years. There is some romantic love involved, but the majority of the main characters’ love is the love for a child. While the prologue already gives you a glimpse that one of the characters survives the mad dash break for it, it is still very engaging and gripping. However, it also left me with some questions about their journey after their initial escape.

The last book for today is based to some extent on real people, but names are changed and is a work of fiction; The German Wife by Debbie Rix. (https://www.amazon.com/German-Wife-Absolutely-Heartbreaking-Historical/dp/B09NWCT3JF/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1HMZ9NXRLF0OE&keywords=the+german+wife&qid=1646327267&s=audible&sprefix=the+germ%2Caudible%2C223&sr=1-1)
This book is more about the choices one makes in times of crisis and trying to survive the war.

Overall my reading list for this year is coming along nicely, I already read 23 books. Next on the TBR list is The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. I started this one after the first season of Bridgerton aired on Netflix. That was probably a bad idea as I compared the book too much to the show. So I will try again and if it turned out a “did not finish”, I will not give up and see if the second installment fares any better than the first. Anyway, I will keep you updated on how it goes. And if you have any suggestions for books to add to the to-be-read list, don’t hesitate to share.