The Last Year of the War written by Susan Meissner, tells the story about Elise Sontag, a German American born Teenager whose life changes forever when her immigrant family is sent to a Texas internment camp for 18 months during World WAR II.

The story is narrated in first person through the eyes of Elise during her childhood years and switching through her elderly age accompanied by Alzheimer’s disease and which she likes to call “Agnes”. The narrative structure is simple, the dialogues are very realistic, easy to read and yet difficult to forget.

Elise comes to understand her fate when one cold night during the last year of war, her father confesses to her on a dinnerless table, the 5 things he wished he had done differently. For every page you turn you will follow Elise’s painful, yet memorable journey to returning to what she calls home.

I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. It is not the common World War II novel that you usually read. I acknowledge the author has done a good amount of research on the topics of Internment Camps in the US and the repatriation of Japanese and German families to their countries.

A remarkable story of love, hope, promises, friendship and never giving up on who we are. I would highly recommend it to historical fiction fans readers and book clubs.

This is the first book I have read from this author and it was provided to me as an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I enjoyed reading As Bright as Heaven very much and consider it a great read especially for Adults and Young Adults and also for Book Clubs, since there are themes and events presented throughout the book which can lead to an interesting discussion.

The author sets her historical fiction book in the year of 1918, when the Spanish Flu was considered the deadliest disease in history, resulting in worldwide deaths of 50 to 100 million people. The novel As Bright as Heaven narrates this historical event and its impact on the Bright family who at the time lived in Philadelphia.

If you like reading Historical Fiction mixed with love, loss, fate, decisions, sacrifice, war, death, tragedy and more, don't miss on this one. You won't regret it.

I Just finished reading Jamie Ford's Love and Other Consolation Prizes, a novel inspired by a true story about a boy whose life is transformed at Seattle's epic 1909 World's Fair.

Unfortunately, I disagree from the majority of the reviewers but I am here to give an honest review in a respectful manner.

I am a fan of Mr. Ford and read his other two books. But I must say, on this one, I hardly felt any connection. I couldn't feel empathy with some of the characters. I sometimes found myself very bored, skimming paragraphs, and would easily put the book down and not want to go back to it. I really craved for more action.

I must say the storyline was very interesting and included topics or themes such as Human Trafficking, Friendship, Love, Prostitution and more. But unfortunately, the story dragged, no high peak moments that would emotionally stir me. I kept on reading and reading waiting for that moment to arrive.

I really expected much more from the author! Maybe next time...

Even though I found out that this book retells a very sad part of history here in the United States, the era of
McCarthyism, I have to say that 60 of the story was boring. It got to a point that I got tired and lost interest, although I continued reading on only to find out how history tied into this murder and also because of my responsibility with reviewing this ARC.
Overall the story seemed a bit pointless, even though it did have some history, I couldn't see the ties to the murders. I would not recommend to any Book Club, I don't see that it would make a good discussion. Also, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, even though it's a person who loves History, Suspense or crime books.

I highly recommend this book to all Book Clubs!

To think that a one time decision based on an emotion can change dramatically a person's life as well as others in a very hurtful, unforgettable way and the consequences which bring us to reflect: was it a right decision or a wrong one?

I did enjoy the book and I considered it a good one. It really grabs your attention from the beginning being that the plot and story was good. But I have to say, I don't like books where I can decipher the secret from the beginning and this was the case. I like books with twists and turns, and unexpected elements to develop throughout the book although one tragedy did strike me as a surprise.

Also, I found the author wrapping up the ending in a not so neatly way. I find that some characters for example Judith didn't have a last say. Also, in my opinion, Johnny was a character that needed more development in the novel as he was an important part of the ending of the novel.

But overall, it is a good selection for Book Clubs being that there are many themes to be discussed. Readers who like authors like Jodi Picoult, Lisa Scottoline, Lisa Genova and Liane Moriarty will find this an awesome read.

I have to say this is my first Science Fiction book where I have to push my way to the end. When I say that there's something really strange about this book, I mean more than that. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters. Father Peter is extremely hard to empathize with. The first fifty pages were very slow paced and contributed almost nothing to the storyline. The scenes involving sex, masturbation, and wet dreams only proved to throw off the flow of the story. It seemed almost as if those scenes were added simply in an attempt to fall into ¨The Shades of Grey¨ category of Erotic Novels. The end left me unsatisfied; the author leaves many questions unanswered. Strange as it is, I will not recommend to anyone!