I have been reading really slowly (partially because I'm lazy and partially because I have stuff to do.), but never fear. I have a new book to review.
This one I got because of an event in my school. I thought the book was very interesting and now we had a book discussion with the author. I never thought I'd ever meet someone who does this professionally.
The cover-
Gretchen is the beloved "niece" of the well-respected Herr Hitler. Because of this, she gets all sorts of perks associated with being close to the most powerful man in Germany.
But when she is suspected of helping a Jewish man after he is beat up by her brother and his friend, she catches the eye of the young and handsome reporter Daniel Cohen. He promises to her that he'll tell her what really happened to her father on the day he was killed.
In the days that follow, Gretchen is becoming more and more aware of the real hardship her family is going through. Her brother has become a monster who strikes fear into the hearts of her and mother. Her mother is hiding things about simple affairs that is making Gretchen wonder what their ulterior motives are.
What is her mother trying to hide? And when Gretchen goes to Hitler for support, she is turned away like she doesn't even matter.
The only one left to turn to is her elusive friend Daniel, who introduces her to many more allies who are equally as skeptical about her loyalties as she is. And who knows if he has his own use for her.
All Gretchen can do is hope that something good comes out of all of this and hope she doesn't get caught.
My thoughts-
A very well-written debut novel. Obviously a lot of preparation was done into the making of this. Every detail is so perfect. All the facts are correct. I like the story a whole lot. Although certain parts were a bit too painful to read, it's very detailed.
Each of the nearly four hundred pages is entertaining to read. You don't get bored. You don't feel like leaving it half way. I think this would be close to The Book Thief in my rankings of historical fiction genre. And that's pretty high. As I mentioned in my review of that book, it's my favorite historical fiction. I think this one could be second to that.
I think it's an amazing show of how good an author can be, even if they're just starting out. I think, if one takes their time, they can make a masterpiece.
I did finally get to meet the author. I learned quite a bit about World War II and how Hitler rose to power. I definitely walked out of both the presentation in school and the book club meeting with much more knowledge than I did coming in.
What was very interesting in my opinion was how the author was able to weave in the fictional murder of Gretchen's father with some actual events that happened in that time period. I honestly don't think it's easy to pull something like that off so well. It was very hard to believe.
This is basically an example of a very well-written long prose piece. I applaud the author tremendously for the amount of work she did (as she told us during the meeting.) and for the quality of the end result.
Movie Rating- PG-13 for violence, implied gore
((I love this book so much. The sequel is called Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke and will be releasing on April 21, 2015. I will keep an eye out for it around that time. Happy Reading!))
This one I got because of an event in my school. I thought the book was very interesting and now we had a book discussion with the author. I never thought I'd ever meet someone who does this professionally.
The cover-
Gretchen is the beloved "niece" of the well-respected Herr Hitler. Because of this, she gets all sorts of perks associated with being close to the most powerful man in Germany.
But when she is suspected of helping a Jewish man after he is beat up by her brother and his friend, she catches the eye of the young and handsome reporter Daniel Cohen. He promises to her that he'll tell her what really happened to her father on the day he was killed.
In the days that follow, Gretchen is becoming more and more aware of the real hardship her family is going through. Her brother has become a monster who strikes fear into the hearts of her and mother. Her mother is hiding things about simple affairs that is making Gretchen wonder what their ulterior motives are.
What is her mother trying to hide? And when Gretchen goes to Hitler for support, she is turned away like she doesn't even matter.
The only one left to turn to is her elusive friend Daniel, who introduces her to many more allies who are equally as skeptical about her loyalties as she is. And who knows if he has his own use for her.
All Gretchen can do is hope that something good comes out of all of this and hope she doesn't get caught.
My thoughts-
A very well-written debut novel. Obviously a lot of preparation was done into the making of this. Every detail is so perfect. All the facts are correct. I like the story a whole lot. Although certain parts were a bit too painful to read, it's very detailed.
Each of the nearly four hundred pages is entertaining to read. You don't get bored. You don't feel like leaving it half way. I think this would be close to The Book Thief in my rankings of historical fiction genre. And that's pretty high. As I mentioned in my review of that book, it's my favorite historical fiction. I think this one could be second to that.
I think it's an amazing show of how good an author can be, even if they're just starting out. I think, if one takes their time, they can make a masterpiece.
I did finally get to meet the author. I learned quite a bit about World War II and how Hitler rose to power. I definitely walked out of both the presentation in school and the book club meeting with much more knowledge than I did coming in.
What was very interesting in my opinion was how the author was able to weave in the fictional murder of Gretchen's father with some actual events that happened in that time period. I honestly don't think it's easy to pull something like that off so well. It was very hard to believe.
This is basically an example of a very well-written long prose piece. I applaud the author tremendously for the amount of work she did (as she told us during the meeting.) and for the quality of the end result.
Movie Rating- PG-13 for violence, implied gore
((I love this book so much. The sequel is called Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke and will be releasing on April 21, 2015. I will keep an eye out for it around that time. Happy Reading!))
