I was excited to read this book because it was about strong Asian women! I didn’t know anything about the historical significance and was excited to learn more about it. I’ve been reading much more historical fiction lately.

This book started so interesting and with a lot of drama! We are learning about their childhood and the hardships they go through. The sisters are not close and it was interesting to see their journey on how they come back together. Both of them are so different but work so well together. There are so many strengths that complement each other.

The romantic relationships that Trung Trac and Trung Nhi have are interesting and I understand them. The problem was that I didn’t feel them. I didn’t feel a lot of things in this book. There are so many huge moments that should have had impact and I didn’t feel much. This story is told to me and it made it slow and a bit dull at times. All the characters were so flat and one-dimensional that I had trouble connecting with them.

The beginning of the book had me, for sure. Once we get to the middle through the end, I was struggling. There are a lot of interesting cultural aspects but it felt like I was reading a textbook and not a work of fiction. My impression was this is about two sisters coming together to protect their people. Most of this book is about their relationship struggles with their men and each other. We finally get to the point of the book and it’s extremely rushed. I would have loved that part to have more detail. It didn’t lend to any emotional attachment!

Overall, I appreciate what this story was about and its significance to history. I just don’t think the author did a great job executing it. The characters and overall story felt bland and I didn’t get attached to any of it. I still enjoyed all the cultural aspects and learning about some of the histories, it’s really interesting!

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing for sending me an ARC to review. All opinions are my own!