I feel like in theory this should have at least been a three star book. But I have to agree with the other reviewers that said that while the plot itself is interesting (war, reunions, navigating childhood friendships now that you're an 'adult' etc) the execution was pretty lacking.

So let's talk about narration. Splitting a narrative between multiple characters is a challenging thing that if done well can really add depth to the story. This just wasn't done well. I don't mind if the author feels the need to switch from first person to third person for different characters. That was part of the charm for me in [b:Belong to Me|2113410|Belong to Me|Marisa de los Santos|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347305735s/2113410.jpg|2212314] but here's the thing. I'm pretty sure the character of Loic gets one chapter to himself. Netta and Garin get at most two chapters, respectively, and Aurelie who is 95% of the book is the only one in third person. Also, it kind of gets annoying after a while that the author feels the need to put Aurelie at the top of almost every chapter. If consecutive chapters are from the same POV you don't need to tell me, I can figure it out. Especially if this character is the only you write in third person.

What's the point of even doing this if you're not going to have your characters show us their experiences first hand anyway? I don't want to give too much away but a MAJOR even happens to two characters (TWO) and all we hear about is what one of them sums up to Aurelie the next day. Really? That's the laziest writing and it leaves the reader feeling cheated.

I'll give Heather Tomlinson another try, but I'm not getting my hopes up.