Not a fan of the narrative writing style that had very little dialogue. So much of it was overdramatic, over emotional, repetitive and just really didn’t fit the scene or setting. It just felt forced and weird.

This one kept a good pace and had plenty of interesting storylines and plot changes. Long, for sure. But I didn’t get bored with it.

I enjoyed the concept of the setting of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war which I knew nothing about prior, and then post-WW2 with 2 female family members from multiple generations. While I’m not real familiar with french pastries, the summarized recipes gave me a nice context and visual with what was involved that would not have made sense otherwise.

However, I didn’t care for either main characters, if I’m honest. I also struggled with the way the setting was conveyed and the dialogue played out because it felt very British, not French, which created some disparity for me in the scenes. The cultures typically feel very different in the books I’ve read with each, and even some of the words and phrasing used were also very British, not (to my knowledge tho I could be wrong) French (“knackered”, “bloody”, etc) or were even too modern for the time period.

Lisette felt very gullible and flighty. She either did whatever she was told or suggested to do without argument or immediately declared her beliefs in something else and ran without considering anything. The almost-ending for her, especially, frustrated me.

I did love that her heart was to help others and look out for those around her tho, so in that I respected her character.

Micheline’s character felt childish in her obsession, causing more harm than good for everyone with it. Again, also very naive. She seemed so beat down and wouldn’t accept anyone pulling her up or coming along side her in a deep friendship or emotional way.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

I enjoyed how the characters were flawed, dealt with impossible choices and didn’t always make the right decision, and I loved the wrestling with themselves. I can’t fathom being in that situation of crash landing in the mountains - I think that’d be my worst nightmare. But so many good correlations and thoughts about sacrificing for each other and not giving up on the other person when they need someone to believe in them the most.

Beautifully written novel about a girl living in Germany during WW2 as a conflicted daughter of an in-deep Nazi and the choices she faced, the people she sacrificed for.

I loved the different perspective of someone on “the other side” that the book offered, and really the many facets of even that. Most perspectives of WW2 is of the Jews and atrocities they faced, different occupied countries, or from the Allies’ experiences. It isn’t often that you read from a German perspective how they lived; probably because it’s such a difficult aspect to look at. I think the author did an excellent job portraying the difficulty and fear in making hard and selfless choices and what that meant. How so many were not willing to make it and that itself lead to the destruction and death of so many - how it isn’t just the blatant evil and cruelty that made up the Nazis, but much was just complete selfishness, pride and blind ambition, driving them to put themselves first and justify so much horrendous treatment of their own people and surrounding nations. It’s a danger that can happen now to anyone and is often more insidious because it’s easier to ignore and harder to call out.

The only negative I felt was Sam’s character in intelligence should have been a little more reliable and insightful in his job. It just was not as believable to me. I get that he was a desk jockey and not an interrogator but he didn’t seem like he should have lasted that long without better instinct and skill in that occupation. But aside from this, as a character, especially at the end, he redeemed himself for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for the review!

The German Nurse is a story about Jack, a policeman on the Island of Guernsey in the English Channel, during WW2. Oddly titled, there is very little about the “German nurse” (Johanna, Jack’s girlfriend) as a focal point of the book. She was more of a background or minor character so I’m not really sure what motivated the title, but it seems a misnomer.

The book was just ok in my opinion. It’s the 3rd book I’ve read about the occupation of the Channel Islands but it did round the story overall of them about what happened there. The writing style itself I struggled with. It was mostly a narrative form focusing on Jack and the events he experienced, but it seemed there was very little character development beyond him in the story. Characters would just show up with little to no context, and then disappear just as quickly. With Johanna, the German nurse, supposedly Jack was in love with her but there was so little interaction (outside of his thoughts) with her and even little emotion toward either of them when they did interact. It felt more like a middle school crush than a near-marriage relationship the way they were so distanced and detached. It was just odd. Add to that, there were almost no real relationships Jack had in general, which left the story feeling again detached and somewhat anti-social or isolated. Most, if not all, WW2 books I’ve read, and probably tragedy in life in general, the relationships we have are what make or break us. They give us the ability to weather the storms because we are not meant to live life solo. Maybe that’s what made this book feel so despairing often, and lacked hope as a central thread.

All in all I was not fond of the book. Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.