Really great, lesser known story about the real downed flight of mostly nurses and medics of the 807th in Albania in WW2. Ms Lane always writes great WW2 books and I enjoyed this as well. Crazy that they kept it classified for so long. Amazing how the Albanians hid Jews and those Americans despite occupation as well.

I was super disappointed in the ending and how much time lapsed but did some more research after and apparently Albania was closed till the late 80s, early 90s so it’s legitimately written. I wish that would have been explained better tho.

Great story and I enjoyed the new piece of history.

An incredible story of Louis Zamperini and his fellow POWs and the horrendous things they endured as POWs in Japan’s camps during WW2. So much resilience in the midst of a massive amount of suffering and mistreatment.

I’ve read a few stories from that side of the war but not to the extent and detail as was told in this book. The ending was also beyond remarkable, and I love how the author explained what happened after the war with both the men and the Japanese captors. Most of the time in war-specific books, the story ends when everyone comes home but there is so much more that happens in real life, that this really fleshed it out for me.

Ultimately it was such a sad, devastating book. Not just in the “ugly” parts of the story but in the excuses of the relationship between Miles and Tate. Such a sad and selfish picture of love on both Miles’ and Tate’s parts until after 90% complete. And by then it felt so tainted I couldn’t get into it. The redemptive part that was supposed to save it, just felt forced and fake to turn that hard in the opposite direction that fast.

It was just toxic the way he carelessly used her without restraint, and the way she was co-dependent without boundaries in allowing it, continually thinking he’d change if she keeps agreeing. I generally love Colleen Hoover books, and they are always well written and suck you in, but this one just made me feel so scuzzy and sad.

3.5 ⭐️ I enjoyed the later time of Betsy in Cuba and the 2nd half of the book but I struggled to stay interested in the former timeline in Greece. I just got bored quickly and had a hard time being invested or following easily.

Some of it was that Betsy felt like a frivolous person at that point and Charles a cad, and there was just so much Greek archaeology and mythology that I didn’t follow well. Also, when it would bounce back to 1896/7 there were gaps in the story that unfolded later but I had such a hard time following. I would figure it out later but only after spending pages trying to figure out what I missed, to find I didn’t miss anything, it just took forever to get there. Same for when it switched to Florida initially. It unfolded later but I didn’t feel like I had enough footing in the gaps to go forward without feeling confused.

However the 2nd half of the book I really enjoyed. It was easier to be invested in Betsy’s and Holt’s circumstances and watch the war and ship situation unfold. And the history was fascinating to learn.

Really cute story with so many funny situations. I can only imagine how awkward things would be fighting with a ghost only you can see but who is super vocal and in a bit of a time warp at times. Really funny.

Many great concepts and practical steps to learn not to white knuckle or push thru, just trying harder. But Try softer discusses the leaning into our emotions, identifying what and how we feel and our attachment styles and potential pitfalls, how our bodies respond, and showing compassion towards ourselves. I identified a lot with what the author discusses in her own life and the outlook she had. Many good applications for me in this.