3.5 Stars rounded to 4. I enjoyed the characters’ stories and transformations, but the book followed (primarily) 3 main characters and 4 timelines. It was a lot to keep track of, and often felt like the book had ADD.

The Italian Ballerina conveys the story of Court and Julia, each having their own timeline separately, but also an additional timeline together at a couple years later. Their lives are interrupted by WW2, each dealing with their own battles and obligations pre-war, then they intersect in Rome, Italy as they and AJ, another medic, strive to sacrifice and save Calla, a little Jewish girl - and others in the hospital they find sanctuary in, in the process. Weaved in and out is also a present-day timeline of Court’s granddaughter and Calla’s grandson, trying to figure out their grandparents’ past friendship.

Each individual story I liked. I enjoyed the battles, the personal wars and struggles each fought and how they all morphed with fighting for someone else. Or in Matteo’s and Del’s case, for empathizing and finding grace while caring for an aged and deteriorating Calla. But following 4 timelines was a lot of work. I barely had time to be invested in anyone by the time I was yanked away to follow somewhere else - and remember what happened the last time and what year it was. It wasn’t enough time to be as invested as you wanted to be in them while being super confusing. I wanted more of the stories of each of them but with so much going on, I felt like I only got part of what they could have been. I’m ok with dual timelines but this was a whole lot in constant motion and I didn’t care for that.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

4.5 ⭐️ Love it when I’m proven wrong at the last minute on mysteries because they did so well with the clues and red herrings. The only thing I didn’t like was some of the perspective on John Neville at the end and weird that the last altercation with Hannah was never addressed but that’s all I’ll say for the sake of spoilers. Really good tho!

Excellent love story set during and after WW1 between a Russian princess and a Surgeon Scotsman Noble. The book was very well written and was difficult to put down. The characters had depth and you were rooting for Svetlana and Wynn as they worked out how to love - and choose to love - each other amidst human shortcomings, mistakes, and misunderstanding with forgiveness, vulnerability and grace, fighting for each other rather than living in hurt or pride. They were realistic and relatable and I very much enjoyed the novel. Will definitely be reading more from the author.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson publishers for the advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Creepy in places, not super predictable, and some great threads of mystery. There were some points that felt a little forced in Kaine’s character but overall it was a really good mystery with romance. It also had an interesting aspect on human trafficking in the early 1990s as well which you don’t hear a lot about, almost as if it’s a new epidemic when it’s not.

This was a beautiful, heartfelt, and heartbreaking story set in the late 40’s. It gives a glimpse both at the awful houses for unwed mothers were being run, shows yet another dark side to adoption facilitation, and how racism and discrimination even between light and dark skinned black people, let alone white and black individuals, was so entrenched and commonplace.

The book follows one poor, black teenage girl in an impossible relationship with a white Jewish boy, and a black college student finding herself in love and married to a rich, light-skinned black doctor whose family was trying to make a place for themselves in between two worlds, in 1948. The difficulties both of them faced in their own circumstances and the parallels in both their lives even though their environments were so different. Not just the houses for unwed mother, but the market for adoption, greed for those facilitating it, and awful practices I’ve read here and elsewhere is unbelievable.

I admire so much the tenacity to overcome and find a better situation for themselves and their children was for both women despite such an enormously uphill battle, and I loved the grace and humility that Eleanor and her family eventually found with each other.

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