[Waiting On Wednesday: Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein]

Waiting On Wednesday happens every week on Wednesdays (hence the name) and is hosted by Breaking The Spine.  It's were people talk about the books they want to read about that aren't out yet.

My pick this week is...

"Black Dove, White Raven"
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Release Date: March 31st, 2015

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Summary:

A new historical thriller masterpiece from New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Elizabeth Wein

Emilia and Teo's lives changed in a fiery, terrifying instant when a bird strike brought down the plane their stunt pilot mothers were flying. Teo's mother died immediately, but Em's survived, determined to raise Teo according to his late mother's wishes-in a place where he won't be discriminated against because of the color of his skin. But in 1930s America, a white woman raising a black adoptive son alongside a white daughter is too often seen as a threat.

Seeking a home where her children won't be held back by ethnicity or gender, Rhoda brings Em and Teo to Ethiopia, and all three fall in love with the beautiful, peaceful country. But that peace is shattered by the threat of war with Italy, and teenage Em and Teo are drawn into the conflict. Will their devotion to their country, its culture and people, and each other be their downfall or their salvation?

In the tradition of her award-winning and bestselling Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein brings us another thrilling and deeply affecting novel that explores the bonds of friendship, the resilience of young pilots, and the strength of the human spirit.

-Goodreads

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What are you waiting on this week?  I wanna know!

[Review: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein]

"Rose Under Fire"
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Series: Code Name Verity
Pages: 368
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, War Books
Date Published: September 10th, 2013
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Format Read: Hardback from the library

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Summary:

While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her?

Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival.

-Goodreads 

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My Thoughts:

I feel like I could go on and on about how much I love this book, Code Name Verity and Elizabeth Wein.  I don't think there are enough words and or ways to control my thoughts, so this review will most likely be shorter then I want it to be.  But that doesn't mean that I don't love this book to pieces.  Sometimes the best way to praise something that gives you all the feels is with the simplest presentation. 

I don't know how Elizabeth Wein does it, but she makes you feel so many feelings within the pages of her books that at times you have to take a step back and let your mind settle and your tears dry.  Code Name Verity has to be one of my favorite reads of the year and I didn't know what I would end up thinking about Rose Under Fire?  I can now tell you that I'm blown out of the water by this book.  It's just as equally horrifying and beautiful as it's predecessor.  Wein doesn't even give you many chapters before she brings up the soul crushing events of her former novel.  But she does it in such a way that anyone who reads Rose first, wouldn't have anything spoiled for them.  Of course I had tears streaming down my face, because I knew the things that Rose Justice didn't, but I loved how Wein looked at the events of Code Name Verity through the eyes of someone who just didn't know and didn't really need to know what had happened.  You as the reader know and that brings on enough tears in and of itself.  This was also a wonderful plot tool that allowed us to see what became of Maddie and Jaime!  Oh, be still my heart! 

"Hope is the most treacherous thing in the world. It lifts you and lets you plummet. But as long as you're being lifted, you don't worry about plummeting."

The main theme in Rose Under Fire is hope!  The above quote is just one of the many that Rose says in the deepest and darkest moments of her existence.  I don't think that Wein could have picked a better main character to tell her story.  Rose is a creative and fiery American girl, who does what none of her friends would even dream of.  She gets herself over to England and starts flying planes for the war effort.  This girl is ballsy, but she also has this beautiful spirit that she clings to, even in the most dire moments.  She's one of the most layered and real characters that I've read in a long time.  

Wein doesn't hide the facts of what these beautiful, strong, heroic women went through when they passed from their exciting, yet seemingly safe lives, into the belly of the beast.  I applaud her for showing us a different side of the concentration camps.  Ravensbrück was not one of the camps that they sent Jews to, it was a political prisoner camp.  It doesn't make anything less terrifying.  It didn't make anything easier on these women and young girls.  They were treated so horribly that it makes you want to weep.

The addition of The Rabbits was a stroke of genius.  These girls were experimented on in ways that no one ever should be, but once again, their resilience gives your something to root for.  You become sisters with the characters in the pages and you feel all the things that they are going through like you were there with them in the barracks.  Perhaps that is why Wein's books have touched me and so many other people.  She makes you feel like you know her characters and she makes you feel like they could have been your Grandmother's or Great-Grandmothers or some other female relative.  They touch you and leave their stamp on your torn up heart.

It's amazing what people will do to survive and equally what they do to keep their humanity.  The story that Rose tells us of the girls who she met in the camp and the choices that she made while in it's walls points this out blatantly.  You do what you must to survive, but when is too far?  When do you make the hard choices?  

All I know is that I will be thinking about Rose, Roza, Karolina, Irina, Anna, Lizette and all the other girls who's fictional, yet all to real, stories were told in my white, tear stained copy of Rose Under Fire for years to come.  If you know what's good for you, you will read this book! 

Rating:

5 Unicorns = Get your hands on this one now!

[Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein]

"Code Name Verity"
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Series: Code Name Verity
Pages: 343
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, War Books
Date Published: May 15th, 2012
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Format Read: Finished copy from the library

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Summary:

Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?

A Michael L. Printz Award Honor book that was called "a fiendishly-plotted mind game of a novel" in The New York Times, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other.

-Goodreads

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My Thoughts:

How?  How am I even supposed to review this book?  I just want to throw my hands up, tell you that it's amazing and that you better have a whole box of tissues sitting next to you the whole time, because you will sob like a little lost toddler.  Can I get away with that being my review?  I don't think i can, so I'm going to tell you what I can, which in all reality, isn't much.  This is one of those books that you need to go into knowing very little about.  It's all about the way that it's written.  

Wein has written a book filled with historical facts and interesting things that make this book one hell of an interesting read.  As a pilot herself, she is able to make the flying aspects of the book as real feeling as if you were actually reading a log book from the war.  The writing style was a bit heavy handed, but once I got used to it, it made the storytelling all that more real.  The fact that it was heavy on details that I know nothing about pulled me into the story and refused to let me go.

I think where the magic in this book lies in the friendship between two best friends who are put in a position that no one should ever have to deal with.  It shows a huge amount of hope as well as gives us an interesting look into World War II.  The journal like accounts of what they went through, as well as the flash backs that gave us more detail on their lives before the war, build a world that will make you smile as well as feel every other single emotion on the planet.  

It took me awhile to get through this one, souly from the fact that it was a very heavy read.  Though this book is fiction, you know that their were people living stories that were similar to the words written on these pages.  It's intense guys.  But somehow Wein is able to add some very real moments where you want to smile or possibly even chuckle to yourself.  She gives us a glimpse into the fact that even in the most horrible moments, our personalities and the people we have become don't fade into the background.  As humans we are resilient, this book shows that.  

Without a doubt I would recommend this book to everyone!  I have so much love for the story within these pages and the characters who resonate as real tangible people who were made to make some terrifying decisions.  I know this book will stay with me for a very long time and Wein deserves a standing ovation for this beautiful novel!

Rating:

 5 Unicorns = Get your hands on this now!