[Review: Among the Red Stars by Gwen C. Katz]

"Among the Red Stars"
Author: Gwen C. Katz
Series: None
Pages: 384
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, War Stories
Date Published: October 3rd, 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format Read: eARC provided by the publisher (via Edelweiss) for honest review

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary:

World War Two has shattered Valka’s homeland of Russia, and Valka is determined to help the effort. She knows her skills as a pilot rival the best of the men, so when an all-female aviation group forms, Valka is the first to sign up.

Flying has always meant freedom and exhilaration for Valka, but dropping bombs on German soldiers from a fragile canvas biplane is no joyride. The war is taking its toll on everyone, including the boy Valka grew up with, who is fighting for his life on the front lines.

As the war intensifies and those around her fall, Valka must decide how much she is willing to risk to defend the skies she once called home.

Inspired by the true story of the airwomen the Nazis called Night Witches, Gwen C. Katz weaves a tale of strength and sacrifice, learning to fight for yourself, and the perils of a world at war.

-Goodreads

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Thoughts:

I love when a book takes real events, real people, and then transposes a fictional story over the top. That's how Among the Red Stars is written, and this is why I enjoyed this book so much. Katz tells a tale of the Night Witches, a group of female airwomen that flew the skies during World War II in Soviet Russia. 

We read a lot of World War II stories, but for the most part we're reading stories that take place in Europe, Great Britain, or America. Katz brings us the story from the eyes of a female pilot fighting for Russia, and it makes the narrative new, it shows the war in a new light, and it also gives us a little bit of Russian history as well.

Valka is a wonderful character, and even though she's one of the fictional ones, she feels real. You feel her excitement when she realizes that all of her flight time in a broken down plane is actually going to let her help her country, you see the conflict she has when the war becomes something that she's fighting, and you get to learn history as her story unfolds. Valka has to deal with the realities of war, and the fact that she's the one dropping bombs on people in the dark of night. 

The story is told two ways, we get to see letters written between Valka and her old friend Pasha, and also what is happening to Valka while she waits for his replies. The letters give the story a bit of a romance, but they're also there to tell you what it was like for the men on the ground as well as the women in the sky. Sometimes the romance aspect got a little old (which is why this drops from a 5 to 4 unicorn book), but I enjoyed the letters for that inside look into the other, male driven side of the war.

And let's not forget that this story is also about female friendship. It's a story about girls brought together by a love of flying, as well as a love for their country, that then becomes a love for each other. Valka and her cousin go to sign up for the war together, and become a team that we can't help but root for.

I think what I found most interesting about this book is that so much of it is true. Sure, Katz tells us in the author's notes that she had to fudge a bit of the truth to make her story work, but that was basically just timelines. And even though Valka, her cousin, Pasha, and the characters in Valka's family weren't real, so many of the other women who feel these pages were. Make sure you read the author's note when you're done, it'll put the story in a whole new light.

Rating:

 

 4 Unicorns = Close to perfect!

[Review: Wolf By Wolf by Ryan Graudin]

"Wolf by Wolf"
Author: Ryan Graudin
Series: Wolf by Wolf #1
Pages: 400
Genre: YA, Alternate History, Magical Realism
Date Published: October 20th, 2015
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format Read: eARC provided by publisher (via NetGalley) for honest review

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary:

Code Name Verity meets Inglourious Basterds in this fast-paced novel from the author of The Walled City.

The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule the world. To commemorate their Great Victory over Britain and Russia, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor's ball.

Yael, who escaped from a death camp, has one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year's only female victor, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele twin's brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael's every move. But as Yael begins to get closer to the other competitors, can she bring herself to be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and complete her mission?

-Goodreads

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Thoughts:

An Open Letter To Wolf By Wolf,

I've never read anything like you before, but now I know that I'd like every book to be as awesome as you are. I can't even put into words what you made me feel, but I'm going to have to move past that, because this is a review after all. You gave me a new look at World War II. I didn't ever want to imagine what it would have been like if Hitler won the war, but you made me see it. You also gave me one of the most amazing Jewish protagonists that I've read in years. All I want to say is thank you, and also thank you for just being the beginning. I'm beyond excited that I'll get to have more time with your story in the future!

-The White Unicorn

I really enjoyed Graudin's The Walled City, so when I heard that she was taking on an alternate version of World War II, I knew I had to read this novel. Though I knew I needed to read it, I never would have guessed that this novel would be what it was. It's flat out genius. Graudin's writing is perfect for telling the story. It's raw, it's heartbreaking, but it's also full of hope, and an extreme lust for life. She has this way of blending real facts, and the parts of the story that she made up, perfectly. I have to say that even though I know this book isn't historically accurate, I bought into it without a hitch. 

The past that Graudin created is horrifying. Seeing what could have happened had Hitler won World War II isn't something I've ever really thought about, but it clearly would have been terrible. I'm glad that this story is fiction. There's just no other way to put it. 

Yael is one of the best Jewish protagonists that I've read in a really long time. The fact that she has the ability to skinshift only adds to her appeal, but to be honest it's who she is inside that makes me like her so much. Sure, she's not always likable and she carries the world around on her shoulders, but she's a Jewish girl who's still alive, and everyone she's ever loved is long dead. It makes her mission, and her story all that much more touching. It's so strange to be touched so deeply by a character who is so harsh, but it's what makes this book what it is. The characters are brilliant.

Honestly, it's so refreshing to see a cast of characters like this. It's because Yael is pretending to be Adele, and because she is, it blurs the lines between who she is to the other characters. You start believing that she's Adele just because Adele's brother Felix, and her old flame Luka believe it. In fact sometimes Yael even believes it. It adds an extra layer into the story that's glorious. 

Felix and Luka bring a lot to the surface of Yael/Adele's character. I enjoyed both of their parts in the plot. I also have to give Graudin a shout out for the rest of the secondary cast. No one is left behind, even the dead, and I couldn't have been more pleased by the fact.

Add in the fact that Graudin's world building is perfection, and the fact that she weaves wolves into the story as often as she can, and you have a book that I think everyone should read. It's about the human condition, wrapped in delightful storytelling. We'll never forget the horrifying facts of actual history, and this book will make sure that you don't forget those events, or ones that we can only imagine. 

Rating:

5 Unicorns = Get your hand on this NOW!

[Review: Conspiracy Of Blood And Smoke by Anne Blankman]

"Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke"
Author: Anne Blankman
Series: Prisoner of Night and Fog #2
Pages: 416
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction
Date Published: April 21st, 2015
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Format Read: eARC provided by publisher (via Edelweiss) for honest review

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary:

The girl known as Gretchen Whitestone has a secret: She used to be part of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. More than a year after she made an enemy of her old family friend and fled Munich, she lives with a kindly English family, posing as an ordinary German immigrant, and is preparing to graduate from high school. Her love, Daniel Cohen, is a reporter in town. For the first time in her life, Gretchen is content.

But then, Daniel gets a telegram that sends him back to Germany, and Gretchen’s world turns upside-down. And when she receives word that Daniel is wanted for murder, she has to face the danger she thought she’d escaped-and return to her homeland.

Gretchen must do everything she can to avoid capture and recognition, even though saving Daniel will mean consorting with her former friends, the Nazi elite. And as they work to clear Daniel’s name, Gretchen and Daniel discover a deadly conspiracy stretching from the slums of Berlin to the Reichstag itself. Can they dig up the explosive truth and get out in time-or will Hitler discover them first?

-Goodreads

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Thoughts:

An Open Letter To Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke,

I have to admit something to you. I loved the first book in your series, and I was so excited to read you. That being said, I don't think that you lived up to Prisoner of Night and Fog. You were still wonderful, but until the last quarter of the book, I have to say that I was a bit bored with you. The history was still legit, even if I felt like you focused too much on the love story this time around. So, even though you weren't perfect, I still like you.

-The White Unicorn

I just have to say it. I feel like Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke suffered from some major middle book syndrome, and that makes me really sad. It's not that it wasn't well written, because Anne Blankman is a great writer, but I felt like the story wasn't as exciting at the first book in the series. The story picked up closer to the end, but the beginning dragged... a lot. 

These characters that seemed so dynamic in the first novel ended up being a little one dimensional this time around, which was a bit confusing for me. I think this fact stems from the book focusing on Gretchen and Daniel's love story so much. I'm a sucker for a good love story, but I feel like this book made that the main subject this time around, and I wanted as much action as I got in the first book. Maybe it's just me, but those are the thoughts I was having as I read along. 

The story did pick up for me once Gretchen and Daniel were back in Germany. Their time in England bored me, but once they were surrounded by Nazis again, the story kept me on my toes. It also helps that Blankman has no issues with putting her characters through some really intense events.

Gretchen and Daniel end up hanging out with the likes of some good-hearted-crime-lords in Germany, and that, for me, was when things started to pick up. The characters that we meet in those moments are ones that really made a difference in the feel of the book. I found myself rooting for these fellows who ran crime and had this firm code of honorable conduct. I love that Blankman added them into the story.

The actual mystery of the novel was interesting as well, since it's stemmed in real events. As a girl who's always been fascinated with WWII, that part of the book was also really cool. The fire and the history behind it was so simple, and yet so complicated. 

Even though I was personally a bit disappointed in this book, I still highly suggest that you read it. 

Rating:

3 Unicorns = I liked it a lot, but it had it's issues!

[Review: Prisoner Of Night And Fog by Anne Blankman]

"Prisoner of Night and Fog"
Author: Anne Blankman
Series: Prisoner of Night and Fog #1
Pages: 416
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction
Date Published: April 22nd, 2014
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Format Read: eARC provided by publisher (via Edelweiss) for honest review

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary:

In 1930s Munich, danger lurks behind dark corners, and secrets are buried deep within the city. But Gretchen Müller, who grew up in the National Socialist Party under the wing of her "uncle" Dolf, has been shielded from that side of society ever since her father traded his life for Dolf's, and Gretchen is his favorite, his pet.

Uncle Dolf is none other than Adolf Hitler.

And Gretchen follows his every command.

Until she meets a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter named Daniel Cohen. Gretchen should despise Daniel, yet she can't stop herself from listening to his story: that her father, the adored Nazi martyr, was actually murdered by an unknown comrade. She also can't help the fierce attraction brewing between them, despite everything she's been taught to believe about Jews.

As Gretchen investigates the very people she's always considered friends, she must decide where her loyalties lie. Will she choose the safety of her former life as a Nazi darling, or will she dare to dig up the truth—even if it could get her and Daniel killed?

From debut author Anne Blankman comes this harrowing and evocative story about an ordinary girl faced with the extraordinary decision to give up everything she's ever believed . . . and to trust her own heart instead.

-Goodreads 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Thoughts:

An Open Letter To Prisoner of Night and Fog,

BOOK!!!  I can't get over how much I love you.  I didn't know that you would end up giving me a history lesson in such detail that I would also read the author's note, wanting you never to end.  Needless to say, that's what happened.  Even though you're a work of fiction, you gave me so much insight into the beginning of The Nazi movement.  I didn't want to get sucked into the glamor or brutality of it, but alas I fell into the rabbit hole that you dug up for me.  Book, I'm a huge fan and I want everyone to read you and the other books that will come later, continuing your story.

-The White Unicorn

Prisoner of Night and Fog is one of those magical books that comes around every once in awhile.  It hits you like a fly ball to the face and makes an impact that's sure to stay with you for a very long time.  It's one of those books that is more history than fiction and that in and of itself makes it a horrifically intriguing read.  So many WWII books come at the war from the view of the oppressed, but Blankman dares to do something different with her narrative, she drops you into the lion's den, she drops you right into Hitler's lap.

It's evident from the first page all the way through the author's note that Blackman didn't mess around when it came to researching the Nazi party and all of it's early key players.  The book is drenched in real historical facts, that are so bluntly stated that you have to remind yourself that most of these things and these people existed and this is indeed how they acted.  The added fictional characters only add to the excitement of the story, instead of covering up the historical elements.

Gretchen is one of my new favorite characters.  The ways that Blackman used her to get us inside the workings of Hitler and his Socialist Party were daring.  She's one of those characters that grows so much in one book.  Of course she's put through the ringer as she learns that she can't trust anyone that she once considered family.  It's through her eyes that we get to see the human parts of Hitler and how, after the layers are pulled back that he was a monster in human form all along.  You know it's coming, but Gretchen doesn't and seeing things through her eyes is a strange and terrifyingly awesome experience.

The characters (whether fictional or not) are all written with such care.  Gretchen's brother Reinhard will make you squirm as you read.  He's evil in it's most pure, natural, human form.  He and Hitler are cut from the same, yet altogether different piece of fabric.  The chills and the shock that these two men (as well as the rest of the Nazi party) give you hang over the book.

The softer, yet still intense part of the novel was the love story between Gretchen and Daniel.  It was awesome to see the two of them come together in a way that didn't drowned out the rest of the plot.  The romance is needed and it is really well written, but it's not the main focus of the novel and I really liked that.  Daniel gives us incite into the reporting side of things and gives a strong sense of the Jewish community in Munich in the 30s.  He also gives Gretchen a chance to grow and change. Confusing the Jewish propaganda that she's been fed for years by her darling Uncle Dolf, and forcing her to start making her own assumptions about what really happened the night her father died.

In short, what I'm trying to say is that I haven't read a historical fiction novel like this in quite some time and anyone who is interested in what really happened in the beginning of Hitler's reign should give this fantastic novel a good ol' read!

Rating:

5 Unicorns = Get your hands on this now! 

[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

---------------------------------------------------------------------

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 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!

[Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books Set In A Historical War]

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup hosted by The Broke And The Bookish!

You wanna know what I love?  I love a book that is set during a historical war.  You probably know that if you read the title of this post, but I thought I'd bring it up again!  Give me a book set in either of the World Wars and chances are I will read it souly for that fact.  I guess that I just really like the heart wrenching stories that the setting produces.  I've never been one to cry reading a Nicholas Sparks type book, but give me a book set during war time and I will bawl my freaking eyes out the whole time!  So, I'm sure that you wanna know what my list is now, don't you?  Well, here it is!

Books Filled With War That I Heart With All Of My Heart! 

•  "The Sweetest Dark" by Shana Abe (World War I)  This book manages to mix stories of war with elements of fantasy in a way that will make you fall in love with the story.  It has got it all!

• "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein (World War II)  Gah, my heart still hurts when I think about this book.  It had me weeping like a lost child after I finished it, but it's so worth it.  Everyone should read this one!

• "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolan (World War II)  This right here is the book that started it all.  Once I read this one in grade or middle school (I can't remember) I was hooked on war books.  I remember crying at the end of it when I was that little and I think I've read it at least 15 times over the years since then.

• "In the Shadow of the Blackbird" by Cat Winters (World War I)  This right here is my favorite read of 2013, so far.  It had so much history, not only including the war but the Spanish flu as well.  Plus on top off all of that it had a major paranormal element!  Read it! 

• "The Deepest Night" by Shana Abe (World War I)  This is the sequel to The Sweetest Dark and it's got all the goodness of the first one.  If you don't count the pointless love triangle!

• "Gone with the Wind' by Margaret Mitchell (The Civil War)  I had to add a classic to my list and this book seemed like the perfect fit.  It's got so much going on and the war definitely affects everyone in the pages!

• "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry (World War II)  Okay, so I don't remember much about this one, but I know that I loved it when I was little and so, of course, it makes the list.
• 
  
• "Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy" by Elizabeth Kiem (Before the fall of the Iron Curtain)  I didn't know much about what was going on in Russia in the early 80s, but this book gives an interesting look into it.  Plus it has dancing and paranormal elements too.    

The Books I Haven't Read, But Have:

• "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys (World War II)  I don't know why I haven't read this one yet.  It sounds like a book I would love and it even handles things from a different angle then I'm used to.  I need to get on this one!
•  
• "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak (World War II)  Once again why haven't I read this one?  I hear nothing but wonderful things and the person telling you the story is death himself.  Yeah, I'll have to move this one up on my list.

Well there's my list!  What's on yours?  I wanna know.  Leave your link below or tell me in the comments! 

[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

-------------------------------------------------------------

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

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!