I gratefully received a copy of Stella from Readers First in exchange for an honest review. I am very interested in German history, particularly Berlin life in WW2 which is what attracted me to this book.
The writing style of this book is beautiful - the opening chapters detail memorable moments in the main character's childhood home. The way it's written, you feel like you are right there in those memories. Once Fitz travels to Berlin, I felt the pace for me had eroded. I didn't quite understand the relationships between the characters and I didn't buy this as a real love story between Fitz and Stella.
What I did appreciate was the sort of 'bystander' aspect of this book - Fitz is a traveller in Berlin at a time of unimaginable horror unfolding around him, but he is naively unaware as he enjoys his long-term stay in a luxurious hotel. The most it impacts him is luxury coffee and food slowly coming off the menu as supplies are rationed, and even this doesn't affect him as he has the money to buy off the black market.
All in all, I had mixed feelings about this book. The style was wonderfully written, but I felt that there could have been more suspense and/or relationship development between characters.
The writing style of this book is beautiful - the opening chapters detail memorable moments in the main character's childhood home. The way it's written, you feel like you are right there in those memories. Once Fitz travels to Berlin, I felt the pace for me had eroded. I didn't quite understand the relationships between the characters and I didn't buy this as a real love story between Fitz and Stella.
What I did appreciate was the sort of 'bystander' aspect of this book - Fitz is a traveller in Berlin at a time of unimaginable horror unfolding around him, but he is naively unaware as he enjoys his long-term stay in a luxurious hotel. The most it impacts him is luxury coffee and food slowly coming off the menu as supplies are rationed, and even this doesn't affect him as he has the money to buy off the black market.
All in all, I had mixed feelings about this book. The style was wonderfully written, but I felt that there could have been more suspense and/or relationship development between characters.