Love and Loss in the Belfast Blitz
*I was sent a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.*
I was rooting for this book as I really liked the premise. The book follows the lives of two sisters, Audrey and Emma, during the Belfast Blitz. I enjoyed Emma’s storyline more than Audrey’s.
Having said that I preferred Emma’s, I wasn’t particularly invested in either of them. The characters never felt fully formed and so I wasn’t emotionally invested in anything that happened to them. This also meant I wasn’t compelled to pick up the book, and often put it aside to read something else.
I often found the writing style difficult to follow, especially as there were no quotation marks to mark out speech. This made some of the sentences awkward to read and I found myself having to re-read some parts several times over.
There was also sometimes a comment or sentence which seemed really out of place. There would be no context and I would wait for it to be explained later - but it wasn’t. There were also plot points and characters that I felt could have been expanded on, but instead the story rushed on.
Overall, I really liked the concept and I think it conveyed very well the devastation of this time period. However, I just didn’t feel fully immersed in it or invested in the characters. There was a lot that could have been fleshed out further.
I was rooting for this book as I really liked the premise. The book follows the lives of two sisters, Audrey and Emma, during the Belfast Blitz. I enjoyed Emma’s storyline more than Audrey’s.
Having said that I preferred Emma’s, I wasn’t particularly invested in either of them. The characters never felt fully formed and so I wasn’t emotionally invested in anything that happened to them. This also meant I wasn’t compelled to pick up the book, and often put it aside to read something else.
I often found the writing style difficult to follow, especially as there were no quotation marks to mark out speech. This made some of the sentences awkward to read and I found myself having to re-read some parts several times over.
There was also sometimes a comment or sentence which seemed really out of place. There would be no context and I would wait for it to be explained later - but it wasn’t. There were also plot points and characters that I felt could have been expanded on, but instead the story rushed on.
Overall, I really liked the concept and I think it conveyed very well the devastation of this time period. However, I just didn’t feel fully immersed in it or invested in the characters. There was a lot that could have been fleshed out further.