By: Shari J Ryan
Emma is a girl in a dead-end relationship and a career that’s sucking up all her time and energy. She gets a call saying her grandmother is in the hospital and doing poorly. Upon arrival at the hospital, her grandmother, in and out of consciousness, calls for someone named Charlie and tells Emma to find the book that will tell her who Charlie is.
Emma finds the book and in doing so, she finds more than just a simple story. She learns her grandmother was a survivor of the concentration camps. She learns Charlie was the enemy and she learns that true love can be found amidst incredible hate.
Another tearjerker of a story by Shari Ryan. This is beautifully written, very descriptive and takes you on a journey of such raw emotion, you won’t be able to put this down.
Emma is a woman standing still in her life, moving neither forwards or backwards but growing stale in the life she’s leading. I think we’ve all been where Emma is at some point in our lives, in need of some miraculous but true story to reset our lives, give us new perspective and new meaning in life.
There wasn’t a character in this story I didn’t love. Even Mike. I loved to dislike him! LOL! The relationship between all the women in this story is so beautiful and so very real. Emma;s grandmother’s matchmaking brought back memories of my own Italian grandmother and how she always had a friend who had a son who needed a wife. My sisters and I grew up having carrots in the form of houses, money and such dangled before us if only we would marry these poor mama’s boys. The only thing we were ever sure of was there had to be something wrong with them if their mama’s wanted to get rid of them so much.
Emma is a completely different person by the end of the book, having been changed by the past only it wasn’t her past she was changed by; it was Amelia’s. Amelia’s story is told in such heartbreaking detail – I still cannot even imagine what these precious people went through or the courage it took to survive. These books have led me on a very introspective journey and my mind cannot even begin to comprehend living through such circumstances.
Yet, Amelia survives and while her secrets threaten her happiness, she did everything out for love. And she gives that gift of love to her daughters and the story of it to her granddaughter.
The end of this story is nothing short of the most beautiful triumph ever. Love wins all! And in the most shocking way.
I highly recommend this book and commend the author for this lovely, lovely story. I am hiding the message of this story deep in my heart of hearts.
NOTE – Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
My rating: :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Faith Love n Joy 