I’m quite puzzled.
This book was highly recommended. I decided to read it, along with others that were listed on Goodreads’ top 100 romance novels. I should have done a little more research before I dived into this novel because what I have found is that you either really enjoy this book or you hate it. I fall into the latter category.
A young girl Tatiana meets Alexander. He is a soldier in the Red Army during the time when Hitler’s armies are attacking Russia. At the beginning of the book, the war had not yet arrived in their home town. Tatiana and her sister Dasha live in a cramped apartment with their family, sharing a room together. The book begins with Dasha talking about how in love she is with a man she had met the night before when she was out. Tatiana, not giving two flying f’s about this stuff brushed it off. The next day she meets Alexander, who we soon find out is the man her sister is madly in love with. ***Cue complicated love story*** Things pretty much go to shit after this part.
To be fair, the story would have been great and I might have really enjoyed the book if I wasn’t drowned in every single detail of what was happening in the story line. I found myself skipping over a ton of paragraphs full of ridiculous details of Tatiana and Alexander walking or getting on a bus. I could have enjoyed it if I didn’t loath Tatiana and her sister. Honestly, Alexander was the only redeeming character in the book because he had depth and a hell of a good back story. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to save the book for me because he was also kind of a jerk. He was double dipping in the sister pool and that lost him a heck of a lot of points for me. There was a constant “will they, won’t they” thing happening that drove me nuts and made me feel slightly embarrassed for Tatiana and Alex.
My final thoughts: this book could have been a good book. Take out the endless repetitive nonsense about walks, buses, and bullshit and you could have a good book. This book is a love story, not a typical one, but one none the less. It had some serious potential. It is also a book about survival during a horrific time in history, which also gave it some serious potential. Unfortunately, all of the potential was lost. Not a winner for me.