Meh. That's about the best I can come up with. This book did nothing I hoped for when I

wanted it to. When I wanted more Bess...nothing. More nursing...Elspath gets kicked

out. (I'm sorry, that's not a spoiler. It was practically in neon lights from the moment she joined!)

Lady Elspath Douglas is in Paris keeping an old school friend company before the birth of her first child. Elspath's long had a crush on her friend's older brother, Alain, and he finally notices her...just as WWI starts. Our..."intrepid" hero's journey leads her across France in the early days, giving her the desire to become a nursing sister. But she's the ward of a very conservative uncle who'd never let her join - so she doesn't tell him and basically lies to get in. A love triangle develops...blah, blah, blah.

I wanted to like Elspath (though it could have been Bess!! Why wasn't it Bess?) but I never could quite connect with her. I think she's suppose to be independent and strong; I found her selfish and TSTL at times. She's suppose to be a great nurse; she lets worries and personal concerns take precedence. (I could talk here about the fact we've seen other nurses handle the same instances better...but that would make me sound like I'm blaming this character for not being the other one.) Elspath is suppose to be a character from an elevated position seeing the world change around her forever. She's shown to be okay with this; yet she flaunts rules, drops names and calls in favors, and seems to want the best of both worlds.

While I never thought Alain and her were a good match, I'm frankly left thinking Peter's too good for her. I think she's clearly on a path of growth but the problems is we see little of it. And she basically does one of the worse rebounds I've ever seen.

So...why am I giving this three stars? (I keep asking myself that very question.) In the end, the parts that worked...really worked. The historical aspects were well done and integral to the plot. They felt real and you could understand and feel them in a way it's difficult to in non-fiction. Some of the scenes where Elspath is growing and changing as her world changes around her are good and I absolutely loved the final part (where the story gets its name from).

Am I glad I read it? Yes and I will probably even buy an ebook copy of my own. Will I read it often?

Links to reading updates:

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58%

Just as I was complaining about the love triangle the main character was selfishly continuing...I really didn't see that coming. Or maybe more hoped.

I happened to see Audiobook Junkie's review of this book and decided to take a chance. I'm so glad I did.

I'm still not sure what to do with this book. I don't read books like this. If there's no murder, history, steampunk, Sci-Fi...something, you need to work real hard to hold my attention. Yeah, I know I need to branch out more in my reading habits.

Issy's (Isabel) life is in a decent place. A good job, a house with her best friend Helena as a roommate, her grandfather still alive though starting on the slippery slope of dementia, and in a secret relationship with her gorgeous boss, Grahame. Then one day, the dominoes start to fall. Her position is made redundant, her boss turns out to be a complete jerk (though why this was a surprise to her I have no idea), and she has no idea where to go next.

After Murder by Death and Obsidian Blue's great reviews, I simply had to check this out from the library and give it a try. Thank you both so much for introducing me to this because I'd have never picked it up otherwise.

The plot of this reminds me of Love, Actually (a movie I loathe, actually - sorry to anyone who loves it) as you have several different characters whose story weave together with one another.

Well, they finally had one I'm less then enthralled with. Not only did w have the cliched work breaking up the family, drugs changing a person, and a trusted person selling them out but we have babies torn from their families and in danger.

Not the way to win me over, book.

Don't get me wrong, there were parts I liked in this volume. Hazel is bigger, she actually plays a part beyond just existing and her Grandmother is still dealing with her losses. She can still give as good as she gets but we get to see a deeper side of her.