I guess I was on a WWII kick for the past few weeks, because that’s really all I listened to on audiobook. And then suddenly…I wasn’t. There was another audiobook that I’d listened to that went along the themes of WWII women who dealt with the war in some way, but by the time I got to The Lost Girls of Paris, I was beginning to lose my interest and needed to move on.
That being said, I absolutely loved and do not regret picking up The Book of Lost Names. Eva is adorable, as is Remy, but where the book shined was the way identity was a constant theme, and remembrance being another. It’s meant to be a historical fiction and romance, and the entire time I just kept hoping it wouldn’t end the same way All the Light We Cannot See did. I would have been devastated. In any case, it lost half a cookie only because the book had the most annoying mother ever.
The second book started out really well, until I realized that I didn’t like any of the main characters. The leading ladies didn’t so much “lead” either. Grace was impulsive, had no reason to be walking around the city with pictures that didn’t belong to her, but suddenly she’s so curious that she wants to look things up even though it’s none of her damn business. Marie has no business in war, but she gets recruited for being able to speak French…and that’s practically the only thing she’s good for (which is the worst thing to be only good at when you’re being sent as a spy on ENEMY TERRITORY…and yet she still makes stupid decisions). Eleanor is supposed to be this badass head of the female branch of SOE, but unfortunately I couldn’t be bothered to find out why when on the outset we realize she’s the woman who gets killed in what seemed like a car accident in New York City. Honestly, I could probably rant about the book some more, but this was supposed to be a mini-review, so I’ll leave it at that…
Story and Somnomancy 