I finished this book in two days. For me, that's pretty dang quick and usually means forfeiting much-needed hours of sleep and disregarding some of those pesky adult things like laundry or cleaning. This book was really good, like if The Nightingale and Where the Crawdads Sing got together and had a baby, it would be this novel.

I really enjoyed this book! While the book dragged a bit at first and took a while to get going, a slow burn for sure, I enjoyed learning about the inner workings of BP and watching the women's relationship evolve.

There are so many books on WWII out there now, a trending topic that doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, so while I am getting little burnt out on it, personally, I wanted to give this one a shot because the story is set in Italy, which interested me, and I'm glad I did.

Reading this novel was like watching the tumblers on a lock fall into place. It was neatly written, as Byrd laid the foundation and added each additional brick, sequentially working the themes of love and death in to the entire fabric of the story in the most satisfying way. If you enjoy reading WWII lit, I encourage you to pick up a copy of this book.

I worried that this book wouldn't be as good as The Alice Network, mostly because so many of the WWII lit I've read lately has been mediocre. BUT, I shouldn't have worried at all because Ms. Quinn obviously knows her stuff.

I had two different quotes that kept popping into my head while reading this book. The first, from Edmond Burke, is: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing." The other, from a YA Fantasy series I enjoyed, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor: "It is a condition of monsters that they do not perceive themselves as such. The dragon, you know, hunkered in the village devouring maidens, heard the townsfolk cry 'Monster!' and looked behind him."

This book is classified as a romance, and it was the focus on love in the book, and how fleeting time can render it, how it shouldn't be squandered or put off....that was particularly romantic I thought.