Lana Kortchik

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The sprawling Kazan Cathedral, the symbol of Russia’s victory over Napoleon, of freedom and sacrifice, of bravery and spirit, sported a red revolutionary flag.

Count Dmitry Orlov is throwing his Countess Sophia Orlova a lavish twenty-third birthday party but it's March of 1917 in Petrograd and the only people who show up are the Bolsheviks. Arrogance kept Dmitry from leaving the city when Sophia wanted to leave with their friends and now their home is being ransacked and the men surrounding them are calling for their blood. Before Sophia is struck down, a man enters and with his authority he saves them. Nikolai, Dmitry's younger banished brother because of his ideals, is a Bolshevik and manages to keep them alive in the home that isn't their own anymore. However, revolutions are never easy and Russia is not done with her turmoil, as the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and Imperial Army all vie for power, Sophia, Dmitry, and Nikolai are all tossed around by the winds of fate and love.

Her crime was having everything while they had nothing, having been born into luxury while their whole lives they had struggled to put bread on the table.

Told from Sophia's point-of-view, this hit some of the big moments and followed along the broad strokes of the revolution during 1917-18. Sophia was younger and previously very privileged, as the story goes on, reader's get to know Sophia and see that ennui was starting to creep into her life and she wanted to care more about things other than balls and jewels. She had worked as a nurse and helped Russian soldiers coming home injured from World War I, so she has some taste of the outside world. It seemed pretty instant her attraction to Nikolai (there are a lot of “twinkling” eyes in this) and what pulls her to him is his caring and passion for something that seems big and important. Dmitry seems to only care about his cigars and keeping up appearances, so when Nikolai talks about his vision for the new Russia, he seems more interesting and her attraction to her brother-in-law grows.

‘Tsar Nicholas abdicated in favour of his brother, who refused the throne and surrendered the power to the Provisional Government. As of today, there is a new order in Russia.’

The danger of the revolution and the forbidden love developing sets the story up for some great emotional dramatics but Nikolai never developed beyond a good-looking guy who writes speeches and while the historical events and people are mentioned and Sophia has to run and sometimes interacts with them, I never completely felt the depth of it all. The story and characters read like New Adult historical fiction to me, not quite delivering the emotional depth for me. Sophia likes that Nikolai cares about something important but it's more from a fangirl pov, she doesn't necessarily agree, disagree, or thinking deeply about it all and Nikolai seems to just travel around saving her at moments and write speeches; we never see what he is doing for the Bolsheviks. The romance between the two was pretty weak for me.

The newly established regime saw danger everywhere. And it endeavoured to eliminate this danger at all cost.

The story did have Sophia traveling from Petrograd, to Kislovodsk, and then to Tambievskii in the mountains to be with the Cossacks and we get a glimpse of Andrei Shkuro. With the war, we of course get the drama of her trying to hide her feelings for Nikolai from Dmitry and her bestfriend Regina. Regina develops a liking for Nikolai too and is convinced he is going to ask her to marry him. For a long time, the reader isn't sure if Regina is making something up in her own mind or if Sophia's feelings are one-sided. It's around the half-way point that Nikolai makes his feelings known but then he's captured as the Mensheviks are taking power and his fate becomes unknown to Sophia for a while.

He was her husband’s brother.

The second half has things deteriorating between Sophia and Dmitry and it becomes harder for her to hide her feelings for Nikolai. The last twenty percent hurried along with betrayals, seemingly betrayals, and Sophia finally making a choice. The chaotic and dangerous atmosphere of Russia at this time was felt, all the running from city to city, Nikolai getting arrested and then Dmitry and Sophia getting arrested, the changing regimes in power but the romance between Sophia and Nikolai felt like teenagers in the throes of hormonal first love, which didn't really fit with the real life dangerous times. The epilogue also didn't fit for me as it was from Dmitry's point-of-view and while it gave an update on how things worked out for Sophia, the tone of it didn't work as the story had previously been all from Sophia. This had some interesting moments but the overall mood felt more like, easier, on the surface New Adult historical fiction.… (más)

Oh my gosh, I was literally CRYING through the last 20 pages of this book! The ending simply pulled out all the stops, leaving me so bittersweetly content about finishing this novel. It’s funny too, because up until the end, the book had been tracking at a 3-star for me as “liked it”, but didn’t quite pop over to 4-star “really liked it”. I’ll do my fellow readers the courtesy of not ruining the ending by mentioning just why I cried through the end, but I will say that the conclusion of “Sisters of War” added that something extra I was looking for and is definitely worth adding an extra star.

*A big thank you to Lana Kortchik, HarperCollins Publishers/HQ Digital, and NetGalley for providing a free Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for this honest review.*

“Sisters of War” is a good, solid tale that I enjoyed. The characters feel very real and believable – in fact there is one in particular for whom I’m still feeling badly, even now – several hours after finishing the novel. The setting for this book was interesting as well. The majority of WWII novels I’ve come across take place in England or France or sometimes the U.S. This one takes place in Kiev, Ukraine, and is written by an author who actually grew up in Ukraine and Russia until moving to Australia as a preteen. The authenticity of Lana Kortchik’s writing, based on personal and family knowledge of that part of the world distinctly shines through. Kortchik also read dozens of memoirs and diaries of the Kiev survivors in preparation for the novel – true stories written by women who put their lives at risk documenting the Germans’ activities, which gave the storylines a strong factual base.

The story in “Sisters of War” starts out in the early 1940’s in Kiev, which has been under Soviet rule for over 20 years. Germans have been bombing the city and eventually bring Kiev under Nazi occupation, not leaving for over two years when the Soviet Red Army finally frees the city. The slice of time Kortchik chose for her novel framed the events well, making for an impactful read. As you can imagine with a WWII tale, there are many losses and heartbreaking experiences, but there is also love and hope, new life, and the indomitable spirit of the Ukrainian people. As our heroine Natasha reflects, “(T)heir lives… would forever be touched by war, but not broken. Never broken.”

#SistersOfWar
#LanaKortchik
#HQDigital
#HarperCollinsPublishers
#NetGalley… (más)

The positive reviews that this book got have me a bit confused. It was one of the most depressing books about war that I have ever read. That means it was certainly one of the most realistic portrayals of war I have ever read. Kudos to the author on that aspect.

However, the love story and the Disney-esque endings to the different threads of the story were absurd and the relationships between the sisters didn't really ring true.

This is a re-print and at .99 cents (Amazon on Kindle) price makes this a bargain just to read the descriptions of what life was like in Kiev (Kyiv) during this time.

*ARC supplied by the publisher.… (más)

Savaged Lands follows Natasha Smirnova during World War II. Despite Stalin's promises to protect the Ukrainian capital, Hitler is rapidly gaining power and Natasha's peaceful world is shattered. In the midst of so much pain and danger, Natasha meets Mark, a Hungarian soldier fighting against the Red Army, but their relationship will have dire consequences if they are discovered. As the war continues destroying everything she has ever known, Natasha can do nothing but hope.

This book was absolutely beautiful. The plot was heartwrenching and realistic, and the portrayal of love and loss really brought tears to my eyes. For someone who was never really a fan of historical fiction, this book is going to go down on my list as one of my favourites. Everything that happened seemed to open my eyes further into a world in the midst of war, and I thought that the love story was beautifully incorporated. The delicate balance between romance, family, and historical fiction was harmonized extremely well, and in the end, Savaged Lands was a story about all types of love.

The characters were so three-dimensional. Each and every character had good and bad aspects to them - like how real people are. It is so easy to separate people into villain and victim and generalize groups of people based on the actions of a select few, but this book talked about how important it was to remember that everything is not so black and white.
"There are Nazis and there are Germans. Big difference," replied Grandfather, his voice nothing but a hushed murmur in the shady room.

This was definitely one of my favorite moments in the book, and I can't stress how much this still applies today. The relationship between Natasha and Mark would be complicated of course, and I thought their story was so beautiful and realistic - there were people who looked down on them, and people who supported them no matter what, and all these different dynamics between characters only accentuated the struggles they had to face in order to be together during such a dark time.

The main character was extremely likable and relatable as well - one thing I really respect about Natasha is that she does not read like cliche heroines; there's none of that "heroic savior" vibe about her. What we actually get is a realistic character that is a hero only in her own book - her compassion was what made her special and allowed her to be strong, and the fact that she was so determined to live and love was what made her a hero on her own terms.

Like I've said before, this is not just a love story. There are so many other factors to take into account, and the author's beautiful writing definitely pulled me in and allowed me to feel the pain and happiness that everyone was feeling.

Overall, this is a book that I would recommend to everyone - it was such a beautiful journey, and I would definitely revisit it again.… (más)