Favorite aspect of this book for me was the romance, no surprise there given it’s a historical romance mainly. Gunther is a dream (I need to find me a Gunther pronto!!!), with the right balance of courage, sweetness, and gentlemanly manners along with his misguided devotion to the Fatherland and hard time with forgiveness. And I adored Isabella. She’s a strong woman who’s devoted to her ideals yet still has the capacity to find herself blindly in love with a man who’s her enemy. Together, they form a romantic connection that will leave you sighing in happiness.

I also enjoyed the intense Resistance storyline and the fight against the Nazis. Isabella’s struggle to balance out her emotions and her mission was heart wrenching and kept me reading. I also really enjoyed the opening of Gunter’s eyes to what his country’s leaders and military is capable of in regards to its brutal occupation. The dashing of his rose-colored glasses view of the world was a nice complement to Isabella’s struggle.

The author also took the time to explore the aftermath of WWII and give us a window into how Germany was ultimately affected, the impact of the regular Joe German as they try to rebuild their lives and the developing power of the partisans as Europe rolled towards peace. I also enjoyed how Gunther and his fellow serviceman like Kurt and Klaus showed us that all Germans weren’t automatically Nazis; some were just men who were serving in the army to the best of their abilities.

With a heavy focus on romance, this is a winner of a historical romance. It’s got great emphasis on emotions and a fantastic story to back it up. With some nice historical tidbits and heavy subjects to give the setting/story some weight, I’d highly recommend this book to any lover of WWII historical romances or novels from the genre in general. ( )