Enjoyed the story, but narration was not my fav. The male voice was stiff, female always breathy.

There are so many books about WWII. I found this book to be just a little bit different and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Based on the premise, I thought that this book would be more interesting than it was. The flashbacks were boring and the ending predictable. However, I did enjoy the romance.

Would read again!
This era, and genre is my absolute FAVORITE to read. Specifically WWII. Not exactly what I was expecting, but it was historically accurate, and written very well. It’s a quick read. I was emotionally invested, as I couldn’t imagine what the characters would have felt going through what they did. It was written with detail, I felt like I was THERE.

Definitely recommend!

Set in WWII, White Rose Black Forest centers on Franka Gerber, a German woman who was arrested and imprisoned for belonging to a resistance group opposing the rising Nazi regime. She has been released and has returned to her family's summer cabin in the forest outside her hometown. She is alone now, as the war and the increasingly oppressive Nazi government have left both her father and her handicapped brother dead. She is lost in her grief and hatred until she discovers a downed Nazi airman with two broken legs in the forest. She considers simply letting him die in the winter snows, but her innate humanity wins and she brings him to her cabin to try to help him. It soon becomes apparent that the airman is not who he appears to be, and Franka becomes involved in a plot that could change the course of the war and give her back a purpose she thought long lost.

The premise sounds good, and the book was not bad, really. It had a decent plot with both the historical side and a decent amount of thriller to keep the action moving along. The characters, including Franks, were a bit underdeveloped and never showed true depth. Some of the plot points, while exciting, seemed a bit of a stretch. The history was accurate for the most part, and the parts that were added to the fictional tale weren't too much out of place, for the most part. The writing was simple and straightforward, which made it easy to read, but for a tale with some aspects of romance, could come off as a bit dry. Once the main plotline got moving, it kept pace fairly well. The ending was satisfying, if a predictable.

In general, I found the book readable and decent. If you are a fan of WWII-centered historical fiction, this one is a reasonable choice.

2 1/2 stars

We are told at the beginning of this book that it is based on a true story. What story? No additional information is ever shared with the reader. Nothing in the Acknowledgments and nothing found on the author's website. If I'm missing it, it shouldn't be so hard to find. So I have to assume the only element in the story based on real people has to do with the resistance group White Rose and the students that created it, Hans, his sister, and friend. The author should have supplied this information and told the reader that this is a fictional retelling. If he had, I probably wouldn't have read it. I kept reading assuming we'd learn that Franka and John were real people. Oops.

The premise is interesting although wildly implausible. I did like the development of Franka and her family story, but found the other characters one dimensional. I did enjoy learning about the White Rose resistance group for the first time and admire their bravery.

Otherwise, the dialogue was stilted and too modern for the setting of the book. And the end wrapped up too quickly. Too bad.

It had potential but it didn’t hit the mark for me. I would have rather the story only included Franka’s experiences. Starting from the League of German Girls, to the White Rose, and ending where she walked out into the forest. Dark, I know, but I enjoyed those historical fiction pieces. The forced love story and happy (for some) ending ruined it for me.

More like 3.5. It was a quick read and pretty predictable but overall still a good book to start the year.

Well, another free Kindle book down. Done with my free trial of unlimited and I can't say I'll be extending it.

The blurb on this book makes it sound like this is a tightly wound action novel. 80 percent of this book isn't and by the time I got to the end where the action was, I was bored and skimming.

But let's go back to the beginning for the positive points. The bones are all there - Franka has an interesting, and I daresay realistic backstory and since we spend a lot of time learning her backstory (I'll come back to this point), so I felt like I had a good understanding of her character.

A daring rescue in the middle of a wintery forest. Being alone with a handsome spy for 6 weeks has a lot of potential for romance - dual broken legs aside. I thought the setting itself was also pretty fresh for the surge of WWII fiction I’ve seen out recently.

All these good points - and yet this story still felt flat for me.

As I was reading on my kindle, I know it literally took 50 percent of the book to get Franka’s backstory. And it was told almost entirely in exposition. That’s a lot of just telling me what happened. It almost felt like the author didn’t think the readers would be able to guess how Franka felt - something bad would happen and he’d have to tell us how she felt sad. Like, duh. John gets a few background chapters of exposition, then he immediately jumps into trusting Franka with some serious spy shit.

That last point, and the random romance, felt like it wasn’t developed very well and was definitely rushed. It was way to easy for untrained Franka to save the microfilm and I’m sorry, but you’re not running through the snow six weeks after seriously breaking both your legs. Then just fall into each other’s arms a few years later and ride off into the sunset. It helps that Franka’s whole family is dead and John’s family is rich.

Overall a big disappointment. Other than Franka, the cast was flat. The story was unrealistic (and at times, modern words would sneak in - Franka’s dad giving her a thumbs up (?!) at her treason trial?!) and the plot felt alternately over and underdeveloped. Too much exposition. Would not recommend.

I had actually only picked up this book because I'm going to the Black Forest in May but would give it more than 5 stars if possible. Both a unique perspective on WW2 and also an interesting study in the similarities between Nazi Germany and current day America but maybe even more importantly, the differences that could keep us from the darker path.