The Warm Hands of Ghosts
Ratings22
Average rating3.9
January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, Laura receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital, where she soon hears whispers about haunted trenches and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?
November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.
As shells rain down on Flanders and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.
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2.5 stars!!!
I really wanted to love this but I was mostly just bored the entire time. The cover is beautiful and it's unfortunate that I don't love this book enough to buy it because I love the cover so much. I think I'm just tired of World War books, both 1 and 2. I do think this author has a beautiful writing style that keeps me interested because though I feel generally ok about this book, I never once wanted to stop reading. The touch of paranormal was nice, but overall this book just wasn't for me.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey, and NetGalley for providing me with an eBook copy to review.
I loved this author's other books, so I was really excited for this one. I know I'm in the minority, but I did not like this at all. The generous 2 star rating is just because her writing style is beautiful as always, I just hated the story.
There was no character development at all. I didn't connect with them, so I didn't care what happened. Based on all the high ratings, this book is obviously appealing to a lot of people, but it did not work for me. It deals with war, grief, death, ptsd, with paranormal twists.
I was bored and thought it was way too long. If you're looking for another Bear and the Nightingale, you will be disappointed.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an e-arc.
The plot, location, characters were all good. What the author wanted you to think about was clear. However, this is a slow book. It took .25 of the book for one of the protagonists to get to the correct country. I wanted to love it. I love all of the ingredients used, but just struggled to get through this book.
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