Julie Berry

I'm trying to be more honest with myself about my DNFs this year, as opposed to past years when I would keep a book on my currently reading for months even though I hadn't read it in ages, quietly removing it from my currently reading shelf after the shame had built up for long enough, telling myself I would come back for it later. For the most part my denial came from the fact that few of the books I was abandoning were bad, some were even highly praised (for good reason), and I didn't want the DNF distinction to imply it was so horrible I had to put it down in disgust.

This book is interesting and well-written. The romance is sweet and I enjoy the narrative frame. I think I just have a bit of trouble with world-war era historical fiction in general, and the very descriptive & sentimental romance isn't keeping my interest right now. Stopping about 20% of the way in.… (more)

How was this historical fiction book not in the running for Goodread's "Best of 2019", or was it there and I somehow missed it?
This was MY favorite 2019 book this year, in fact, it's a favorite of everything I read this year, newly published or not.
The author clearly did her research for this WWI novel that is quite cleverly shared as sort of a story within a story, with Olympic Gods telling their parts, so you get a bit of a foretelling of what you're in for at the beginning of each God's delivery...if Mars is speaking you know your going to hear about the battles. But admittedly it was Aphrodite's portions of boy meets girl that I loved.
And the narration!!! This was a magnificent performance of multiple stellar actors: Jayne Entwistle (think "Flavia de Luce Mysteries" among many other greats), John Lee (think, "Pillars of the Earth" series among many other greats), Allan Corduner (think, "The Book Thief" among many other greats), Dion Graham (think, "Obama: From Promise to Power" among many other greats), Nathaniel Parker (think, "Artemis Fowl" series among many other greats), Steve West (think, "A Richard Jury Novel" series among many other greats), and Fiona Hardingham (think, "Magnificent Devices" series among many other greats) --Like I said, fabulous cast!… (more)