High As the Heavens
BY: Kate Breslin
Find it on:
Third Person • Fiction • 400 Pages
About the Book (Backcover Blurb):
In 1917, Evelyn Marche is just one of many women who has been widowed by the war. A British nurse trapped in German-occupied Brussels, she spends her days working at a hospital and her nights as a waitress in her aunt and uncle’s café. Eve also has a carefully guarded secret keeping her in constant danger: She’s a spy working for a Belgian resistance group in league with the British Secret Service.
When a British plane crashes in Brussels Park, Eve is the first to reach the downed plane and is shocked to discover she recognizes the badly injured pilot. British RFC Captain Simon Forrester is now a prisoner of war, and Eve knows he could be shot as a spy at any time. She risks her own life to hide him from the Germans, but as the danger mounts and the secrets between them grow, their chance of survival looks grim. And even if they do make it out alive, the truth of what lies between them may be more than any love can overcome.
Why I Choose this Book:
Espionage.
Historical Fiction.
World War One.
Enough said.
What I Thought about this Book:
Oh my lands, folks. This book. This book was amazing. The first half of the book I kinda had my mouth wanting to drop open because it was nearly a five-star read and that happens about once every two years with me when I read a fiction book.
I’m still not sure what all the elements were that brought this book so seamlessly together in my mind, but it intrigued me, excited me, and made me want to keep reading, reading, reading. The writing was really fantastic, the characters seemed real, and I was totally unsure of who I was supposed to trust.
The main character was quite relatable and every few chapters we’d go back to her life before the war and see a glimpse of who she had been. I’m generally not a fan of that writing style, but in this case the author pulled it off very well. It gave a much clearer idea of who we were dealing with, and made the characters seem very real outside of the war effort. It made the war seem more painful, because we saw all the characters had taken away from them when the war started.
In the same way that I don’t know why the book totally drew me in, I’m also unsure of why, but the second half of the book took a bit of a downward spiral for me. I still enjoyed it and wanted to know what was going to happen next, but it was a solid three stars, not the five stars like the first half of the book.
The romance in the book was something that I skimmed over at times so I’m not incredibly sure how much details there were, but from what I read it wasn’t too bad, and there was an element that I’ll refrain from sharing cause of spoilers, but it made the romance way better than most books.
I don’t recall there being a ton of faith content in the book, but what there was it was from a Catholic perspective. The main character did have some horrors of war that she was dealing with, and so that plays a factor into the faith content part of the plot.
Conclusion:
There’s violence and other war-ish things that play a huge part of the book, but for the most part it wasn’t too detailed. Still, this isn’t a book I’d give to young (or even middle) teens.
Rating:
I’m giving High as the Heavens 4 out of 5 stars, and 7 out of 10
Noveltea 