Winter Garden

This book was wonderful from start to finish. There was such a gripping mystery from the beginning that really took hold, and as the book continues it seems to not only unfold but keeps you on your toes. It was a great book about family relationships but it is not for the faint of heart because it will without a doubt pull on your heartstrings. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to branch out to a historical fiction! 10/10!

I have sat on this review for a week now. I just didn't have the right words to sum up my feelings. To be able to express to you all my thoughts and feelings on this book. This book absolutely ruined me. It shattered every fiber of my heart. But I am going to try to express, in words, as best as I can, how amazing this book was.

I found Winter Garden to be both breathtaking and magnificent, yet heart-wrenching. It made me feel things I didn't even know I was capable of feeling. This book evoked such emotion in me. There are books that I read and I love and then there are those few that change me. That shake me to the core. This was one of them. What began as a family mystery turned into an epic story of love and survival.

Kristin Hannah's writing is absolutely exquisite. She writes with a deeply profound and insightful way. Her research and understanding of people was absolutely amazing.

As a mother, I cried so many tears. There was no way I couldn't read this through the lense of what I would do in Anya's shoes. All I wanted to do was hold my daughter a little longer while reading this.

As I was reading, my rating went from maybe 4 stars at first, to 4.5, to 5, then it was a solid 5 stars.

Please note the genre of this book is women's fiction, and not specifically romance even though there is indeed a beautiful, powerful, and heart-wrenching love story at the heart of the book.

The other important things to know before you read is that I do think some readers might find the book a little slow at first and maybe even find that they didn't 'like' the characters. Don't let that worry you. I promise you there's a reason for this. This is a story that builds in layers of complexity and emotional depth. It is absolutely worth it to stick with the story because the impact and delivery of both the second half of the book and especially the ending is just so incredible and powerful!

Because this book's genre is indeed different from my usual recommendations, I strongly suggest that you read the blurb before purchasing. It's a very accurate representation of the story. For me personally, I knew I wanted to read this book the moment I read the blurb. This book is a forever top favorite of mine, now.

This was my first Kristin Hannah book and I seriously can not wait to read more of her books this year.

Another compelling book by Kristin Hannah. I had difficulty putting it down. I am always reluctant to read a "dual timeline" story since so few authors do it well, but Kristin Hannah excels at this style. She keeps her characters at a minimum and her timeframes a reasonable number of decades apart so the story is nicely and believably tied up at the end.

While I wasn't enamored with the current-day daughters; their emotionally vacant upbringing was believable enough to explain their personalities. The mom's story was heart breakingly told thanks to all the research the author did on the atrocities during the Siege of Leningrad and the decade earlier Great Purge under Stalin's leadership. I appreciated the uplifting ending.

I did read some of the reviews and was saddened at the number of people who know nothing about this period in world history. Not just the atrocities of WWII, but the devastating effects of Stalinism in Russia the decades prior. Hopefully this book will encourage readers to learn more.