Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 393 pages
Author: Shannon Castleton
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: January 11th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

California, 1991

“I only ever talk to this journal. Is there an alternate universe? Another planet? Please could you beam me up, Holy Father?”

Paris-born Vivienne Lebrun longs for a different life. One where she doesn’t attend college three thousand miles away from her family in New York City. A life where she is sophisticated and has kissed many men, both standing up and sitting down, like the lovers in Rodin’s sculpture. In that life, she would skip her final year of school and start writing books and working at a New York bakery. And her French mother wouldn’t (possibly, maybe) be dealing with the return of cancer.

In her real life, all Vivienne can do is obsessively catalog her longings in her journal.But as a new semester begins, she enrolls in a poetry class taught by Peter Breznik, a handsome Yugoslavian graduate instructor. In a heartbeat, she’s taken by his spell-casting blue eyes, his almost-smile, and his romantically-worn canvas satchel. Soon—though Vivienne suspects she’s stumbled into a dream—Peter is talking to her in chance library encounters about poems, future plans, and his violently unraveling country. And Vivienne is not just writing her fantasies, but wondering if she might (possibly, maybe) be singled out by the universe to live one.

Until struggles intensify for both their families—Vivienne’s mother’s health, Peter’s brother’s recklessness in war-torn Croatia—and they are pulled by demands beyond their control. Through distance and heartbreak, can Vivienne and Peter find one another and choose the life they had dreamed of together?

WELL.

I fear this may have been a case of over-hyped for me. Y’all I wanted to love this as much as everyone else I had seen read this before I got my copy and I tried. And while, I absolutely tabbed multiple places in my book and thought it got progressively better, I couldn’t quite give it five stars.

The first half was slowwww and I struggled with the family dynamics + Vivienne. There were things I could not find a way to connect to and while I understood the theme and setting of these choices, it was not meant to be.

The second half was much better. I adored Peter. Like I said previously, plenty of places to mark and swoon over. Writing wise, it was beautifully written. Poetry really isn’t my thing but I could appreciate the way it was used her. And who knew that I would actually really enjoy the 1990’s setting? Also wild to call that historical fiction in any context.

I really felt the depth in those later sections and seeing the growth of the characters too. A lot of raw and poignant moments that I’m grateful the book made it too. It was lyrically dramatic and my soul was caught up in this love story at last.

I love a good book written in journal entries. It’s different than what I usually pick up and I would love to read the author’s next book.

Overall audience notes:

• Historical Fiction Romance
• Language: very little
• Romance: heated kisses
• Violence: low-moderate
• Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of war, loss of a loved one (multiple), a loved one with cancer

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