Looking for a ride on rollercoaster of emotion? Read Lovely War instead!

A Lovely War

By Julie Berry

Complete Review

Genre: Historical fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Magical Realism

Published: 5 March 2019

Pages: 468 pages

Short Blurb: 

It's 1917, and World War I is at its zenith when Hazel and James first catch sight of each other at a London party. She's a shy and talented pianist; he's a newly minted soldier with dreams of becoming an architect. When they fall in love, it's immediate and deep--and cut short when James is shipped off to the killing fields.

Aubrey Edwards is also headed toward the trenches. A gifted musician who's played Carnegie Hall, he's a member of the 15th New York Infantry, an all-African-American regiment being sent to Europe to help end the Great War. Love is the last thing on his mind. But that's before he meets Colette Fournier, a Belgian chanteuse who's already survived unspeakable tragedy at the hands of the Germans.

Thirty years after these four lovers' fates collide, the Greek goddess Aphrodite tells their stories to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, in a luxe Manhattan hotel room at the height of World War II. She seeks to answer the age-old question: Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another? But her quest for a conclusion that will satisfy her jealous husband uncovers a multi-threaded tale of prejudice, trauma, and music and reveals that War is no match for the power of Love.

Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review:

I envy the mortals. It's because they're weak and damaged that they can love.

Whatever you are doing, stop. Go to your favorite bookstore and pick up A Lovely War RIGHT NOW! Because I swear to the gods above this might be the best romance book ever! Julie Berry is a goddess herself. 

What's better than a story about greek gods? A story where the Greek gods come together to tell another story about four strangers and how their story is woven together to bring out the greatest love story in history which can even make the gods emotional. 

I'll try to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible. The story starts with Hephaestus again catching Aphrodite cheating on him with Ares and in an attempt to free herself from his net and answer his questions starts to tell a tale of four lovers meeting during world war I and how they fell in love. The four are Hazel, James, Collete, and Audrey. 

"You're a brand-new piece of sheet music,' she said slowly, 'for a song which, once played, I'd swear I'd always known."

Each character has unique beautiful qualities. They are so well written it's hard to believe they are just 2d characters and not someone who actually exists. And ai have no words for the character development. 

The book covers hardships faced by the young lovers and public in world war I, but it also shows the struggles a young black man like Audrey faces in the world. 

This book made me cry like 10 times. You're not sure whether to smile, laugh, cry or just jump out of your window screaming after reading it. So make sure you DO read it. 

Favorite Quotes:

1. It was Archimedes of Syracuse who first said that the shortest distance between two points was the straight line connecting them. Far be it from me to ever cast a shadow upon the wisdom of a Golden Age Greek, but Archimedes had it wrong. The length of the straight line between two people who don't dare admit they're in love is infinite.

2. Lies are worse than no comfort at all. Especially to a mind already scorched by the truth.

3. Heroism is much too heavy a burden to carry.

4. There is something wonderful about being in love in a city where you know no one. Public opinion of your behavior isn't worth a trifle. So, if you want to kiss your girl at the esplanade of the Eiffel Tower, you do.

5. If I couldn't knit these two together by the end of a second dance, Zeus might as well make Poseidon the god love, and I'd go look after the fishes.

6. Audrey wonders if he'll die IN his country before he ever gets a chance to die FOR his country

7. "No one can love me,” she says. “No one.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“That is the price,” she tells him, “of being the goddess of love.

8. If the music stops, and art ceases, and beauty fades, what have we then?

A short excerpt from the book:

You may ask me, as others have done before, whether it was kindness or cruelty to allow them to meet, so soon before his departure, with so little time to discover each other. Whether the pangs of loss do not invalidate the bliss of love. Especially where war is concerned, and Death runs rampant with his bloody scythe. 

You may say that it was wicked of me to allow James to find Hazel, and Hazel, James, if three days were all they would have.

I don’t call it cruelty. 

I do not apologize.