Not as good as her others. ( )

Sophie Lefevre is the rock that keeps her extended family together in their small-town French hotel during World War I. As the Germans occupy her home, she finds comfort in the portrait of herself hanging on the wall, painted by her artist husband who is away at war. When the German commander takes an interest in the portrait and seemingly in her, Sophie makes a decision that seals the fate of herself and her family. Fast forward nearly 100 years later. Sophie's portrait is hanging in the home of Liv Halston, a young widow living in London, whose husband had bought her the painting as a wedding gift. When a chance encounter leads Liv to the knowledge that the painting may have been stolen during war times, she is torn between returning the painting to its original family, or holding onto it in memory of her husband.

I do enjoy Jojo Moyes' writing and while this was not my favorite of hers, I did enjoy it. For the most part I like alternate timelines, and although I wasn't crazy about Liv's character, I did like the way Moyes' tied these two stories together. Her novels usually do include an underlying love story or two, but they're not overly sappy. I did feel like the ending of this one was a little rushed, but enjoyable just the same. ( )

Having recently finished Lilac Girls and The Nightingale, I started this to have a Rom Com in a book but instead I got a Jojo'd historical romance with a modern edge. It wasn't what I was in the mood for but Jojo's woven story was good and something different from her other books I've read. ( )

I was expecting another light romance, so I was surprised by such a grim read. This story is really more about coping with loss and persevering in the face of adversity, and contains some strangely joyless and certainly uncompelling romance on the side. It was interesting enough to keep me reading until the end, although most of it was while I was a captive audience for the audio on the long drive home from my family after Thanksgiving.

Audiobook, purchased through Audible. Penelope Rawlins and Clare Corbett provide a very good performance as narrators.

( )

I loved Sophie's story I was much less interested in Liv's story. If I'm totally honest I only read Liv's part to get back to Sophie. I was far too drawn into Sophie's story before Liv was ever introduced so it was hard for me to really care for her by the time she was introduced. I really loved Sophie's story and I would love to read the rest of it. ( )