Book: The Maid's Secret
Author: Shari J. Ryan
Pub Day: Sept 29th 2022
About the Book:
Czechoslovakia, 1940: “We will always have our memories,” he says, as the soldiers pull him away. “You will survive this. You are braver than you know. Remember that, always.” This heartbreaking World War Two page-turner shows that love is more powerful than hatred, bravery can overcome evil, and hope is stronger than darkness.
In the middle of the night, while I am curled in Ben’s arms, there is a harsh knock on the door. My blood turns to ice. The love of my life is Jewish, and I am a Romany gypsy maid; every second that we exist in Hitler’s Europe, we are in danger. Every day, we have been huddling around a crackling radio, listening for news of this evil war. Every night, we have feared we won’t live till dawn.
The banging continues, and we leap out of bed. I can hardly breathe as I open the door, seeing Nazis standing before us. My heart cracks as the soldiers grab Ben. I’m powerless to stop them from shoving him into a wagon, bound for the place of no return.
The love of my life is now imprisoned in wire with thousands of other innocent inmates. For every moment he is trapped behind the gates of hell, he gets closer to death—surviving on scraps of food, and forced to work in gruelling conditions.
The soldiers haven’t arrested me yet, but it’s only a matter of time. I vow to stay alive for Ben, not to give up hope. I’ll stop at nothing to escape the enemy as they hunt me down.
With our fate in the hands of monsters, will we ever see each other again? And will our love for one another save us—or kill us?
Fans of Fiona Valpy, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Book of Lost Names will be utterly glued to this heart-wrenching and utterly gripping World War Two novel which shows that, if you have love, you can survive anything…
BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'The Maid's Secret' by Shari J Ryan.
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Shari J Ryan, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous
Publication date 29th September 2022.
This is the second book I have read by this author. I have also read 'The Girl With The Diary' which I would also highly recommend!!
I was originally drawn to this book by its eye catching unique cover and intriguing sounding synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that 'Fans of Fiona Valpy, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Book of Lost Names will be utterly glued to this heart-wrenching and utterly gripping World War Two novel which shows that, if you have love, you can survive anything….' I am a huge fan of 'The Tattooist Of Aushcwitz' so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I am also a huge fan of Shari and if this book is half as good as 'The Girl With The Diary' it is guaranteed to be a page turner. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).
This novel consists of a prologue, 50 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
This book is based in Czechoslovakia.
This book is written in first person perspective and the main protagonist is Mila and Benedikt. The benefits of books written in first person perspective are as long as they are well written it makes you feel that you are being spoken to by the protagonist and it can create more of a bond between yourselves and them. The fact there are multiple protagonists is even better as it increases the readers knowledge of what more characters are doing and feeling.
'The Maid's Secret' discusses some topics that may upset some readers or may not be suitable for others. I like to point this out ahead of time in my reviews so you can judge if this book is for you or not. In this book Shari discusses/includes violence, persecution of the Jews and Romany Gypsies.
Well, what can I say but wow!!! This story is definitely not going to leave my head anytime soon. Firstly I must congratulate Shari J Ryan for an absolutely extraordinary novel that seriously needs to be made into a movie which I assure would be best selling!!!
This book is extremely powerful and extremely well written. It is devastatingly heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. It is absolutely rammed with emotions that will make you smile, cry and laugh on the roller-coaster ride to hell that is the persecution of so many races and religions during the war. Nothing is left out and the author has done an immense amount of research and brings Mila and Benedikt's story to life. .
This book did not disappoint. Some people believe that these stories should not be written but I am a strong believer that these victims earned the right for their stories to be told and to not be forgotten and this book does just that. I loved discovering not just Mila and Benedikt's stories. I have yet to read any war books that are set in Czechoslovakia or any that talk about the persecution and hatrid towards Romany Gypsies. This book is a strong reminder for everybody that it wasn't just the Jews that were persecuted against during the war. Unfortunately, I think many people forget this so I'm glad Shari has written this book to remind everyone. The fact that Shari has written a book filled with loss, death, hate and love, sadness, family, romance that just takes the reader on an absolute rollercoaster rider of emotions. It is great when you come along an absolute gem like this as normally you would expect a book about the war to be dark and horrific throughout but Shari manages to show the horrors while lightening up the reading tone with a love story. What the Nazi's did to these innocent people makes me absolutely sick to my soul. The poor children and parents watching each other suffering especially. However, we do need to remember that they weren't all bad, some did what they did as they were brought up to know only to follow orders but hated every second while sadly others enjoyed what they were doing as I have read in several other books including Shari's. Mila and Benedikt are such amazingly strong characters who I absolutely loved. I absolutely adored Mila's positive attitude and she is one of the most amazing characters I have ever "met"!! The fact that she is an animal lover, smart, empathetic and so much more makes you really cheer her on. Benedikt was the ultimate romantic who will make many men look bad!! I loved his determination and OMG his declarations of love were just soooo swoon worthy!!! I was completely invested in their stories and lives. I am sad to say goodbye to them and they will live in my mind for a very long time!!!
Clear your schedules and grab your tissues as you will not be able to put this book down or stop the tears from streaming!!!
Again congratulations Shari on an absolutely stunning emotional rollercoaster ride of a book!! I would say this book is on par with the likes of 'The' diary of Anne Frank' which left me with the same feelings your novel has of not even more emotional. I cannot wait to read the best of your books. This is exactly why you are on my top 3 historical author list and here is to your next gorgeous success 🥂
Overall a heart wrenching, absolutely beautifully devastating story filled with love, loss, hope and so, so much more!!!
Genres covered in this book include Historical Fiction, Women's Saga, Women's Historical Fiction, Historical German Fiction, Literary Sagas, Romance Literary Fiction, Women's Literary Fiction and War Story amongst others.
I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of 'Orphan Train',Ellie Midwood, Fiona Valpy, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Book of Lost Names, The Librarian of Aushcwitz and anyone interested in the Holocaust and its history.
388 pages.
This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle or free on kindle unlimited (at time of review) and £10.99 in paperback via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
Feel free to add me on Goodreads or follow me on my website or Facebook for more reviews
@ShariJRyan @Bookouture @Bookworm1986 @bookworm86
Author Bio
Shari J. Ryan is a USA Today Bestselling Author of Women’s Fiction, WWII Fiction, and 20th Century Historical Fiction with a focus on the Holocaust and Pearl Harbor.
Shortly after graduation from Johnson & Wales with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, Shari began her career as a graphic artist and freelance writer. She then found her passion for writing books in 2012 after her second son was born. Shari has been slaying words ever since.
With two Rone Awards and over 125k books sold, Shari has hit the USA Today Bestseller List, the Amazon's Top 100, Barnes & Noble's Top Ten, and iBooks at number one. Some of Shari’s bestselling books include Last Words, The Other Blue Sky, Unspoken Words and A Heart of Time.
Shari, a lifelong Boston girl, is happily married to her personal hero and US Marine and they have two wonderful little boys. For more details about her books, visit: www.sharijryan.com
Social Media
Website: https://www.sharijryan.com/
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Bookouture Email Sign Up: https://www.bookouture.com/shari-j-ryan
Purchase Link
Amazon: https://geni.us/B0B6GLFDKXsocial
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