Digital Reads Reviews

Many thanks to publisher Bookouture for my spot on this Blog Tour.

Every time I read a Daniela Sacerdoti, it leaves a hollow in my chest where my heart used to be as her writing melts my heart completely. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Callie in Texas came to know on her 21st birthday that she was adopted and her ancestry was as rich as the landscapes of Italy. A letter from her birth mother gave her the keys of the ancestral home, and a diary narrated by her Elise Stella, telling her the incidents of 1938, of a couple in love, trying to escape Mussolini’s call to war.

Told in dual timelines, I loved the way the story unfurled so gently into the chambers of my heart, each showing me the beauty that was this author’s writing. Emotions swayed in the gentle breeze to be carried away in the gust that blew into the yonder as I read this book from the comforts of my couch. History was never so rich as told in these pages, love was never so big, and hope never so loud.

The characters were strong as only women can be, their hearts encompassing their love and duty. I could feel the words of the diary in my heart and see it in front of the eyes as I continued reading. How she fought the circumstances of her life to become a doctor touched my heart especially.

Few questions and reactions felt off, but those were negligible. The stories of the women blew me away, they threw me into the tough times. They evolved all around me telling me about their secrets and romance, making me feel their emotions during times of strife.

Ah, a book with feels was this. A compelling read.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!! STRICTLY HONEST AND UNBIASED.

All my reviews can be read here

Inspired by true events, and for fans of The Beekeeper’s Promise and The Tuscan Child , comes a passionate, heartbreaking and absolutely unputdownable story of two remarkable women, separated by history, finding the courage to look for light in the darkest places.

As she staggers through the woods towards the smoky remains of her village, she sees the wounded, all those familiar faces covered in blood and ashes, and remembers she isn’t just a woman; she is a doctor, and she is needed…

1938 – A young Italian couple cling to each other in the shadow of the Montevino mountains, Mussolini’s call to war ringing in their ears. They vow to stay together, no matter what, and hatch a plan to wed in secret before fleeing to the woods to join the resistance.

Present Day – Callie Di Giacomo, a waitress from Texas, is still reeling from the discovery that she is adopted when she arrives in Montevino in search of answers – the keys to the stunning hillside villa she just inherited clutched tightly in her hand. In her birth mother’s wardrobe grief-stricken Callie finds a diary belonging to a woman named Elisa Stella, one of Italy’s first ever female students of medicine, wrapped in pale blue ribbon.

Page by page, Callie unravels the story of a passionate young doctor who risked everything to marry her sweetheart, who was betrayed by her own people, and forced into hiding as Montevino was invaded. Elisa knew she must survive against all odds to see her loved ones again. But history had other plans…

As the diary ends, a startling revelation about who Elisa was offers a chance for Callie to heal past wounds and spark a new future. But is she brave enough to take it?