NerdyBirdie

The girl known as Gretchen Whitestone has a secret: She used to be part of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. More than a year after she made an enemy of her old family friend and fled Munich, she lives with a kindly English family, posing as an ordinary German immigrant, and is preparing to graduate from high school. Her love, Daniel Cohen, is a reporter in town. For the first time in her life, Gretchen is content.

But then, Daniel gets a telegram that sends him back to Germany, and Gretchen’s world turns upside-down. And when she receives word that Daniel is wanted for murder, she has to face the danger she thought she’d escaped-and return to her homeland.

Gretchen must do everything she can to avoid capture and recognition, even though saving Daniel will mean consorting with her former friends, the Nazi elite. And as they work to clear Daniel’s name, Gretchen and Daniel discover a deadly conspiracy stretching from the slums of Berlin to the Reichstag itself. Can they dig up the explosive truth and get out in time-or will Hitler discover them first?

This book got me in the feels!

It took me so long to finally get ahold of this book after reading the amazingness that was Prisoner of Night and Fog by a DEBUT author. Anne Blankman is a genius in historical fiction. I seriously don’t understand how this book isn’t a New York Times bestseller yet, because the combination of fiction and non-fiction is so good!

“I don’t know much about psychoanalysis, but I don’t believe that we can blame our actions on our upbringings. If we could, then nobody would be responsible for anything they do.”   

We have Gretchen Whitestone, who doesn’t let anything get in her way. The loyalty and passion that Gretchen and Daniel share for each other is so beautiful, that at some points, I was just stumped. When was the last time we read about a love story that had mutual respect, love, and patience between two characters without constant fighting?!

“His voice caught. I choose you, Gretchen.Every time, I'll choose you.”   

And let’s not forget the way that Blankman, as I’ve mentioned a thousand times, has the unforgettable ability to combine fact and fiction into a story that makes you care more about the characters in the story than the characters that are real?!

The murder mystery in this book was quite unexpected, but once again, in her amazing Author’s Note, Blankman explains how the Reichstag Fire was probably one of the most unsolved mysteries of Nazi Germany! And this book is placed partly on that. GREAT BOOK.

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke is one of the best sequels to this trilogy that I’ve ever read! If you want to read a great historical fiction novel with amazing characters, the best love story, and a great thriller, than you should pick up the first and second book in this trilogy! :D Unfortunately, I have not heard anything about the next book, but I am excited!

Thanks for reading my review guys! Hope you have a great day and until the next one! :D