This is 2 separate books, 1 stunted before it could get somewhere solid and 1 unnecessary with lazy threads attaching it to the first

Part 1, Sophie’s Story
Tense and heartbreaking but too short. In an effort to make this more interesting, we’re thrown into Part 2. But it failed.

Part 2, Liv’s Story w/ some more Sophie
What an abrupt about-face. Hallow. Lifeless. Stupid. I hated everything about this. Sophie got worse. And Liv was never good. Listened to Part 2 on 2x speed just to power thru in case it got better. It didn’t.

Please read The Nightingale instead. ( )

Paris, World War I. Sophie Lefèvre must keep her family safe while her adored husband, Édouard, fights at the front. When their town falls to the Germans, Sophie is forced to serve them every evening at her hotel. From the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie’s portrait—painted by her artist husband—a dangerous obsession is born.

Almost a century later in London, Sophie’s portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before his sudden death. After a chance encounter reveals the portrait’s true worth, a battle begins over its troubled history and Liv’s world is turned upside all over again. ( )

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. ( )