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When We Were Enemies by Emily Bleeker Book Review

Reasons For Reading This Book:

I read When We Were Enemies by Emily Bleeker in participation with The Readheads Podcast Book Club for the month of May 2024. At the time of reading and reviewing this book I was favoring historic fiction books so when I learned that historic fiction was a large portion of this book I was excited. I believe the trouble it took me to get this book is indicative of how my experience and overall feelings ended up being for the book. It was a Kindle only book so I had to purchase it instead of checking it out from the library and had to read electronically which is not my preference, as I work on a computer all day long. I read the book description before starting it and was drawn to Vivian’s rise to stardom.

 

Content of This Book:

Vivian is the daughter of Italian immigrant parents who came to Indiana to give their daughters a better life. Its 1943 with her mother in a hospital and her father injured and unable to work, Vivian takes it upon herself to find a job. The job she gets is a secretary/translator position at the Italian POW Camp. Her side gig is singing as Vivian Snow at the local USO. After falling in love with a solider and getting an audition, Vivian is on the way to making her singing dreams come true, but she must hid her secrets in order to obtain celebrity status. Elise Branson, Vivian Snow's granddaughter is newly engaged and pressured into filming a documentary about the wedding and her grandmother's life back in Indiana. Unlike her grandmother and mother, award-winning actress, Elsie prefers her job in PR instead of being in front of the camera. Reluctantly she makes her way to Indiana to film the documentary. While there she uncovers truths about herself and her family. 

What I Liked About This Book:

There is not much I liked about this book. I will say that the writing is well done and descriptive. In both the historic and present day narrations I had a visual idea of each scene. I greatly preferred the historic narration over the present day narration. What I liked about the historic narration is I learned about a side of World War ll that I did not know about prior. I also found the societal roles and expectations another interesting part of the book. Other than that there is not much else I liked about this book.

 

What I Disliked About This Book:

At times I was confused because pieces of information were coming out in both narrations and it was hard to determine what was ‘true’ and what was not. I also found the present day narration to be incredibly predictable. I was completely turned off and not interested in Elise’s present day story at all. For me a sign of a good book is that I think about it when I am not reading it. This book was so uninteresting that I did not think about it at all when I wasn’t reading it. The author decided to focus on plot points that did not lend to giving full background information. I am specifically referencing the lack of information on how Vivian actually became a Hollywood star. This was a part of the book’s description that I was interested in, so I was very disappointed that it was glossed over. I feel the same way about some of the information given about Vivian's childhood. In my opinion the author focused more on concluding Elise’s story than Vivian’s, which is not what I preferred nor wanted from the book. I also found the relationships in this book to not be believable. I never fully bought into any of the romances. As a character Elise had some character development and growth but overall she never really changed or grew from her experiences. I do think this is because her story took place in such a short amount of time, but she could have changed or matured as a result of how any of her relationships ended but in the end she didn’t. I also found her to be an unlikable character because she was such a pushover. There was also not much character development for Vivian because her story line did not include much of the years once she had become a singer. The whole time I was waiting for a big plot twist, but one never came. I could continue to share what I disliked about this book but I think I have said enough, so I rest my case.  

 

Would I Recommend This Book?

Not at all. If I had not purchased this book and was reading it for a book club I would have stopped reading it. I would not recommend this book.


Check out my book reviews for 2024!!


Check out my book reviews for 2023!!

Horse by Geraldine Brooks  
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Hester by Laurie Pico Albanese
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Environmental and Sustainability Book Reviews 2022
Self-Improvement Book Reviews 2022
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
Not All Diamonds and Rosé by Dave Quinn
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham 
Girls With Bright Futures by Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman
Run, Rose, Run by James Patterson and Dolly Parton
The Summer Series by Jenny Han
A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard
The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives by Brian Moylan
Verity by Colleen Hoover
All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart 
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Majesty: American Royals 2 by Kathrine McGree
Every Last Secret by A.R. Torre

Check out my book reviews for 2021!!

2021 Book Rankings

Beach Read By Emily Henry
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Educated by Tara Westover
The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins 
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins 
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Klara and the Sun 
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
American Duchess by Karen Harper 
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Girl With No Job by Claudia Oshry
Down the Habit Hole by Holly Madison Book Review
My Story by Elizabeth Smart
Layla by Colleen Hoover

Check out my book reviews for 2020!!

Check out my book reviews for 2019!!

Check out my book reviews from 2018!!


Don't forget to stay up to date on my blog by following my social media accounts!
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