The Fog of War

I really don't know what to rate this book. It took me almost a month to read it, but I was sick for about two weeks in there and wasn't able to read anything that was as bloody as where I was at in this book.

So, the first half of the book would have been a generous four stars. The first half of the book shows flashes of brilliance, a wonderful setting and worldbuilding - but it is also coupled with abrupt and somewhat shallow storytelling. Very little is actually described; from the characters right to the village and the house they live in, there's little to no description of any of it. (The only thing about Sylvia's appearance I can tell you is she has long hair, brown, I think. Lucy has cropped curly hair. ... I picture it blonde, but I cannot remember if that was actually said or not. Otherwise, there is no description of them.)

The second half of the book... Honestly, two stars is very generous for it. The second half is taken over by the romance. Now, the romance isn't bad, per-say, but I don't like it. (Edited after finishing the review: Scratch that. It is a bad romance.) First of all, a lot is made about the fact that Sylvia is older than Lucy by ‘at least a decade' and has so much more ‘experience'. No, they don't mean that kind of experience - which would have been easier to take, because it is likely accurate. They mean ‘worldly experience' - like being in the same war and Lucy joining up (younger than what was really allowed) means nothing.

Then there is Anna. Anna was Sylvia's girlfriend during the war. Anna was Sylvia's self admitted ‘love of my life'. Anna is also missing, presumed dead for three years. But Sylvia is still so hung up on her that the entire second half of this short book turned into a ‘I must know what happened to the love of my life' quest.

Which is left, basically, unresolved.

After three years, Sylvia is still so hung up on her missing girlfriend that her whole character development and plotline hinges around it. ... In a romance novel whose ideal outcome isn't Anna back from the freaking grave.

Sorry, but I like romance novels that actually focus on the pair (or more) in the romance, not whose entire plot seems to be one of the romance claiming that another person is ‘the love of their life'.

You notice I keep saying that? ‘Love of their life'? Here is the direct quote from the book:

‘Anna was the love of Sylvia's life. No-one would ever measure up to her.‘

This is thought by Sylvia over halfway through the book. Well after she met Lucy.

And this is what kicks off every single one of my problems with this book.

I could have forgiven it for being somewhat abrupt, shallow, topical and barely skimming the surface of pretty much everything. I was, in fact, prepared to do just that for the first half of the book - and mourn over the fact that the book wasn't longer and actually given time to breathe - but, with the addition of our romance, I don't even know what it was supposed to be or, in the end, how we are supposed to support Sylvia and Lucy as a couple.

(Also, and this is 100% a personal preference, but I wish so badly that Sylvia didn't cry at the drop of a hat in the second half of the book. If we're being told that this strong woman has weakness and softness, there has to be a better way than that.)