Lovely War

I read Lovely War by Julie Berry for my new book club. The book description says, "They are Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette. A classical pianist from London, a British would-be architect-turned-soldier, a Harlem-born ragtime genius in the U.S. Army, and a Belgian orphan with a gorgeous voice and a devastating past. Their story, as told by goddess Aphrodite, who must spin the tale or face judgment on Mount Olympus, is filled with hope and heartbreak, prejudice and passion, and reveals that, though War is a formidable force, it's no match for the transcendent power of Love."

I enjoyed this book. It was an engaging story with completely lovable characters (the main 4 of Hazel, James, Colette, and Aubrey) that I was rooting for the whole time. I haven't really read much (any?) WWI historical fiction, so I found it interesting and liked learning about perspective of how blacks were treated during that time (especially comparing France and the US). One of my favorite things about the book was when people died and we saw their conversations with Hades. It was kind of touching to see how they were able to look out for the people they left behind and things like that. Due to life circumstances, I had to listen to more than half of it on audiobook, which isn't my preferred method for reading a book like this, so I'm not sure if that affected my level of love for this book--but either way, I liked it.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)