A Wigwam for a Goose's Bridle

NetGalley was kind enough to offer me an ARC of The Secrets We Left Behind by Soraya M. Lane in return for my honest review.

I do love a good World War II novel. This was a compelling story and I can’t deny I enjoyed reading it, even if it was clichéd and predictable in areas.

British nurse, Cate, stays behind with patients during the evacuation to Dunkirk. She and patient Jack make a run for it, but she’s falling for him and feeling guilty because her fiancé is missing, presumed dead. In nearby town Le Paradis, sisters Elise and Addy witness and massacre of surrendered British troops by the incoming Nazis. They take in the two surviving soldiers, against Elise’s “better judgment” and Addy catches the eye of the local Nazi commander. Obviously all of their paths will cross and all of their fates are intertwined. Secrets will be revealed. Choices will be made. Not everyone will make it out alive.

My biggest complaint is actually the title. There are obviously secrets kept within the story but I actually felt like they were mostly revealed and resolved and not actually left behind. I felt like I spent the whole novel waiting for the title to be significant and it just wasn’t. I would probably just have called the book “Le Paradis”.

It wasn’t a bad read but it also wasn’t amazing.