Lovely War out now from Penguin Random House; 471 pages
Content Warning: Violence, sexual assault, death, offensive racial slurs, racism, guns, war
About the Author: “Julie Berry grew up in western New York. She holds a BS from Rensselaer in communication and an MFA from Vermont College in writing for children and young adults. She now lives in southern California with her husband and four sons” (Bio from Amazon).
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It’s 1917, and World War I has reached its height—just as Hazel and James meet each other for the first time at a party in London. At the same time, Aubrey meets Colette after he is sent to the trenches and sparks begin to fly. Told from the perspective of the goddess of love herself, Aphrodite follows the journeys of the two separate couples and how their paths intertwine. She narrates these complex tales of love in stories told to her husband, Hephaestus, and Ares, her lover, as a justification for her affair. As she does so, she begins to question why love and war are so often connected.
As a lover of both romance and Greek mythology, it wasn’t shocking that I thoroughly enjoyed Lovely War. However, it was surprising that I liked it as much as I did—it’s been ages since I read a romance where I wasn’t left disappointed. I felt that both relationships were strong, and that Berry struck a good balance between focusing on each couple while still making each of the four main characters their own person. The perspective Aphrodite provided was incredibly unique and was the reason I’ve been interested in reading this book ever since it came out. The exploration of the relationship between love and war was also interesting, especially because the book is told from Aphrodite’s perspective and it’s well known that Ares, the God of war, was her lover. On another note, Berry’s prose was also beautiful, and combined with the heartbreaking nature of romance in a time of war, I found myself crying quite a few times for multiple different reasons. Berry had a stunning way of portraying the innate human desire for hope of a better future despite the tragic backdrop. Overall, I’d recommend Lovely War to anyone looking for a beautiful, character driven story, regardless of whether you usually enjoy romance or not. Though romance is the central point of the story, there is so much more that you can take from Lovely War, which is what I enjoyed about it so much. I haven’t been this pleased with a book in too long!
Vanshikha Vij, Pine Reads Review Writer