Emma's Review: The Wartime Chocolate Maker by Gosia Nealon

Reviewed by Emma Crowley 

Working in her father’s chocolate factory, Kasia risks her life every day hiding notes vital to the Polish resistance in the carefully packaged boxes. The information tucked beneath the truffles is crucial to freeing her country and her family from the Nazis. But each of her recipes is sent out under the watchful eyes of her boss, Sebastian—the man who broke her heart.

She has never been able to reconcile the kind, sweet boy she once adored with the man now allied with the Germans. Yet the more time she spends around him, the more he seems to hint at sympathizing with the resistance. And the risk of revealing everything to him seems to shrink day by day.

Until one coded message hidden among the rich chocolate makes her fear for her mother and brother’s lives. And though she’s on the factory floor with a group of fellow resistance women, she can’t let on what she knows. Because her network has been betrayed.

As she searches the faces of those closest to her for any sign of guilt, her eyes meet Sebastian’s, full of care and concern. With time running out, Kasia wonders if she can trust him with this deadly secret? Or are the soldiers already on their way to arrest her?

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Emma's Review: The Polish Wife by Gosia Nealon

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

Germany, 1934. Surrounded by beautiful wedding china, we share our first dinner alone as husband and wife. But, instead of sharing affections, all he talks of is his admiration for Hitler. I force a smile, but my blood runs cold. How can I stay with him, now I know what he truly is?

Six years later. When Anna is approached by the Polish resistance while sheltering in Warsaw, she is eager for the chance to fight against German occupation. Managing a network of spies behind the façade of a café for enemy soldiers will mean risking everything. But, after fleeing her fanatical Nazi husband only for war to follow close behind, Anna can’t run any more.

Every conversation she overhears between the unsuspecting officers at the café brings back awful memories of the Nazi her husband became and makes her more determined to do what is right. Spending more time with the resistance behind the scenes, she grows close to them all—especially a brilliant young doctor with deep hazel eyes called Mateusz, who shows her a kindness she has never known.

As they work together, Anna can’t help imagining what life would be like with him, instead of the man she is tied to. But one day her dreams of a future with Mateusz, and freedom for her country, are shattered. Her husband has tracked her down.

Terrified, Anna knows that living as his wife again is her chance to gather information that could help end the war. But can she keep her nerve long enough to spy on her own husband? And with such a high-ranking enemy officer watching her every move, can she protect Mateusz, the man truly she loves, from the firing line?

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Emma's Review: The Polish Girl by Gosia Nealon

Reviewed by Emma Crowley  

Although it won’t bring her beloved father back, twenty-three-year-old Wanda vows to honour his memory and all he stood for. Throwing herself into the Polish resistance, she risks her life on the dangerous mission of transporting ammunition for the underground network’s uprising against the Nazis.

Slipping through the night-time shadows of an empty park to meet an informant—one who could provide crucial supplies in the battle for what’s right—the sight of the man waiting turns Wanda’s blood to ice. Even in the dim light, she instantly recognises him as the soldier who killed her father.

The soldier claims he is a double agent, working for the resistance. Questioning everything, Wanda’s heart races as she is forced to make a split-second decision. Believe the man who she thought was the enemy? Or endanger the lives of her network—and their secret plans to fight the Germans?

Can Wanda trust the man she hates most in the world? Did her father die in vain? Or if she fights her every instinct, will she truly change the tide of the war?

Book Link: Kindle