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A review by elj_ne
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
4.25
ARC via NetGalley.
Really loved this, felt romantic in a similar way to Portrait of a Lady on Fire but with the added political and moral concerns of post-WW2 Netherlands - a historical viewpoint I felt was really valuable, made this more than just a historical romance and gave added important depth to the narrative. My only issue with this book and why I'm hesitant to give it a full five stars is that I felt the character development from the protagonist was too fast and without much internal conflict - she starts out being a very unlikable, repressed character but once she's fallen in love she drops most of the unpleasant aspects of her character, I didn't feel that transition was particularly believable. I would also have loved to spend more time with Eva's point of view - she seems really compelling as a character but the majority of the book we spend with Isabel. At a tight 256 pages this is quite a short book and I think letting it breathe a little and spend more time with those aspects would have bumped it up to a five stars from me. But a great book (a debut novel!! astonishing), and I'm looking forward to seeing what the author does next.
Really loved this, felt romantic in a similar way to Portrait of a Lady on Fire but with the added political and moral concerns of post-WW2 Netherlands - a historical viewpoint I felt was really valuable, made this more than just a historical romance and gave added important depth to the narrative. My only issue with this book and why I'm hesitant to give it a full five stars is that I felt the character development from the protagonist was too fast and without much internal conflict - she starts out being a very unlikable, repressed character but once she's fallen in love she drops most of the unpleasant aspects of her character, I didn't feel that transition was particularly believable. I would also have loved to spend more time with Eva's point of view - she seems really compelling as a character but the majority of the book we spend with Isabel. At a tight 256 pages this is quite a short book and I think letting it breathe a little and spend more time with those aspects would have bumped it up to a five stars from me. But a great book (a debut novel!! astonishing), and I'm looking forward to seeing what the author does next.