A review by bookishbea
Lovely War by Julie Berry

5.0

I have no words for this display of magnificence in YA literature. This book has changed my life - a truly powerful, moving, and just touching story of love and friendship against all odds. Plot is described below. Fantastic writing, and a truly touching story combine in one of the best books I have ever read. This author expertly writes from the viewpoint of Aphrodite, the greek goddess of love and passion. The book starts at a hotel in WWII (richly described - very exotic and ominous, in my opinion), with Aphrodite and Ares alone and in love, but unmarried (quite the scandal). Hephaestus (Aphrodite's husband) catches them together, and threatens to expose them on trial in front of the entire community. To save herself from public ridicule, Aphrodite begins a beautiful, tear-jerking story of two couples in WWI to show her husband (who doesn't love her anyway, but still wants her back) the power of love and why she, Aphrodite, needs to be with the one she loves. These couples are against the odds - Hazel is sweet, determined, and a brilliant pianist. James is in love with her at first sight, but heads off to war two days later. They fall hard and fast, that sweet, young kind of romance that is all curiosity and wonder, and emotion. Tender and innocent, not graphically described, but very meaningful and moving. No love is easy though, and with war in the air, there's bound to be complications. James despises killing, but after his talent for it is recognized, he is forced use this ability, to his great dismay. zMisunderstandings of all sorts, injuries of all kinds, this book does not shy away from the hardships that WWI and WWII inflicted upon us. From survivor's guilt and grief to racism and injustice, this story touches upon all the broken parts of humanity and what we need to do to save it. The other couple starts miles away, Colette is Belgian, a bewitching singer that bears the weight of war personally. Her devoted childhood friend had recently turned out to be something more, and as they were just discovering each other in a new way, he and the rest of her family died in a bombing. She escapes, burying grief in music and work. Aubrey is a rising jazz musician in New York, before he is called to duty. A black musician in what is not the most just era, Aubrey works hard to keep his name and respectability in a racist community. He may be exactly what Colette needs, but after her devastating past, she is determined never to love again. Music unites them all in a touching story of grief, and moving past your pain in the face of a brighter future. There are highs and lows - I literally cried for a half an hour, and laughed the rest. I was stunned. Truly stunned. There is a little swearing, not much to worry about. Trust CSM. As far as violence and gore goes, there is more... Besides Colette's painful past, James's time on the battlefield is richly described, and the powerful message that comes with his chapters also comes with the price of graphic descriptions. He is forced to kill 6 german soldiers, and his remorse cripples him afterward. He watches a good friend die, which leaves him in a mental facility for a period of time. Only love gets him through. Anyway, sex is minimal, for a romance novel. There are a few kisses that are minimally described, a married couple has children (actual sex is not even mentioned) and talks of having children. Aphrodite and Ares ARE in a love affair, but that is limited to just non-described kissing. I picked this up in a bookshop 5,000 miles from home, completely on a whim. Little did I know how special it would become. After I read this book, I slept with it under my pillow for 3 nights, read it again, and again, so that in one week I had read one book only, and three times. This is a story for the ages, a book to cherish, hold, and love. This is rich, extremely well written, and hands-down the best WWII novel I have ever encountered. If you do not read it, you are denying yourself a world of love and passion, grief and pain. Of helping one another and pushing on, of the one thing that even a world war cannot take away - love.