Loved this one! Great and fun read. Highly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for my ARC.

ARC Review
I'm absolutely obsessed with historical fiction and the WWII era. I find it so fascinating to learn about this genre. This was like no book I have read before from this era. They have always been about the Holocaust, Hitler, etc. This book left me wanting to learn more about the German spies and their mission behind what they did. This book is told from two different people point of view in two different time frames--Rose in the 1940's and Emma in 1990's. I loved the set up of the book, how it went back and forth between the 40's and the 90's. So much is to be said about this novel during war time and no matter what happens, love will always find you.

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HER SECRET SOLDIER by JULIE HARTLEY is one of the most beautiful novels I have read! I will certainly be looking out for more books from this debut author.
I love the way that the seriousness of the situation in England in 1940, with the horrors of the blitz and the infiltration of German agents, together with Rose’s dangerous family situation, is somehow enfolded in the beauty of Silverwood Vale. I also like to see Rose’s character grow as she is faced with life altering decisions……
Emma in 1990 is also affected by Siverwood Vale, and by Rose’s story……
There is courage, unconditional love and restoration shown against a background of man’s inhumanity against his felloe man.
I am not going to tell you any more for fear of spoiling things for you.
I cannot revommend Her Secret Soldier highly enough.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Bookouture. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

This is an extraordinary debut novel and not at all what I expected. On one hand, it's World War II historical fiction covering the brief period when German agents were sent to England in preparation for a land invasion. But, it's also a story of a family fractured and scattered because of domestic abuse, compounded by the war. Told in a dual timeline, one narrator is Rose, 18, a sensitive, artistic soul living on the English coast in 1940. The other is her great-niece Emma, a journalist whose marriage is failing in Toronto in 1990. Their connection is Silverwood Vale, a large tract of ancient forest that Emma has unexpectedly inherited from her unknown Great-Aunt Rose.

The writing is so good that I quickly became engrossed in Rose's story, turning pages rapidly as the plot intensified, so much so that I was startled when the timeline shifted to Emma. I confess that I didn't care much for Emma initially but her story drew me in as well. There is so much to love about this book, from the exciting wartime espionage plot to a tender romance but the genuine characters are what made this work for me. (I don't know if an old-growth forest can count as a character but the author made it come alive.) I highly recommend this stunning debut novel.

My thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the digital ARC. All opinions and the review are entirely my own.

One of the best historical fiction novels of the year, Her Secret Soldier is a beautiful WWII era tale that solves a long-standing family mystery. The dual narrator format is pretty common within this genre, however it is rare that they are both written equally as strong and equally as interesting. Every time I felt myself wrapped into the story and timeline - either Rose's tale in 1940 or Emma's tale in the 1990s - I didn't want to leave that character's narrative timeline. It is history, love, generational ties, and mystery. It will have you turning the pages furiously trying to find out what will happen next. You will not predict the ending before it arrives. I loved it, and can't wait to see what Julie Hartley will write next!

As a history major who loves a good historical love story, this was all of it! It was so beautifully written and I just absolutely adored the main characters and their story took the reader for such an adventure of what they experienced. Well done!