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Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! Today I’m back with a review for you guys and I’m honestly so excited for this review because I freaking loved the book and all these emotions I felt while reading Within these Lines. OMG guys I don’t even know where to start!
But without further ado, let’s start with the necessary information about this book before continuing on with the actual review!
Title – Within These Lines
Author – Stephanie Morrill
Publisher – BLINK
Release date – March 5, 2019
Genre – Young Adult, Historical Fiction, WWII
Trigger Warning – death, racism, shootings (only at the end), discrimination, violence
Synopsis provided by the publisher:
Evalina Cassanoโs life in an Italian-American family in 1941 is everything it โshould beโ until she falls in love with Taichi Hamasaki, the son of Japanese immigrants. Despite the scandal it would cause and that inter-racial marriage is illegal in California, Evalina and Taichi vow they will find a way to be together. But anti-Japanese feelings erupt across the country after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Taichi and his family are forced to give up their farm and move to an internment camp.
Add it to your Goodreads to-read shelf!
Degrading treatment make life at Manzanar Relocation Center difficult. Taichiโs only connection to the outside world are treasured letters from Evalina. Feeling that the only action she can take to help Taichi is to speak out on behalf of all Japanese Americans, Evalina becomes increasingly vocal at school and at home. Meanwhile, inside Manzanar, fighting between different Japanese-American factions arises. Taichi begins to doubt he will ever leave the camp alive.
With tensions running high and their freedom on the line, Evalina and Taichi must hold true to their values and believe in their love to make a way back to each other against unbelievable odds.
What I liked
First of all I really liked the fact that the author tried to respect the history as much as possible. She also added at the end of her book some facts about what happened to the Japanese American after Pearl Harbor, which I found pretty helpful as we’ve never covered these things in our History classes back in Secondary school. So I might have learned something new. It is important history, which makes this book also very important even if it’s โonlyโ a work of fiction with fictional charactes. But still. I hope that we learn from the mistakes of our ancestors and never do awful things like sending people to concentration camps or whatever again. I really hope that we or let’s say our leaders learned their lesson!
I knew before reading that this book would also be in the romance genre as the synopsis already states that and honestly the romance in here was amazing. It didn’t feel forced and all the things our two main characters had to get through during their relationship was, if I can be honest, heartbreaking! I nearly cried during some of the scenes. I can’t even imagine what both of them had to feel. And we’re talking about fictional characters so imagine what the real people who where in that situation had to feel and endure.
Another great thing (everything was great! Just saying) was the friendships in this book. The support of the friends or family wasn’t always super duper great but their concern was genuine. They were never against the relationship but I could understand their fears and after their “accepting” they tried to support Evalina as best as they could and that is what friendship really means. Being there for the person as best as you can. It was really great.
What I didn’t like
Absolutely nothing!
Favourite Character
Evalina!!!!!!!!!!!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2FNuhzv
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/within-these-lines-stephanie-morrill/1128931479#/
Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Within-These-Lines-Stephanie-Morrill/9780310765233
Website: https://www.stephaniemorrill.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephMorrill
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/StephanieMorrillAuthor/
Prize: 5 sets of a Finished Copy of Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill + a Signed Bookplate + and a pre-order poster (USA only)
Starts: 3/4/19
Ends: 3/15/19
Link to the Giveaway: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86341/?
TOUR SCHEDULE
https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2019/01/tour-schedule-within-these-lines-by.html
DISCLAIMER: A copy of this book was sent to me by the publisher of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Information about the book and the cover + picture of author are not my own but were sent to me as well.
What a glowing review! I love WWII fiction so Iโm definitely going to have to grab a copy of this!
Thank you! ๐ I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did!