The Singer Behind the Wire by Shari J. Ryan [Audiobook]

🎙🎙🎙 Narrated by Emma Powell 🎙🎙🎙

Description from Goodreads:

"Auschwitz, 1943. Ella tries to ignore the coughs and crying, the whispered prayers. Her eyelids grow heavier, but then a melody floats though the block as if on a breeze. Her lips open on a gasp, joy making her heart sing even as it shatters. She would know that voice anywhere…

Sitting bolt upright, Ella rubs at her eyes and concentrates on the music. Is she dreaming? She’d fallen for Luka’s voice the first time she heard him singing on the street corner near her house, with his kind smile and joyous laugh. He was her first love, and the pain of being torn apart still slices at her.

He’s alive. But even as hope swells in Ella’s heart, terror threatens to swallow it. Luka is Jewish. If he’s here, he’s in grave danger—even more than Ella faces for sneaking into the ghetto to see him back in Warsaw… But she will never regret it. They had fought every day for their love, even knowing where it might lead…

Despair tears at Ella as she battles to find the strength to keep going, to search for Luka even on the days when the bitter cold whips through the camp—the days when her body feels weaker than ever and her friends are lost to the cruel regime. At night, she listens desperately for the sound of Luka’s voice as he’s forced to perform. Knowing he’s still alive even if she can’t see him is the one thing that brings her peace.

Until one night when, as his first haunting notes reach her bunk, an angry shout splits the night sky, the music stops, and there is only resounding, terrifying silence…"

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This is another great book from an author I enjoy reading and listening to and the narration only makes it better.  

Set in Poland during World War 2, Luka is Jewish and a talented singer but social gatherings have been banned so when a group of soldiers try to break up and arrest those listening to him sing, Ella, whose Polish, goes out of her way and risks her own life to rescue Luka from inevitable arrest and so begins their remarkable story.

Emotional, heart-breaking, heart-warming, tense, horrifying, gripping and totally engaging and enthralling ... these are just a few of the superlatives I can use to describe this book.

The characters feel authentic and believable and I was completely transported into their lives and was totally invested in them and whilst this is a work of fiction, I have read many non-fiction books relating to similar subject matter and a lot of the experiences that Luka and Ella endured, are a good representation of what  'real people' went through during that horrific time.

If you enjoy historical fiction, I would highly recommend this book and many thanks to the author, Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of this emotional story.

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My Husband's Past by Shari J. Ryan

 Description from Goodreads:

"My best friend disappeared twenty years ago. I thought she was dead. But today I’ve received a message that makes my heart stop. It says it’s from Izzy. And she’s blaming my new husband for her disappearance…

I stare at the email in horror. I’ve only just managed to put what happened to Izzy behind me. My life is so different now. I have two perfect children, and the perfect husband at last.

“I couldn’t just say nothing. You remember I was being stalked? My stalker is your husband. You're in danger. Run. ”

My blood turns to ice as I look up at my charming, caring husband. Is this some kind of joke? Griffin is kind, he's safe.

But as he smiles at me, the doubt starts to creep in. The way he always asks me about my childhood, pressing for information about my friends. The way he always wants to know where I am…

I thought my best friend was dead. I thought her stalker killed her.

If the email isn’t really from Izzy, then who sent it—and what do they want from my family? But if it is, am I living with the man I’ve feared for twenty years? And if he can’t hurt Izzy, will he settle for me instead—or worse, my children…?"

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I have read and enjoyed a few of Shari's books and have enjoyed them all but, oh my goodness, this is one twisty thriller that I devoured in quick time.

With excellent characters, an intriguing and engrossing plot with twists and turns aplenty that had me hooked from start to finish.  It's written at a good pace (although it dips a little in the middle) and in dual timelines which worked really well for the story and really helped to keep me in the dark and in suspense but when the reveal came, I was shocked ... I love it when that happens!!  The ending wasn't quite wrapped up as I would like and was left a bit open-ended but that didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this book.

I have no hesitation in recommending this and must thank the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this riveting read.

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Check out my other reviews of Shari's books I have read:

The Homemaker [Audiobook]

The Stolen Twins

The Glovemaker's Daughter

The Glovemaker's Daughter by Shari J. Ryan

 

Description from Goodreads:

"Paris, 1943. German soldiers drag me out onto the cobbled street and push me towards the waiting truck. I force myself to face forward as tears stream down my cheeks. If I look back, they’ll know. I can’t let them find my little girl…

Raya bends over a delicate glove in her beloved shop under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. It’s the only place she still feels safe. When the Nazis snatched control of Paris, Raya knew she had to fight to protect the few things she had left. And so far, her support of the resistance has gone undetected.

But now, the door bangs open and three German soldiers lunge towards her. Raya’s blood turns to ice. Hauled onto the street, she struggles against their rough hands as they accuse her of organizing meetings in the tunnels below her shop.

Raya can think only of her baby daughter Amalia, hidden beneath the shop’s front desk. She has a heart-wrenching choice to make. Reveal Amalia’s existence and risk her life, or leave her behind and pray someone protects her. It’s the hardest decision she’s ever faced…

Transported to Ravensbruck concentration camp, every day is a desperate battle for survival. The only thing that keeps Raya going is the thought of being reunited with her blue-eyed, innocent baby girl.

But in the darkest of places, is the power of a mother’s love enough to keep Raya alive until she can see her daughter again?"

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This is another great book from an author that I look forward to reading and one that I will remember for some time.  Emotional, heart-breaking, heart-warming, tense, horrifying, gripping and totally engaging and enthralling ... these are just a few of the superlatives I can use to describe this book.

The characters feel authentic and believable and I was completely transported into their lives and was totally invested in them and whilst this is a work of fiction, I have read many non-fiction books relating to the same subject matter and a lot of the experiences that Raya and the other characters endured, are a good representation of what  'real people' went through during that horrific time.

If you enjoy historical fiction, I would highly recommend this book and many thanks to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of The Glovemaker's Daughter.

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Check out my other reviews of Shari's books I have read:

The Homemaker [Audiobook]

The Stolen Twins

The Homemaker by Shari J. Ryan [Audiobook]

 

🎙🎙🎙 Narrated by Stephanie Cannon 🎙🎙🎙

Synopsis from Goodreads:

"I pull back the blanket to take another peek at my beautiful baby boy. My heart flatlines. He isn’t there. “Where is he?” I cry, my whole body trembling. But my husband just shakes his head. “Darling… we don’t have a baby.”

What is he talking about? Stumbling to my feet, I look frantically at the highchair, the playmat in the corner, the sofa. I need to find my little boy.

Limbs like ice, I rush toward the stairs, shouting my son’s name. But my husband grabs my arms and gently reminds me there is no baby here.

I can’t listen. I don’t understand how our child isn’t in our home. I don’t know who could have taken him. I just know I have to find him.

Climbing the stairs two at a time, my hand is already stretching toward the nursery door, but my husband overtakes, blocking my way.

He forces me to face him. I think I can hear the baby mobile over the crib. I can practically smell the newborn smell. But my husband sighs and shakes his head.

He says it again, firmly this time, as a tear tracks down my cheek: “We don’t have a baby.”

I blink rapidly, my breathing ragged. I think he expects me to agree. But I know that my son is real. I can feel his weight in my arms. And I will stop at nothing to get him back…"

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I have read and enjoyed one of Shari's previous books, The Stolen Twins, but this is entirely different but no less enjoyable.

This is a twisty and disturbing thriller that had me hooked from the first to the last word.  Told from the perspectives of three very different women who all live within the same area but whose story is the one to believe?

Written at a good pace, with excellent characters, excellent twists and a fantastic narrator that only adds to the story, this is a great book that I would recommend to others who enjoy this genre.  I do, however, have to say that there were times where I thought it was a little over the top but I just went with it because if you can't suspend reality in fiction, when can you?

My thanks go to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of The Homemaker.

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Check out another of Shari's books I have reviewed:

The Stolen Twins by Shari J. Ryan

👉due to be published 14-Feb-2023👈

Description from Goodreads:

"Auschwitz, 1944: “You can’t leave me,” I whisper, my hand trembling as I reach for her cheek. “You can’t. We’re in this life together, always, just you and me.” This utterly heartbreaking yet beautifully hopeful World War Two page-turner tells the story of identical twin sisters in Auschwitz. Born minutes apart, Arina and Nora have never left each other’s side—until now…

The cattle car is dark, except for the light filtering through the boarded windows. There are too many of us to count, crushed up against each other. The air is stuffy, carrying the scent of our terror—none of us know what awaits us when this train stops. I cling onto Mama’s hand and Nora, my twin sister, clutches Papa’s.

After what feels like forever, the train stops. We spill out of the carriage, the sun blinding us after being imprisoned in darkness for so long. There are people everywhere, soldiers separating children from their parents, husbands from wives.

We’re in some sort of queue, and a man in a dark-green SS uniform walks by, glancing at everyone he passes. “Twins, twins,” he shouts. My heart falls into the pit of my stomach.

“Right here,” says Mama, hesitation in her voice. “My daughters are twins.” My eyes widen, and Nora trembles. Papa tries to tell Mama to be quiet, but it’s too late.

The Nazi catches sight of us. “Twins,” he says again, pausing to inspect Nora and me. “Yes, you are, aren’t you? You two are going to come along with me.”

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Oh my word ... what a story!! I don't think there are any superlatives that captures adequately how I felt about this book and how good it was ... I was breathless and on pins from the very first to the very last word.

The story is told from the viewpoints of Jewish twins Arina and Nora and from multi timelines from their life with their parents in Hungary, through the horrors of being twins at the hands of the monster that was Mengele in Auschwitz and their road to rebuilding their lives in France and the USA.

It is a powerful story of survival, loss, resilience, hope and the power of love; I was absolutely rivetted and devoured it in quick time and have no problem recommending this to those of you who love getting totally immersed in a wonderful book that will have your emotions in tatters and my thanks must go to Bookouture and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of The Stolen Twins.

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