The Lies We Leave Behind by Noelle Salazar

 

My thoughts

Noelle Salazar is fast becoming a favorite of mine. She writes books that hook you from the start and proceed to hold you captive. They pull at your heartstrings. Make you think. Give you hope. 

This is a love story and a WW2 story about two people who are fighting. One fighting for the betterment of the world. The other fighting to keep the soldiers alive. 

William is a soldier. He wants nothing more than to keep people alive. To give them the freedoms to live the way they wish. To practice their faith and live in their homes free from the worry of being sent to camps. Or killed and left in the streets. While there is not talk about this you just know that is why he is the way he is. He's a good man. 

Kate is a nurse. A naval flight nurse. She flies with wounded soldiers. They are taken to the area hospitals and tended. Kate helps them. She is a good nurse. Dedicated to her life. To her part in the war. To helping as many as she can to survive. Kate has a few secrets but she's a good and very decent person. She's been through so much in her life already yet still keeps on giving. 

When William and Kate meet it's magic. Kate fights her feelings but eventually she can't fight it anymore. They fall deeply in love and intend to marry. To move back to the US and start a life together. As soon as this war is over. 

William goes back to war and Kate goes looking for her sister who she thought had died eight years earlier. What happens to Kate now is so sad. So hopeful. Kate realizes that she is pregnant and can't wait to tell William. But life gets in the way. Or war that is. On her quest to find her sister Kate has to go back to the home she lived in as a young girl. Face some demons. She goes through so much. 

This book is told from two time lines. In 2003 by William. In 1944-1945 by Kate. You get to know each character and a few other characters along the way. You get a good look into each of their lives. How things happen the way they did and how it plays out. 

As with most historical novels this one brought some big ugly tears to my eyes. I also had a couple of chuckles. I wanted things to be a certain way. Of course I did. But this author did such a good job. I was not disappointed at all. From start to finish this book held me. It moved me. It was excellent. 

A must read.

Thank you #NetGalley, #HarlequinTradePublishing, #MIRA, for this ARC. 

Five big stars.

About

For readers of Kate Quinn and Beatriz Williams, this sweeping story follows a fearless nurse who must leave love behind when duty calls her back to the front.

Somewhere in the Pacific, 1943. Kate Campbell is a nurse who bravely flies back and forth from the front to rescue wounded soldiers, amid long days, harsh conditions and often dangerous weather. Driven by a deep personal need to help in the war effort, she is disappointed when an accident leaves her injured and sends her home to New York. By the time she's healed, the war has moved on, and rather than being returned to her post in the Pacific, Kate is sent to the English countryside.

There, Kate comes face-to-face with the enemy and confronts the heavy toll of violence while tending to the soldiers in her care. She never intended to fall in love, but despite herself, she falls for an officer with a broken femur, startling blue eyes and a wicked sense of humor. For the first time, Kate sees a future for herself. But before she can pursue it, a secret from her past calls her to duty, and she'll have to travel back into danger one more time to rescue a part of herself she'd left behind. But will she make it back? And if she does, will her future still be waiting for her if she does?