Far Side of the Sea by Kate Breslin

Far Side of the Sea by Kate Breslin ISBN-13: 9780764217821 Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Released: March 5, 2019

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
In spring 1918, Lieutenant Colin Mabry, a British soldier working with MI8 after suffering injuries on the front, receives a message. It is from Jewel Reyer, the woman he once loved and who saved his life--a woman he believed to be dead. Traveling to France to answer her urgent summons, he hopes this mission will ease his guilt about leaving her behind.

Colin is stunned, however, to discover the message came from Jewel's Irish half sister, Johanna, who found Jewel's diary while searching for her French father. Jo believes her sister is alive in the custody of a German agent. With spies everywhere, Colin is skeptical of Johanna, but as they travel across France and Spain, a tentative trust begins to grow between them.

When their pursuit leads them straight into the midst of a treacherous plot, danger and deception turn their search for answers into a battle for their lives


My Review:
Far Side of the Sea is a romance set in 1918 in England and France. This appears to be the second book in a series, and significant events happened to Colin in the previous book. However, we get a summary of what happened from Colin's viewpoint, so this book works as a standalone. I had thought that code breaking and messenger pigeons were going to play a significant role in the story, but they don't. Jo secretly took a messenger pigeon along while they searched for her father, even though she knew that having a messenger pigeon could have gotten them in trouble. Yet the pigeon wasn't actually necessary to the plot as she could have sent her message several other ways.

The author wove many WWI details and bits of trivia into the story. The main characters had a lot of back story and struggled with insecurities based on that past. The reader sees events through the viewpoint of every critical character, so we have a good idea about what's going on. While not clearly explained, there were enough hints and clues that later events were not a surprise to me. The main characters, however, had no idea and mainly focused on telling each other about their past and falling in love. I liked that they got to know each other and worked well together. It's just that the suspense didn't kick in until the very end when the whole thing could have been highly suspenseful.

There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable historical romance.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.