Until Our Time Comes by Nicole M Miller

Until Our Time Comes
by Nicole M Miller

ISBN-13: 9780800744700
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Revell
Released: July 2, 2024

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
American horse trainer Adia Kensington is living her dream of working at the famous Janów Podlaski stables in Poland, where they breed the best Arabian horses in the world. But her plans to bring the priceless stallion Lubor to the US are derailed when the German army storms into her adopted country in 1939. Little does she know this is just the beginning of six long years of occupation that will threaten her beloved horses at every turn.

Major Bret Conway is at Janów Podlaski under the guise of a news reporter, but his true mission is intelligence gathering for the British. That and keeping Adia safe, which is harder and harder to do as she insists they must evacuate 250 horses to save them from being stolen, sold, or eaten by the invading forces. What follows will test their physical, mental, and emotional strength.


My Review:
Until Our Time Comes is set in 1939 in Poland. While the story is set in a real place, the author admitted that she changed the timing of actual events and added fictional ones, so this is only loosely based on historical events. Unfortunately, the story didn't seem realistic in several ways. Adia's supposed to be a respected horse trainer, but she lets a colt get away with misbehavior in the one training scene in the story and later encouraged a full-grown stallion to nip her. A nip is a bite, and a trainer would never encourage a horse (and especially a stallion) to bite her! Also, Adia is so obsessed with these horses that she repeatedly put her life and other people's lives in danger over them. Rather than someone telling her, "Humans are more important that any horse" they just accept this obsession.

Adia also kept thinking her plans would work out exactly as she envisioned. She was depressed when they didn't but that never stopped her from charging ahead with whatever she thought best since Bret or another man who cared for her would always save her. I know some people are impulsive, but she just seemed oblivious to reality most of the time. Even Bret went from being deeply unwilling to shoot to kill even to save a friend from the enemy, then suddenly he's freely joining in combat and comfortable with killing the enemy. Only a brief 'he changed his mind' explanation was given.

I also had a hard time with the 'romance.' Adia initially refused to even allow Bret to explain why he missed their date and accused him of lying to her. But once Bret brought back her missing, favorite horse and the small child she felt responsible for, she decided she loved this man who repeatedly saved her life and her beloved horses. I guess Bret liked being her savior because they hardly spent time together, she rarely listened to his good advice, and he knew he came in at third place in her affections once she finally decided she loved him.

At the end, there's a brief thought that everything ended up working out exactly as needed for a good end, so God must have been behind it all. There was no sex or bad language.


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.