Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

I really liked The Lilac Girls, and looked forward to reading another book by the same author. I didn't realize until reading the Author's note that this was actually a prequel, that Caroline was the character in the previous book!

I didn't connect as much with these women, perhaps because they were all living in luxury and simply unable to see the poverty around them. To the Russians, the mobs were not their fellow countrymen who deserved to live a better life, but we're malcontents, ungrateful for the crumbs they received. The Ferridays were appalled at the living conditions of the Russian emigres, but it never occurred to them that the areas where they settled were inhabited by their fellow Americans as well! It didn't seem to occur to them that those people could also use some relief, and had also struggled through a World War.

I did feel empathy for Sorta and her family, they were so blind to what was happening that I just wanted to shake them and tell them to open their eyes and look around, outside of the bubble in which they lived.

Wonderful historical fiction that centers on the friendship between three women. Thank you to the publishers for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

After reading both of Martha Hall Kelly's post WWII novels, I had to read this one and was not disappointed. I've long been fascinated by the Russian revolution, but did not know a lot about it. In Lost Roses, we get the story of Eliza Ferriday (Caroline's mother from Lilac Girls), a young wife and mother whose dear friend is Sofya, a Russian heiress becomes caught up in the complete overthrow of Russian society by the peasant class. Rounding out the story is Varinka, a young Russian girl under the power of her "guardian" and becomes the nanny for Sofya's young son. I could not stop reading this- Kelly really put heart between all three stories which made the women and their lives compelling. I really love books that highlight a part of history I know little about, and this is a perfect example. I'm looking forward to reading more from Martha Hall Kelly.

I still have let to read the first book. So this one was a little weird to read. Now that means I need to read the Lilac Girls. I will definitely be getting that book.

After loving Lilac Girls, I was really excited about this one. Martha Hall Kelly knows how to write historical fiction and I will look forward to whatever she writes next.

Lilac Girls was fantastic and I loved that this was a prequel about the Ferriday family. Martha Hall Kelly does a fantastic job of writing historical fiction.

MHK always does a fantastic job of transporting you into the time period of each of her books and developing the characters so well that you feel like you know them. Lilac Girls was one of my favorite books a few years back and I'm so glad that we had this second installment. It wasn't my favorite but I was still really interested to read about the early 1900s in this book!

Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly

Lost Roses is the story of Caroline Farriday's mother Eliza. Like the first book Lilac girls this is also based off of three women during WW1. Eliza who is in the United States writing back and forth to her friend in Russia who is Sofya. Eliza and Sofya met in boarding school in Switzerland. The third women is Vanka worked for Sofya family. These three women came from three different backgrounds.

My favorite character in this book is Eliza I like how compassionate she is and how she did not give up trying to find out why her friend who wrote to her everyday stopped all of a sudden. Eliza begins to help the many Russian refugees that come by finding them work and places to live. Sofya is another character that you feel for her she is taken hostage along with her family when there was an uprising against the csar in Russia as well as anyone associated with him. Sofya family was part of the csar's family.

Vanka is an interesting character I did not like her as much but I can understand why she did what she did. She was the least fortunate of all coming from a peasant background. She is emplyed by the Sofya family. She takes care of Sofya son. When the uprising happened she took the boy and ran.

The trials of war is horrible on the human spirit no matter what background you are from. At the end of the day war is hell and hell is terrible. This book pulled at your heart in all kinds of direction as you dive into each character and their experience. It is brutal in some places and other places you see strength that can move mountains. That strength is what powers these stories about these three women.

The human spirit can endure that is what is the magic in this book. This is a five star read for me. If you are a fan of historical fiction during WW1 or WW2 era then this book is for you. If you liked Lilac Girls then you will like this one. I actually liked this one better. Caroline is everything that Eliza is and that is why both books are so good.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for a free copy of Lost Roses for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Lost Roses was an interesting read. I love Lilac Girls, so I had high hopes for this book. I did not enjoy it quite as much, but it did keep my attention and I overall enjoyed reading this book.

This was a quick paced read, but I found myself comparing it to Lilac Girls the whole time and I definitely preferred Lilac Girls. It was nice to have a WWI-centered novel when there are so many stories out there lately related to WWII instead. I just found that this particular story had a lot of details and characters to keep track of, and I struggled with that at times.

Very good book - good character development. The story was quick paced and descriptive all throughout.

This book was an interesting read. I feel like I learned a lot. It had some twists I did not expect. Definitely sharing with friends!

I loved Lilac Girls and was super excited for this. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into it. There were a lot of characters right from the start and it just did not draw me in like the first book.

Lost Roses was a 3 1/2 star read for me. I had high hopes going in after having read, and loved, Lilac Girls but this one just didn't wow me or keep my attention the way Lilac Girls did. I did enjoy learning more about Eliza, and I rooted for Sophia throughout. Her character was really what kept me reading. It was just an okay read for me.

I’ve read a lot of historical fiction lately and this was a nice change of pace, with the WWI setting and the focus on the Russians. Good character development, good storyline. An enjoyable read that I would recommend to others.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

A beautiful, amazing story! Lovers of historical fiction or just a great story! Such an exciting read

I couldn’t get into this book. Too many characters and the back and forth was confusing. I was disappointed because I thought this would be such a great book.

I absolutely loved "Lilac Girls" so I had really high hopes for this prequel - and luckily, I was not disappointed! Kelly writes with such incredible historical detail that it actually feels like you're transported back in time.

In this novel, the story is told from three different perspectives during WWI: Eliza, an American woman trying to rebuild her life after a tragedy; Sofya, Eliza's dearest friend who is struggling to survive the upheaval in Russia, and Varinka, another young Russian girl who gets caught up in the Bolshevik revolution. Each character is so well-developed and each one has an equally interesting POV that keeps the book going at breakneck speed. There are so many great twists and turns in this book, so that you feel the extremely high stakes that accompany war. Kelly isn't afraid to go pretty dark (although she's just being truthful to the time period and its monstrosities.)

There are some throwbacks to the first book, but they can be read independently too. I cannot wait to read the third book in this series - it's amazing that many of the characters in Kelly's books are inspired by real people. I can't get enough!

I picked up Lost Roses based on a friend's recommendation. I'd read Lilac Girls, her first book in the series, but hadn't connected the dots. This second book is the prequel. The good news is that you can read this book without having read Lilac Girls. But knowing the back story added interest for me.

As always, Martha Hall Kelley tells an excellent tale. While Lilac Girls featured Caroline Ferriday and World War II, Lost Roses follows her mother, Eliza, and is set during World War I and the Russian Revolution. The story unfolds through three narrators: Eliza, her friend, Sofia, a Russian aristocrat, and Varinka, a Russian peasant. The three women’s lives intertwine in surprising ways, offering strikingly different perspectives on class, wealth, poverty and changing fortunes. The narrative on the plight of the White Russians who fled Russia after the revolution seems especially timely in the face of today’s immigration debate.

While I didn’t find Lost Roses as compelling or heartbreaking as the stellar Lilac Girls, it’s a quick-moving and captivating read that fans of the first book are likely to enjoy.

I actually did not realize this book was a continuation of Lilac Girls in the sense that it goes back one generation to the history of Caroline's mother. Some things seemed vaguely familiar but didn't realize till the end and then was really impressed how Kelly managed to tell the story of Eliza as well as concurrently the story of her friends Sofya and Luba. In Lost Roses, Martha Hall Kelly follows the progression of WWI in both the US and in Russia and Paris. She chooses as one of her main characters a member of the Russian aristocracy close to the royal family and shows the way that the war of the Reds vs the Whites and the downfall of the tsar and his family came about in horrifying fashion. She also follows the Russian elites who manage to escape to Paris and the US and the fates that befell them as they struggled to assimilate and find a way to make money with sadly little skill given their place in society in Russia.

I loved how this book showed a part of history I was less familiar with - particularly the fates of so many of the Russian aristocracy being hunted down even in different countries with fervor. The lack of connection with the people of his country definitely led to the tsar's downfall, but it was interesting to see how it all came about from one character's perspective. There was one additional character representing the working class of Russia and her story was sad, but it was difficult to bond with her and pity her given her choice against Sofya, however that may just have been me - I would have liked to see her story separate from Sofya's to see her in more detail as a person and not dislike her so much. Martha Hall Kelly as always does an amazing job at bringing specific areas of history to life in personal detail so the reader really feels they are there. My only issue is that again, the romances seem at times contrived and unnecessary. SPOILER HERE: I did not research whether Eliza did remarry, but the situation with Sofya who was admittedly a work of fiction seemed odd that she would just step from one relationship into another so quickly and seemed too pat for the ending. Otherwise though, an enjoyable read.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.