This was brilliant. I love a good old war story and this was everything it said on the tin. Beautifully written and compelling characters! Must read.

I enjoyed this one. A favorite author of mine indeed! Clever title and characters came to life in a brilliant way! Amy Harmon is hauntingly beautiful!

We all have favorite authors, and probably for different reasons. But there are those few special authors that the only way to describe their stories is beautiful, and that’s the power of a story by Amy Harmon. I was so excited to read this story because it’s the second historical fiction novel I read by her and I just knew it would be special. I can’t say I’ve read a ton of time travel romance, but as a fan of the TV show Outlander (I know, I should read that but I just won’t), this was the perfect book to hit the spot.

Ms. Harmon manages to craft a story that is full of history and heartache, with romance and family bonds and even a dash of magical realism if you ask me. Because truly, WHAT THE WIND KNOWS is magical.

The heroine accidentally travels back in time to 1920s Ireland while spreading her grandfather’s ashes there at his request. She’s very much the picture of her great grandmother who was then believed dead but nobody had been able to confirm that, so when she pops up in that time she takes on that role and pretends to be her. As she gets to experience history first hand, she also gets to reconnect with her grandfather. The man who raised her and that she just lost, but who is only a little boy. And along the way, she also finds true love.

And oh what a beautiful romance this was. I think this book has everything to satisfy both historical fiction readers and romance readers. And I can’t help but gush about two things. The fact that the way both timelines interconnect and things come full circle time and time again, even when it’s only the heroine who knows it. It was so perfectly crafted. It was those little details that made the small moments even that more special. And then the hero. He’s the quiet and understated type but I fell hard for him. He’s going on my book boyfriend list, even if he may end up being under appreciated.

In the end, everything about this book was beautiful. From the writing, to the setting, the family, the history, the characters, the romance. I was so wrapped up in this world I didn’t want to leave. And yes, I shed many tears. Many, many tears. But I was left with a satisfied smile on my face. It’s definitely my favorite book I read in February and probably my favorite book I’ve read so far this year. As always, I can’t wait for what Ms. Harmon will give us next.

What a wonderful book this was!

A book I felt so at home in and didn’t want to leave. I felt like I’d been transported to 1920s Ireland every time I picked up this book.

I got to about 70%, and although I really needed to find out how it was all going to end, I really didn’t want to leave Anne and Thomas behind. I was reading the last few pages in a cafe, but if I’d been a home I would’ve let out a little cry at the ending as it was quite emotional.

The writing was so beautiful and the characters so real that it was an absolute pleasure to read. I loved that there was a mystery involved in the plot as well, but it wasn’t at the forefront of the story, just bubbling away in the background, only being revealed towards the end.

The historical setting was fascinating as my Dad was from Dublin, and his father, my Granddad, took part in the Easter Rising. This book really gave me a glimpse into what my Grandparents might have gone through and made me want to find out more about my Irish family history.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy historical fiction.

Irish history has always fascinated me so I was really excited to dive into this novel. I’m happy to say that it did not disappoint. The story was engrossing, the characters memorable and the history enlightening. The story was made all the more enjoyable after reading that it was inspired by Harmon’s own family. The time travel aspect reminded me of Outlander and I would highly recommend this to fans of that series. 4.5 stars.

I really enjoyed What the Wind Knows. Only one things kept it from being a five-star rating for me: at times, it read like a textbook. Most of the time, the history seemed alive, but about three-quarters of the way through the book I felt that it became a little too dry and bogged down the story. However, I was glad I kept reading.

Amy Harman is one of my new favorite writers. She appears to be a magician with words. This is one of those books that fans of historical fiction shouldn't miss!

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

I loved this book. I loved reading about the fight for Irish independence. I enjoyed the book & didn’t want it to end!

I really hated to DNF one of Harmon's books because I love most of her novels. But I was about 15% of the way through it and I was honestly a bit bored. I just wasn't enjoying this one.

It's been a few weeks since I read this book and I'm still thinking about it. My mind can't stop thinking about these characters and their story. It was beautiful and very thought provoking. I had actually read another book set during this same moment in history about two weeks before picking up and reading What the Wind Knows. I think that fact helped me enjoy this book even more having a better (or fresh) understanding of what the history was surrounding several of the background characters, the timing and locations.

I love Amy Harmon's writing. Very beautiful. Every time I open one of her books I get sucked into the story completely. Annie, Dr. Smith, Annie's grandfather and many, many more of the secondary characters all felt like dear friends. I cried at different moments. I laughed. I ached. So many emotions all rolled together while reading this book.

The time travel and the wind...I loved how Amy Harmon wove it all together to create this amazing book. And the ending. Yes, I cried again! How could I not? I cried at the beginning too. The characters go through struggles and loss and their sorrow was very palpable. Yet, their joy and love and happiness was also very strong and wrapped around my heart.

This quote just sums everything up perfectly. And I'm sure once you read it you might think, how? But I promise you, it truly does!

"You must read the book, Annie. Promise me you’ll read the book. He loves you so much, and he’s been waiting so long."

All the thoughts that came rushing back to my mind after reading that quote...honestly loved this one. If you're looking for sweet and sappy, that is not this book. But if you're looking for a book with depth, real characters, rich with history, sorrow, heartache, love, loss, restoration, power, this is most definitely that book!

Content: I know many people have different perspectives of what is clean and what is not. I wouldn't label this as squeaky clean but cleanish. There are some swear words scattered throughout. There's violence and fighting and death. There are a couple scenes of intimacy between a couple. So for very conservative readers I don't think I would recommend this for you. I'm usually more on the conservative side and don't prefer to have that in my books, but I do love Amy Harmon's books and will skip over those scenes (not all of her books have that content in them). So pick this up at your own digression.

I received a copy from the publisher, Lake Union Publishing, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!

Such a beautiful story! I usually shy away from time travel stories but was drawn in by the cover. This book was researched beyond any book I’ve read before. As I was reading I kept Googling Ireland in the 20’s and this story was right on. I look forward to following this author, she sure surprised me in keeping me glued to something I normally won’t read

This was my first Amy Harmon read and I am actually finding it hard to write this review. Overall, WHAT THE WIND KNOWS was a beautiful love story but I psyched myself out at the start
and it took me forever to finish it. It had been so long since I read the blurb that I forgot it was a time travel novel. I appreciated the author's note and all the research that
went into the book. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of her books in different genres.

First, I would like to thank NetGalley, Amazon First Reads, and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a free copy of a Kindle version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A tale of time travel in Ireland, “What the Wind Knows” had me rushing through my last read in order to start reading this book. The premise is intriguing; Anne, a wildly successful author, is transported in time from pre-9/11 2001 back to 1921 Ireland. Caught in a challenging situation in which she is believed to be her doppelganger great-great-grandmother, Anne assumes motherhood of her 6-year-old grandfather while receiving medical care under the humble and caring Dr. Thomas Smith.

However.

I was immediately bored upon starting this book. I pushed through, hoping that once the time travel event occurred that the storyline would pick up. Unfortunately, the book just got increasingly more tiresome. I can usually finish a book in one to two sittings, but this book took me three weeks to complete. It did not hold my attention. Marketed as historical fiction, it turns out that this novel is actually literary fiction, so the plot is minimal and the discussion of the political situation in Ireland in 1921 is prominent. This book reads more like a history book than a work of fiction at times. And when we do read from Anne’s point of view, it is accompanying her on shopping trips (I don’t even like clothes shopping for myself so I was miserable reading about Anne trying on various 1920s fashion at the department store).

If the author had held back the exhausting historical discussion, this could have been an AMAZING story. The uneasy chemistry that Dr. Smith and Anne have with each other, as well as the looping time element (Anne does not disrupt the time continuum but finds that her presence in 1921 is actually crucial to the life she knows in 2001), were well-constructed and beautiful ideas. The end of the book was lovely. As I felt after reading “Game of Thrones”, I just wish I could remove 75% of the filler content and re-read the tale with just the juicy bits included.

I believe this book could easily make a great movie because visualizing the situation would be a much better medium than reading an author’s meticulous description of each and every historical detail. I understand that the author incorporated much of her own family history into this tale and that she spent a great deal of time researching for it, but her inclusion of so much of that research detracts from the brilliance of the story.

#netgalley #whatthewindknows

Amy Harmon has a new book out! Sign me up! Amy is one of those buy without knowing authors, as her writing is so lyrical and you are always guaranteed to be swept away. ‘What the Wind Knows’ is a wonderful tale of Ireland during the 1920s.

‘I’d often wondered, absorbed in piles of research, if the magic of history would be lost if we could go back and live it. Did we varnish the past and make heroes of average men and imagine beauty and valor where there was only dirge and desperation? Or like the old man looking back on his youth, remembering only the things he’d seen, did the angle of our gaze sometimes cause us to miss the bigger picture?’

The novel was well researched on so many aspects, everything from the clothing worn, to the political unrest, all adding to its authenticity. There are a number of really interesting aspects to this book: the mythical story of Niamh and Oisin, excerpts from Yeats poems, key moments of the Irish Revolution, cameo’s by Michael Collins’ and his fight for freedom and finally, a timeless love story of Anne and Thomas. Bound to be something for any history lover in this book.

What I did find, however, was the balance was not quite right for me between all these aspects. There is a lot of history in this book and sometimes it is to the detriment of the more personal aspects, such as the love story. I would have preferred to learn more of the story between Anne and Thomas. Amy makes a valiant effort to link the history to the people ie. through the inclusion of Michael Collins, but it does not quite fully gel. I feel like there were two distinct tales - one a history lesson the other a love story. So whilst I appreciate the amount of time and research that went into this book , I really wanted to learn even more about the characters, particularly Eoin who was so central but glossed over as an adult. I admittedly skimmed some parts which is shocking for an Amy Harmon book , yet I needed to be more invested in the personal tales that were being told and not the outright historical recount.

If you have never read an Amy Harmon book, I suggest you do ... and soon. She has an incredible way with words and I will gladly read anything and everything she writes. This book is not one of my more favoured ones of hers, however that being said, I still loved it and would recommend to those who have a particular interest in Irish history. This is a well written tale with the added bonus of a beautiful, historical, time traveling romance.

“Shh,” I soothed. “’Tis just the wind.”
“What story is it trying to tell?” she murmured, her voice rough with spent emotion.
“The wind knows every story.”



This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release

I loved this book it reads almost as an autobiography even though it is fiction. It had me from the first page. Beautifully researched and told. I loved this book. I would recommend this book to fans of historical fiction.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

It took a few chapters for me to become invested in the story. That might be why the first part felt a little drawn out to me. The main female character is fairly soft spoken and maybe a little passive and it took me awhile to sympathize with her. She came into her own more and more as the story progressed and I liked her quite a bit by the end. I also liked the way the story was told, Anne's voice taking turns with Thomas' journals.

I thought the author did a nice job of summarizing the politics and conflicts of the time without letting the book become bogged down with them. Time travel is part of the story, but it doesn't overwhelm it. The book ended just as it should have.

If this were made into a film, it would probably be a PG-13. I think it would be a good movie, come to think of it.

***ARC received in exchange of an honest opinion***

This book is so amazingly written. I didn’t read the blurb (as usual), so I didn’t know what it was about and it took me completely by surprise!

I absolutely loved to see this different side of Amy Harmon. Her talent for writing isn’t surprising at all. Amy’s a genious when it comes to writing books and creating these beautiful, compelling and gripping story.

DNF There are a few things about this that I do love. The journal entries and poetry by Yeats. I wanted to really love this story but found myself questioning more as I kept reading. In complete honesty, I’m not one for time travel and this is how it felt to me more than historical fiction. I also don’t know anything about Ireland in 1920’s which I definitely think makes this a harder read from me. I do think the authors writing is beautiful and effortless. I’m just not engaging.

What an amazing book. I wasn't sure about the historical romance/fantasy aspect of this one...not my normal go-to. But Amy Harmon books have always rocked my world....love them all....and this one was no different.

I learned a lot from reading this book.....you see, it starts in 2001 with Anne caring for her dying Grandfather, Eion. He is her storyteller of times long ago in Ireland and their fight for freedom. Anne was pretty much a loner, her Grandfather held all her love, and she became an author weaving her own tales.

But then, things change and Anne decides to go to Ireland. This is where things got interesting. Not going to say too much to avoid spoilers, but let's just say I was entranced by this entire story. And there is so much truth to it.

I am amazed at the research done by Ms. Harmon and found myself googling names and enamored with the pictures of some of the true life people in this book. Connecting faces to the names was an incredible thing. And like I said, I learned a lot, not just from the book, but also from my own personal research after reading it. I hate to admit I was totally clueless of the entire Irish history.(Sorry). I was completely impressed and a little bit smitten with Michael Collins, a real life advocate for Irish freedom.

Highly recommend you read this book. It will take you to a different place and time.

THANK YOU AMY HARMON!! LOVED IT!

Had I responded to "time-travel" and "fantasy" as I generally do and taken a pass on What the Wind Knows, I would have missed this wonderfully delightful story. It is told so thoughtfully and intimately that it reads as autobiographical. The author's understanding and familiarity with the characters is uncanny, giving the reader pause to ponder how on Earth she could know all that. Did she really know these people?

What the Wind Knows is written in alternating voices, that of Thomas Smith and Anne Gallagher, a man of Ireland in the early 1900's and a woman of the United States in the late 1900's. Thomas's story is written in the form of journals that he kept for most of his life. Anne's story follows, filling in and completing Thomas's point of view. Together they tell the story of the Irish Revolution (and of Ireland); of the weak and of the strong in that conflict; and of their own improbable but compelling love. Their accounts are skillfully bound together with quotes from Yeats, quotes that foreshadow and even explain the coming events.

I'm going to refrain from telling the story, hoping that you see enough here to encourage you to read it. Occasionally, and unintentionally, the reviews are spoilers. What the Wind Knows is one of the best books that I have read in quite some time. I thought of the characters between readings, completely caught up in their lives, and again for days after finishing the book.
Treat yourself to a wonderful read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher.