I wanted to like it, but all those info dumps here and there made it really hard to do so.
The characters were okay but nothing interesting or memorable.

Yalllll...I love historical fiction! And I love ALL of Gemma's novels!

Except this one 😏

I'm not sure why it wasn't clicking for me, but it was very frustrating as I was looking forward to the release of this title. So much so, in fact, that when I saw the ARC available over on Netgalley, I squealed a little bit and one clicked that Request button so fast! So it pains me to review that it was a little more than lackluster, at best, at least for me anyway. The pace was entirely too slow, the family drama was overwhelming to the point of distraction, and the the character narratives...those were especially irritating for me, simply because the voice would switch and I wouldn't know a different person was talking till 1, sometimes 2 whole paragraphs of dialogue later. Then I'd go back and read it "correctly", or in the correct context, and it would make SO much more sense. Im not sure why the writing was done this way, but I didn't deal with any such nonsense in the author's other works (all outstanding, btw)

I'm pretty sure this was just a fluke and Gemma will be back on her game in no time, ill gladly be picking up her next novel and await its arrival with bated breaths

Thanks Netgalley for giving me the PDF so that I can share my thoughts and opinions with y'all 💛

I’m not entirely sure why this book just didn’t work for me. It did have an interesting plot with several big events, but it still managed to feel very slow. A lot of aspects including the family drama and the setting reminded me a lot of Howard’s End, which is another book that I feel has a very intriguing story, just a very slow and drawn out way of telling it. This book wasn’t bad at all, but it just wasn’t for me.

The story starts in 1922, Rudy lives in England and work for a newspaper one of his brother Edgar went missing in
France during World war 1 and the other one Laurence came back from the war. Rudy was closer to Edgar and miss him so does his mother who struggle with headaches...
One day Mariette and a little boy called Samuel come to their house. Mariette pretends to be Edgar's wife and that Samuel is their son. They find it hard to believe it because Edgar had never wrote to them about this relationship or said he intend to marry while in France. So Rudy is going to start his research to find the truth with the help of a lawyer and then his research will take him in France... This journey will lead him to the truth and he will found out how much his brother and other soldiers suffered during the war and how people's lives were destroyed. Rudy will fight to honor his brother and make the right decisions.
It was a good read, intriguing, once you start it you really want to know the end.

I received a copy of this book and this is an honest review.

I did enjoy this novel, however, my pet hate is when authors do not make it clear in the chapter when they have changed characters and that I have to find out through reading the chapter, where at first, I am confused by the switch in narrative.
The storyline was good.

England 1922, Rudy receives word from his mother she wants him to return immediately from London to the family estate Lakeland Manor, he’s very worried as his mother hasn’t been coping well with the loss of her husband and her older son Edgar during WW I. A strange French woman Mariette, has just turned up on his mothers doorstep, clamming to his late brothers Edgar’s wife and with her she has her four year old son Samuel and Edgar is his father? Edgar has always been his mother’s favorite son, he was listed as missing in action in 1918, four years after the war ended they still have no idea what happened to him and now this. Peggy the family’s maid puts his mother to bed and Mariette and Samuel stay and Rudy tries to work out what’s going on.

Of course the family has their doubts, the war has been over for four years, why did Mariette wait so long to contact them and she informs them she had to save money for the trip? She has a marriage certificate, a photo of Edgar and no one can confirm her story, it’s all rather vague and parts of it don’t add up.

If it’s true, if Mariette did marry Edgar, it will change things for the entire family, as Samuel would inherit Lakeland and not Laurence. Laurence is the middle son, he’s inherited an estate with problems as his father had been living beyond his means, they’re still sorting out his debts and the family had no idea about this until his death. Samuel's existence threatening his claim to the family inheritance doesn’t sit well with Lawrence, he’s not happy and he’s also not a nice person. Mariette disappears along with most of his mother’s jewelry, Edgar is concerned for her safety and he’s worried that Laurence may have done something to get rid of her and why did she leave Samuel behind?

Rudy decides to retrace Mariette’s trip, he decides to travel to France and find her, he’s determined to also find out what happened to his brother and solve both mysteries. He’s shocked when he arrives in France, the damage and destruction to property and its people is more than he could ever have imagined.
I must admit this wasn’t my favorite book by Gemma Liviero the story does pick up when Rudy arrives in France, you learn more about each character in the story, it has many interesting layers and as you discover more about, Edgar, Mariette and Rudy.

Rudy has always looked up to his older brother Edgar, now he thinks his brother may still be alive, a deserter and why hasn’t he come home? In A Field of Blue it highlights the lasting effects and horror of what soldiers endured during WW I. The story is also about hidden secrets, family’s expectations, duty and forbidden love. I gave the book four stars; I have shared my review on Goodreads, Australian Amazon, Twitter and my blog.

This book starts out amazing and then bam!! Turns out to be one of the best historical fiction books of the year!! I've always loved Gemma's books -- but this one is by far my favorite!! Love the cover - love the ending!!

This is a WWW I story with multiple protagonists, and the author has you rooting for all but the bad guy. The characters are well-drawn, but I found the plot contrived and there were parts that just seemed to drone on and on. I would truly rate it 3.5 for these reasons

This book was sooooo good. Set in the aftermath of World War I, the action begins when an exotic young woman shows up at an English estate with a young boy in tow. She claims to be the wife of the eldest son, who went missing during the war and is presumed dead. If her claim is legit, her young son should inherit the estate. The third son falls in love with her, and the second son is none too happy about the situation.

And this is only the set-up! The action soon takes us to France immediately after World War I, as the third son, Rudy, seeks to find out if Mariette's claims are true. The narrative switches to that of the young widow, as she fills in the blanks and tells us what really happened. A couple of other unexpected narrators later step in to fill in more blanks in the story, taking the reader to yet another unexpected destination. The ending is satisfying and doesn't wrap up the story until the very last page.

This is one of those books you can't put down. It's also a long book that will provide you with lots of reading time. Highly recommended! It would make a great television series.

I am a big fan of historical fiction, but I just couldn’t get into this one. This seemed more like a dysfunctional family drama, just set in another time, than it did historical fiction. I also did not like the characters, as they weren’t well-developed, so I never felt invested in their storylines.

Either way, thank you to Lake Union Publishing for the e-ARC!

Following WWI, a young man must try to determine whether the woman claiming to be the wife of his presumed-dead brother is who she says she is. Things are complicated by the fact that she has a child, who she claims is the brother's, the fact that the young man's older brother is threatened in terms of inheritance by this child, that the mother of the man and his brother is unable to take any kind of action, and that the young man is falling in love with the woman. We get the story from the young man, up to a point, and then from the woman, which dispels all mystery. This form means that the book peaks early, and finishes weakly with a lot of plodding narration that confirms much of what readers will suspect early on.

I’ve read so many WWI books so I was really excited to read this. However when I sat down to read it, I couldn’t get into. To me, it was dull and didn’t move. I will try to again to read it but it just didn’t do anything from me.

This is a great historical novel set during WWl. I Love this book because of the amazing detail. The characters are believable and the horrible war going on around them is written in such a descriptive way I could almost hear the guns and bombings. The horrible things that war causes in these families will test at your heart strings. This is one of the best books of historical fiction I have read in a very long time. I highly recommend it!

Thanks to Net Galley for allowing me to read this amazing book!

This can’t be. I have been waiting impatiently to read In a Field of Blue for months. Why? Because Gemma Liviero is one of my all time favorite authors. The Road to Ruin was one of my top five favorite books and I also loved Pastel Orphans and Broken Angels. I still am having a hard time believing that I just could not connect with this book. The first almost 800 pages are soooooo painfully slow. The lingering question is who is Mariette and Samuel? At page 500 I just didn’t care anymore but I kept reading because Gemma Liviero wrote this book. At page 800 I went to the Epilogue and read that and then I went back and and used the search key on my e-reader to find out who a few of the other characters were and now I know who Mariette and Samuel were! I guess I did care a little.

The story is about three brothers, who are totally different, and their mother and of course we can’t forget it is also about Mariette and Samuel. It takes place after WWI in England. There is a section told by each of the three brothers. There are many four and five star reviews on this book. I encourage you to read this book, just because it was too slow for me, doesn’t mean you won’t like it, If you have read it or decide to read it please leave me a note telling me what you thought. I will not give up on Gemma Liviero. I loved 3 out of the 4 books I have read by her and I will impatiently wait for her next novel! Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great piece of historical fiction that takes place during World War I, which was unique, as most books focus on World War II. I loved how the author focused on familial relationships versus just writing a romance. I feel as if the relationships between family members is just as important as romantic relationships and war definitely would impact them, as well. I highly recommend this!