An excellent historical fiction! I loved the characters and the relationships they developed throughout the story.

This book has potential, but, unfortunately, I had to DNF. The beginning was incredibly disjointed and confusing. Perhaps, I can pick this back up and push through at another time.

Rambling and disconnected. There were too many characters in the story with a very thin story line. It should have been kept a bit more simplified I love World War II Historical Fiction but this book was disappointing to me. I did not care for the passive narration of the story, the numerous characters and numerous places. The story seemed to jump from one time line and place to another one which was very confusing. The characters seemed very superficial and I really could not pick a favorite. I think the author did do a very good job researching this book. As mentioned the passive narration through the whole book and the abundance of characters made it really difficult to get involved with the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable yet quite a slow moving read. Natalia was a very likeable character, one that world work really well as the lead protagonist in a movie. The story line was good but a lot was going on and there were quite a few characters, some of which I didn't feel were entirely necessary at times. The horrors of World War two featured again and showed some of the injustices forced upon the innocent. It was an interesting read but I thought a little more depth would have benefitted the story in parts.

This was a netgalley book I was given for an honest review. I had trouble with this. It seems jumpy and the story was choppy in bits. I only made it about 20% in but I just didn't feel like I had the time or energy to invest in this plot. Perhaps another time I would have rated it better.

I was so looking forward to this book as a big historical fiction fan especially of WW2. While, the general story was fine the style of the book fell way short for me. The passive narrator was like reading a history book of facts. This narration style in addition to the excessive amount of characters, details and places was a miss for me. I found it hard to connect to Natalia and her story.

I wanted to love this book, but I couldn’t get into it. It seemed very disjointed and confusing to follow all the different characters and storylines. I love historical writings (not fiction and non) but it didn’t capture my attention. I ultimately stopped reading the book about 30% of the way through. I might pick it up again later to try it again.

DNF at 11%

It probably is just not the read for me at the moment. I was confused by the beginning. There's a lot of characters, a lot of places, and I just struggled with keeping up. DNFing since it's not likely that I will pick this up any time soon, mainly because of interest.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this book and will recommend it to readers interested in literary fiction and those eager to read about the years leading up to WWII in eastern Europe. I especially appreciated the descriptions of the countries' histories over this time, and the images of the landscapes through which Natalia and the other characters traveled. For my own preferences, I found the storyline overly disconnected and slowly paced.

I could not complete it because I got bored after few chapters into this book. Didn't work well for my taste.
Apologies !!

What is happening? ...

I switching of characters is just too much for me right now.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book - I was super interested because Prague is my favorite European city!

This book was a disappointment. So far the historical fiction novels I've read had me hooked. So I picked this one.

This book had me frustrated. New characters just kept on piling and after the book's second part began I just lost track of the characters and my patience.

The writing was simple but the story happened at a pace that felt like watching a movie on fast forward. I liked Natalia but the other characters seemed superficial.

I wouldn't recommend this book for historical fiction fans.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of the book.

Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy historical fiction and this was an interesting idea for a story .
I like the authors writing style and the first few chapters really gained my interest.

However at times I found it hard to keep up with the character swooping.

*** I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***

After finishing Midnight Train to Prague, I'm not sure how I feel about it. At times I had little interest in finishing it, but it did improve as the story continued. I think the writing style makes it hard to connect to the story for the reader. There are several page-long paragraphs and several times the author jumped between characters/locations that made me stop and think about what exactly I was reading. At some points it's almost as if the book goes off on a long tangent and I was left wondering how this related to the storyline. Overall, this is a story of war, family, and survival. It is mainly the stories of two girls Natalia and Anna prior to and during WWII. This is the first novel by Carol Windley that I've read and I'm not sure I'd rush to read any more.

*This book has been kindly given to me pre-publication via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.* I love historical fiction and was really looking forward to this read. WWII is always an interesting time to read about and I found the idea behind this book intriguing but unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I was engaged for the first few chapters and then suddenly felt lost with the amount of characters, leaving the storyline hard to follow.

Historical fiction at its core, Windley sweeps us away on the journey to Hungary. Natalia is the protagonist who is guiding us through the 1920s and WWII. It's beautifully written, and I was intrigued by the whole book. At times, I didn't understand where the story was going, but Windley brings it all together with the end. Fans of history, particularly WWII, will find this book appealing and beautiful.

I had a hard time getting through this one, but any fan of history is sure to find this worth the read. Slow, but full of detail and interesting facts. I loved the hint of romance and found myself wishing there was more. 3/5.

This was not what I expected, I love historical fiction but the way the book was written had me questioning what I was reading. It gave me no room to think for myself on what may happen.

I usually love historical fiction, but I admit that I had a hard time getting into this book. The first half of the book felt slow and passive with not enough dialogue. It was interesting to read about the time period from a different point of view, but this book was too slow for me. I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Midnight to Prague follows Natalia Fabor from after World War I, through World War II and after the war. We meet Natalia as a teenager taking the train to Prague with her mother where she discovers the real story of her father and meets characters that will impact her life later on. Her mother lives her own life traveling about and many times just leaves Natalia to find her own way. She meets a whole cast of colorful characters, marries, endures World War II without her husband, gets sent to a concentration camp and carves out a life for herself after the war. The novel was hard to follow as the story would shift to other characters along the way. The last half of the book was much easier to follow. I don’t think the author developed Natalia as a complex character – things just happened to her. The main story line was compelling but the pace at times was too slow with lots of detail that wasn’t needed. The novel would appeal to those interested in WWII historical fictions especially those interested in Czechoslovakia, Germany & Hungary. Thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic/Grove for the opportunity to read and give an honest review.