This book is definitely one based around history that you felt like you were living it as you read it. It was beautiful, tense, dramatic all at the same time. I do especially love dual timeline books. This book will stay with me for awhile.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

We start this compelling read on November 9, 1989 in East Berlin. Annie and her daughter Emma are in their apartment, Annie sleeping and Emma watching tv. Emma wakes up Annie and says "Mama, You've got to see this." The news station is covering the fall of the Berlin wall. Emma turns the channel to a West channel to see what they are saying. Annie hears a voice that she could never forgot and watches journalist that Annie is sure is a man that she last saw 46 years ago. Emma leaves to go and take a look at what is happening leaving Annie behind. Annie flashes back to the last time she saw "Werner" who she believes is the journalist she saw on the West channel. 46 years ago Annie and Werner were childhood friends that were now moving on to being drawn to each other. It is now 1944 and the setting is Prussia and Werner must leave to report for duty. Annie is dismayed that she may never see Werner again. Werner shows up on his last night and Annie sneaks out to meet him. They go to the barn for privacy and in the moment lose themselves and become intimate. Werner leaves the next morning and Annie does not go to the station to say goodbye. Weeks and months pass and Annie hears nothing from Werner. In the meantime the Annie and her family are told to leave their farm and to travel east. At this time Annie is shocked to find that she is pregnant. The story follows Annie's and Werner's separate paths thru the end of the war. up until the fall of the Berlin war. I felt the emotions the both went thru and felt sad at the horrible times that they had to endure. This is a must read book. Thank you Netgalley and Annette Oppenlander for a great read.

I was given an ARC by the publisher.
This book was magic. The pace, story, writing and characters were amazing. There were times I was confused but it wasn't poor writing but clever. I highly recommend to any WW2 lovers as it's a different take on a familiar tale

The Scent of a Storm: A World War II Story about Love, Courage and Survival
by Annette Oppenlander

Synopsis:
"Eastern Prussia, 1944: Young lovers Annie and Werner are separated from each other when he is drafted into Hitler’s Volkssturm. While the SS orders Werner to remove the dead bodies of frozen refugees from Königsberg’s streets, Annie discovers she is pregnant. As she urgently awaits Werner’s return, rumors of the advancing Red Army mount and with it, alarming reports of what they do to women. Running for their lives, Annie and her mother embark on a life-threatening journey west. Even before they can escape by boat, Annie makes a horrifying mistake, one that will haunt her forever. Werner, arrested and imprisoned in a Russian gulag, manages to escape after four months of cruelty and returns home. But his and Annie’s farms lie abandoned—the love of his life and his own family have vanished…

East Berlin, 1989: On the evening of November 9, when the borders between East and West Berlin open for the first time in nearly thirty years—a day which ultimately heralds Germany’s reunification—Annie watches a correspondent on West TV who reminds her of her childhood sweetheart Werner, the man she has thought dead for 45 years. Together with her daughter Emma, Annie sets out on a search."

Review:
World War II told by Germans.

Never-giving-up is the theme of this book! Annie and Werner, childhood sweethearts, are separated during the War. When the Berlin Wall comes down 45 years later, Annie quickly catches a glimpse of a TV newscaster reporting on the momentous events. Can it really be her long-lost love, Werner? A beautiful story with well-developed characters. Keep in mind that not all Germans were Nazis.

"Hitler told everyone that he'd create a Great Germany. He's done the opposite - destroyed everything and everyone. By starting wars with 35 countries, Hitler bled out the German people."

I was gifted this advance copy by NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Annette Oppenlander writes a touching, well-researched historical fiction story. It is a World War II story of the two German youth who find each other in a first love just before the Russian invade Nazi Germany. It is a realistic story of ordinary people whose lives were upended and forever changed by Hitler's Army that took the men of the community and later the young boys to fight a sad and soulless war. It is also the story of the Russian taking of parts of Germany after the Natzi surrender and the oppressive regime that divided Germany and Berlin post World War II. The story traverses the two time periods, one of war and loss the other of the ending of the divide between Germany and how the lives of ordinary people were affected by the oppression. Love and life find a way to survive from the horrors of war but people are forever changed by the awful tragedies they endured. Will Annie and Werner find peace with the past and the future? Read this inspirational book to find out. The plot is realistic, the characters human; likable, and flawed. This is the first of Annette Oppenlander's books that I have read but it won't be my last. This book put her on my favorite author's list. Thanks to #TheScentofaStorm#NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this touching book.

Flee to Survive

The everyday German people, especially those that did not agree with Hitler, had a tough time during the war. It was a bit easier on those in a small village living on a farm. They still noticed the war but not so much as they had food from their farms and gardens. When the Russians came they were forced to flee their land and lost everything, property, belongings and even family. They were forced to flee for their lives.

Anna and Werner were friends as they lived on farms next to each other and grew up together. As they became teens they noticed each other more, and the night before Werner had to leave to dig trenches for the army they spent the night together in the barn. Next day Werner was gone to the front.

Anna and her family stayed as long as they could but finally they had to flee to escape the Russians. Anna was sixteen and found out she was expecting Werner's child before they left. They left with Anna, her mother, her grandmother and her grandmother's friend.

After Hitler died in his bunker and the war was lost to Germany the Russians rounded up the German soldiers and put them in POW camps. Werner was in a POW camp, but he escaped with his friend and fled to the south to escape the Russians.

This story is that of both Werner and Anna and their perilous and tragic travels to a safer place to escape the Russian Army. It is very sad at times, but it shows the resourcefulness and the determination to survive. As they survive and travel they hunt for each other.

This was a wonderful survival story and a story of a part of history that I have not read much about. We hear about the Holocaust and the Nazi abuses of people, I have not read much about the Russians and how horribly they mistreated the people in the countries they trod through as they defeated the German Army. It was historical , informative and even more so that it was based on true events.

I loved the characters and the descriptions of the people, the battles and the refugees as they traveled to safety. The book kept me reading until the end and I did love the ending, it was a perfect ending to the book. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thanks to Annette Oppenlander, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy for my honest review.

The Scent of a Storm is a beautifully written novel about love, relationships, and the struggle to survive World War II. Annette Oppenlander does a wonderful job weaving words together into a poignant story that I could not put down and finished in one sitting. The story goes between Eastern Prussia in 1944 and East Berlin in 1989. Lovers Annie and Werner are separated from each other when he is drafted into Hitler’s Volkssturm. While the SS orders Werner to remove the dead bodies of frozen refugees from Königsberg’s streets, Annie discovers she is pregnant. As she urgently awaits Werner’s return, rumors of the advancing Red Army mount and with it, alarming reports of what they do to women. Running for their lives, Annie and her mother embark on a life-threatening journey west. Werner, arrested and imprisoned in a Russian gulag, manages to escape after four months of cruelty and returns home. But his and Annie’s farms lie abandoned—the love of his life and his own family have vanished… On the evening of November 9, 1989, when the borders between East and West Berlin open for the first time in nearly thirty years—a day which ultimately heralds Germany’s reunification—Annie watches a correspondent on West TV who reminds her of her childhood sweetheart Werner, the man she has thought dead for 45 years. Together with her daughter Emma, Annie sets out on a search.