This book alternates between Captain Rostron of the Carpathia, and Kate, a third class passenger on the Titanic. After receiving a distress call, Captain Rostron speeds towards the Titanic, while his crew prepares for the worst. Onboard the Titanic, Kate and her friends are told that nothing is wrong and that they should remain calm. Once she realizes that water is creeping through her third class berth, Kate fights her way to second class, and onto a lifeboat.

This was a fast paced and captivating novel. I really enjoyed reading about the Carpathia and the rescue attempts. I'm not sure I have seen anything else from this point of view. Well written, I could not put this book down. Highly recommended!

As someone who is interested in all things Titanic, I knew I had to read this as soon as I read the description on NetGalley. The story is told from two points of view, a group of young women heading to New York in third class aboard the Titanic & Arthur Rostron, Captain of the Carpathia.

I enjoyed reading the story of Rostron and his crew as they selflessly risked their own ship to respond to the distress calls of the Titanic. I knew the Carpathia was the only ship to respond, but I didn’t know how risky it was or how close they were to missing the call. What a miracle!

I wish Connolly had given more of a backstory into the characters on the Titanic. I found that I didn’t connect to them as much as I would have liked to. The writing wasn’t very detailed which made for a quick read, but also caused me to take off a star.

Overall, I give this book 4 stars out of 5. It was an interesting, quick read. Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for providing me with an advanced copy to read and review.

DNF. The writing is too simplistic, not nearly gritty enough to set a scene or give a sense of foreboding. I love maritime stories, especially tragic ones, and I could just not get into this one. Bummer.

A powerful look into two different perspectives of the sinking of the Titanic - one from a survivor, Kate Connolly of Lifeboat 13, and one from the captain of the Carpathia, Arthur Rostron.

**Thanks to the NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this title in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres and, like many people, I have a fascination with the story of the Titanic so this title jumped out at me. I also helped that the cover was beautiful and I am definitely a sucker for a pretty cover.

The storyline is split between 2 main characters; a passenger in Titanic's steerage section and the Captain of the Carpathia (the ship which came to the aid of the survivors). You get to know both of these characters a little before the disaster happens (spoiler - the Titanic sinks) and then you're thrown headlong into the race for survival.

We all know the story well enough - there weren't enough lifeboats on the Titanic and those that were launched into the water saved only a fraction of those who were on board with over a thousand of the passengers drowining or freezing to death in the water.

This came across as well-researched book, many of the characters were based on real people, and the author had clearly worked hard to make sure they were represented as fairly as possible. I was particularly struck by the cruel irony of 2 passengers having the same name and the wrong family being informed of her survival.

I was not sure what to expect with this book. I,like so many, have always found the Titanic intriguing a story, but I really haven't read too much about it.
I loved the direction this took, following the Carpathia and it's crew, along with some of the survivors. They came to life as the story progressed. We could feel their pain and their sorrow, along with how hard some of the decisions were they had to make.
This was well written, as I would expect from this author. The research involved has to be extensive.
This is a worthy read! Well done!

This book honors its premise by showcasing the experiences of both the Titanic and the Carpathia's crews the night of the sinking through the personal perspective of two different characters. While historically accurate, I did at times find the presentation a bit lackluster and dry. The prose is serviceable where I would have enjoyed a lot more description. As a result, I did not ultimately find myself as immersed in the story as I would have liked.

So good! I have been obsessed with the titanic forever and learned something new despite my many years of research on my own. That’s how you you know it’s a good historical fiction novel. No romance in this one but I still found myself really enjoying it.

This was a very good book, told largely from the perspective of the Captain of the Carpathia, the only ship that responded to the emergency calls of the Titanic. Captain Rostron of the Carpathia literally pushes his ship to the limits, getting as much speed as possible to reach the Titanic in time. We also hear from a fictional person in steerage on the Titanic, Kate Connolly, a young girl from Ireland on he way to America to meet up with her sister and eventually, she hopes, a job. The sinking of the Titanic happens very quickly, Kate and a few other girls she had made friends with make it up the the boat deck with the help of a fellow they had met earlier, his fate was unknown. Kate and her friends make it into a lifeboat (number 13) with an almost full load of passengers and manage to make it away from the Titanic as it sinks. Captain Rostron is not only pushing his ship for speed, he's dodging icebergs by directing the person steering the ship to steer right or left, managing to miss all of them, a miraculous feat. The Carpathia eventually arrives at the coordinates where the Titanic should be but discovers only lifeboats and bodies of those that did not make it into a lifeboat. He gets all the survivors on board, even though his ship already has maximum passengers on board. The survivors are put up in any space that can be found, including the Captain's room. This was a quick read, I learned a lot about the Carpathia and her role in the disaster, although the Titanic is still the more famous ship. I would recommend. Thank you to Netgalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the ARC.

Having been fascinated with the Titanic for years (long before the 1997 movie came out), I’m always interested in reading books related to the topic.

This historical fiction novel focuses on the aftermath of the sinking and the crew of the Carpathia, the ship that rescued the survivors.

While the story presented a different angle, I felt the book fell short on character development. For example, we are just intrigued to a group of women travelling to New York in steerage. No sooner do we meet them then the ship has sunk. It’s hard to care much for the characters if you aren’t given a chance to know them.

The pacing of the story is quite fast, so it’s a quick read, I just felt it came at the expense of a more literary, if you will, quality. I did still like the book though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for letting me read this book ahead of time. I loved it! No one thinks about what the Carpathia went through to get to the Titanic. This book gives us an idea of what went on and what they went through. I thought it was a wonderful story based on facts.

I was given an ARC by the publisher for an honest review.
I absolutely love reading and this book was one of those 'can't put down' types. I was absolutely enthralled. After attempting a few duds, it was such a relief and so pleasurable to read something well written, with a good pace, a clear storyline. I learnt a lot about Titanic, even through the lens of historical fiction, but no doubt telling an amazing perspective of the well-known story. Will definitely be following this author!!

This book was a very insightful and interesting historical novel. It gave you a good perspective of the Titanic as well as the rescue ship Carpathia.
I loved how it went back and forth between the passengers on the Titanic and the heroic efforts of the crew on the Carpathia.
The characters were well developed especially Captain Rostron. I loved hearing how the passengers on the Carpathia helped meet the needs of the titanic survivors.
The plot held my interest and had no boring, slow spots. I also loved the bit at the end where the author gave brief bios of some of the characters.
This is a book I would recommend to everyone men, teens, etc. since it was clean, fascinating and well written.

A truly phenomenal book!
We all think we know the story of the Titanic but this book makes it so much more real and compelling bringing out details forgotten in the past. Rebecca Connolly makes the characters come alive as they face the harsh realities life sometimes dishes out. Catherine or Kate is from County Caven, Ireland on her way to America and a new future traveling on the Titanic with friends. Even in steerage the ship is amazing. It was full of excited, happy people heading for an adventure if not a new life. Arthur Rostron was Captain of the Carpathia, another cruise ship heading from the United States to stops in Europe with a full load of passengers. The Carpathia was not as elegant as the Titanic but it was beautiful in its own right and had a good, experienced crew. No one knew what the future would hold and only by chance did the sailor in the radio room get the distress call from the Titanic, the ship that was unsinkable. Thus begins the saga of a moment marked by both tragedy and extreme bravery and efforts in the face of harrowing circumstances. The characters and their emotions are so real and intense I found myself both smiling and crying at different times. If you are concerned that this could be too much intensity, please know that Connolly does a masterful job of handling the situations in such a way that they are not overwhelming. I highly recommend this book. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy. This is my review and all thoughts are my own.

A great novel regarding the rescue of the Titantic survivors. This is a little known story of the brave captain and crew who risked their safety to perform the rescue. The characters are well developed and the story line is gripping and inspirational. A must read!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow! I’ve always been fascinated by the story of the Titanic but this novel awakened a whole new level of fascination. While the Titanic movie mostly focuses on everything leading up to the sinking of the Titanic, this novel focuses on the dramatic and heroic rescue operation by the crew of the Carpathia, lead by Captain Arthur Rostron. Arthur has the daunting task of responding to the distress call and orchestrating a rescue of epic scale in the frigid waters of the northern Atlantic. Be prepared to be amazed!
This book checked so many boxes for me!
✔️historical fiction
✔️heroic tale
✔️emotional journey
✔️loveable characters
✔️dramatic
✔️page turner
I finished this book with a serious love and respect for all of the crew members who attended to the survivors on that fateful day. This book would make the most epic sequel to the movie, the Titanic, and I can only hope that @paramountpics and @jamescameronofficial take on the challenge.

P.S. My most favourite part of the book were the quotes, at the beginning of each chapter, from Captain Arthur Rostron and the survivors.
Well researched and well done @author.rebecca.connolly 🙏🏻 Thank you to @netgalley and @shadowmountainpub for providing me with this lovely eARC.
#bookstagram #canadianbookstagram #abrilliantnightofstarsandice #thetitanic #netgalley #shadowmountainpublishing #titanic

I loved this book. Admittedly, I have been fascinated by the Titanic since we did a unit study on it and ocean exploration in 3rd grade. However, in all the time I researched it, the Carpathia was just mentioned as the ship that picked up the survivors. This historical fiction novel dives into the lives of those on the savior ship. Captain Rostron pushed his ship to its limits. I never even thought about the bravery behind the act of responding, and all that came along with the rescue. The plight of steerage passengers gets explored and honored. All in all Connolly beautifully weaves a story that amazes and engages readers from beginning to end. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. I truly loved every bit of this one.

I have mixed opinions about this book. I should start by saying I’m a long time maritime history buff, which has included a ton of Titanic history. I was honestly more excited to see someone take on a story centered in large part around Arthur Rostron and the Carpathia.

Ultimately, I wish we got more depth to the Titanic characters. We hardly knew them before the ship hit the iceberg, so I wasn’t as emotionally invested in their stories. There wasn’t an enormous amount of backstory of the Carpathia crew and passengers either, but this didn’t seem as bad because we’ve really never had any historical fiction book where they’ve even been included as characters. I liked the true historical details added in, such as Carlos Hurd getting the story of a lifetime as a reporter who was a passenger on the Carpathia.

The overall historical picture presented was fairly accurate, but I noticed some glaringly obvious small inaccuracies. For example, during Captain Rostron’s testimony during the senate inquiry, he most definitely never referred to the Titanic as unsinkable, I doubt a captain ever would. The true senate inquiry actually reads like it’s own fiction. There’s also no evidence boat 13 pulled a survivor out of the water. I doubt little things like this will bother the average reader and I’m willing to overlook it a bit because it’s fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I first began this novel, I expected yet another ‘Titanic’ story, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Vividly compelling from the first page, the author pulls us into life aboard Carpathia, en-route to Europe from America. Understandably the world continues to be fascinated by one of history’s worst maritime disasters, and most know rough details of what happened that night, but Connolly has brought us a very human story of courage and determination by Carpathia’s crew, especially its radio operator, without whom the message from Titanic would not have been heard. The fact that it was is nothing short of a miracle, and it was a night full of miracles woven into a tapestry of heartbreak.
Encompassing the magnitude of the tragedy without ever resorting to overdramatisation, Connolly’s copious research goes far beyond the actual events and into the mind and heart of Carpathia’s Captain Rostron, who was, not just a natural-born sailor, but a true gentleman in every sense of the word, who did everything he could to protect his passengers from the worst of media attention. This is fact-based fiction which will appeal to readers who enjoy a well-known story with a different twist. A deeply moving account which I can highly recommend and won’t easily forget.

A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice by Rebecca Connolly is a great historical fiction that highlights the Carpathia’s involvement with the aftermath of the downfall of the infamous Titanic.

I really have always been drawn to anything associated with the Titanic. I also have researched quite a bit into the rescue and post-rescue aspects, so I have knowledge of the Carpathia and its involvement. Of course I was drawn to this historical fiction that alternates between the point of view between Captain Arthur Rostron of the Carpathia and a fictional third-class passenger, Kate Connolly, on the Titanic. Being able to read this tragedy and the subsequent rescue effort. Seeing the events unfold from such diverse viewpoints and from literal opposite ends of the spectrum, was a wonderful compare and contrast of the sinking.

The author does a fabulous job creating a narrative that is emotional, jarring, suspenseful, and fresh/new despite knowing what is to happen. The concept of addressing this infamous and devastating loss from these new angles and arranging it in such an addictive, haunting, and harrowing way makes for a wonderful read. I devoured it as fast as I possibly could.

Wonderful.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Shadow Mountain Publishing for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately (as of 11/20/21 no BB listing has been created and link will be updated when it is available) and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 4/5/22.