Grab tissues. Then grab some more tissues. My heart ached. My heart bled. Tears fell. I will never be able to understand the atrocities that the Jewish people experiences during WW2. I will never comprehend what others risked to help the Jewish people. Thanks to books like this one, I get a glimpse into their struggles, their strength. Anything less than extreme respect for all those that fell victim to the Germans is not enough.

The author takes the reader into the Jewish ghettos. The descriptions of the living conditions brought tears. The author put to words things I had never understood. I swear I could smell the sewage, the sweat. My stomach ached. My heart broke. I honestly had to take breaks while reading. Doctor's Daughter was not an easy read, but it is a necessary read.

The author introduces us to Issac and his family as a means of illustrating life for the Jewish people during WW2 Poland. The struggles of Issac's family had me bawling. Issac's father used to be an accountant before being forced into the ghetto. Now he spends his days wheeling and dealing, trying to help others until there is nothing left. An accountant becomes a warrior. The family is just trying to survive, hiding from the nazis. Until they can't.

Not all Jews ended up in the ghettos. Sofia and her mother, Lena, are considered "Privileged Jews" by the powers that be. Her father is a German and more importantly to the Nazis, not a Jew. They needed his expertise as a Doctor to train others. He will do anything to save his family, even it they can't stand what he is doing. Soon prisoners of Auschwitz will be brought to work their farm.

Sofia and Lena are forced to see the struggles of their fellow Jews. The author taught me a lot about the Nazis turning the Jewish people into slaves. The treatment was atrocious. Sofia and Lena are soon trying to help, trying to figure out ways to save them. Little did they know the doctor had the same thoughts.

I have to thank the author for teaching what my school books failed to teach. I have a better understanding of the horrors of WW2. We all need to read more about the past so we don't repeat the atrocities of our ancestors. The horrors can't be repeated.

like always I want to a huge thank you to the publisher Bookouture , the author Shari J. Ryan and to the wonderful ladies of the Bookouture Anonymous Facebook group without them and their hard work and efforts I wouldn't knew about these books and to NetGalley for the invite to join this blog tour as well as letting me read and review it.Like I said in the comment up above this is the second time this month I've read anything by this author and this story broke my heart from the very start to the point I had to put it down for a while because I could feel the tears coming on. The characters was easy to love some more so easier then others , and I loved how you got to knew each of the characters because of how the author wrote their stories . The one character I didn't like was the main one Sofia because she didn't appreciate what her father has done to keep her and her mother safe from the Nazi. And those was the times I want to shake her and make her see that her father who loved them both was playing a dangerous game to keep them safe. Overall her father was one of my favorite characters as was a young prisoner and his sister, so yes this is a must read .

I will be honest, I couldn't really get into this book. The characters were hard to follow and I felt myself getting irritated at the characters and their development more than anything.

Sofia and her mother, Lena, were Jewish, but her father wasn’t. His life as a doctor had been to care for his patients and now the Germans were taking the Jews away to unimaginable horrors, Sofia and Lena were safe for a time. Papa was doing work for the Nazis and although he’d told his wife and daughter it was for them that he was doing it, they couldn’t see that – only that he was betraying his people.

Isaac, his sister Olivia and their parents were in the ghetto in Warsaw when the Germans began taking the Jews away to relocate. Isaac and his family had a good hiding spot, which they barely moved from. But Isaac’s papa would go out at night, not returning until the early hours, helping and working with the resistance. When he didn’t return one night, their mother tried to save the children, but she was taken as well, leaving Isaac and Olivia to live below ground in the sewers with a few others. After months, they were finally captured by the Germans and taken to Auschwitz.

As Sofia watched the prisoners working on their property below her window, men and boys who came from Auschwitz early in the morning, leaving late afternoon, she desperately wanted to do something to help. She and her mother came up with a plan to help the prisoners – keeping it from trigger happy guards was a challenge. A little food here, a little there – it wasn’t enough. The plan they made was a daring one, but would it succeed? Or would they receive one of the bullets the Germans were always happy to fire?

The Doctor’s Daughter by Shari J. Ryan is my first by this author, and it won’t be my last. An excellent narrative, in both Isaac’s and Sofia’s voices, the horrors of what they and many others went through, was described well. Isaac was a strong, resilient young man, having to grow up much too soon. Olivia, only fourteen when she entered the camp, went through much. Sofia and her mother suffered immensely. We all know, in what we’ve read, how many atrocities surrounded the Jews in the second world war. The author has written a well-researched novel of the times. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

This was unlike any other WWII book that I have ever read. The main characters were super easy to fall in love with and it was very interesting getting to know the different sides of the war.

Sofia is Jewish; same as her mother and her father is not. She is considered an exemption to the laws that Hitler put in place because of the marriage. Her father is an esteemed doctor that the SS army takes under their wing to help teach their doctors. Sofia and her mother do not agree with what her father is doing but he is just doing what any father should do; he is taking care of them in the way that he knows too.

We also have Isaac and Olivia who were put into the Warsaw ghetto and had to live through the terrible experiences that made them grow up faster than they had too. They are sent to Auschwitz to work. They find anyway they can to survive the horrible camp.

This book explores what it is like to really care for your family and just how far family will go to protect the other people that they care about.

This book has a lot of trigger warnings as well.

Sofia doesn't appreciate what her father has done to keep her and her mother safe from the Nazis. Nor does she understand that he didn't have a choice when the Waffen SS told him he would train their physicians and treat their officers. Isaac and his sister have been picked up and sent to Auschwitz and now he's working as a laborer in the fields of Sofia's family farm. These two teens fall in love and find a way to find a future- no spoilers. Know that this is tough to read in spots and that it's a very emotional story. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Ryan has a good storytelling style and a way of making you care about her character making this an engrossing read.

I enjoyed this historical story. This is a story that is written with alot of heart and soul. I enjoyed how the author's attention to details and writing skills bring the story to life on each page. This is an emotional, inspiration story that tugged at my heart and brought a few tears here and there to my eyes. A story about freedom, loss and hope. The characters are relateable, strong and supportive. I enjoyed watching their growth as well as how supportive they were to each other. This is a fast paced story that I found to be engaging and just kept the story moving. This is a great story that I really enjoyed. I highly recommend to read this story and find out what happens to the characters in this book. It is so worth the pick up.

I only have great things to say about this book! It was just so amazing and it's definitely not the last time I read it. I am so excited for the release date so I can buy my own copy of it!

The plot of the book was amazing. I loved that it started with two parallel stories that eventually intertwined. To me it seemed like it was a subtle hint that it was faith that the main character found each other. Like maybe both of them wouldn't have survived if they didn't meet each other.

The story was heartbreaking and so real. The author didn't sugarcoat this awful moment in history and I feel like it was a great choice, even though I was already in tears and had a lump in my throat by chapter two. It was just so raw and sometimes almost unbearable to read, but I felt like that sometimes a story like this is necessary to be able to understand just how horrible a thing the holocaust was.

With that being said it was also a very cute and romantic story about sacrifice, love, friendship, family, selflessness, hope, courage and unity!
It can be very hard to read, but I definitely recommend it!

Just beautiful. A look at how love and selflessness and sacrifice can exist and be at the very centre of survival in a concentration camp. Sofia is the Drs daughter of the book title, and doesn’t realise what her father will give to her and to her mother and prisoner Isaac. The tiny pieces of life under German occupation are shown, the unnecessary cruelties, and what each person in the small group the book follows has to give to be able to get through the war. The epilogue is the cherry on the icing on the cake and you leave the book with a feeling of hope rather than despair at what humans can endure.

#netgalley #bookouture publication date 28 April 2022
Wow wow wow, what a page turner. This is a great historical fiction novel and you will need a box of tissues as I did! 5/5 stars

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in return for an honest review.

Another good World War 2 historical fiction book. Such a powerful reminder that love and hope can exist in even the darkest places. I liked that the book was told in alternating points of view as it gave me glimpses into different things that were happening in Poland. Will definitely be looking for more books by Shari Ryan.

Never Look Back

Heartbreaking, Tragic and Romantic this story tells the brutal truth of the death camp Auschwitz and the brutal cruelty of the Nazi's. It is also the story of courage under grave threat of death.

A prominent physician married to a Jewish woman agrees to be a physician to treat the Nazi's to save the lives of his wife and child. Sofia his daughter and her mother do not agree with his decision and defy him by sneaking food to the prisoners working on their farm. Sofia and her mother shut her father out and refuse to speak to him. He works long hours and they have no idea what his is working on but they assume it has something to do with the Nazi's he is serving.

It is only when Sofia and her mother help a young prisoner Isaac escape, defying her father's wishes and put all their lives at risk do they realize that everything he has done was to save them and their lives.

A father trying to save his family, a young girl ashamed to be protected when other's are treated so cruelly. A husband and wife disagreeing on the decision to help the Nazi's. A young prisoner and his sister alone in the prison camp of Auschwitz and the horrors they face each day His guilt when he escapes and leaves his sister behind in the camp.

All of these factors will have a lasting effect on everyone involved. Some survive...some do not and those that do live with the guilt of surviving when others did not. Their nightmares, their courage to face the future and their determination to Never Look Back.

What a horrible time in history this was . How a whole sector of civilization could be marked for death by the Nazi's and how one man Hitler caused so much pain and death to so many. It is even more shocking how a whole country except for the few brave could rally around him and support his policies closing their eyes to the atrocities being committed.

This was a hard book to read of so much pain and suffering , but the story was a good story of courage of the brave and faith of the strong. I would recommend reading this book.

Thanks to Shari J. Ryan for writing the story, to Bookouture for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me to read and review.

I’ve read a lot of books about the shoah as it is something that has always held my interest.

I found this to be very hard to read however. The premise felt very fictional and some of the facts, like a male prisoner being able to wander into a female barracks just was too far fetched for me.

It was very easy to read however and the story did flow well but it was just a story that was set during a horrific time in history.

The Doctor's Daughter by Shari J. Ryan is a great WWII-era historical fiction that really kept me entertained throughout.

I really enjoyed the alternating chapters and points of view in between Sophia and Isaac. Bringing the narrative to the reader from such different characters with different lives and circumstances, but yet both brought together due to the atrocities of war, really brought the whole story line into a fluid, seamless pace. I experienced a lot more emotionally and also historically the way Ms. Ryan pulled this off.

One thinks they have read all there is to read in regards to a certain timeframe or genre, and then an author brings something different to the table. It was entertaining, suspenseful, gripping, and sad…but yet hopeful as well.

I recommend this for anyone that has an interest in WWII fiction.

4/5 stars

Thank you NG and Bookouture 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 and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 4/28/22.

This was my first book by this author, and it definitely will not be my last. I hate to say that I enjoy a book when it's about such horrible and atrocious acts, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a reminder that love and hope can find us in even the darkest of times if only we are brave enough to reach for it. Although the topic of this book was very serious its contents were heartwarming.

Absolutely amazing book
Loved this so so much, wonderfully written. I was laughing crying sad all emotions
Amazing amazing

A half Jewish daughter of a doctor who's working for the SS Sofia can't believe her father would do that. She doesn't think she can forgive him. And she doesn't even thing she can to help those who are prisoner. I am loving all of this WWII fiction that we are getting. I don't think we are ever run out of stories to tell.

The Doctor's Daughter is a historical fiction novel set in Poland over the duration of World War 2. Sofia is the daughter of a Christian father and a Jewish mother. When her father is recruited to train doctors for the SS and their farm is taken over to grow crops to feed the concentration camp, Sofia and her mother hatch a secret plan to rescue the Jewish prisoners that are forced to labor at their farm. Isaac is one of those prisoners - a young man forced from his home and deported to Auschwitz and assigned to to the backbreaking labor on Sofia's farm. With death and destruction constantly looming over them, hope becomes the only thing holding their plans together.

I've read a lot of books - both fiction and non-fiction - about the atrocities perpetrated during World War 2. The writing style that Shari Ryan used in her book was almost melodic. It painted such a vivid picture of the environment and feelings. I read this book in a matter of a few hours. The story was written with alternating points of view, which can be distracting, but I feel in this case that it added to the emotion of the story. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in World War 2 fiction. I appreciated that the author didn't shy away from the more uncomfortable issues and try to underplay what the Jewish community experienced. I know that these topics aren't for everyone, so I would caution readers who choose this book that there will likely be triggers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing me with a digital copy for review. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of the author or publisher.

This book follows the journey of two different families doing what ever it takes to survive the war. The chapters alternate between Sophia who is in a privileged family and Isaac who loses his parents whiles in the ghettos in Warsaw before being moved to Auschwitz.

This book is so beautifully heartbreaking in so many ways! Watching Sophia have to come to term that her father is saving the lives of SS officers in return for them allowing his family to be kept safe because of his German nationality even though Sophia and her mother are Jewish. Seeing Sophia trying to correct the wrong her father is doing leads her to helping the Jewish men who have been sent to help work on her parents farm by providing them with food and water.

The characters in this book just come to life and it is like I am right there next to them each step of their journey feeling everything they are going through from there love to there heartbreaks over loss and pain they endure. This is something that makes this book truly special and made it hard for me to put down
This book is my 3rd book by this author and I can't wait to read more.

This starts in Poland in 1941 with Sofia who is Jewish but her dad is a German doctor, Sofia cannot understand why her dad wants to look after the SS soldiers when all the German army are killing the Jewish people, but what she doesn't realise is her dad is trying to keep Sofia and her mum safe, but to Sofia her dad is a traitor, but as time goes on she has to realise her dad is only trying to help in his own way.

Also Issac who is 18 and living underground in the ghetto with his mum, dad and younger sister Olivia where they don't know when they will get a chance to eat or continue living, how long can they exist like this??

This was a beautifully written with obviously a harrowing storyline on how people can cope in such adversity.