I love, love, love this book! I am a huge historical fiction and this book checks all of the marks on my list! For starters, we always see the perspectives of American and Europeans when it came to the second world war! This book was that space that filled that void! Just an amazing and intriguing story! Beautifully written!

I enjoy reading historical fiction books that take place during WWII. This one had a unique viewpoint in that it focused on the prejudice Japanese-American individuals endured during the war. The characters are well developed. The story is well written and draws you in so that you don’t want to stop reading. As you journey with the primary character, Tom, you experience so many emotions. You understand why he has to make decisions and how they will impact his future. This is a wonderful depiction of how people of Japanese descent were treated before and during WWII.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Rich in historical detail, this was a story about a man torn between two countries. It is a different perspective than WWII stories I have read in the past. I loved it and hated to finish.
Many thanks to The Book Whisperer and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Last Night with Tokyo Rose by Alexa Kang was a wonderful read and I was gripped at the beginning. I loved it.

This is a book about love, loss and betrayal and is a very emotional story of two souls torn by a conflict of loyalties on the Pacific front Compulsive, gripping and horrifying! A truly amazing book that just keep on giving and this will keep you on the edge of your seat!

Thank you to Netgalley and The book whisperer for allowing me to read the eARC.

I loved this book, loved the diversity and complexity of the story. I loved the drama and courage and found Tom very interesting in his thoughts, ideas and loyalties. This is so real and you can imagine this happening today and in the past.

It is a book that makes you think, it makes you feel the emotions of the decisions Tom has to make. It is honest and suspenseful, there is conflict and upheaval, there is pain, heartbreak and intrigue. This book has it all and could be hard for some people to read yet I highly recommend it.

I rarely click with historical fiction but this was so well done and engrossing, I was lost in this story and enjoyed it so much.

This was a very different WWII historical fiction story than what I’m used to. I did learn from the focus it had on Japanese Americans, and was able to find myself learning even about their struggles during and post WWII. The writing was very good, I just found parts of it to be very long.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Alexa Kang has written an important book with a Nisei (1st generation born to Japanese parents) protagonist, Tom. He does not quite fit in the America in which he lives so he begins to travel.

In Manila he falls in love with another Nisei, Fumiko. The lovers seem perfectly in tune and feel that they finally belong - at least to each other.
When Pearl Harbor is attacked, the couple find out just how much they are not welcome in America.

A novel based on a historical era that America loves to ignore. It is heartbreaking and horrible. It is also a story about love.

I look forward to other books in Kang's new series about this Nisei.

This book is the reason I read historical fiction- to be placed in situations out of my era and my situation. To be an insider in groups of people of different ethnicities to my own, with whom I haven’t had the chance in real life to sit down and discuss, perhaps, their histories and how it affected them. And to understand how it touches on my own. To learn.
And in that regard, I thank you Alexa Kang for writing this book. I think many, not just me, have not understood the hardships and discrimination Japanese-Americans, including native born, went through, which culminated in their shameful interment during WWII.

In the story, one can feel the anguish of the protagonist, Tom Sakai, in his moral dilemmas and impossible split loyalties. Everything keeps changing as swiftly as the war in the Pacific did. The choices Tom makes are morally ambiguous. Nothing is certain, and that makes the story just move along so quickly. I enjoyed reading this book and it was informative.

Thank you #NetGalley and the author for this book.
I look forward to the sequel.

Tomio Sakai is a second-generation American of Japanese descent who is marooned in the Philippines after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His parents were sent to an internment camp for the duration of the war.

In the Philippines, he is commandeered by the Japanese to help interrogate and spy upon the U.S. military. General MacArthur had promised to return. But when? Nisei or second-generation U.S. Japanese were considered viable spy conscripts. Therefore, they were segregated and treated poorly. Japan considered them Japanese citizens no matter where they lived. Tomio and his lady friend Fumiko work for the Japanese as disaffected American citizens.

This well-written story points out the prejudice encountered by second-generation Japanese-Americans. Stranded in foreign occupied countries, they were disillusioned by their treatment and the encampment segregation of their families. As with many of them who discover they have no choice, Tomio and Fumiko become embroiled in a class struggle. They do not see America as supportive of them or their families as citizens.

An engrossing and entertaining read, atmospheric, with strong characterization. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Last Night with Tokyo Rose tells the story of Tom/Tomio, an American-born Nisei (with immigrant Japanese parents) who grows up in Seattle prior to WWII struggling to find his place in life. Full of angst, he shares his experiences growing up as a minority in a society becoming more and more prejudiced as Japan rises as a military threat. Tom agonizes throughout the book over being forced to choose between a birth country that has turned its back on him, and the brutal but embracing country of his parents.

Kang's tale doesn't touch on the haunting parallels to today's growing polarization of society, but it's easy to draw these connections. As a fan of historical fiction, I generally am more drawn to novels with action focus. This book spent more time exploring Tom's angst than action, which caused the story to drag for me. But I am glad I stayed with it as the ending included surprising twists.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Book Whisperer for an advance reader copy. I give Last Night with Tokyo Rose 3.5 stars.

Once again, Alexa Kang, has written a book that involves us emotionally in the lives of characters whose stories we can all learn from. She is a gifted reporter of history and she has an incredible ability to place fascinating characters into these periods. I'm going to be thinking about Tom, the Japanese American son, raised in Seattle in the years prior to WWII, the part he played in the War, and the friends he ran into along the way, for a long time to come. It's a very hard book to put down....or leave behind.

I had a hard time putting this book down when I needed to go do other things. What strikes me most is that Tom/Tomio is such a conflicted character, which makes him more real than many fictional characters one encounters in other books these days. In spite of being out of his depth and in situations that don’t suit his character, he rises to the inordinate challenges that constantly face him. I can’t wait to read the next three books in this series

I've always been drawn to WWII stories, but what I've found is that what you will primarily find is books based in Europe, centralized on the Holocaust, and the US. I had recently decided that I wanted to find something that had a different world perspective, and when I read the summary of this book I realized this was exactly what I was looking for.

Tom is a first generation Japanese American living in Seattle who is struggling to find his place at home. He is American, but the rest of the country sees him as Japanese. In his struggle to find his place at home and a job to support his family, he finds himself overseas in Manila where life is good, at first. He has a good paying job and he meets the love of his life, another first generation Japanese American. Then Pearl Harbor happens and everything changes in Manila. Tom is now pulled back and forth, does he try to save his own life and cooperate with the Japanese military? Or does he help the Americans, the country he loves, but has isolated him and shown him little love through racism?

I absolutely loved this book and the main character Tom. All he was trying to do was survive in a world where he felt unwanted on both sides by trying to find the balance between survival and doing the right thing. I am so happy I had the opportunity to read this through NetGalley, and cannot wait to read the following books as they come out. Even though I understand the rest of the series is set to be standalone stories of other characters, I do hope to find out more of what happens to Tom after this first book.

Nisei War series, book #1

In a few words:

Being a Nisei, a son of Japanese immigrants, the USA was not a friendly place to be in 1941 when Japan and the US were on the brink of war. All Tom Sakai wanted was nothing but a good life and a decent job. In search of his place in the world, he leaves Seattle for Manila where he met Fumiko, a Nisei from Los Angeles. They fall in love and together they began a new life...till Pearl Harbor....Now stranded in occupied territory, their survival hinged on whether they stood with the land of rising sun or the land of the free.

My thoughts:

I thought this novel was a war story with some historical facts set in the Pacific theater. I am a huge fan of historical fiction this one left me highly disappointed. Half the book is dedicated to Tom’s childhood and growing up as a Nisei. It was a long and tiresome intro. The pacing is so slow it almost put me to sleep. Later on when things got somewhat moving, the melancholic scenes and Tom reminiscing on his past left me in constant suspense I wanted so much to see what he had to face in the present ; after all wasn’t he in occupied territory where danger lurked everywhere and no one could be trusted. Tom did found out the hard way and was a witness to cruelty multiple times...scenes got hot and exciting but by then the ending was near...far too late to say I had been grabbed by the drama. The story had lost me long before....

On the up side:

The style is filled with emotional conflict and moral dilemmas. It also touches some racism, injustice and has a tad of romance without explicit sexually. The scenarios both played out in the US in the Philippines are believable and showed both sides of the conflicts.

I may not have liked this story at the fullest but it may please you. So this is only my opinion....give this novel a try if you wish.

Saw this title and said "You know what, let's see what this is about" as I haven't read any WWII historical fiction.

It was quite the long read. A good majority of the book is spent before there's any mention of WWII. It sets up the ongoing social identity conflicts the main character, Tom Sakai, has with his American identity and Japanese identity. The set up of said social conflicts affects what he does for the WWII part of the book.

As lengthy as this book was, I definitely felt a few connections with Tom. Granted, I was born waaaaay after WWII but the way Tom saw his two identities play out within the scenarios he was given... I felt some of that as a first generation child of immigrant parents myself.

As much as I enjoyed the book, I wouldn't really recommend this book to anyone just because of how much of a specific niche it's in.

Okay so I don't hate this book but I didn't enjoy it either.
One of the things that has let this book down is that way that the story constantly goes back and forward making the story slow and at times really drags the story out more than is needed. The first 200 pages could have easily of been well written into 100 pages and still hold all the necessary details.
The book started to pick up around 200 pages in when it starts to move into the time period of world war 2!
Once the book started to get interedownsting I found it really hard to down!
Unfortunately I don't think I will be reading anymore books by this author.

For me this was not the historical fiction book I expected. Took far to long to actually get into the historical fiction part of the book and then seemed rushed.

The book was way to long without actually getting into the story. Could have been great if the first 200 pages were chopped to about 50 and then the WW II historical portion more clearly developed.

Sadly I can not recommend Last Night with Tokyo Rose.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an ARC in return for my honest opinion.

A story of love, loss and betrayal An emotional story of two souls torn by a conflict of loyalties on the Pacific front Compulsive, gripping and horrifying! Will keep you on the edge of your seat! Oh my goodness, I absolutely and totally loved this book and the emotional ride I was taken on.

Historical fiction will always be among my favorite genre. This book tugged my heartstrings, it was impossible to put down. I found myself so involved in the characters' lives that I felt like I was in the story itself. A good 5/5 read.

Last Night with Tokyo Rose is the first book in Alexa Kang’s new Nisei series. From the opening Hang grabs your attention and gives you an understanding of what it was like for a first generation Japanese (Nisei), to grow up in the Pacific Northwest and in early 1941 not be able to find a job and so this Japanese American go to Manila where he meets a Nisei female who knows how he feels. While the US is on the brink of war with Japan, these must find out where their loyalties lie and who they really are.

The book is fast paced, with suspense and I promise you it will not disappoint. I am looking forward to Book 2 in this series.

Bravo Alexa Kang, wonderful book!

Thank you to #netgalley and #thebookwhisperer for allowing me to read the eARC. All opinions expressed above are my own.