I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me a chance at reading this book.

Wow. Talk about a sucker punch of a book. It had a lot of things going on. The protagonist was very solid in her quest to find her friend, and find a way to survive. I love that the author wrote a protagonist who - while having two men vying for her attention - never deviated from her quest of trying to find her friend.

There was some harsh experiences for the main character. There was also some roughness that came to her from said experiences. I think when people are put into a difficult and desperate situations they will do what they can to survive. Our main character was one of those people where you felt for her but also shook you head out of anguish.

I'd recommend this book if you are looking for a rough, unforgiving situation and a protagonist who isn't quite pure.

This was a tough one to rate. I was between 3 and 4 stars but ultimately chose to round down because it was really closer to 3.

I was very interested in the premise of this book. I really enjoy historical fiction and this was both a region and time that I hadn’t read much about. I’ve read plenty of WWII books but this is much more the aftermath of the war and the consequences of it for the nations we don’t often associate with it.

However, I wasn’t in love with the idea of an unreliable narrator in this case and the line between supernatural and gorey but human was straddled too closely for my liking. I found that I wasn’t really rooting for any of the characters which isn’t what I want in a historical novel. I want to root for them despite knowing the events about to transpire.

I wish this had been executed better because it could have been a very powerful story about a lesser known event in history.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dark, thrilling, rife with ominous tension, Marina Scott's THE HUNGER BETWEEN US is a haunting reminder of the human costs of war.

Such a compelling and fascinating book. I am a sucker for these types of books, and the author hit the nail on the head with this one. It was so well done.

I struggle with labeling this book as a young adult book. Not because I don’t think it’s age-appropriate, but because I think it’s doing the book a disservice: this book should be promoted to be read by all ages. There have been a great deal of novels over time that could technically be labeled as being “young adult” (“The Call of the Wild” comes to mind), but since they were written prior to the time when the publishing industry started marketing books toward certain demographics to maximize profit they simply were read by anyone who found them interesting and then some of them became classics. Now some of those same books and some that I would argue aren’t even relevant to young adults or even important for them to read during their formative years are still considered required reading, while books labeled as “young adult” still struggle to be included in middle school and high school curriculums, even if they might be more relevant to today’s teens and young adults. Not to mention there are a great many adults who turn their noses up at any books labeled as “young adult” simply for the label, when they might be passing up a great opportunity to read an important and beautifully written book.

Such is the case with “The Hunger Between Us”. The cover, on first blush, almost makes the book look like it’s a sapphic romance. What it is, though, is a tragic, moving, violent, desperate tale of a starving girl named Liza during the Siege of Leningrad during WWII (this event was not classified as a war crime at the time, but many historians consider it to be close to an attempted genocide). During the two-plus years this event lasted, Leningrad’s citizens were trapped in the city with no way to get food or medical help, causing millions to starve or die of various illnesses or infections. Many were brutalized by their own country’s soldiers, not to mention Russia’s secret police (the precursors to the KGB), who were hiding in plain sight everywhere and ready to report on anyone showing the slightest bit of disloyalty.

I have a… fondness for Russian history. On my father’s side there’s a good deal of Russian in our blood, and out of me and my two siblings, I look the most Russian. (My siblings look like great big Anglo Saxon Germans.) That’s what piqued my interest in this book, and I wasn’t disappointed. The research that went into his book shows in the intricate, depressing, atmospheric, and painful details. You could feel the illness and the starvation on a visceral level. You can vividly imagine the feelings of longing for just one person you could trust–just one person you could hold onto as your world crumbles around you. You can feel the momentary yearning Liza has every once and awhile to just close her eyes and give up. What keeps her going is the search for her best and closest friend, who went out for food one day and didn’t come back. Liza is determined to find her, no matter what she has to do to find the answer.

It’s a compelling read, but not an easy one. As a reader, I needed to find out the answer as much as Liza did, even though I had an inkling what the answer was from the start. I just didn’t want to believe it, because I wanted Liza to have just a smidge of something happy in her life. Just that one thing she yearned for, the one thing from her life before the war she could hold onto. Liza is so sick and so depressed, but she’s brave and determined in the face of so much hate, evil, violence, and death. I’m rarely so invested in seeing a character succeed like this. But if anyone deserves a happy ending in a book, it’s Liza.

Thanks to NetGalley and FSG for granting me access to this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

File Under: Coming of Age/Historical Fiction/YA Drama/YA Historical Fiction/YA Fiction

What do you do when war is knocking on your door, hunger is rumbling incessantly in your belly, and your best friend has gone missing? Whatever you can do. Survival trumps all else, but there are lines that even in the most desperate of times you do not cross.
The streets are dangerous during the day with equally desperate and starving people looking for sustenance. They are even more dangerous at night, when the desperate step over that moral boundary and hunt their fellow man. Marina Scott takes you through the streets of Leningrad during the siege of the city. She introduces you to Liza, a young woman who has just buried her mother in secret, hoping she can still keep and use her ration card. It is a journey of discovery; both of the lengths you will go to help the ones you love, and the lengths your loved ones will go to protect you. This novel explores the choices you make during desperate, starving, and deadly times, and how you live with those choices both in the moment and afterwards.
Marina Scott makes you question every choice, and look inwards at yourself, too. What would you do for your loved ones? And would you be able to live with that choice?
Highly recommend for readers who enjoying exploring the psyche, World War II settings, and humanity.

3.5 stars
This book, set in WWII Leningrad, follows Liza as she searches for her best friend amidst the trying times provided by the Nazi siege. This was emotional and, at times, hard to read. It does not shy away from topics like servitude, cannibalism, and horrible sickness, all of which were prevalent during this time. I will say that there were a few twists that I definitely did not see coming, but there were also twists that I found unsatisfactory or expected. Our main character's motivations are kind of all over the place, but her reactions represented what one would really feel during this time, so while I was frustrated with her at times, it worked for the story. This was a well-written book, though probably not for the faint of heart. If you enjoy history, I would recommend this one, but just know that it could be hard to read at times.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book.

I have to admit, the main character Liza slightly annoyed me through most of this but I guess she redeems herself overall. The historical aspect was interesting and it was a rather thought provoking story.

A haunting, propulsive look at a war-ravaged Leningrad through the eyes of a resilient heroine willing to do whatever it takes to survive and protect those she loves. The Hunger Between Us packs a breathtaking emotional wallop. I could not put it down!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC of this title.

I love the idea of a YA book set during the siege of Leningrad. There are many compelling stories that could be told, however this book was not it for me. The main character, Liza, was largely unlikable. II know this is partly deliberate because she is focused on her own survival, but even as she evolved I didn’t find myself invested in her story or believe she had really changed. She was all over the place - she wouldn’t help people who truly needed her help but she stepped in when a girl is getting her hair cut off by an officer? She had her own strong moral code and ran around trying to imposing it on others, no matter what damage she might cause. She was searching for Aka, her friend, but I didn’t feel invested in that plot line because we didn’t really know much about her. I just didn’t care. This just all around fell flat for me.

2.5/5 stars, rounded to 3.

I had a hard time with the main character - all her internal dialogue was just kind of boring and super repetitive. I think the book seemed well researched. I feel a different story structure might have helped since jumping around and back again got confusing and I felt like Liza was an unreliable narrator. I did make it to the end of the book but I had to muscle my way through it and it wasn’t as enjoyable as I would have liked given the very interesting source material.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. Unfortunately, it left me underwhelmed. There were times while reading that I questioned whether or not I even wanted to finish. I kept going, thinking it had to get better….it did not. The plot is sluggish. The reader is supposed to be rooting for Liza, but, as a character, there isn’t much happening for her. Liza is supposedly searching for her lost best friend, Aka, but in the end, Aka is more of a passing thought.

This was not great. I didn’t find the characters compelling at all, the plot, set during the siege of Leningrad which could have been fascinating, was instead plodding and dull. I quit about halfway through. The search for Aka was the main point of the story and I found I didn’t care bc she was a passing acquaintance. It would have been nice if I got to know her character first. There are no stakes when a main character you barely know is searching for a side character you know even less.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really struggled with this story and it didn't help that I had put it down, picked it up, and put it back down again. The writing style is easy to follow and would appeal to all ages but I think I struggled with the plot.

This story seemed to focus solely on finding a side character (Aka) when we learn very little about her story plus Liza's. I requested this book because it seemed similar to what I would read regarding historical fiction. However, it felt that the siege was just a quick mention and not shown to me as a reader.

Perfect for: readers looking to try historical fiction, young adults, Russian history

I've read many WW2 and Holocaust historical fiction books, I tend to collect them. But this one is now at the very top of my list. It was absolutely incredible. It was poignant, beautiful, insightful, and heartbreaking. The only other historical fiction that tops it is The Things We Cannot Say, which is a totally different type of book and honestly not one I even can personally compare to this book. I cannot wait until this book is released to own it, and to tell everyone I can that they must read it.

In The Hunger Between Us, Marina Scott presents a side of World War II that is not often depicted, the excruciating siege of Leningrad by the Nazi army. As a YA novel, the story tackles difficult topics like desperate hunger, the lengths people will go to to survive, and the loss of faith and trust in humanity.

In the story, Liza is a teenager who has lost her mother, and she may as well have lost her father for all the help she gets from him. Instead, she relies on her wits, her speed, her quick hands that can snatch food or valuables from the black market to survive. When her best friend tells her about the Mansion, the headquarters of the Soviet secret police, she is horrified. Girls even more desperate than Liza and her fried Aka turn to the Mansion for food, but in return, they must provide "entertainment" for the brutal Soviet forces. Aka is desperate enough to try it, so when she doesn't appear for a few days, Liza assumes she is there, and she is determined to rescue her. To do so, she jeopardizes people who care about her, like Luka, the handsome boy she has dreamed of since before the war, and Maksim, a local militia member who collaborates with the NKVD but offers Liza help and food. As she leaves hurt and damaged people in her wake, Liza cannot find Aka or any news of her, and so her search becomes lonelier, more dangerous, and more desperate. When she gets too close to the truth, her own life will be on the line.

Marina Scott has given readers characters they can believe in. Liza's desperation is clear through her hunger and loneliness, so readers don't see her as a cruel monster but as a victim whose circumstances have made her cruel. Luka, on the other hand, has retained his humanity, even in the face of desperation. He is kind and giving, sacrificing his own comfort for others and caring for his sister and for Liza, until she endangers him and others. Maksim shows the lengths some people went to to survive, crossing their own values to secure work and food for themselves while using their power for good. And Liza's father shows the end of the spectrum, the depths people sunk to when conditions took away all hope.

Many YA readers will be drawn to the high stakes and setting of this story. The elements of The Hunters and the people in the tunnels will appeal to many readers, even those not normally drawn to historical fiction. While I would have loved for Liza to find the strength to think of others earlier in the story, she does show growth and redemption by the story's end, and many other characters, like Luka, Katya, and even Maksim, show the integrity and inner strength that I love to see in YA books.