I did enjoy this one. It was nice to see a story about the Armed Services editions make into a WWII novel. I wish though it had been a historical fiction story rather than an historical romance as the romances in the story really didn't add much to the story.

It was fine. I wasn't taken by the flipping narratives like others were and while I appreciated that the main characters were a bit different than previous WWII books, it did not engross me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Set in three different time periods (1933, 1936, 1944) the reader is drawn into the story of three women and their interwoven lives between those dates.

Althea, an American author is being hosted in Germany by the Nazis as part of a cultural outreach program. She has no idea at the time that Nazis are the people nightmares are made from. She is awakened to who she truly is and what the world is really like.

Hannah, a Jewess that escaped Germany knows firsthand what the Nazi party, and humankind in general, are capable of.

Vivian, an American socialite and bibliophile, is fighting for what she knows is right and against censorship from the American government.

Together these three women tell individual, yet braided, stories of love, loss, and perseverance. Will they all get their happy ending?

I enjoyed this novel but was not drawn in as I would like to be. The three timelines made it a bit hard to keep everything straight and really dive deep into each woman's narrative. This got easier deeper into the book but by then something was a bit lost.

Was it worth reading? Yes! It is an interesting new take on WWII events and was absolutely enjoyable and worth the read.

Thank you, Net Gallery, for the advanced copy of this book. It took a few chapters to get into the story. I found it a nice surprise. There are three points of view that join at the end. I would recommend.

This historical fiction gives the account of 3 women across WWII, and how their paths cross, friendships and loves are formed, and battles are fought during a war.

Hannah is a Jewish woman from Berlin who is part of the resistance there until she escapes to Paris after her brother is captured and sent to a concentration camp. Even there she can’t seem to escape the ideals and the presence of the Nazi party as she tries to rebuild her life. There she participates in the library for burned books, working to counteract Nazi propaganda and ideology.

Althea is an American author who is being hosted by Goebbels and the Nazi party in Berlin. Politics have never impacted her life so she believes them when they celebrate the wins of the Nazi party. When she is introduced to another visiting artist, she meets the resistance party Hannah is in and learns what is happening under Nazi rule. She starts to see the true colors of the regime and begins to distance herself from them. The final crack happens during the book burnings, when she realizes they are burning knowledge and any idea that threatens their ideals.

Viv is an American working on the ASE, to ship books to the servicemen fighting against Nazi occupation. When their program gets swept into controversial legislation, most of the books they want to send would be censored and kept from the troops. She decides she will do whatever it takes to make sure the books sent to troops are not censored but explore the whole of human existence.

These three women have vastly different lives and experiences, but are each “a friend of books”. They choose to further the idea of literature as a method of education, liberation, and rebellion. As they each push this idea forward, they find support, resistance, knowledge, and love.

I loved this book, I loved the queer representation from Berlin, I loved each of these women, and I love how much it shows that books have the power to change lives.

This is a hard book to write about because so much of the history is relevant to today, and I kept stopping to research the factual basis for different elements. Fact--there was a Council of Books in Wartime which provided American Service Editions of their best sellers to the troops serving in WWII. Fact--Republican Senator Taft from Ohio wanted to censor the books being provided to the soldiers. He also thought soldiers should not be allowed to vote. Fact-- there were two collections of books the Nazis were burning, one was in Paris and the other was in Brooklyn. We meet Althea, a writer from Maine with German ancestors, and Dev, a performer, who are both spending six months in Germany under the auspices of the Nazis in order to learn about the great “cultural” accomplishments of the Aryan race. We meet Hannah, her brother Adam, and Otto, who are part of an organization resisting the Nazi propaganda machine. In New York we meet Viv, true believer in the purpose of the CBW, which pits her against Senator Taft. Within the theme of authoritarianism and censorship, the characters love and cry, laugh and weep, but they ultimately defend the motto of the Council of Books in Wartime “Books are weapons in the war of ideas”. As a librarian and lover of books and ideas, I can't recommend THE LIBRARIAN OF BURNED BOOKS enough.
Thank you to William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, and NetGalley for the digital arc.

As a librarian, I had to read this book! It was good, but not as good as I'd hoped. I had recently read The Paris Library, so maybe that affected my judgement, because it was so good, compared to this one. I still enjoyed it and think all librarians or history buffs would enjoy it.

My full review can be found here on my blog and Instagram @thesapphicstorycritic !

Overall, I this was such a powerful read with so many heartfelt messages about maintaining hope, protecting the power of knowledge, and so much more~ it made me regain my faith in humanity and appreciate books even more!

A thoughtfully written historical fiction novel about people who did courageous things through a dark and uncertain time in history.

If you love historical fiction, specifically, World War II, this book is for you. Connecting three women across three timelines, and their love of books as well as their own loves in life.

I enjoyed learning about pre-WWII from an "insiders" perspective from the rise of Hitler within Germany and post-US entrance to the war with similar book banning within the US. Many similarities to current events today; from which we can learn.

A hard to put down novel for any historical fiction admirer. Definitely a great book club choice.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for sending me an ARC of The Librarian of Burned Books in exchange for an honest review.

"Burning books about things you do not like or understand does not mean those things no longer exist."

The Librarian of Burned Books follows the stories of three women named Viv, Althea, and Hannah during 1933 and 1944. Althea and Hannah were in Berlin during the book burnings of 1933 and Hannah was in Paris during the Nazi takeover in 1937.

I went into this book expecting to read purely about authors and books during World War II but what I received from this book was so much more in the best way possible. Ms. Labuskes tackled the events of 1933 with grace without glossing over the events. I was often shocked by what I was reading because she didn't hold back and described the characters and the settings so vividly that I couldn't help but feel like I was in Berlin, feeling the heat from the bonfires on my face. I was kept on the edge of my seat from the beginning to end, trying to figure out how these timelines and stories would come together in the end. Ms. Labuskes brought the stories together in the most beautiful and realistic way.

I smiled, I laughed, I cried, I ultimately felt every emotion possible throughout this story. It really made me think about the fact that sometimes good and evil isn't as black and white as the world would want you to believe. I would definitely recommend this book and I would very quickly give this book 5/5 stars. I wish I had read this book sooner!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I don't read a ton of historical fiction, but the premise & promise of some queer characters, plus great writing, kept me motivated. I loved the way the stories wove together, and the themes felt all too relevant in a society that seems to be sliding back into fascism. This book was excellent & very timely.

Set in 1933 Berlin, 1936 Paris and 1944 New York, this story intertwines Althea, Hannah, and Vivian's stories. Althea James is a writer who quickly rose to fame after writing her first book. Due to her fame, she was sponsored to travel to Berlin by the Nazi party. Being a naïve girl from a small town in Maine, she was fooled into thinking that the Nazis were not bad. She quickly discovers the horrible thing the party is doing and the horrid ideals they stood for. She learned this through Hannah who she met through a mutual friend. Hannah is Jewish and her brother has radical views for which he ends up being captured by the Nazis. In Althea's efforts to stand up for her beliefs, Hannah erroneously believes she betrayed her. Hannah learns during her time in Paris that the person she least expected was who betrayed her. After ten years these two are reunited when Vivian is working towards prohibiting the censorship of the books being sent to soldiers on the frontlines. She convinces both Althea and Hannah to speak at the event that she is holding to convince legislators not to pass the bill. It was a moving, gut-wrenching read. It was evocative and noted only a small portion of the suffering that the Holocaust and War caused not just physically but also emotionally, intellectually and in every human and compassionate way possible.

This was a well researched historical fiction novel that had me digging deep into WW2 history while reading. Highly recommend.

I have read many books based in this time period, but none that have covered it from this viewpoint and the involvement of books. This story kept me especially interested because of the many viewpoints and flipping back and forth through time. Labuskes writing has he ability to draw the reader beyond the story and into the minds of those in it.

I will absolutely be recommending this book to friends!

Brianna Labuskes did such an amazing job with the Dr. Gretchen White book series that I was so excited to read and review The Librarian of Burned Books. She did not disappoint. Though this is a very different genre, I was engrossed in the story and charmed by the main characters. The author weaves the lives of the three main female characters through three points in time seamlessly. Normally I haven’t experienced historical fiction as a page turner but I couldn’t wait to find out what had happened in the lives of Hannah Brecht and Althea James.

Vivian Childs is a book lover running the American Service Edition program which provides portable paperback books to World War II soldiers deployed in foreign lands. Her war mission is to keep the program active and censorship free despite a self-serving senator’s attempts to control the messages shared with the soldiers. Vivian is determined to create a ground swell of support of the program and the reversal of the legal obstacles enacted to stop it. She knows she needs help of others and seeks to enlist the help of an author who experienced the book burning in Berlin a decade ago. But what happened to Althea James while she was in Berlin? She has become a revered author and a recluse. In Brooklyn, Vivian finds the American Library of Nazi-Banned Books. The mysterious and guarded librarian running the library has a story of her own. The convergence of these three women changes the path of each of their lives forever.

Such a terrifically spun drama interjected with romance, loss, determination, betrayal and forgiveness. Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley for this e-arc!

I want to start by saying: props to this author for choosing such current themes in a book about WWII without forcing modernity onto the time period. This read felt effortlessly contemporary while preserving the historic aura and setting.

My favourite themes include:
- How to step up for minorities/those who are hurting without putting the spotlight on yourself.
- How money can convincingly camouflage pain in the world for the privileged.
- (& perhaps the most current and important) Whom censorship can hurt the most easily, and why it is never the right answer.

In truth, for the most part I found this book to be formulaic and uninspired. The first half was slow and challenging to get into. Most of the characters felt underdeveloped.
The back half of the book, however, closed out these themes in ways that pleasantly surprised me.

3 stars

One of my favorite histories from WWII is that of the Council on Books in Wartime, an American organization that sent books in specially designed Armed Services Editions to military personnel (the British had a similar program, too). So, when I heard there’s a book inspired by the Council and others who fought to preserve and share literature during this time when it was under attack from all sides, I had to read it. Labuskes’ story not only honors that history but also engages the reader through its own merit, with intriguing characters and suspense.

My thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This WWII book focuses on three women who understand how important books, especially uncensored ones, can be in society. There is Althea, in 1933 Germany, who is an American writer that is initially captivated by the Nazis before realizing how monstrous they are with their actions. We also follow Hannah, in 1936 Paris, who has escaped Germany but still finds herself surrounded by Nazi sympathizers. Finally there is Viv in 1944 New York, who is trying to stop Senator Taft from censoring what books are being sent to the Armed Forces.

This was beautifully written and I felt like Labuskes captured the historical settings very well. I did enjoy the way the three stories are tied together, however I did have trouble in the beginning keeping track of who belonged to each timeline. The way we change not only main characters, but time periods in the war, took extra concentration to remember what was happening as I read. That being said, the ending was truly enjoyable and did make it worth the extra mental effort.

I really enjoyed reading about the initiative where US soldiers were sent books to help sustain them through the war, which is based on a real program. Hearing stories from the soldiers in the book really highlights how books have the power to transport us and get us through some of the toughest times. I thought the character development was great as well, as each woman has to find the strength to fight for what is right - especially Althea. The pacing was great, especially as you get used to the characters, and there were some big reveals.

I definitely recommend this book, especially if you enjoy historical fiction or have an interest in WWII. There is a romance element to the story as well, but nothing too steamy it's more of a slow burn. I would enjoy reading more from Labuskes. I received this ARC from NetGalley for my opinions.

A compelling story surrounding the Nazi book burnings and how those repercussions were felt for decades after, including by American soldiers in WW2. Sadly, the topic of book banning is still hot today and I felt like this book was a fitting way to show how this “debate” has been raging for decades and there is no justification for banning books. Fight the power and read!