Thanks, NetGalley,

Chef's Kiss, Kristin Harmel, for how you effortlessly take multiple historical events decades apart and weave in a story that is epic and beautiful and left me amazed. I don't need to say more.

Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends the day they meet in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. Though there is a shadow of war creeping across Europe.

When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she entrusts Juliette with the most precious thing in her life—her young daughter, playmate to Juliette’s own little girl. But nowhere is safe in war, not even a quiet little bookshop like Juliette’s Librairie des Rêves, and, when a bomb falls on their neighborhood, Juliette’s world is destroyed along with it.

Elise returns to reunite with her daughter, only to find her friend’s bookstore reduced to rubble—and Juliette nowhere to be found. Juliette has seemingly vanished without a trace, taking all the answers with her.

Not a lot of historical fiction novels provide as much history and factual background while jerking on the readers emotional heartstrings with such a strong pull. Once you start, you won’t want to leave these amazing characters.

Kristin Harmel writes breathtaking historical fiction. This book is no different. If you're looking for a WWII story, look no further! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review!!

Harmel does it again and she does it best! We begin our novel pre-WWII in Paris with a pair of pregnant women who strike up a friendship and begin to raise their children together. Elise’s husband is captured and murdered by the Nazis for speaking out against them, and she makes the heart wrenching decision to try to save her daughter-she entrusts Juliette to care for her child.

Tragedy struck , and twenty years later the women are putting their lives back together on two separate continents. How will their stories lead back to another? How will they put their lives back together?

Wow, a beautifully crafted piece of Historical Fiction! This is a story about love, deception, betrayal, and heartbreak. A mother's love and mother daughter relationships. It crosses continents, families, and generations, and will take you through the full range of the emotions from sadness, disbelief, anger, anger, and joy. This book is well researched, the historical events accurate and fascinating. It completely captivated me and I couldn't put it down! The ending will take your breath away. "Under these stars, fate will guide you home." Amazing!

I’ve never met a Harmel novel I didn’t like! The Paris Daughter is a very emotional and heartfelt story of the love of mothers and how that love looks in the face of war and unbelievably difficult circumstances.

I loved that Harmel took us back to a beloved town we spent time in while reading The Book of Lost Names. It was a gift to return and remember the feelings I had when engaged in that beautiful story. I also found moments of this one getting to my heart more than any of her other stories. I’m sure it will do the same to any mother, it was hard not to feel all the raw emotions of all the mothers and their children.

There is a twist that some might find surprising but I suspected it as soon as the situation was presented. I don’t think it took away from the story but it did remove a moment of shock from my personal experience.

It was a really good story and on par with every book I’ve read from Harmel! I did also try out the audio via scribd but the narration didn’t work for me so I stuck with the digital version.

Thank you Gallery books for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Not a lot of books can make me cry and this one did couple of times. Durring any conflict people don't separete into friends and enemies but good and bad. This is a story about 3 mothers trying to save their family all of them making 3 very hard decitions. One leaves a child flwith a friend, one sends children to safer zone and last one staying with their children. Author exposes all posibility and none of them are right or wrong. In those situations you dont do what right or wrong is in future but you do what you have for survival. This books exposes a life after war trauma as a refugee. I would know this I am a child of modern war.

Wow- this was an absolutely incredible book! While I can't say it was the beach read I normally pick up this time of year, I was quickly captivated by this tender and complex historical fiction read. I've read several WWII novels in the past, and I can easily say this was my favorite. This story follows the lives of two friends whose stories are brought together, torn apart, and ultimately brought back together again through a tragic, yet heartwarming story.

While I did see the "twist" coming, I found myself picking up the pace to see if my assumption was correct. The author exceeded my expectations with the ending- it was a surprising, yet beautiful end to an amazing story. This one should most definitely be on your list!

Excellent! "The Paris Daughter" by Kristin Harmel was a moving, compelling, interesting story of two mothers during WWII, and the lengths they will go to protect their children. Infused with strong depiction of trauma, loss, forgiveness, resolution as well as friendship, art and ghosts- this novel was wonderful. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

Every time I think Kristin Harmel can’t possibly top her last book, she proves me wrong and she has done it yet again with her latest WWII historical fiction novel, The Paris Daughter.

The story follows Juliette and Elise, two American women who are living on the outskirts of Paris in the late 1930s. Elise and Juliette are both pregnant at the same time, and when they meet, they immediately bond as expectant mothers and become great friends, each woman giving birth to a little girl. Juliette and her husband own a quiet but popular bookshop, while Elise is a sculptor and her husband is a famous painter. While they know war is lurking just beyond their country’s borders, neither Elise nor Juliette can fathom that their lives will soon be irrevocably changed, until the unthinkable happens and the Germans invade. When the Germans suspect that Elise’s husband is part of the French resistance, Elise knows she must flee or be captured as well and she leaves her young daughter in Juliette’s care, thinking she’ll be safer there than on the run with her. After Elise flees, however, tragedy strikes the little bookshop and when Elise finally returns at the end of the war, all she returns to find is a pile of rubble.

The Paris Daughter is told in alternating chapters from the viewpoints of each mother. We follow them both through the war, get inside their heads as they both have to make seemingly impossible choices, and how they find a way to move forward after unfathomable loss. Both of their journeys are often heartbreaking, but I admired the strength and resilience each displayed. As a mom myself, I kept trying to put myself in their shoes and wondered if I would have the strength to make the hard choices they made.

The Paris Daughter is of course a well researched WWII historical fiction novel, but at its heart, it’s also a beautifully written, heartwrenching yet inspirational story about love and friendship, resilience and strength, and ultimately about the lengths a mother will go to in order to protect her children. This is the fifth novel of Kristin Harmel’s I’ve read and it might be my favorite yet, although I also very highly recommend The Book of Lost Names and The Forest of Vanishing Stars.

I always think there couldn't possibly be another take on a WWII novel, and then Kristin Harmel comes through for me.... every time. This story was so enjoyable. It was heart wrenching as you would expect from a novel in this time period, but I really enjoyed the different routes these characters took during the war and that a lot of the story took place after the war. This was a food 4 star read.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted e-copy.

Kristin Harmel did it again. She wrote a historical fiction that completely destroyed me, then put all the pieces back together. I seriously cried through the middle of the book, which hasn't happened in a long time.

Elise and Juliette meet in Paris before the war, and bond over their pregnancies and then their baby girls. When the war starts, Elise leaves her daughter in Juliette's care as she has to go into hiding for a while. After the war, Elise returns for her daughter, but only finds the destroyed remains of Juliette's bookshop.

The chapters alternate between Elise and Juliette, delineating their respective lives after the war and how they handle things very differently. The "twist" is pretty predictable, but still gave me chills at the end when everything is revealed.

HF fans will love this one, I think!

Kristin Harmel always manages to find interesting pockets of World War II history to tackle in her novels. This story is focused on two women in France during the war. Elise is forced to flee after her husband is killed by the Germans, so she leaves her daughter in the care of her friend Juliette. After the war, Elise returns only to discover that Juliette's home was bombed and her daughter was killed. What happened? Elise sets out on a quest to find Juliette and some answers.

I really liked the first half of this book. As always, Harmel writes with great detail and research, and the story was completely intriguing. But in the second half of the book, I struggled. I think there is supposed to be a "twist" in this story, but I found the twist to be very predictable. So I wonder if it is even supposed to be a twist at all? But it is written in a way that seems like it should surprise the reader, yet I was not at all surprised. So I found myself frustrated through the second half as it leads up to this reveal, because I already knew what the reveal would be and that took away from the suspense.

Also, there is an event that happens at the end of this book, which is a real event that happened in real life. However, the fact that it happened in the same place where the characters in this book were also located at the time was just completely far-fetched! I could not get on board with the dramatic way this story wrapped up, and that soured the end of the book for me.

So for me, this one was a great start and not my favorite ending. However based on other reviews, many others loved it and I think it is still worth a read for an engaging historical fiction novel!

Another phenomenal book by Kristin Harmel. A must- read for fans of Historical Fiction books set in WWII. Set in Paris and NY (17 years later) the story involves two young moms who become the dearest of friends until tragic events year their worlds apart. Heartbreaking but filled with such courage to keep moving forward while enduring such sorrow.

Kristin Harmel is a beautiful writer. I'm always excited when I hear she has a new book coming out. With that being said this one was not my favorite. I think I found it a little too predictable. I still enjoyed it, but I would recommend other titles first.

Kristin Harmel has once again delivered an emotional and insightful WWII historical fiction story. This book deals with the anguish of giving one’s child to another to protect and hopefully to give that child a chance to survive. This story features three women who were mothers and friends to each other. Two of the women made the agonizing decision to leave their children with others during the war. The post war era, with the uncertainty of who survived and who did not, made this an real page turner.

The newest novel by Kristin Harmel, out now from Gallery Books is once again a World War II story. It is the tale of two women living parallel lives in Paris starting in 1940 with the Nazi invasion and continuing on throughout their lives. Their connection as expats Americans, married to Europeans is what initially brought the two together. They both had daughters around the same time and their connection only grew. However, when Elise is forced to flee from the Nazis, she entrusts Juliette with her daughter, knowing she may never see her again and Juliette promises to keep her safe. While she tries to keep her promise, the attack on Paris by the allies changes everything, and Julliette is forced to make the ultimate decision to abandon her life and her promise to Elise. The tale concludes in New York City years later when the women are both confronted by their decisions and ultimately come to terms with what they had done.
While there are Jewish character’s in the book, it is not a traditional Holocaust tale, and therefore is a refreshing look at World War II for those of you who are looking for a unique perspective. It deals with the horrors that the everyday French endured under Nazi rule and the consequences of the daily actions of the run of the mill French citizens in their hope for survival under tyranny.

I'm glad I gave another Paris during WWII novel a chance. It addresses an interesting point - what are right and wrong decisions when we can't predict the future. In the end we have to accept the outcome and make the best of it.

As a long time fan of this author, I am convinced that she can write nothing that I wouldn’t read and cherish. This book cuts right through you but rest assured the pieces of your heart are put back together. You can always tell how much this author puts into her research and is reflected in the details of her writing. This book will definitely take its rightful place, and yes I also bought the book, in my collection of Ms. Harmel’s books. If you haven’t experienced this author’s writing and ability to weave a story, I would suggest you remedy that.
I was privileged to review a copy of this book provided by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The Paris Daughter is a historical novel set in Paris in 1939. Elise and Juliette are friends and when Elise is in jeopardy, she asks Juliette to care for her beloved daughter. At the end of the war, Elise searches frantically for Juliette and her daughter but can't find them. This is the story of her quest.

I wanted to read this novel because I love historical fiction, especially with a World War II setting. This is a powerful and moving story. Other fans of historical fiction will be engrossed in this book as well - I highly recommend it.