Oh this book! It was hard to get through but what book about Auschwitz isn’t? The twin experiments were something else, I can’t believe the inhumanity that took place. But now living in 2023 I feel like we get closer and closer to it everyday which is sad. These stories are important to try and prevent history from repeating itself.

Author, Shari Ryan, wrote another beautiful and powerful story. The Stolen Twins is based on a true story that took place during WWII. It grabbed me from the beginning and stayed with me after I finished the book!

'You can't leave me,' I whisper, my hands trembling as I reach for her cheek. 'You can't. We're in this life together, always, just you and me.'

Arina and Nora were Jewish identical twins that were taken away, with their parents, to board a cattle car... destination Auschwitz. At the station, an SS soldier is shouting, 'Twins, twins!" Arina and Nora are then separated from their parents to be deported with other twins. The story then follows them as many twins incurred horrible treatments from Dr. Mengele as he examined their likenesses and differences. Some even perished. Nora was born with a stutter and she endured much physical and psychological pain as Dr. Josef Mengele performed surgeries to try to correct her condition, which left her with more difficulties. The twins are separated during this time. Will both Arina and Nora survive after liberation? Do their parents survive?

So many innocent children suffered from horrific experiments conducted by Dr. Mengele for his research, and I can't even imagine having to experience any of this. You will feel the pain of their life-changing adversity.

It is such an emotional story of strength, love, endurance, bravery, and loss. I found myself cheering and crying for Nora and Arina and the emotions jumped off the page. The Stolen Twins will definitely be a best-seller for Shari Ryan.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well, Shari Ryan, you have done it again!! . Another amazing novel, which yet again I couldn't put down. It captivates you with the underlying knowledge that this all actually happened and it strengthens the resolve that these terrible times will never happen again.
This book definitely got under my skin. I need few days to recover. Everyone should read it.

Incredible book!

I am finding it hard to put this review into words that will do it justice. The author has deftly crafted a story about the atrocities committed by Dr. Mengele, experiments inflicted on innocent children, in this case, twins. Twins selected just because one very sick man wanted to see what happened when he did this or that, often resulting in death, maiming or other permanent disability.

This wasn’t an easy subject to read, but the story was well-written so it moved along quickly. It is heartbreaking but also hopeful, the sisters who never gave up. Highly recommend!

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

“Survival”
This is the story of twins, Nora and Arina. What they had to go through was horrific and heartbreaking. As with most historical fiction from this time period The Stolen Twins was not an easy read for me.
The authors descriptions are heart wrenching and, yet, we know this all happened.
So much love, strength, loss and courage is felt throughout the story.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

“You can’t leave me. You can’t. We’re in this life together, always, just you and me.”

Just when I think Shari J. Ryan can’t possibly come up with another Holocaust featured historical fiction plot, she does it again…and does it well. What keeps me coming back is that Ryan focuses on the glimmer of hope people had in the midst of such horror. When it looked like there were no options available for 17 year old Hungarian twin sisters, Nora and Arina, their mother offered them up, hoping that it was enough foresight to keep them alive. What she couldn’t have known is what her daughters faced under the care of Dr. Mengele, the Angel of Death.

The emotion that’s packaged up here is phenomenal. First, there’s the whole horrible Auschwitz experience, then there’s the experiment experience and then the twins are separated. They may have only been separated by 15 minutes upon arrival into this world, but they are soon separated by miles and miles. How can they survive? The pull and push between the twins and their external forces is felt on every page and it’s brought front and center through each twin’s point of view.

Be prepared. Ryan will have you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Have tissues handy. Realization of what these girls had stolen from them is still making me emotional ... days later.

We all have scars; some more visible than others. It would do us all well if we could remember this and approach each other with love and respect.

Ryan noted that she writes” to keep hatred and inequality from ever becoming normalized again.” This is the very reason I so often reach for Holocaust centered historical fiction - to remind myself what a precious privilege it is to be alive right now and living free. With this realization comes a responsibility. I like to keep reminding myself of it.

I was gifted this copy by Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Firstly I would like to thank netgalley, and Bookoutune and the author Shari J Ryan for an early copy of her book.

This is a war story, The family mother father,and there twins girls send in Auschwitz ,The girls are separated and end up with Dr mengele who loves to experiment on twins as one of the twin has a stutter it tells the horrors of the camp..and after the camp in France and USA...found this book abit slow and read better books in this genre..


This book will be reviewed on Amazon and goodreads.

A tragic and heartbreaking saga of twin Jewish sisters and their experiences in the inhumane medical experiments performed at Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Told from the perspectives of each sister, this story passes from Hungary, to Poland, to France, and finally to Chicago. Deeply moving and a testament to the resiliency of humans in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The pace of this novel did slow about 60% of the way through, the first 60% is captivating, the last 40% dragged.

"you can't leave me. We're in this life together, always."
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wow..
this is the second book I've read by Shari and I'm just in love with her writting and with the way she brings the story to life. I've been extremely blessed that I got into contact with her and was able to read The Stolen Twins as an ARC. (also thank you to NetGalley). <3
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The book is about these two amazing, beautiful and strong twins, Arina and Nora. The book follows dual POV and a multi timeline between Hungary (where they grew up), Auschwitz, France and the US (where they where sent to after the war, separated).
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Arriving in Auschwitz they were separated from their parents and sent directly to Mengele aka the angel of death. As twins they had no chance to escape from his horrible experiments. Nora born with a stutter was the one who got the most experiments and medical exams. Mengele wanted to fix her stutter. Which is why Mengele attempted an operation on Nora's brain to fix her. Due to that, they were separated and Arina suddenly never saw her sister again.
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Fast forward Nora ended up in France and Arina in the US. Both finding the love of their lives is what keeps them going. Not knowing if mama, papa or the twin sister is alive they both suffer with the everyday life after the war. Arina struggled with the guilt of not having to suffer with all the horrible things Mengele did to Nora. And Nora struggled with the physical results of all the horrible experiments.
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Will they find their way back to each other? Will they ever reunite? Are mama and papa still alive?
You'll have to read to find out. <3
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At first I was struggling a bit trying to keep up with all these different times and POV's and places but you get into it so fast and you can distinguish the dual POV and all the places easily as you read. it is such a heartbreaking story. I cried, I smiled. the emotions were definitely there. All I can say is; Shari you did it again. <3

We Only Had Each Other toggles between Nora and Arina’s time in Auschwitz and their lives after the war. Nora and Arina are Jewish twins who are put under the control of Dr. Mengele when they are taken to Auschwitz. When Dr. Mengele finds that Nora is different since she speaks with a stutter, he is determined to find a way to “fix” her problem, even though the doctors her mother had taken her to earlier in life could not find a way to help her overcome it. This leads to the twins being separated while imprisoned.

Their time line after the war finds them in two separate places, two different continents as they try to figure out life at seventeen and about to age out of a group home. Each one is also left with their scars of their time being used as a living experiment, whether those scars are visible or invisible. Nora doesn’t have the strength to walk on her own and relies on a wheelchair due to the experimentation that happened to her while residing at a home in France. Her “savior” there is a boy named Elek, who lost his arm in Mengele’s experimentation. Arina is angry at what she lived through and not knowing what happened to her parents and sister while placed in a therapeutic group home in Chicago. The teenage groundskeeper, Dale, sees something in her that draws him to her. He wants her to find a way out into the world when she turns eighteen, instead of the administration deciding she needs to be committed somewhere else due to her anger and raging reactions towards others.

Will the twins find that each survived the horrors of Auschwitz and are trying to make a new path through their new worlds? Will they be able to overcome all that has happened to them and find love and a meaningful life? Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the advanced copy. Opinions expressed are my own. This book is set for publication on February 14, 2023. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#netgalley #arc #sharijryan #weonlyhadeachother #bookouture

This book made me tear up more than once. First of all, Ms. Ryan introduces us to twins Nora and Arina, twin girls that are in Auschwitz in one timeline and trying to rebuild in the other. The Auschwitz stories are heartbreaking, and in doing a little research I see the things Ms. Ryan tells us about actually happened. Please have a tissue handy, you're going to need it.

I do believe this is my favorite of all books that Ms. Ryan has written, she has put so much feeling into her characters and I adore these twin girls. I can't wait for you to read the ending of this one!!!!

Another phenomenal novel by Shari J. Ryan! We Only Had Each Other is about seventeen year old Hungarian twin sisters Nora and Arina. They were deported with their mother and father to the Auschwitz Concentration camp in May of 1944. The story follows the twins journey through their time at Auschwitz after being separated from their parents , including the horrors they were subjected to by the evil Dr. Josef Mengele. There are so many parts of the story that pull at your heart strings, I shed tears reading some parts of this book because the author drove home the emotional suffering these two experienced. Their physical, emotional and psychological pain they endured are felt intensely by the reader.

Shari J. Ryan did a stand up job at making the readers feel every emotion with the characters and I applaud her for telling the story of what so many children were subjected to at the hands of the sadistic “doctors” at concentration camps. It is a tough subject to research, write about and to read about. It is historically accurate and well-researched and Shari definitely has earned herself another best seller. This is a must read!

The book cover is beautiful, attractive and illustrates the story that we're about to read. The reading is easy, great vocabulary. As for the story,... This is one of those books that we start and we don't stop. Captivating, emotional and a book that I recommend.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It took me on a journey of love and loss, I felt like I was right there with Nora and Arina living through their trials and tribulations. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction

Thank you so much to Bookouturefor the ARC. We only had each other was a fabulous novel filled with so many emotions. The duel timelines came together perfectly and even worked well coming from both sisters perspectives. I could not imagine going through what both girls went through. the author was descriptive without dragging things out or being to filling. I felt like I could picture everything as it was happening. She covered heavy topics without leaving the novel to sad. The ending was exactly as I hoped, even though I was worried we wouldn’t get where we did in the end.

We Only Have Each Other by Shari J. Ryan

“Auschwitz, 1944: “You can’t leave me,” I whisper, my hand trembling as I reach for her cheek. “You can’t. We’re in this life together, always, just you and me.” This utterly heartbreaking yet beautifully hopeful World War Two page-turner tells the story of identical twin sisters in Auschwitz. Born minutes apart, Arina and Nora have never left each other’s side—until now…”

I recently finished We Only Had Each Other and this haunting story, like others Shari J. Ryan has written, is one I will remember for a long time. This novel could have been depressing and dark. And yes, some parts are depressing and dark. But the story of Arina and Nora is really a mixture of tough challenges, joyous moments, laughter and their strong, surviving connection to each other.

Arina and Nora were raised by parents who loved and cherished them for their individuality. Their parents, like so many Jews living under Nazi control, had a hard time accepting their probable fate. When they boarded the packed train that would take them to Auschwitz what would happen to their daughters remained paramount in their minds,

Writing this review took me a few days as I had to let the depth and intensity of this story settle. I have read many historical fiction novels based on true experiences during the Holocaust but stayed away from any that dealt with the horrors inflicted on innocent children by Josef Mengele, also known as the Angel of Death. Until now. As hard as it was to read what this monster did to the children he selected for his “experiments” Ryan’s focus remained on Arina and Nora’s reactions, as well as their combined strengths to overcome unbelievable odds and untenable situations.

I wish I had the words to adequately describe how much We Only Have Each Other touched my heart. I cried through so much of this story, feeling Arina and Nora's pain, and their eventual joy, as if it was my own. Shari Ryan is a magnificent writer whose intensive research into her subject matter is borne out in the novels she writes about the Holocaust. Nothing is sugar-coated. Her writing style honors the human ability to defeat what seem like insurmountable odds with tenderness, strength and positivity.

The rise in anti-semitism around the world and especially in America is frightening. I am horrified when I hear people say things like "Hitler was right” and “Jews will not replace us”. It is my belief that books like this one will educate the reader to the horrors of the Holocaust and, hopefully, help stem increased anti-semitism and anti-immigrant beliefs in America.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of We Only Had Each Other.

A gripping WWII tale of love, loss and hope that you won’t be able to put down until you read the last sentence.

So many had heard the rumors, the arrival at Auschwitz wouldn’t end well. When the selections took place and a call went out for twins, many parents offered their twins up with the hope that it would save them. For Arina and Nora, their mother did just that. She couldn’t have known what was in store for the girls at the hands of the Angel of Death, Dr Mengele but she hoped her decision would keep them alive.

Set during the last months of WWII and the years immediately following, we follow Arina and Nora from the barracks where experiments were performed on twins to their lives post war. When an operation in an attempt to fix Nora’s stutter, the girls are separated. They didn’t know if the other was alive or not and were liberated with no knowledge of the whereabouts of the other. Arina would find her way to the United States and Nora would stay in Europe. Arina struggled with the guilt of being the stronger of the stronger of the two and the nightmares that came with the trauma she endured. Nora would struggle with the physical results of botched experiments. They never gave up hope that the other was alive.

I adore Shari Ryan and have anxiously awaited for this story. It didn’t disappoint. Shari has a gift of humanizing the atrocities of WWII and it’s that empathetic touch that grip you from the moment you open the front cover.

Thank you Shari for sharing your talent with us. I LOVED it! Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for letting me read this amazing novel before it’s release.

I’ve read lots of books by this author and loved them all but this one really stands out for me! It takes some real talent to take a basic premise that has been done multiple times and then somehow still make it unique and make it stand out head a shoulders above the rest! I'll definitely be looking out for future releases. This book… I’m still at a loss for words. Such a beautiful, powerful and emotional story. THIS BOOK IS AMAZING!!!

This isn’t the first book that I ‘ve read by this author. So, I was very glad when this one was released. I found that just like her first book Shari Ryan has a way of taking a horrible situation like the Holocaust and showing it through eyes that were a little bit more positive. What could have been a dark and depressing book was instead one filled with hope courage and a great deal of strength. It is a nice reminder that even when things are going horribly wrong there is always someone out there doing the right thing. This book was very sad but also very powerful at the same time. This book while a work of fiction was very similar to what actually happened when the Nazi’s were in power however it didn’t have all do the statistics in it to make it a complex read instead it was filled with a more emotional story instead of a clinical read, which was much more enjoyable. There was a little bit of back and forth in time frames in this novel which I normally dislike however the author was very clear on when they were happening, and it was able to give the reader much more insight on the characters and how they turned out like they did so I can’t imagine this book written any other way. This book is all about what happened when twins Nora and Arina are separated from their parents and left at the mercy of the SS officers and Dr. Josef Mengele. Since the book was written through both twins’ points of view it really let the reader connect emotionally with the characters which made parts of this book very hard to read. There was so much pain and sadness that it was almost overwhelming at points however that is exactly what made this book so spectacular. Great read and I’m so glad that I got the chance to check it out. If you enjoy reading about the Holocaust then this book should jump to the top of your list, if not for its powerful message of strength but its reminder of why this terrible occurrence should never be allowed to happen in the future.