EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE
BY: NATALIE JENNER

3.5 Stars!

I was really excited when I saw that Natalie Jenner, had a new book which is her third called, "Every Time We Say Goodbye." I didn't even bother to read the synopsis because her second book called, "Bloomsbury Girls," is a lifetime favorite of mine. I LOVED IT! It was actually about a wonderful bookstore that sold books and its focus was on selling books and it made many references about books, especially the classics. I'm pretty sure it had to do with a rare book that is valuable and goes missing. This was my shortcoming for not reading what this latest one was about. I was extremely disappointed in this third book by her. Read other reviews besides mine because it could be that personally, I have read a lifetime of World War II historical fiction and this is heavily themed about World War II, and it's aftermath and I had to force myself to read it. It takes place both during the 1940's and 1950's in Rome, Italy. I was incredibly bored because the market is over saturated with World War II historical fiction. It's not that I don't think that they are important, because I do. I just know that I have read more than my share and this one I just didn't enjoy, found it boring and had to finish it even though I thought it was boring.

The story is mostly centered around Vivienne who is a writer who is British and she is carrying around a huge amount of sadness about the love of her life David, who she believes got killed during War World II. She doesn't know what happened to him, but it is 1955 and he never returned from the war. She had his baby while he was off fighting the war and because she thinks that he must have died she put their son up for adoption. David's parents didn't think that Vivienne was good enough for their son, David, and because they never got married during that era having an illegitimate child was not done. She describes David as being extremely kind, with a positive outlook and although she has had relationships with other men her heart really isn't in it and she feels apathetic towards these men.

One of the men that she gets involved with doesn't turn out to be who he says he is. Not only that has been living under a false identity, but he is still married to a glamorous movie star and they have a daughter. He can't get a divorce and is seeking to have the Cardinal grant him an annulment. The movie that Vivienne is there to write a script is censored by the Vatican. This wasn't a bad book it just wasn't for me. There are quite a few iconic movie stars mentioned like Ava Gardner also there is a small scene with Daphne du Maurier. This amounts to be more like name dropping of these famous people, but they don't really figure into the plot enough to be intriguing. I really liked the ending and it wasn't predictable so I was happy with it.

Publication Date: May 14th, 2024! This is my eldest sons birthday so I'll be celebrating for two reasons!

Here is my review for "Bloomsbury Girls." https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thank you to Net Galley, Natalie Jenner and St. Martin's Press for generously providing me with my eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#EverytimeWeSayGoodbye #NatalieJenner #StMartinsPress #NetGalley

This was a highly anticipated read for me as I was huge fan of Natalie Jenner’s novel, The Jane Austen Society.

In this story we follow Vivien Lowry, a struggling playwright who leaves London and heads for Rome in search of a fresh start. She lives with many secrets and a difficult past that includes a fiancé who wound up missing. There’s a lot of controversy regarding filmmaking during this time with resistance from the Vatican church and sexual censorship of the movies being produced. Basically, the Vatican controls the entire industry in Italy.

I found this story hard to connect with. Mostly in part to the over abundance of characters involved. There is a new name being introduced in practically every single paragraph. I felt my brain was struggling to keep up. Not only names of characters, but also political facts and names of cities and movies…dates and statistics. Sometimes the way it was written almost felt like non-fiction. There was also an odd mix of fictitious characters alongside real-life celebrities.

A lot of Italian words sprinkled throughout the story gave for an authentic European feel, but also made the story feel a bit jumbled up and “busy”. I was having a hard time staying focused.

I must say the story had a lot of interesting discoveries and twists and turns at the end, but I never found myself very invested in any of these characters to have that satisfied feeling. Not at all a bad read, just average for my personal taste and not quite what I was expecting. If you love reading about the ins and outs of the film industry and especially love historical fiction this could very well be a great book for you to pick up.

This book is related to The Jane Austen Society and The Bloomsbury Girls, however you will not be lost if you have not read those. I found this book to be more profound than the previous mentioned books.. It is ultimately about choices the characters make in both time frames, 1943 and 1955. Choices about how to survive during WWII and how to deal with the aftermath years later. It is ultimately about the effect of those choices and sacrifices on themselves, their friends and family, and the world in general. Unlike many books about the war, women are the main characters in this book.

EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE | BY: NATALIE JENNER
4.5 Stars out of 5

I received a complimentary e-book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own. Thank you to Natalie Jenner, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for this opportunity.

My only reason for not giving a complete 5 star score is this: Every Time We Say Goodbye is presented as a stand alone novel but I find myself wishing that I had read the previous books in the trilogy. I feel that having read the previous books would have enhanced my experience.

I enjoyed the glimpse of WW2 and post war Italy. A focus on Italy during the war and after was my reason for interest in this book. My father spent time in Italy during the war but I didn't learn much about it while he was living. I am always on the lookout for ways to gain insight into the footsteps my father walked during the war.

There are two timelines to keep track of, and several characters. 1943 during WW2 with the escapades of La Scolaretta, a female Italian resistance fighter, and 1945/1946 in Italy where the main protagonist becomes embroiled in controversy while making a movie that included the La Scolaretta story.

The story revolves mostly around Vivienne, a British writer who has lost her fiancé, David, who she believed was killed in WW2, and their child having given him up for adoption to save him the shame of being born to an unmarried mother.

We are taken into a world of Italian movies in the 1950's, the people that star in them, the Catholic Church that censors them, and the world that people actually live in. The world that is allowed in the movies is whitewashed ... different than real life, with the studios controlled by the church and state.

The story is fast moving and Vivienne quickly finds herself in a relationship with John Lassiter, the father of a war orphan and the husband of a famous Italian movie star. As the story unfolds we learn that things are not always as they seem, and that leaders of the church that work so hard to control the morality of masses don't always live by the morals that they impose on others.

One of the reasons I love historical fiction is the bunny trails its sends me on, researching things that I have not heard of before. Every Time We Say Goodbye gave me several bunny trails to follow. This is a well researched and inspirational work. The author works in lots of heartwarming and inspirational thoughts that leave me with much to ponder.

Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner is a powerful story about love, war, trauma, and friendship. This fictional story takes place in Italy and has two timelines. One story takes place towards the end of WW II, and the second story takes place during the mid 1950’s. Natalie Jenner does a superb job of intersecting both time periods. Vivian is a British writer who decides to visit Rome in her quest to find out what happened to her fiancé during the war. She discovers much more than she anticipated about politics, deceit, and trauma. It is an eye-opening story about war and the lengths people will go to in order to survive both the war and its aftermath. I highly recommend Every Time We Say Goodbye for readers of historical fiction. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I loved Natalie Jenner’s previous books so I was delighted to receive an ARC of her latest novel, “Every Time We Say Goodbye.” This novel focuses on post-war Italy in 1955, where the main character, Vivien Lowry, has gone to write screenplays in Rome, escaping a nasty review of her latest play performed in London. She also hopes to find information on her late fiancee, who she recently discovered did not die in North Africa in 1943 but instead was taken to Italy as a prisoner of war.

Interspersed throughout the 1955 narrative is the 1943 account of a young female resister (La Scolaretta or Schoolgirl in English) who assassinates a German officer, one of several assassinations of German officers she carried out during the war in German occupied Italy. While in Italy, Vivien encounters some of the individuals who were involved in La Scolaretta’s resistance activities.

The novel’s characters are complex and well-drawn, and the book brings to life post-war Italy with its beautiful descriptions of the countryside as well as a critical examination of post-war Italian politics and the role the Vatican played in everyday life there. There’s a plethora of books on German occupied and post-war France but very few that describe the Italian experiences in those same time periods. This book sheds a light on that era, describing as it does the resistance, collaborations and the guilt felt by survivors after the war. I highly recommend this book to historical fiction fans who enjoy well-researched books, with beautiful prose and finely drawn characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Vivi lost her fiancé during World War II. No one knows exactly what happened to him. She is angry and cannot move on. After writing a play that received less than stellar reviews, she is invited to work in Italy helping to rewrite a script. She also hopes to learn more about her fiancé while there. EveryTime We Say Goodbye, by Natalie Joyner, takes the reader into the world of Italian movies of the 1950s, the beautiful women who star in them, and the Catholic Church who censors them.

Almost everyone carries scars of some sort from the war. How each one lives with those scars is as varied as the people themselves. This is a psychological novel that looks at these people to see how, or if, they can move forward. It is a poignant story of the postwar world of the 1950s. I was able to read an ARC on #NetGalley.

This book is the third Jane Austen Society trilogy and it does not disappoint! I was given the chance to read an advance copy thanks to netgalley & St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review, thank you to both of them! This is exactly the kind of book you'd expect from the Author Natalie Jenner. Her fine details help you picture it like you are there. 5/5 stars from me!

5.0 stars
HIGHEST recommendation

I received a complimentary Kindle e-book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to Natalie Jenner, Allison and Busby, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This is the beautiful conclusion to the Jane Austen Society trilogy - I would definitely recommend reading the previous two books first to fully appreciate this final book.

The novel is primarily about Vivien who travels to Rome after a theater disaster in London. She is a playwright who is hired to tighten up a screenplay that needs a lot of work. There are two timelines - 1943 with the resistance fighting the Nazis for Italy and 1945/1946 Rome. The two timelines are connected and are so important to be told together.

Natalie Jenner writes beautifully and this is the third book that I have read by her. I truly hope to read more books by her as I have enjoyed them all so much!