One of my most favourite genres. Good story development, interesting and engaging characters, tough subject matter.

This novel tells the story of the second of three sisters, and among other things makes one think of the terrible losses that people suffer in wartime. One of the worst must be the uncertainty and the loss of hope as people in your life or family simply disappear and might be dead.
This made me keep turning the pages to discover the truth that has shaped the characters' lives for several decades, and the story rings true. The characters come alive on the page, and the descriptions of Italy, and Italian food, are luscious.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I loved the dual timeline especially Guillia’s story. To find it is part of a series is great and not having read the first one did not spoil my enjoyment of this one. I am eagerly looking forward to the next in the series

This was not what I was expecting in a WWII book but I loved it! I am now anxiously awaiting the next sisters of war book.

While I absolutely enjoyed this book and am eagerly awaiting the next in the series, I definitely didn't enjoy this much as the first one. I found Tori to be very whiny and intolerable and felt that she was deserving of a reality check when it came to some of the people in her life. I really can't say much more than that without leaving spoilers. I did love Giulia's parts of the book and have high hopes for the next one in the series!

War brings horror and changes to everyone and everything and for young Giulia, the changes in her life are profound. She finds she has to rapidly adapt from what was a newly found life of comfort and luxury on the Island of Ciani, owned by her Uncle, a man of culture, art and wealth to one of fear and uncertainty. The year is 1943.
Tori is a modern day single Mother who designs wedding gowns that are beautiful and unique. She is deeply in love with her boyfriend Jeremy, but does not ever want to get married. On the fifth anniversary of their time together he asks her to marry him, she declines and by doing so sets of a chain of reactions she could never have anticipated. The year is now, the location New York.
This beautifully crafted and woven story switches effortlessly between War time Italy and modern day New York, with a seamless ease as the story of the two women, both facing immense challenges unfolds in a heart- warming and captivating style.
Tori, in control so much so that the decision not to marry Jeremy shatters her small, but to her manageable world, sending her off to Italy to try and find out who she really is and who were her Italian family.
Giulia faces immense challenges as she has been recruited reluctantly into the resistance movement, her gift for sewing making the perfect means for smuggling small arms and ammunition to the mainland. She falls desperately in love with Luca, the leader of the resistance movement, falling pregnant, only discovering this after he has left their small Island on a very dangerous mission.
How these stories come together is fascinating: a series of almost missed opportunities, small clues discovered, and secrets long hidden come to life once again as Tori, facing more than a family mystery, begins to discover just who she really is and where her talent came from.
As The Lost gift to the Italian Island is the second book in the series, featuring the middle sister Giulia, I recommend reading the books either side, as although they are stand-alone books, the entire series makes for a fascinating and charming historic read.

The Lost Gift to the Italian Island, Book #2 in the Sisters of War, follows the plight of Giulia, as she escapes Parissi Island during the Nazi invasion and becomes entangled in the Italian Resistance. Barbara Josselsohn’s dual timeline alternates between 1943, Italy, and present-day New York City with several threads of mystery, betrayal, and secrecy. Josselsohn explores themes of following one’s passion and understanding identity through main character, Tori, a seamstress with goals of opening her own studio. A client sends Tori a postcard from a museum in Italy with a picture of the perfect wedding dress; some would believe this a coincidence, others God’s plan. As the designer and seamstress of my own wedding gown, this was the hook for me. Tori decides a trip to Italy to discover her past is manageable if she treats it as a dress pattern, one step at a time- the perfect analogy. Sensory descriptions of the castle, Parissi Island, and the Mediterranean are the ultimate setting as Tori discovers that mistakes and misunderstandings are the pieces to her past.
While life lessons like choose life-give the future a chance, and the antidote to mistrust is connection, are important, I believe the key to The Lost Gift of the Italian Island is that “love transcends everything.” Tori’s promise from her mother is one that connects us all. “Wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”
Memorable historical details of situations with uplifting outcomes. Highly recommended.

Beautiful story, grab your Kleenex as this will have you tearing up . This is the second book in this series focused on Giulia and her granddaughter Tori, who goes to Italy to learn about her lost Grandma and the life that she led during the war. This a duel time line , rich in history and voices of the lost. I also have to say the wedding dress description, Stunning , and such a beautiful piece to bring these characters together.

In the second book of the Sisters of War series, Barbara Josselsohn introduces readers to Marilene, Giulia, Tori Coleman, and Tori’s daughter Molly. In 2019, Tori designs wedding dresses on Long Island, is in a long-term relationship, and lives with Marilene, her grandmother, and her daughter Molly when Tori learns that Marilene is not her grandmother but Tori’s mom’s (Olive) adoptive mother. With flashbacks to 1943 and Marilene and Giulia’s early friendship on an idyllic Italian island, readers follow Tori along on her journey to rediscover her family history and build a relationship with her long-lost grandmother while maintaining her relationships with her daughter and partner Jeremy. Readers will enjoy the characters and relationships that Josselsohn has created, and the settings of Long Island and Parissi Island are idyllic, beautiful, and charming. Josselsohn handles the multiple characters and multiple perspectives well, and the balance between Marilene, Giulia, and Tori’s perspectives helps readers build the world and plot up as the novel progresses. The novel is an easy, charming, and whimsical read full of wonderful characters, as Josselsohn’s attention to detail and description creates a varied and diverse cast of characters, main and background alike, to populate the pages of this wonderful novel.

I read and enjoyed Book 1 of the Sisters of War series by Barbara Josselson so I was very excited to dive into Book 2 - The Lost Gift to the Italian Island. And it did not disappoint. In fact, it was a wonderful continuation of the story. The book has a dual timeline and both were engaging. I loved the characters. They were so well-rounded and real. The plot was 100% gripping and the details of the war years were fascinating. I highly recommend this book to readers of historical fiction and anyone who loves emotional stories with complex characters and a bit of mystery as well.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Thank you Bookouture for inviting me to be part of the Books on Tour for “The Lost Gift to the Italian Island (Sisters of War #2) by Barbara Josselsohn. I highly recommend reading the books in order.
I LOVED the first book and I think I even like this book a smidge more. Once again the book is told from two time periods and points of view. You will feel as if you were transported to Italy. This story focuses on Guilia and what happened to her when the Nazis invaded Parissi Island and her escape.
This book will have you flipping the pages so fast to see what happens. Many thanks to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
#TheLostGifttotheItalianIsland #Barbara Josselsohn #NetGalley #NetGalley #Bookouture #BooksOnTour #BookLove #BooksSetDuringWWII #BooksSetInItaly #Bookstagram #NewBook #ILoveBooks

The Lost Gift to the Italian Island is the second book in the Sisters of War series, and although each book contains the story of one sister, I recommend you read them in order to get the full story. This is a dual timeline story, the past set during the last years of the WWII and the present in 2019, where Tori is looking for Giulia, her grandmother that she knew nothing about. Tori is a single mother living with Marilene, the woman she thought was her grandmother. A picture of a beautiful wedding gown in a museum in Italy attributed to Giulia Parissi finally brings Marilene to tell her the truth. Tori heads to Italy to try and find her and get the truth about why and how she could abandon her daughter, Tori's mother.

The past storyline is told by Giulia. It tells the story of what happened to her when the nazis invaded their island and she was able to escape, not knowing what happened to the rest of the people living there, including her older sister and uncle. It is heartbreaking, yet shows how strong, courageous and ingenious the resistance was at that time. The present storyline is told by Tori, her granddaughter. Tori, not only wants to find Giulia and ask her questions, but she is dealing with a lot of emotional baggage. As the story progresses, we see what an emotional mess she is and why. Jeremy, the man who wants to marry her, Molly, her daughter and Marilene, her surrogate grandmother have no idea how much turmoil she is in. They all see her as strong and independent, knowing what she wants and going after it, but she is frightened and all her decisions are based on that fear. This is a story of family, pain, scars of war, secrets, and more, all set in a dual timeline that meshes well. I enjoyed both of these storylines equally, which is not something an author usually does for me. As we read this book, we now know the fate of the two oldest sisters, and have been told the youngest was killed in 1945. I am assuming that the information Giulia was given is incorrect and we will learn the fate of Emilia in the next book in this series.

This is the 2nd book in a series that focuses on the lives of 3 sisters during WWII. They left for Parissi Island, an island of dreamers and thinkers to find a cure for their father. This is a dual-timeline story that tells the story of Guilia, the middle sister, and what happened to her after she escaped Parissi Island, once the Nazis invaded it. Also, Tori in 2019, after a shocking discovery heads to Italy to uncover the truths about her family history.

I enjoyed the second installment of this story and the mystery behind Giulia's life. I did find Tori to be a bit annoying, even though I understood why she was that way. I didn't care as much about her life. I would have loved to learn more about Guilia, her time on Parissi Island, and what happened afterward. Overall it was an intriguing read with romance, intrigue, secrets, and a mysterious Italian Island during WWII. Definitely a good read. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series

The Lost Gift to the Italian Island is the book second in the Sisters at War series by Barbara Josselsohn. The previous story was the first book that I had read by this author and I was very impressed. Therefore, I was glad there wasn’t too much of a wait for the second instalment. It’s similar in vein in terms of how the plot goes and it does continue on from where the past element of the story previously left off. That doesn’t mean to say that this couldn’t be read as a standalone. It could easily could be but to get the full flavour of the premise and how important Parissi Island is to the sisters I would recommend starting with book one if at all possible.

Again, the story is structured in the dual timeline format which I adore in historical fiction books. The plot moved seamlessly back and forth between Tori in the present and Giulia in the later years of the war. I enjoyed both strands of the story but being truthful I would have loved even more of Giulia’s perspective as I felt at times too much focus was given to Tori and her quest in the present but that’s just my personal opinion and it didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment and excitement at continuing on the story of Giulia and her family.

May 2019 and we are introduced to Tori who lives in New York state with her daughter Molly and her grandmother Marilene. Tori is a manager of a homestore but designs and bridal wear on the side. Her longterm ambition is to open her own designer shop but money is tight and her aspirations are on hold. She has been in a relationship with musician Jeremy for the last five years and things are serious with Jeremy proposing but not definitely not receiving the reaction or answer she he had hoped for. Tori is a complex character who having been brought up by Marilene since the death of her parents, has had an awful lot to deal with and still does.

When it comes to relationships, she fails to completely put her trust in anyone else and this has prevented her from moving forward to the next stage with Jeremy. He is gutted and thinks then they are better off without each other. I couldn’t fathom how Tori loved Jeremy so deeply but her fears, anxieties and personal issues made her refuse to commit to something which would be brilliant for both herself and Molly who I could see longed for a permeant father figure in her life given the absence of her biological father. Tori can’t give into Jeremy and it wasn’t actually a case that he was demanding but it was frustrating she couldn’t see past her barriers and envisage what a good thing she had going.

Tori receives a postcard from a client who has been visiting Italy. It shows a wedding dress in a museum on Parissi Island and when Marilene sees it her reaction is very neagtive.This spurs on Tori to find out why her grandmother reacted in the way she did. I began to think would Tori regret asking Marilene so many questions when it is revealed that her mother was in fact adopted and therefore Tri has a family that she has known nothing about. Somehow it is all connected back to Parissi Island. There is something wrong, not in the medical sense, but more on the emotional front in how Tori, Marilene and Molly all deal with change. They don’t speak about things that have affected them or things that matter, the more important the event the more crucial it seemed to stay quiet. They are people who don’t have it within them to confront issues and personal problems. But now with this news of her family Tori may just have to do the very thing she has feared the most in her life.

Tori wants answers and she wants to know what happened to the owner of the dress, Giulia who turns out to be her biological grandmother. I’m not giving anything away by saying this as it this is revealed within the first few chapters and therefore the quest to discover the truth forms the basis of the remainder of the book. Tori needs clarity in order to navigate her future and also she hopes that if she learns the truth it will enable her to understand her mother more. She was a woman who was tormented throughout her life but what were the exact reasons for this? A message board on the Parissi museums website provides another astonishing revelation and one which means Tori can’t linger around. She boards a flight to Italy hoping to that the feeling of being lost and not knowing who she is will abate but what she learns how will it affect and will it change her life for the better or worse? As she navigates her way to the island and meets Emilio, the owner of the hotel where she is staying who is also a security guard at the museum, the tension is heightened as he tries to help her find some conclusive answers as to what happened to Giulia.Tori needs the answers but I felt even more so did Marilene. After all she made so many sacrifices and was admirable for doing so and surely she deserved to know exactly what happened all those years back in time in Italy?

September 1943 and Giulia washes ashore on an island not far from the one she has left as the Nazi’s invaded. Parissi had been her home for five glorious weeks alongside her sisters Analisa and Emilia. But their ideal has been shattered and the fate of her sisters and her uncle remains unknown. The descriptions of the island and the surrounding Italian landscape are fantastic and really help the story come to life. Giulia is determined to reunite with her sisters in America as planned but the residents of the new island she has found herself on known that times are dangerous and the wishes of Giulia may not be granted. Marilene’s father Pietro works for the Italian resistance and he knows that for Giulia to leave would be dangerous. She is a wanted woman as she knows so much about the comings and goings on Parissi island.

War, genocide and brutality rage on around them and Giulia fears that she will never see her family again. As she recovers from a wound sustained on her journey a visitor to the island, catches her attention but yet there is someone else who has a firm place in her heart. Can they be reunited or has fate already dealt them a cruel blow? When Pietro gives Giulia no choice but to help with resistance work she is torn whether to aid him or dealing with the other long term plans on her mind. Does she wish to remain on the island or should she move on and when a surprising event occurs this throws her decision into even more doubt. As I have previously mentioned, I felt there wasn’t enough from Giulia’s perspective and it was left to Tori to fill in the blanks of her story. I wanted more detail from Giulia’s chapters as at times events were glossed over and it was only in the present that sufficient explanation was given. But apart from this, I loved Giulia’s story and it filled in the gaps from what we had previously learned from Annalisa in book one.

The Lost Gift to the Italian Island was a worthy follow up to Secrets of the Italian Island. Yes, the ending may have been just that bit too perfect and I felt it was all dealt with very quickly and I wanted that little bit more. Given the time that had gone into Tori’s journey and investigations I wanted some more in-depth analysis and explanation as to what happened exactly in the later part of the war that eventually led to Tori discovering a whole new side to her family. So in my mind the ending was slightly rushed and given this ended a bit after the 90% mark (I was reading this on my Kindle), I definitely think there was room for more at the end even though things were wrapped up neatly that point of specific revelation I wanted some more. But look, that makes things sound negative and I don’t mean it to at all. I really enjoyed this story and was fully invested in Giulia’s story more so than Tori’s and I think that’s because I really enjoying reading about the past. What I really want to know now is what happened to sister number three, Emilia. So I hope the author is hard at work writing book number three as I can’t wait to see what happens next in this series which so far has been engaging and emotional with such vivid imagery and lots of life lessons learnt.

EXCERPT: Italy 1943
'They'll be expecting me in New York', she added, her voice low and firm. No matter how nice they'd been, nobody was going to keep her against her will. She watched him looking at her, as though he were deciding how to proceed. And it bothered her, this manipulative, controlling way of his. At that moment she remembered the conversation she'd overheard between him and Luca just before dinner, and what Pietro had said: Her presence can be helpful, but it also puts us at great risk. What was that all about? What was going on?

ABOUT 'THE LOST GIFT TO THE ITALIAN ISLAND': Italy, 1943. With tears in her eyes, Giulia listens out for the sound of bombers flying overhead and thinks of the baby growing inside of her. Through the fabric of her lace dress her fingers touch the cold bullets carefully sewn into the seams. Luca might never forgive her, but she has to do this…

New York, present day. When Tori Coleman discovers that her mother was adopted, her whole world shatters. Jeremy , her boyfriend, wants to get married, but how can Tori commit when she doesn’t know who she truly is? The only clue to the identity of her biological family is a mysterious postcard with a photograph of an ornate wedding dress her grandmother Giulia made, which she’s told was gifted to a museum on an Italian island…

Tori arrives on Ciani island, surrounded by turquoise Mediterranean waters, with the sweet smell of orange blossom filling the air. She soon finds the museum and learns that Giulia was Jewish, and secretly lived there during World War Two. She thought her grandmother abandoned her mother, but was she forced to leave and give up her child?

Just as she’s getting closer to answers, an unexpected call from Jeremy stops Tori in her tracks. As he passionately urges her to find out the truth, suddenly Tori wishes he were in Italy by her side, ready to propose again.

But then Tori is shocked to find bullets sewn into the lining of one of Giulia’s dresses and a notebook claiming she did something terrible during World War Two. Will the secrets in her family help her follow her own heart, or send her home from Italy with it finally broken forever?

MY THOUGHTS: The Lost Gift to the Italian Island is the second book in the Sisters of War series and, if you haven't already done so, I recommend you read Secrets of the Italian Island (Sisters of War series #1) before reading this.

The series is based on the lives of three sisters, Annalisa - who featured in Secrets of the Italian Island, Guilia who is featured in this, The Lost Gift to the Italian Island, and Emilia, the youngest sister whose book is yet to come.

The Lost Gift to the Italian Island is told over two timelines - 2019 with Tori set on unravelling her family history after a shock discovery, and 1943 with Guilia trying to escape from Italy to reunite with her sisters in America.

This is a beautifully written story, with characters who will burrow their way into your hearts, and a plot that will often have that heart in your mouth. It is a story of a family torn apart by war and their efforts to reunite. It is a story of secrets and desperation and living a life constantly under threat.

There is a little repetition and in a few places I felt I was being 'told' the story rather than living it through Guilia's eyes, but mostly it swept me along with the need to know what happens to Guilia and what the real connection was between Guilia and Tori.

This is an interesting family saga/wartime drama/ mystery that has me waiting eagerly for the the next installment.

⭐⭐⭐.7

#TheLostGifttotheItalianIsland #NetGalley #Bookouture

I: @barbara_josselsohn_author @bookouture

X: @barbarajoss @Bookouture

THE AUTHOR: Barbara Josselsohn grew up on Long Island and lived for several years in her beloved New York City before moving to the northern suburbs. She began her career as a business journalist and then turned her attention to her first love, fiction. Barbara teaches writing at the Sarah Lawrence Writing Institute and other venues, and is the founder and coordinator of the Scarsdale Library Writers Center, which supports and promotes local writers. She and her husband live in Westchester, N.Y., and have three children.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Lost Gift to the Italian Island (Sisters of War #2) by Barbara Josselsohn for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

This is the second book in the Sisters of War series, the first book is titled Secrets of the Italian Island. Oh my goodness this was an absolutely wonderful read and it completely and utterly gripped me right from the very start. It’s another dual timeline story , each chapter alternating between 1943 and 2019. Admittedly I did enjoy the past timeline a little bit more but that’s because I really enjoy reading historical fiction. Reading about Giulia and all she went through make for a heartbreaking read at times. This is quite an emotional read in parts and the descriptions of the past on the island are really brought to life by the author. As I was reading I could literally close my eyes and imagine being Giulia all those years ago. I would recommend reading the first book in the series as it paves the way for this second book. Another historical fiction read that I highly recommend.

This second book of this series is a dual timeline that takes us back to World War I and then to 2019. Tori finds a newspaper clipping of a wedding dress in a museum in a small Italian island. It sparks memories for the woman she always thought was her grandmother and the woman's truth comes out. The outcome is a trip for Tori to try to find out information about her mother's biological mother. What she unearths will change her life forever.

This was a very engrossing read. Josselsohn is a very talented writer. She weaves the story in a way that touches your heart and makes you ponder the past and what those alive then went through.

Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All thoughts are my own.

The Lost Gift to the Italian Island is simply a beautiful book. I love the mysterious feel that is continued from Secrets of the Italian Island along with the strong characters. This book focuses on the middle sister Giulia’s story. I recommend you read the first book about the eldest sister before this one, so you get the background of how the sisters ended up on the Island before the Nazis invaded.

Guilia escapes the island but her plans don’t go the way she thought and she ends up on another island. With no way of getting off, Guilia gets close to the family who take her in. But sometimes all is not what it seems and this is the very case in this book.

Further on in the book, I found myself quick to judge Giulia, but you cannot imagine what she went through leaving her child. Present-day Tori is finding out lots of info about her long-lost grandmother, but is it true?

I found myself hooked and could not put it down! The way the present-day 2019 is intertwined with the events back in 1943 is excellent writing! Now I’m eager to read the last book in the Sisters of War series, when we are given the story of the youngest sister Emilia.

Does Giulia Sancino have the secret to how Tori and her daughter’s life have been playing out?

We go back-and-forth in time from Italy with Giulia during WWII to present day 2019 when secrets about Tori's family are revealed after seeing a wedding dress in a museum in Italy.

Could this dress designer really be Tori’s grandmother?

A beautiful story about family and Italy.

You will feel as though you are there on the island sharing the delicious food with Giulia and with Tori in present day with the characters struggling with their lives and the information they have found out.

You will fall in love with all the characters.

Ms. Josselsohn has written another heartwarming book that you won't want to end because you will want to stay in Italy with Giulia and find out all the secrets of why Giulia did what she did and why Tori never knew this famous seamstress was her grandmother.

DON'T MISS THIS ONE!! 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The author absolutely writes from the heart. Her books are so vividly described I could have easily been there watching the story play out. This is a dual timeline and I enjoyed both time periods equally. I have read her contemporary fiction as well and enjoy it just as much. This is an author that is an automatic read for me, I just love her books. When you read a book and you can feel the emotions the characters are feeling you care about them and want only the best. When secrets are revealed, they change a young woman's life and help her to understand who she is as she discovers the importance of family. Family relationships are so important we really don't know how long a person will be in our lives so have those family gatherings and make a lot of precious memories to carry you through. I highly recommend this author's books.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.