An interesting story of friendship against all odds set in Venice during WW2. Interesting characters and a well written story.

In this interesting and high stakes historical fiction novel, Ella Carey brings readers to 1943 Venice during the German occupation. Evelina is struggling: her husband is dead, her friends have fled, her sons are fighting and supporting different sides, and her best friend Talia is missing. When Evelina goes to look for Talia, she instead discovers a little boy hiding in the laundry chute, and both his parents and his teacher Talia are missing. Hiding the boy in her parents’ home is risky, but Evelina will protect Talia’s student from the Nazis if she cannot find her friend. Desperate to find Talia before the Nazis do, Evelina runs dangerously close to the Nazis’ operations, placing everyone she loves in danger. The second book in the Daughters of Italy series, Carey’s latest book continues to bring occupied Italy and their fight against fascism to life. Evelina is a complex protagonist, and her backstory is revealed slowly over the course of the novel, adding to her character arc. The other main characters are particularly complex, and some of them have secrets which add to the complexity of the novel. Set in beautiful Venice, Carey brings the German occupation and the stresses of northern Italian life during the war to life in this complex and detailed novel.

Ella Carey is always on my automatic read list. I love her books and the Daughters of New York series was pure gold. Daughters of Italy is her current series and this is book 2. It can be read as a standalone from book 1 as there is minimal crossover.

Ella is a phenomenal author. On this occasion she tells the story of Evelina and what she does to protect those she loves and cares for. The writing is engaging with plot lines of secrets, danger, family and love. Yet again I was a little surprised when the book ended just before the 80% mark on my device. It did seem a little abrupt or maybe I was just not ready for it to end? The ending and resolutions came very quickly and left me questioning some aspects of the story.

A story of Italian resistance and how families could become divided in their support.
There are rich descriptions of Venice that are sure to please readers, from its canals to its churches as Ella takes readers on another heart wrenching story of hope from WWII.

‘Hitler’s war has been a disaster for Italy; we have endured Mussolini’s reprehensible siding with the Nazis(as) they marched into the north of the country and placed Mussolini back as a puppet leader again.’






This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

This was my first book by Ella Carey and I loved it. I will certainly be looking out for her other books.
I adored Evelina, such a wonderfully real character dealing with family matters as well as trying to save her best friend's life with no thought for herself.
Danger and heartache abounds.
I visited Venice many years ago and fell in love with it, so I could totally imagine myself in the story, living through everything with Lina, feeling what she was, with my heart in my mouth many times.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @Bookouture for the digital arc. All opinions are my own.

Another great book by this author and it was really good to get Evelina's full story after the first book in the series, although it can easily be read as a standalone. Compelling story and great historical content make this a must for fans of WW2 books and I found it hard to put down

The Venetian Daughter by Ella Carey absolutely blew me away. I loved this story so much. I enjoy Ellas books and I have read most of them. She is an incredible author who does meticulous research to bring her stories and characters to life.
Evelina Messina, a young widow, is living in a posh villa in Tuscany aptly named Villa Rosa. She inherited the Villa and her husband's businesses when he died.
Her best friend Talia is Jewish. Evie's parent worked tirelessly to get Talia and her father out of Italy before the Nazis invaded Venice because Jews were being sent away never to be seen again. But they never left and now Evie feels it's her responsibility to get them to safety. All of the Jews have been moved and Evie makes it her mission to find Talia and her father.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I can only imagine that Venice is a magical place but during the Nazi occupation, everything changed.
Evie risks her life, her family and all she has to find out the truth and gets deeply involved and desperate to help any way she can.
I truly loved this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher, Bookouture, for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved the 1st book in this series, but I’m sorry to say that the 2nd book fell slightly short of my expectations.

As mentioned by other reviewers I read on Goodreads, some parts of the book didn’t seem to make sense and I found myself re-reading parts just to understand what was happening. There were also multiple continuity errors, and this overall made it hard to get into.

The storyline itself was great, it kept me enthralled and I found myself in tears at the end. Had this storyline been edited or written differently, it could have been a 5 star book.

Book two in this wonderful series and we start back at Villa Rosa and then move onto Venice, the Germans are now there and removing the Jews and when Evelina, Countess Messina gets a message from her best friend, Talia that she needs help, Evie goes, no thought about her own safety, this starts a journey filled with danger and hope.

Evie has lost her husband and she has two sons, Raf is fighting in the war and Nico and her have a strained relationship so helping Talia is a must for Evie, she arrives at her parents Palazzo and is soon searching for Talia, what she discovers shocks her but she brings the little boy back she must do everything to save the child. The past is opened up by the return of Jack the man she loved so many years ago, is he there for the Nazis or is he there for the Americans?

Searching for Talia is dangerous she is being watched and followed at every turn by the Germans who are determined to find Talia as well, but nothing is going to stop the determined Evie in saving her best friend and the young boy especially when she uncovers a secret, will she get them to safety and will she remain safe, times are dangerous.

This is a beautiful story, it is heart-breaking and heart-felt as Evie does what she needs to do, the love she has for her friend is true and goes back many years, she puts her own life on the line, such strength and determination, will she get back to Villa Rosa in Tuscany? Thank you Ella Carey for another fabulous story.

I do highly recommend this one to any lovers of a good historical read.

My thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

I liked this book. Evelina is a very dedicated friend. She will do anything she can to save her friend Talia. When she joins forces with her ex, things got extra interesting. This is a very specific instance of an Italian helping a Jewish woman and boy. I’m sure there were a large number of instances like this one. Small acts of kindness that went a long way to save even a couple of innocent people.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC of this book.

This was quite a journey as a woman sets out to find her Jewish friend during the war. By law all the Jews are being hunted and removed from Italy. If she is caught trying to help any she could be killed. I found the author's voice engaging and that it drew me in and had me turning the pages. What was going to happen? Will this one have a happy ending? To find out, you'll need to read it. No spoilers here.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.

🌟🌟🌟🌟
I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but wow, this really called to me!
Thank you Bookouture for inviting me to be part of the Books on Tour for “The Venetian Daughter” by Ella Carey. Get ready to go to Italy during WWII. Evelina lives in Tuscany and receives a letter from her friend Talia, who’s Jewish, asking for help in Venice. Evelina gets there and doesn’t find her friend, but discovers a little boy, Mario, and she vows to protect him.
This is a heartwarming story about the resilience of the Italians during the war. 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.
#TheVenetianDaughter #EllaCarey #NetGalley #Bookouture #BooksOnTour #BookLove #Bookstagram #NewBook #ILoveBooks #BooksSetInItaly

The Venetian Daughter is my 1st book by Ella Carey and is based in Venice Italy, 1943, during WW II. The main character, Evelina revives a note from her best friend Talia, an Italian Jew, reading "Help me" and finds a little boy alone in Talia's confiscated house.
This heartbreaking story makes real the reactions to the Nazi's terrible regime, how it split family and friends as they struggled to survive and the choices they made to support or resist. There is deep betrayal, love and romance, suspense and murder as well as enduring friendship and family. I enjoyed the plot twists and I would have enjoyed more development of some of the characters, some ended a bit too early.
Otherwise, a well written WWII book with strong female protagonists and bittersweet ending. A deep appreciation to Bookouture publishers and NetGalley for the ARC privilege, the review and opinions were my own.

🔹 My take: 4/5

🔸Evelina Messina is a 43 year old widow living in a posh villa in Tuscany. Her two sons are away fighting the war and most of her friends (Jews) have fled the country to escape Nazi atrocities. She is helping the farmers, the widows and war torn families as much as she can. Until one day when she receives telegram from her friend Talia that she seeks her help desperately. Evie is shocked since she had made passage for Talia and her father just few months back so that they leave for America before Nazis overpower Venice. The telegram proves that Talia is still in Venice and in hiding. Evie risks her life, her family and all her comforts; and travels to Venice to find out the truth and gets embroiled in a web that evokes fear, desperation, helplessness and shocking revelations.

💖 Wows - Set up in 1943, this story with backdrop of World War was a quick read. The descriptions of places are vivid and absolutely enchanting. I could picture myself sitting at the desk of Villa Rosa in Tuscany and then travelling in Mimi through the waters in Venice. The author has made the book so picturesque that I imagined myself in those wooden homes in Venice. The writing is smooth and I did not foresee the twist coming at the end.

💔 Ows - While this is historical fiction, do not expect that you will learn a thing or two about history or about WW II or about the harassment Jews went through in Nazi era. This book is a singular account of a woman as to how she manages and takes pains to find her friend, to deport her, the tricks she plays, the support she asks for, the validation she needs from her family etc. It’s her life trajectory in a war ridden country. So do not compare this other WWII based fictional books because this one does not cover length and breadth of the war.

💫 I really loved the writing and looking forward to read Book 1 in this ‘Daughters of Italy’ series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to @ellacarey_author @bookouture and @netgalley for sharing the DRC in exchange for honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Venetian Daughter is the second in the Daughters of War series by Ella Carey. It can definitely be read as a standalone story as there is the merest of connections to the first book. In fact, I expected this to follow on from book one and supply me with the information regarding the character of Annie that I wanted but this didn’t happen at all. Which to be honest, I was disappointed with but I hope I get some of the answers in the next book if there is to be a third in the series. This time we are taken back to November 1943, to the Villa Rosa in Tuscany where Countess Evelina lives. She is on edge and feels that something is about to happen. There is a restlessness and an uncertainty that she can’t seem to shake and as the war rages on around her this is nothing unusual, but yet she feels something big and personal is just around the corner for her.

Evelina hasn’t been the same since her husband Arturo suffered a heart attack and was taken from her. She still grieves deeply for him as he was taken so young but she does her best to manage the estate with the help of her secretary Cara and gardener Alphonso. Her two sons have left the villa, Rafael is away fighting trying to help the Allies as they come up south through the country but her other son Nico is a different kettle of fish. He is firmly on Hitler’s side and will do anything to help the Nazi’s win the war. His last known whereabouts were in Milan running a steel factory producing armaments for the Germans. This is soul destroying for Evelina as she has always been on the side of the Allies and hides and does her best to help as many refugees as possible as they flee from the North of Italy where the Germans are invading and destroying everything in their path. Evelina is a conflicted woman. On the one hand she has a mother’s love for her sons but the actions of Nico make her question her loyalty, love and devotion to him.

When a telegram arrives from her best friend Talia, who is a teacher, the plot rapidly picked up its pace. Talia is Jewish and with the new directives declaring all members of the Jewish race as foreigners and enemy aliens Talia is now in great danger. All Jews are to be arrested and deported to Germany to what fate one can only guess as the true extent of what went on in camps only become fully known when the war was declared over. Originally from Venice, Evelina decides at once that she must go home and try and find Talia and get her to safety. What she can’t understand is why Talia is not long-gone considering Eveline and her father helped Talia and her father secure passage to Palestine and then on to America. The reasons for this do become known much later on in the book and they show what a steadfast, loyal, courageous and self-sacrificing woman Talia truly was.

I would have loved to have been told what age Evelina was because she had been married and had two young adult men but yet the more the story developed she came across as being quite young herself. Especially when old love American Jack reappeared on the scene. At some points she came across as quite mature and at others she was the complete opposite in some of the decisions she made and the situations she put herself in unnecessarily a lot of the time in my mind. But it was great to get a backstory to Evelina because in the first book she came across as quite cold and aloof although it did change towards the end and still regarding Evelina there is a burning question I have so I am really hoping book three will tie all the strands from the first two books together.

Evelina reaches Venice and her desperation and anguish are evident with every turn of the page as she is determined to locate Talia. I kept thinking that they must have had some bond that went beyond the realms of friendship into sisterhood as Eveline was putting herself in so much danger to find her. It was like she didn’t care about the consequences or the bigger picture. Talia had to be found and that was it. In a way, I suppose she was making up for the fact that she couldn’t do anything about Nico and his opinions and actions and by helping Talia she was atoning for him in some small form.

Talia is not to be found at her house instead. It’s evident all the Jews in her area have been taken but she does find Mario hidden in the laundry chute of the house. He is a pupil of Talia’s who she told to stay hidden until his parents came but they never did. Evelina takes him into her care and the quest to find Talia grows ever more urgent. Through one thing and another Talia is located which I thought occurred too early as I thought this would form the backbone of the story. I also wanted to hear more from Talia’s point of view instead it was all narrated by Eveline. A changing up of things every now and again would have been benefical. But I was glad the chapters were longer this time around as I mentioned when reviewing book one that the chapters were too short and the timeline chopped and changed too frequently. Having the one timeline here was very good. A bigger picture begins to form both in terms of what actually was going on with Talia and Mario and what Evelina could try and do to solve this. Also, in terms of the German occupation of the city it brought the Nazi’s very close to Evelina and her parents door. There was a lot of back and forth as to how to get Talia and Mario to safety and at some points I found that this did become repetitive and I just wanted something to happen to move this aspect of the storyline on but when it did come it was exciting and edge of your seat stuff.

For Evelina, this was a real personal journey and quest and it became even more so when she meets her old friend Jack who meant so much more and she reflects on how things could have been very different and her life might not have turned out the way it did. I loved Jack as a character and I felt we barely scratched the surface with him and I would have loved to learn more about what occurred with him regarding a specific event in the last quarter or so of the book. He is back in Venice and staying with his grandmother as he broadcasts daily to the American people making out like the Germans are winning and everything they are doing is right and just. But surely that is not the Jack that Evelina knew and loved so dearly and perhaps she does harbour some feelings for him. What has happened to Jack? Well, I was certainly eager to find out and would Talia and Mario ever make it to safety and evade capture by the Germans? Would Evelina remain safe also?

The Venetian Daughter, as with book one, ended suddenly at the 80% mark and again I wanted more. I was prepared for 20% more let’s be honest. The epilogue felt rushed and I wanted lots more detail and the ending prior to this needed fleshing out. I was very interested in Evelina’s story but the unanswered questions from book one niggled away at me throughout. I loved the descriptions of Venice and of Evelina fitting in so well there that she could carry out her task and I feel I have learned a lot more about Italy under German occupation. All told, this was a very quick read and a decent story well told for the most part but I felt there was just that little bit too much left unresolved but hopefully this will be fixed in the future. A good book but overall, I preferred An Italian Secret.

I really admire the writing style, the descriptive nature of how Ella told this story. I was lost in the writing, it did take me a minute or two to connect to the actual story, which is informative and heart breaking. We follow Evelina’s story and her mission to save those she loves deeply. Her firm parents show their softer side and her friendship with Talia and her connection to a young boy Mario lead to all kinds of danger and sneaking around. Her love for her son’s is also detailed and the discord in instances was heart breaking and destructive. Her long lost love Jack is also a big part of the story. I learned a lot from reading this book, not just about the war, Venice and the protection the place itself was granted from bombs, but emotions, love and kindness.

This story takes place in Italy during WWII. Evelina is living in Villa Rosa in Tuscany. Her beloved husband has since passed and her son is off to war when she receives a telegram from her best friend Talia which says, “Please help me.” So she heads to Venice to try and find her best friend, but instead, she finds a little boy hiding in a laundry chute saying that his teacher promised to return for him. There she searches for her missing friend and the mystery of the boy.


This was an interesting read and a chance to learn more about the role Italy played during WWII as well as the divisions of families as some were on different sides of the war. I enjoyed the story and her memories of her friend Talia and growing up in Venice before WWII. I look forward to reading more from this author.


Thanks @bookouture, @netgalley, and the author of this ARC

Evelina’s life is not what she expected, since losing her husband, and now her son’s fighting in the same war, she wonders if life will ever be normal again. When she receives a hand written note from Venice, her best friend Talia asking for help. Without a second thought Evelina runs to Venice to help her friend. When she arrives at Talia’s house she finds it empty, except for a crying baby boy. As the Nazis continue to capture all the Jewish children they can, Evelina hides the beautiful baby boy at her parent’s house. When she gets wind of nuns that are hiding children to keep them safe, she scrambles to find a safe place for the baby.

The Venetian Daughter, written by author Ella Carey is a wonderfully written story with wonderful characters that will cling to your heart at the very beginning. I found this book to be unputdownable and my heart broke for Evelina, Talia and the sacrifices they endured. With the story taking place in Venice and Tuscany, the author is amazing at taking the reader to Italy. This is a wonderful addition to the Daughters of Italy Series but can be read as a standalone novel. I highly recommend this story.

What I liked about The Venetian Daughter. The overall story was a great idea, proving age has no boundaries, the friendship and the unquestioned trust showed in the relationship. The bravery, hope and courage of many people. Sticking to one’s beliefs. The deceptive sentences you are transport to the uniquie canals, architure and historically filled Venice.

What I didn't like is it took a while for the story to build, then when it got there it was finished, it felt repetitive in places and some storylines contradicting each other it did make it hard to look over. The bitter sweet ending felt rushed and left holes in the story.

I wish I could give it more than 3 stars I was really looking forward to reading it.

I would like to thank Bookouture, NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this complimentary copy for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own
#TheVenetianDaughter #NetGalley

I was disappointed with this novel. I have read several books by Ella Carey and loved them. This was a short novel and left me wanting more depth to the situations described, eg more detail about resistance activities in Venice. The plot had its flaws. The lead character was not interrogated as much as you would expect and let go by the Nazis who hoped that she would lead them to a prominent resistance couple, yet this couple were already in custody. However the characters are great, not everyone is nicey nicey and the story with a bit more detail could be really good

I hadn't planned on finishing the book last night. I couldn't put it down. Then I fumed. I couldn't believe what happened. I don't know why is surprised me. Many families fought on different sides during WW2. Many families were turned in by other family members for food or money. I still can't believe who turned on Evelina.

Evelina was following her heart. Her friend was hiding in a now occupied Venice. As a jew, Talia, was destined for evacuation and transport to a concentration camp. When Evelina goes in search of her friend, secrets are revealed. People show their true colors. It won't stop Evelina from finding her friend an reuniting a little boy with his family.

The Venetian Daughter reminds the reader of how dangerous it could be to stand up for your beliefs. Evelina put herself in danger every time she stepped one foot out of her parents palazzo. She was followed. It was so exciting to see how she could lose a tail. She was taken in for questioning. She suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

She risked everything. She stood up for what she believed in. She would not stop until she found success, at the risk of great loss.