This was a really great read. I love Historical Fiction and this one did not disappoint. I love the way this book gives a glimpse of the beginning of the war and how the characters lived before. Then, as heavy as it was, I liked how we got the view of the main characters in the midst of the war and the challenges they faced. I also loved that we got to see the after effects the war had on the characters and the struggles they faced to get to a new normal. AND....ROMANCE to boot! Loved it!

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC and allowing me to read and review this book!

#APromisetoMySister #Netgalley

Firstly I would like to thank netgalley and Bookoutune and the author S.E Rutledge for an early copy of her book to read.

My rating is 4.5.

This is my first read from this author,I enjoy reading historical war books.really enjoyed this read.Hodaya and her younger sister and there mama and Papa are Jewish.they were taken to the death camp,Auschwitz..Hodaya trying to protect her sister but how can she survive as children are sent to the gas chambers.a heartbreaking storyline,and survival..should never forget what happened and hoping history doesnt repeat...A great ending..


This book will be reviewed on goodreads and Amazon uk.

This book was Auschwitz during the Holocaust and gave the struggle of survival, resilience, and the power of hope when faced with unimaginable horrors.

Hodaya, finds herself thrust into the depths of despair and desperation as she goes through the brutal realities of the concentration camp while protecting her vulnerable sister, Bayla.

With the unexpected kindness shown by a German soldier named Alaric, it added emotion and tension to the story.

Hodaya's struggle to bring together her desire to survive and protect her sister with the moral struggles of getting help from the enemy forces her to confront her own beliefs, values, and sense of identity.

There are despair and fleeting moments of compassion in the worse of circumstances bringing the complicated dynamics of power, survival, and humanity in a time of extreme darkness.

Overall, this emotional story shines a light on the people’s acts of courage, kindness, and sacrifice that can emerge in the darkest of times, and hope among suffering and loss.

I loved this book!!! I couldn’t stop reading it once I started. It was so well written and so engaging! My heart broke for the sisters and Hodaya’s strength to keep her younger sister alive in Auschwitz could not be denied. She did everything she could have and with the help of a nazi officer, who now knew he didn’t want to follow the nazi orders, managed to keep them both alive.

For historical fiction fans, this is definitely one to add to your collection.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this book, with my honest review below.

A Promise to My Sister looks at the loss of faith and desire to live when humans are put through the worst kind of torture - applied by others - but with it how the will to live can be sustained by our love of family and the conflicting kindness of those we should hate.

Hodaya and Balya are two sisters, starting out as 17 and 6, respectively, when the series of events in the book starts. As Jews in Poland the book describes their lives just before Nazi occupation, through their time in the Bochnia Ghetto, to their final destination during occupation, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Separated from their family and trying desperately to survive with their friends, Hodaya makes a promise to herself to keep Balya alive at all costs. That promise is tested time and again as their friends perish and they experience untenable horror. Hodaya is somewhat sustained by the kindness of a German soldier with demons, Alric, and the majority of this book describes her time in the concentration camp and her certain death, with only chance and Alric at times helping her live another day.

This was a heartbreaking story that was well written and researched. I don’t know how Hodaya was able to survive each day when giving up and giving her sister the mercy of death sometimes seemed so much simpler and easier. Words can’t describe the terror and lack of humanity the sisters and their family and friends faced, but I encourage young adult readers especially to pick this up to understand a dark chapter of history through the eyes of those who were forced to grow up in ways no one should have to. While you don’t need to believe in a higher power to appreciate this book, the questioning of how or why a God may turn his back on his or her people and how a single person can survive the horror of memory are concepts I think are important to reflect on when thinking about the holocaust and other atrocities and realizing what people have undergone.

My only criticism in the story, though it’s a big one, is that at times I felt manipulated. Yes this isn’t the first book to play with the idea of kindness amongst those who commit the worst crimes (or are complicit to them) but Alric’s character, though explained, was hard to believe against the gut wrenching descriptions of Hodaya and Balya’s lives in the camp. The ending especially, while bringing closure, was especially representative of this in the lifting of burdens amongst other things.

I recommend this book for the well researched and vivid writing of a horrible and painful event and the study of what it does to the victims.