A beautiful story was was dual time-line. Set in ww2 and 2014 I enjoyed this book immensely. I found myself getting lost in the pages desperate to find out what happens. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I enjoy Natalie's books and this was both sad and uplifting. She is inspired by stories she comes across and places she's lived or been and weaves that all in one. This book is a nice read and flows nicely. A real sense of adventure in war time. I will definately read the next one!

3.5 Stars rounded to 4

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I found myself immersed in this story - not Hope's 2014 narrative so much (especially in the beginning), but Lally's memoir really shines through the pages.

The drama between Hope and Ash, Manon's thievery, and Yves' mood changes are hard to discern at first, and that storyline doesn't find it's flow until 30-40% of the way through the book. I felt disjointed in that storyline and was hoping it was just the preview format of the book.

As a reader, I was lost in Lally's memoir immediately, and loved being there. The horrors of what she went through and the mostly terrible luck through the years was heart wrenching. I enjoyed Hope's and Yves's story so much more as the timeline went on and we were able to delve into their connections and the past parallels.

Definitely recommend.

The Paris Inheritance is a dual-timeline historical fiction novel based in France. The two point of views are from a memoir written during the German occupation of France during World War II and present day. It involves mystery, family dynamics, self-sacrifice, generational wounds, and other thought-provoking themes.

Because this is published in the U.K., takes place in France, and has several British characters, it makes sense that there is a lot of British and French dialect. Some of the word choices were challenging as a U.S.-based reader, but I could definitely still follow the story. I did find the present-day story confusing and difficult to follow at times, but I really enjoyed the memoir chapters and looked forward to them. The story had a slow start for me, but it picked up around one-third of the way through.

Overall, I gave this book 2.5 stars and would recommend it for readers who are specifically interested in France during World War II. Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for a review. These opinions are my own.

Well written novel with two timelines, one in the present and one during and shortly after WWII. Two young English women are caught in France when the war breaks out, their stories unfold through discovery by their grandchildren. A tale of war, resistance, fortitude, and also relationships - both loving and not.

Natalie Meg Evans's The Paris Inheritance inspired me with its cover and blurb. Written as a dual-timeline novel, the story flip-flopped between WWII and 2014. Although I enjoyed the book, starting it one evening and finishing the next, I never felt any attachment to Hope and her relationship drama with Ash or her subsequent new love, Yves. I don’t feel the 21st-century timeline added anything to the story.

The chapters set in France in WWII, as many fled Paris as the German war machine advanced, were well-written, and the settings came alive from the page.

I often felt like I was reading two different novels and struggled with present-day character development and tie-in to the WWII chapters. The breakup between Hope and Ash was written like a dump of unnecessary chapters. In contrast, the WWII chapters explored a tale I thoroughly enjoyed, written from Lally’s perspective as she and Pauline meandered the horrors of WWII after the German occupation. These chapters were written as little journal entries from Lally’s perspective, and I enjoyed these scenes. However, there was a disconnect somewhere, as the writer never seemed to tie any of the details between timelines together until the end.

The present-day timeline relationship between Hope, Ash, and Hope's new love interest, Yves, never resonated. The tales would have been better if the author had written them as separate standalones. Neither Ash nor Yres's backstories or characters evoked any empathy in me.

What inspired me about the novel was my compassion for Lally as she assumed responsibility for Joseph, her wartime friend Pauline’s baby (if you can call her a friend), after she died in childbirth—however, the how and why of Lally and Pauline’s friendship was missing. I did find myself sympathizing with Lally and despising Pauline.

Dual-timeline novels can be difficult to connect sometimes, and that was the challenge here. Keeping the vengeful family feud details straight between timelines interrupted the flow, as I had to keep backreading to keep the stories straight.

However, the author's research shined through, redeeming a plot I feel could have been better without the flip-flopping dual timeline writing style. Sometimes, I could almost picture the WWII settings, walking beside Lally, Pauline, and the easy-to-dislike Norma Rose Foster. Yves's bed-sit friend Claudia hit the page without much to recommend her to readers.

This book just needed some rearrangement to make it a great story. Despite the few difficulties in style, misplaced modern-day lingo, and missing backstory details, I read the book from start to finish. If you are a fan of dual-timeline WWII novels, give this one a whirl and see what you think. It is an easy read, but set aside the time to jot down characters' names and story details while you read on a Kindle or E-reader.

The book has great potential, and I read it in two days with that in mind. Overall, it is a good novel, an intriguing tale of love, loss, treachery, and the horrors of WWII. I give it three stars because the author evoked empathy in me for Lally's plight as a Frenchwoman raising a German man’s baby in a small village in war-torn France during WWII.

I want to thank Net Galley, Bookouture, and the author for the opportunity to read another book by Natalie Meg Evans, an author with a permanent place on my Kindle and hard-copy bookshelves. I received this as an advanced copy. This review is voluntary and mine alone.

*Thank you NetGalley and Elliott & Thompson for an ARC of this book.

3.5/5
The premise of this novel by Natalie Meg Evans intrigued me. A historical novel set during the Second World War and the reconciliation of Hope’s identity with her family’s past is right up my alley. From chapter one I was curious to see how the lives of some of the characters intertwine. I was curious to see why there was so much hostility in the twenty-first century timeline and what would happen to the girls in the past. This curiosity did not disappear until the end which makes an overall strong novel. Nevertheless, I unfortunately never felt immersed in the novel.

One reason for the disconnect to the characters could be that language-wise I do not find elements of the novel awfully well written (i.e. “Ah,…” or “Jeez, that was close” or “Shepherd, as in sheep?”). I cannot even quite put it into words but I guess I am missing a certain finesse in drawing the reader in and connecting the reader to the characters without it being very obvious. While especially the chapters set in the past are highly interesting and thrilling, the use of modern language and among other things rhetorical questions does not work for me. The language used as well as the manner in which the things are said and narrated create no sense of immersion in me whatsoever. After all this is a story set at least partly in the past. The language, however, is the same in the 21st century as well as in the 20th – clumsy in both timelines unfortunately.
Another element which I felt was unnecessary was the repetition of plot elements such as the departure of Yves’ waitress which is mentioned as a side note too often or the “decoding” of Ash’s email. Give the reader some credit, they will understand words such as “NDA” and tend to pay attention if not the first, definitely the second time around.

Overall though, the novel kept me hooked until the last page. While semi predicable it was still a good read.

I enjoyed this dual timeline novel very much! Even though the historical timeline (WWII) was definitely more interesting than the modern one, both showed tension and suspense. I enjoyed about reading about the beautiful Gascon countryside. The historical details were very interesting, and reflected some facts very realistically showing a well researched work. What irritated me in the modern timeline is the relationship between Hope and her boyfriend Ash. This relationship was for me utterly unnecessary, and the way it was dealt with was not subtle at all. Overall, a great novel that kept me turning the pages with impatience and no time limit!!
I received a digital copy of this novel from NetGalley and I have voluntarily written an honest review.

"The Paris Inheritance" is a superior dual time-line novel about war and its aftermath. There is more about the problems of travelling around France in WW2, with it's occupied zone and the Zone Libre, than I have previously read. At the heart of the story is the mystery of the ancestry of Hope and Yves (modern day), and the complicated relationship between Lally and Pauline (wartime). I had to stop myself from reading this in one go, or I would never have got anything else done. Captivating.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

From the very first page of this book, I was stunned, mesmerised. Written with a ferocious passion that'll knock the wind out of you!
I’m so sad it's over. I could have read another sixty chapters . . . A fantastic read!

I very much enjoyed this book.its a bit of a love story with intrigue and a bit of a mystery to solve.
Good reading style that was easy to follow and I recommend you give it a read.

I love historical fiction however I really struggled to connect in this book. I just couldn’t get involved. I will try again at another time.

This is a dual time novel, set in France in 2014 and 1940 WWII. In 2014 Hope Granger who recently lost her father, was given an inheritance from him, a silver dove-shaped broach. That was the only inheritance she received...not knowing anything else about her father's history or her ancestry on his side of the family. Now she is in France opening her new business, a gite (a holiday rental home in France).. While she was exploring in an antique market one afternoon looking to find antiques for her gite, she finds an oil painting, a a green-eyed girl wearing a silver broach, exactly like the one she inherited. Buying it for 20 euros she takes it home not knowing s he was being followed by a man who looked like a thief. Knocking on her door, he demands she give him the picture....but that was not happening. After researching on line for the painter of the oil, L.L. Shepherd, she decides to take the picture and sell it back to him. As he answers the door, Yves is truly surprised to she Hope with the painting. After much of an exchange, he buys the painting. Not knowing before hand, she finds a paperback in the bottom of the bag entitled "BARBED WIRE AND FALSE NAMES: A MEMOIR OF AN ENGLISH GIRL IN OCCUPIED FRANCE." With renewed interest and curiosity Hope begins reading the memoire, signed by L.L.Shepherd.

1940 Paris thousands of people are fleeing Paris with the Germans not far away and coming into the city. Three people, L.L.Shepherd known as Lally, Otto her German lover and her friend Pauline decide to flee the city as well. The exception and danger of course is that Otto is wanted by the Nazis because he is anti-Nazi and is being hunted by the them. However, getting out of Paris was not that easy as the roads were packed with cars, people fleeing on foot and German bombs killing hundreds at a time. They had to go back to Paris, Otto makes a plan telling the two women to travel to Marseilles where he will reunite with them, as he left the day before to reach the Spanish border. What follows is the heart of the story, as you go reading the memoire and following what is presently going on in the small village of Luzarac. It seems that after 70 years resentments build up, people seek revenge and pass it down to generations.

This book is filled with secrets, betrayal, love, loss and tragedy. Well researched and well written, I couldn't put the book down. The mystery of ancestry long lost in the war kept you to the pages, as you are eager to find the out come.

My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in France this dual timeline novel is both heartbreaking and beautiful.

I loved the main characters and the love story surrounding a broach. Historical fiction, when done right is amazing to read. this is one of those books. it is superbly researched and I was taken back in time to war torn Nazi France and then brought back to modern times, both times making me weep with emotion and I fell in love with the tale and the people.

An amazing read.. thank you

I have tried several time to get into this historical fiction book. Guess it’s not for me but might be for someone else. Thank you for selecting me.