CW: familial instability, mental health issues, abuse (emotional/financial/physical/sexual), loss of pregnancy, addiction, etc. I recommend doing your own research if you have personal triggers.
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This was a relatively quick read for me. The story opens at an auction house where several items from the legendary actress, Vivian Snow, are up for grabs INCLUDING a collection of postcards from a Father Antonio Trambello. As we go further into the story, we learn more about the price of Hollywood, where the Trambello guy comes into play, and how every family has hidden secrets.

While I don’t typically gravitate to this type of book, I enjoyed the story itself. I found the plot was engaging, and while it isn’t quite the same, it kind of gave me Evelyn Hugo vibes. I did find Vivian a bit annoying and naive at times, but I really liked her sister, daughter, dad, and the priest.

Like others, I also didn’t realize this book is a tie-in to Bleeker’s novel When We Were Enemies (which I have not read). Though I didn’t have any major problems with reading this book first, I do think that it would probably be beneficial to read them both to get the whole picture.

Overall, I’d rate this book a 3.75 stars rounded up. The audiobook narrator did a good job as well!

🧚🏻A huge thank you to NetGalley, Brilliance Audio, and author Emily Bleeker for providing me with a free audiobook version of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was given a free copy of the audio-book from NetGalley, and I stopped listening at a third of the way through.

I really disliked the narrator. I know the character has an Italian background, but the way she pronounced words was odd, and her cadence was overly dramatic. I played a sample for my husband, whose response was "what accent is she trying to do, Chinese?"

It also felt like there was missing background behind the story, and it turns out that there is another book is the story - although that is never mentioned this the blub for this book. I never really cared about the characters, and then I started to get punchy about the idea of listening to this, so I stopped.

When I started this book, I did not realize that there was a previous book but I was still able to get through this book and enjoy it. This is also the first book that I have read by Emily Bleeker.

In this tale we go between the present time when a Christie's auction is cataloging the possessions of starlet Vivian Snow and her past. This story is definitely a story of sacrifice and unfrequented love and at times is heartbreaking.

Vivian Snow starts this book on a USO tour during WWII entertaining the troops but she has a HUGE secret - the story behind her AWOL husband is not what people have been led to believe. She leaves the show to give birth to her daughter and care for her family - an aging immigrant father, a mentally unstable mother in hospital care and her younger sister. The story then moves throughout the ages of Vivian's career and what she goes through for success in Hollywood during the starlet movie era. This all occurs while she maintains a pen pal relationship with an Italian priest who has feelings for her that she never considered in all of the years of friendship that they have.

This story was a great story that I enjoyed from start to finish. The plot moved along well and was a believable story. Where this is the second book it can be read as a standalone as I did not realize that there was another book to this story.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would read others by this author. I would also recommend this book to others.

More Vivian Snow? Say less! Okay, honestly, I didn’t read the blurb before starting. I read an Emily Bleeker book last year and loved it so much, that when I was asked to read this one I agreed without anymore details.

This book is set in the same world and same story as When We Were Enemies but dives further into Vivian’s story. And it was just as wonderful and heartbreaking as I’d imagined. I feel like I know this woman down to her bones and I love Antonio with the same desperation Vivian does.

Expect —> spinoff but can be read as a standalone, WW2 to 90’s Historical Fiction, Hollywood Starlet and a Priest, Friendship, Pen Pals, Heartbreak, Other Loves

Summarizing Vivian’s history is almost impossible. Her story is one that will stay with me for a long time. From her days as a translator in a POW camp to her Stardom and beyond to her legacy through the generations. This story was difficult to put down.