𝗠𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 4⭐️
WHEN WE CHASED THE LIGHT
🤍𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: historical fiction
📖 363 pages
𝗘𝗺𝗼𝗷𝗶𝘀: 🎥⭐️🔪🪖🍼💃🏼♥️😢✉️🇮🇹💔💊🏆⛪️

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
◽️ WWII
◽️ resilience & starting over
◽️ women empowerment
◽️ single POV
◽️ forbidden love

🩷𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲🩷

Thank you @netgalley @brilliancepublishing @emilybleekerauthor for the #gifted alc!

WHEN WE CHASED THE LIGHT is an absolutely heartbreaking yet stunningly beautiful story. The narrative follows Vivian, the MC, from WWII through the 70s, offering an intimate glimpse into her life & the lives of those around her. The single POV allows you to deeply connect with Vivian, & the richly developed supporting characters add depth, growth, & emotional resonance to the story.

A unique & touching feature of the book is the inclusion of postcards between chapters. These postcards, sent by Vivian’s longtime friend Trombello, feature vivid descriptions of their designs, adding an artistic & personal layer to the narrative. This element was a delightful touch that enhanced the storytelling.

Vivian’s journey is one of immense resilience. She endures unthinkable hardships, loss, & heartbreak while showing a level of forgiveness & strength that is truly admirable. This story is perfect for readers who have faced the trials of forbidden love, devastating relationships, or overwhelming grief, as it captures those emotions with raw honesty & grace. & yes, the cover is as gorgeous as the story within!

⚠️ mental health/suicide, death of a baby, verbal & physical abuse

𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁: In Beverly Hills, Christie’s auction house is selling the belongings of Hollywood icon Vivian Snow. Among them are hand-drawn postcards from Antonio Trombello, a soldier turned priest & her lifelong confidant. Each postcard reveals intimate details about Vivian, showing a side of her the public never knew. During World War II, Vivian relied on Father Trombello when her husband went missing, presumed dead, & he became the keeper of her secrets. As she rose from showgirl to Hollywood legend, she faced love, heartbreak, & the haunting truths of her past.

Thank you to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio for an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Famed actress Vivian Snow's estate is going up for auction and included in the lot is a handful of postcard written to the actress from an Italian priest, Antonio Trombello. Their friendship dates back decades as he has seen her through the darkest times in her life. He was there when her first husband tried to kill her, when she joined the USO tour with Danny Kaye, found fame in Hollywood, found devastation in her relationships and bumped her way thru a turbulent life. Despite her failings her friend and confident has always stuck by her side.

I am a big fan of historical fiction and old Hollywood movies so I thought this combination would be a dream read but it felt flat. This novel tackles a lot from mental illness, murder, Hollywood caste system, domestic violence, motherhood, duty, friendship and love but with all of these themes running around there was not a lot of action or intrigue. The story has a very strong start and thought it would be an exciting read but slows to a crawl and never gets anywhere. It is told from Vivian's POV with each chapter opening with one of Trombello's postcards, which becomes repetitive as the story rolls forward. I found Vivian to be very selfish and her victim mentality grating. She expects her sister to raise her daughter and Trombello to fit into her life when and where she wants him but never stops to see what is happening to them or care about their situations. I did not realize that this was the second book in the series, which was good since it can mostly stand on its own but I wonder if having read the first book there would be more context to the characters. Overall, this was a slow historical fiction and would not go back to read the first in the series.

I had the audio version read by Carlotta Brentan who did a good job. Some of her annunciations (like the name Trombello) were overly exaggerated and distracting.

I didn't realize that this was the second book in the series, however I prefer it as a standalone. Reading what the first book was about, I felt it was covered enough in this book and I wouldn't want to read the first one. This book was a bit slow to start but the more I progressed through it, the more I liked it. It had a bittersweet ending and I didn't have a dry eye when I got there. If you're looking for a lighthearted / happy book, this isn't it. However, if you like an emotional journey, this would be that book. Just note there are a lot of trigger warnings for this. The narrator for the audiobook was great and really conveyed the emotions well.

*Provided an ALC (advance listening copy) audiobook from the publisher for review. All opinions are my own.

Vivian Snow’s rise to Hollywood stardom from her modest start as a showgirl for the USO was captured in vignettes of time broken up by postcards sent to her from Italy by her friend and confidant, priest Antonio.

Her tumultuous relationships are explored, as is the Hollywood studio system as she tries to be a single mother to her daughter, Grace.

Trigger Warnings
Domestic Abuse

Why Kirsten likes it
I find Old Hollywood stories fascinating and Vivian’s life story was a compelling one. I can’t say I agreed with all her decisions, but I understand how trapped she felt in a world made of men. Really, her relationship with Antonio made this book sing.

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.
**********************
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.