Review: Evanthia's Gift by Effie Kammenou
"This book is dedicated to my mother. I miss you and think of you each and every day. It was with your whispers in my ear that this story was written. You were, and still remain the thread that holds our family together."
This dedication is so beautiful, I couldn’t not share it. Evanthia’s Gift is a generational love story that connects two couples, two countries, and two generations. Part of the book is set in war-time Greece, and it shares with us a great cultural heritage that I could predict appearing in a Greek family saga, but still was overwhelmed by its beauty and detail. Learning about the Greek culture was one of the parts that I immensely enjoyed, especially, because it was absolutely new to me. The other part of the story was set in New York, my favorite city that I love so much from books and movies. It was nice to read about it once again through a new author’s perspective, and this second setting added a certain flair to the historical aspect of the book. I can’t say I know a lot about the 50’s aside from music, but the way the author described it, the picture was clear as day in my head. This book would make for a great romantic movie about love, family, friendship, and the adventure that is life. One thing that was a great surprise to me was the number of plot twists. For some reason, I hadn’t expected it from a travel romance book. But it turned out to be a real page turner, and I could never predict what would happen next. A roller-coaster of emotions, this book is for romance readers who believe that even the most tangled story can have a happy ending; it’s for fans of women’s fiction and multigenerational stories, tied neatly together.
Big thank you to the author for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review!
