Hello to all of my beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast universe! I am back with another book review!

The Girl from Berlin by. Ronald H. Balson

Disclaimer: This is a review based on thoughts and opinions from the lead writer on this ARC. Please respect the thoughts of the lead writer of this blog!

Another addition to the Liam Taggart and Katherine Lockhart series where an old friend has called upon services from both Kat and Liam to go to Tuscany in Italy to meet Gabrielle who is losing her vineyard to a corporation who claims they have deeds on the land but she claims she can bring her own set of deeds to show proof that it is her property. Their only clue so far is a manuscript written in German that has been translated for them to read in order to see why it’s related to this case.

Ada Baumgarten was born in 1918 after the First World War and became the daughter of a prestigious violinist of the Berlin Philharmonic and became a prodigy herself. When she meets Kurt, a German boy, she starts falling for him and gets torn from him when he leaves for the military and her family starts being under suspicion due to her Jewish heritage. Even though with her violin and her work which is the only thing that has been saving her so far but with moving to Bologna it gives her family more heart aches and more suspicion and the story of her life brings questions on why is it related to the vineyard in the first place?

Thoughts: Again I read the audio version of this book through the NLS Bard service and it was the same guy that read The Trust as well. I did enjoy how he read this book since he did bring the characters to life with this one as well but this time he did an Italian accent for anyone who is Italian and of course German for any German characters except for Ada and her family and some of her friends. I didn’t mind but I did enjoy it like the book before it.

When I started this book I was wondering why start with Italy since that was the prologue but as the book went on I understood why since it does lead to the secrets Gabrielle has held throughout the book since it dealt with Ada and her back story. It has been revealed that Gabrielle was orphaned in World War II and has shut out her past even about Ada and it brought tragedy and I can see why since the Second World War was big and tragic on its own. When I was listening to Ada’s story I was really entertained about learning what had happened in Berlin since while being in different history classes not much of Berlin has been talked about since we knew what countries were taken over by Hitler such as Poland, Denmark, and many others. It also brought on what took place in Italy since we got to see some of the events with Musilini and of course Rome being a big event where of course Ada meeting Gabrielle at that point. I did like how the characters interact during these moments since they are reacting to the events like how Ada told off a German soldier after one of her concerts, how she and her family were going through the happenings, trust me I almost cried when her father told her to leave him behind at the camp because he didn’t want anyone to take savings that may help her and her mother. It was even sad when her mother left while being at the camp as well when they got to send to one. It was just a great round about tale since it did help us understand why the vineyard had to be saved and I did like how it hinted about Ada having her own patch in the vineyard since earlier in the story when her mother started working among the vines of grapes and olives that she named a part of it after Ada even though Ada found it silly. I can see why it happened since Ada’s mother wanted to leave something special even after the war had ended. It did get revealed a wine was named after a piece that Ada was famous for playing.

What also tugged at my heart strings was how she and Kurt were together. As history happens soldiers do lose their lives and this was a sad part to it. I did find it cute with how Ada and Kurt first met at the Junior Orchestra and how the Baumgartens helped Kurt get to the concert hall for practice but later his violin does get broken and was sent to the junior camps for the military. It was very heart felt whenever both Ada and Kurt were able to have their times together even with one instance when Ada was on a concert trip and she and Kurt were out all night and she had to leave the next day but it did come with some consequences that surprised people. I understand that since I had played clarinet myself in middle school that consequences during class like having people moved due to not being able to have their instruments or some members misbehaving and causing the teacher to yell can happen but back then it was even more strict from what I’ve seen. It was sad with how Ada lost him since I was hoping that they were able to spend the rest of their lives but understanding having someone for that long even if they were on opposite sides can be tragic even seeing how they end up losing their lives in the end. I don’t want to spoil that part because this is something that you got to read yourself.

Rating: 5 Star Paw Prints Out of 5! Out of Ronald’s books I would have to say this one is my most favorite because it was well written even how much the story that Ada told blended in with the present day stuff. It did link to the loose ends that Katherine and Liam had to learn as they have to hire extra lawyers in order to get things settled and solved while the clues were starting to show as they read the manuscript. I think I liked this one more than Karolena’s Twins because I prefer how Ada was spunkier and she didn’t want anyone push her down even if she had to face her consequences later when meeting that soldier later on. It was heart felt and of course I did like seeing what took place in Italy and Berlin during the Second World War and getting to know more of the history as I read on. I am wondering Mr. Balson going to write more for this series because I feel like he has done very well, if he does I am hoping to get to read that one too since I have been reading his stuff on NetGalley since the third book. If not, I am content with how it ended.

Well, that is it guys! I have more books to review and hoping to get more RangerStop content up as soon as possible. Plus, my BoxyCharm is on the way at the moment! So stay tuned!
The Girl From Berlin by. Ronald H. Balson