Countdown: World War II

Time for this month's Countdown!  What is Countdown?  It's a feature I have started in which I pick a topic, genre, country, or subject and list five books that I have read related to that topic or subject.  There is a 5 star read (loved it!), a four star read (liked it), a three star read (it was okay but had some issues and I'm not recommending it to 5000 people), a two star read (had a LOT of issues, I struggled with it), and the dreaded one star read (I hated it).

This month's topic is World War II. 

Five star read:  The Postmistress by Sarah Blake.  First published in 2009.  The book goes back and forth from England to a small town in the U.S during the war.  The main characters are both women, and very different from each other.  There are numerous secondary characters and each one has their own fascinating story and the war effects them all in some way.  It all came together to make an interesting and tear evoking ending. 

Four star read:  The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff.  First published in 2001.  The setting is war torn Poland.  The Jewish heroine has been married only a few months when her husband disappears, involved in an underground movement against the Germans.  Rather than go to the Jewish ghetto, she obtains counterfeit papers and obtains a job working for a high ranking Nazi officer to obtain information.. and she must go to extremes to get this information. In the end, however, I found the heroine too stupid to live and wanted to slap her so it didn't hit the five star mark.

Three star read:  Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge.  First published in 2007.  It's one of those "back and forth" books, containing a modern day heroine who just got out of jail and a woman that lived in the same house (the grandmother) during world war II.  The modern day heroine didn't appeal to me much.  She kept making bad decisions.  The world war II heroine had more interesting parts and dealt with more interesting situations.

Two star read:  Sisterhood of the Rose by Jim Marrs.  First published in 2009.  It is about a network of women that aim to bring down Hitler, but it got ridiculous and unbelievable.  It felt like Barbie and Ken go to Germany to end the war.. and enlist Eva Braun??  Even Mussolini's mistress and daughter joins the group.  Too far fetched.

One star read:  Gifts of War by Mackenzie Ford.  First published in 2009.  Most people liked it.  It didn't work for me at all.  I had a very difficult time liking the hero and narrater of the book, a man I considered a stalker and a liar.. Perhaps a liar by omission, but still.. he and the story overall didn't appeal to me.