A Bird with the Heart of a Mountain by Barbara Mariconda

I’ve read many a novel about the Spanish Civil War and more often than not, flamenco is tied into the story in some manner. Compared to these two titles--The Return by Victoria Hislop and Golden Earrings by Belinda Alexandra, I found this one somewhat lacking and less inspiring as well as informative, but it should be noted those are aimed at adult readers and this one is aimed at the younger crowd. I do think, however, it could have been more clear about the war, the cause, the divisions, and what exactly was going on. Had I not read the previous two mentioned books, I would have had a lot of questions.

In a nutshell: the heroine is half Gypsy and half Spanish. When her mother meets tragic circumstances, she just “happens to” run into her father’s family, whom she’s never known of till now. They are dancers. With just a little training, she becomes a wonderful dancer too. Interspersed in the story is the war; an angry priest, a secret hideout, raids, prison, bombs, though the war itself isn’t explained in great depth.

I appreciated the obstacles the heroine faces: what world is she a part of? Should she settle for being half this or that? Half of herself? Choose a man—and she has many interested. The dancing…are the rules and instruction hurting her passion? What should she do and for what reasons? She has many choices to make and also you could say learns to forgive along the way. Things are not perfect with her father asap.

Also loved the subtle lesson about being in love. Are you in love or do you just love that he loves you?

I loved the setting, the descriptions, the writing style. I loved the ending for the most part, except for two things: 1. The “thing” with the Capitan was left unfinished. It left me feeling as though there is trouble to come and I wondered how she would overcome her “debt” to him. 2. The baby sister issue was left unresolved.

I received this via Amazon Vine.