Long Way Home by Lynn Austin Book Review

Long Way Home by Lynn Austin

Description from Amazon:

Peggy Serrano couldn’t wait for her best friend to come home from the war. But the Jimmy Barnett who returns is much different from the Jimmy who left, changed so drastically by his experience as a medic in Europe that he can barely function. When he attempts the unthinkable, his parents check him into the VA hospital. Peggy determines to help the Barnetts unravel what might have happened to send their son over the edge. She starts by contacting Jimmy’s war buddies, trying to identify the mysterious woman in the photo they find in Jimmy’s belongings.

Seven years earlier, sensing the rising tide against her people, Gisela Wolff and her family flee Germany aboard the passenger ship St. Louis, bound for Havana, Cuba. Gisela meets Sam Shapiro on board and the two fall quickly in love. But the ship is denied safe harbor and sent back to Europe. Thus begins Gisela’s perilous journey of exile and survival, made possible only by the kindness and courage of a series of strangers she meets along the way, including one man who will change the course of her life.

I was quite disappointed by this book and found it to be pretty boring. The whole story was just so slow! It wasn't until maybe the last 1/4 of the book where it seemed to pick up speed and the plot finally moved forward. So much of the book was just repeating the same things. 

Most of Gisela's storyline was just one bad thing after another. I mean, I know there was a lot of bad happening (Obviously! It was war!) but typically you'll at least have a few small good moments. It just got to be depressing. I already knew what had happened with the St. Louis, but too much time was spent telling the facts about what happened without really adding any story to it. 

I would have much preferred this story to have focused solely on Peggy instead of the dual-storyline. I think that really detracted from both characters as we don't really get to know either of them very well or understand their motivations. 

I didn't care for Gisela at all really. She was kind of irrational with how she reacted to people helping her and the way she rushed into her romance with Sam made her (and their relationship) feel unnatural to me. I found Peggy to be more personable and relatable.

I did really like the relationship between Peggy and Jimmy's parents. I think we can all relate to feeling like we don't fit in at times, even within our own families, so I really liked how Peggy found acceptance with Jimmy's parents. 

For most of the book I was confused by Peggy and Jimmy's relationship. They're friends, but there is a mention that she has a crush on him, but she also doesn't find it weird that the guy she has a crush on is carrying the picture of another girl with him? And then later she says he's like a brother to her? It was just confusing to me and didn't fully make sense until the very end.

I've read several of this author's books and have enjoyed them (In fact, I included If I Were You as one of my favorite reads from 2020!) but this one just didn't have the same feel to it that the others have. I don't really know what it was about this one, but it just fell flat for me.

I received a complimentary e-copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. 

Long Way Home releases on June 21, 2022.