Books like 'The Blossom and the Firefly'
Readers who enjoyed The Blossom and the Firefly by Sherri L. Smith also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical romance 20th century military, war & conflict action / adventure historical-fiction war ww2 friendship poc-mc
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The Emerald Horizon by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBerlin, 1944. Ariella Bannon is being hunted. Someone is determined to betray her as a Jew, but she has survived against incredible odds, and the end is in sight. She will be reunited with her precious children, no matter what it takes.Meanwhile, Liesl and Erich have found a home in Ireland, away from the chaos of war-ravaged Europe...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPerfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Beekeeper of Aleppo.In the 1930s, Stalin’s activists marched through the Soviet Union, espousing the greatness of collective farming. It was the first step in creating a man-made famine that, in Ukraine, stole almost 4 million lives... -
Three Comrades by Erich Maria Remarque
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe year is 1928. On the outskirts of a large German city, three young men are earning a thin and precarious living. Fully armed young storm troopers swagger in the streets. Restlessness, poverty, and violence are everywhere. For these three, friendship is the only refuge from the chaos around them...Categorized as:
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Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsWhile the Titanic and Lusitania are both well-documented disasters, the single greatest tragedy in maritime history is the little-known January 30, 1945 sinking in the Baltic Sea by a Soviet submarine of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise liner that was supposed to ferry wartime personnel and refugees to safety from the advancing Red Army... -
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Return to Robinswood by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsOne Irish house, two very different families, and a war that changed everything. Robinswood Estate, County Waterford, Ireland. 1946.Years of neglect and abandonment have left the family seat of the Keneficks almost derelict, but the new Lord Kenefick and his charming young wife Kate, are determined to breathe life into the old house once more...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt is 1939. Despite a law banning him from performing surgery, Ravic – a German doctor and refugee living in Paris – has been treating some of the city’s most elite citizens for two years on the behalf of two less-than-skillful French physicians...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Last Letter from Juliet by Melanie Hudson
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"The USA TODAY bestseller for fans of Soraya M. Lane, Heather Morris, Fiona Valpy and Pam Jenoff. Inspired by the brave women of WWII, this is a moving and powerful novel of friendship, love and resilience. A story of love not a story of a war. A daring WWII pilot who grew up among the clouds, Juliet Caron's life was one of courage, adventure - and a love torn apart by war... -
The Cypress Maze by Fiona Valpy
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this haunting tale from the bestselling author of The Storyteller of Casablanca, Beatrice kept a wartime secret to protect the innocent. Now, could telling it set her free?Tuscany, 1943. Stranded in war-ravaged Italy, Beatrice’s dream of an escapist year teaching English is shattered... -
A Time to Love and a Time to Die by Erich Maria Remarque, Denver Lindley
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the quintessential author of wartime Germany, A Time to Love and a Time to Die echoes the harrowing insights of his masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front. After two years at the Russian front, Ernst Graeber finally receives three weeks’ leave. But since leaves have been canceled before, he decides not to write his parents, fearing he would just raise their hopes...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Secrets We Left Behind by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsOccupied France, 1940. When the staff at a field hospital draw straws to find out who will join the evacuation from Dunkirk, Nurse Cate is left behind. But when the Nazis arrive to claim prisoners of war, she takes her chance and flees into the night, taking one patient with her.Fifty miles away, the surrendering soldiers of the Royal Norfolk Regiment are shot dead by the advancing Germans...Categorized as:
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So Much Owed: An Irish World War 2 Story by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsIn a turbulent and uncertain world, the birth of two children revitalise a small Irish town and set the stage for a closer look into lives torn asunder by war. When Dr. Richard Buckley returns home to his wife and beloved hometown of Dunderrig, his mind is wearied by the ravages of The Great War...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Under a Sky of Memories by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Last Correspondent comes the powerful story of three brave women who go to war—and end up fighting for their lives.Sicily, 1943. Three American women, all nurses in the Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron, are determined to do all they can for their country... -
The Parisians by Marius Gabriel
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsParis, 1940. The Nazis have occupied the city—and the Ritz. The opulent old hotel, so loved by Parisians, is now full of swaggering officers, their minions and their mistresses.For American Olivia Olsen, working as a chambermaid at the hotel means denying her nationality and living a lie, every day bringing the danger of discovery closer...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Watchmaker of Dachau by Carly Schabowski
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSnow falls and a woman prepares for a funeral she has long expected, yet hoped would never come. As she pats her hair and straightens her skirt, she tells herself this isn’t the first time she’s lost someone. Lifting a delicate, battered wristwatch from a little box on her dresser, she presses it to her cheek. Suddenly, she’s lost in memory…January 1945, Dachau, Germany... -
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The Skylark's Secret by Fiona Valpy
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLoch Ewe, 1940. When gamekeeper’s daughter Flora’s remote highland village finds itself the base for the Royal Navy’s Arctic convoys, life in her close-knit community changes forever. In defiance of his disapproving father, the laird’s son falls in love with Flora, and as tensions build in their disrupted home, any chance of their happiness seems doomed...Categorized as:
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The Spitfire Girls by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThree skilled aviators determined to help win the war. Three brave women who know their place is not at home. At the height of World War II, the British Air Transport Auxiliary need help. A group of young women volunteer for action, but the perils of their new job don’t end on the tarmac. Things are tough in the air, but on the ground their abilities as pilots are constantly questioned...Categorized as:
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The Riviera House by Natasha Lester
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Secret weaves a lush and engrossing novel of World War II inspired by a true story and perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Pam Jenoff. Paris, 1939: The Nazis think Éliane can't understand German. They’re wrong. They think she’s merely cataloging art in a Louvre museum and unaware they’re stealing national treasures for their private collections...Categorized as:
grief historical-fiction literary-fiction military war ww2 20th-century action-adventure -
Girls on the Line by Aimie K. Runyan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the celebrated author of Daughters of the Night Sky comes a stirring novel inspired by the courage, dedication, and love of the unsung heroines of the Great War. December 1917. As World War I rages in Europe, twenty-four-year-old Ruby Wagner, the jewel in a prominent Philadelphia family, prepares for her upcoming wedding to a society scion...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Of Windmills and War by Diane Moody
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe rumblings of war in distant countries mattered little to Danny McClain. Growing up in Chicago, his world revolved around after-school jobs, a rescued beagle, his pen pal in Holland, and the Cubs' chance to go to the World Series. Then, in December of 1941, news of the attack on Pearl Harbor hit much too close to home...Categorized as:
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Pocketful of Dreams: A Heart-Warming East End Saga by Jean Fullerton
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJean Fullerton, queen of the saga, returns with a charming new war-time series. It's 1939, and the Brogan family of London's East End are ready to show Hitler what-for. But things don't seem so rosy when rationing, evacuation, and air-raids start to put this larger-than-life family to the test... -
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThere on her forearm, next to a small brown birthmark, were six tattooed numbers. 'Do you remember me now?' he asked, trembling. She looked at him again, as if giving weight and bone to a ghost. 'Lenka, it's me,' he said. 'Josef. Your husband.' During the last moments of calm in prewar Prague, Lenka, a young art student, falls in love with Josef...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThis edition is edited and updated for younger readers (12 and older), and also contains extra materials, including classroom discussion points, additional photos, maps and documents and other educational resources. I tattooed a number on her arm. She tattooed her name on my heart. In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau... -
Daughter of the Reich by Louise Fein
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor fans of The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See, a spellbinding story of impossible love set against the backdrop of the Nazi regime. She must choose between loyalty to her country or a love that could be her destruction… As the dutiful daughter of a high-ranking Nazi officer, Hetty Heinrich is keen to play her part in the glorious new Thousand Year Reich...Categorized as:
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The Crystal Butterfly by Hannah Byron
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsJoin us as we dive deep into the heart of the Dutch Resistance during World War II in the sixth installment of ‘The Resistance Girl Series’, 'The Crystal Butterfly.'Amsterdam, 1939In a world on the brink of war, Edda Van der Valk, a talented prima ballerina, seeks refuge from a ruthless Russian rival at a Swiss finishing school... -
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The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Wood
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom an exciting new voice in WWII historical fiction—and the author of The Clockmaker’s Wife—comes a tale of love and a betrayal that echoes through generations…Paris, 1940: War is closing in on the city of love. With his wife forced into hiding, Jacques must stand by and watch as the Nazis take away everything he holds dear... -
As Long As I Have You by Dean Hughes
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe war is over, and the Thomas family is slowly coming back together at home in Salt Lake City. But that doesn't mean all is well in Zion.In As Long As I Have You, the final volume of the Children of the Promise series, author Dean Hughes presents a moving picture of what life was like for an ordinary LDS family at the end of World War II...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic war ww2 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
The Longest Echo by Eoin Dempsey
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAgainst the backdrop of WWII-ravaged Italy comes a powerful and emotional novel of love, survival, justice, and second chances by the bestselling author of White Rose, Black Forest.Occupied Italy, 1944. In the mountain regions south of Bologna, Liliana Nicoletti’s family finds escaped POW James Foley behind German lines... -
The Girls of Pearl Harbor by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of Wives of War comes a harrowing tale of four brave young nurses whose lives change forever in the wake of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.When Grace, April, and Poppy join the US Army Nurse Corps, they see it as little more than an adventure, one made all the better by their first station: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii... -
What Once Was True: An Irish WW2 Story by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsRobinswood, Co Waterford, 1939. The once grand Irish house is home to two very different families. Despite delusions of grandeur, Lord and Lady Kenefick and their adult children, live a life of decayed opulence as the money needed to keep such a large house and grounds ever dwindles...Categorized as:
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Angels of the Resistance by Noelle Salazar
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratings“Angels of the Resistance brings to life a deadly-effective and deeply moving sisterhood.” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose CodeFrom the bestselling author of The Flight Girls comes a story inspired by true events, about courageous women who risked everything for country, for family, and for each other...Categorized as:
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War Girl Ursula by Marion Kummerow
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBerlin 1943: Compassion is a crime. A prisoner escapes. A guard looks the other way. Why does Ursula Hermann risk her life and brave the Gestapo to save a man she barely knows? Ursula has always lived the law, never broken the rules in her life. That is until the day she finds escapee British airman Tom Westlake and all the right she’s worked so hard to maintain goes wrong..Categorized as:
grief historical-fiction literary-fiction military war ww2 20th-century action-adventure -
Into the Darkest Day by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe had to step outside and hold the paper up to the moonlight to read it, but when she was able to make out the words, her heart felt as if it would drop right out of her chest. Because the message was in German.1944, London:When Lily meets enigmatic GI Matthew in war-torn London, she doesn’t expect to fall in love... -
A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMajor Jack Novak has never failed to meet a challenge--until he meets army nurse Lieutenant Ruth Doherty. When Jack lands in the army hospital after a plane crash, he makes winning Ruth's heart a top priority mission. But he has his work cut out for him...Categorized as:
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When We Had Wings by Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom three bestselling authors comes an interwoven tale about a trio of World War II nurses stationed in the South Pacific who wage their own battle for freedom and survival.The Philippines, 1941. When U.S. Navy nurse Eleanor Lindstrom, U.S... -
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Letters Across the Sea by Genevieve Graham
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsInspired by a little-known chapter of World War II history, a young Protestant girl and her Jewish neighbour are caught up in the terrible wave of hate sweeping the globe on the eve of war in this powerful love story that’s perfect for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.If you’re reading this letter, that means I’m dead...Categorized as:
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A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWill a chance meeting in a time of war change her life forever?Never pretty enough to please her gorgeous mother, Allie will do anything to gain her approval - even marry a man she doesn't love. While Allie has nearly resigned herself to that fate, Lt. Walter Novak - fearless in the cockpit but hopeless with women - takes his last furlough at home in California before being shipped overseas...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction military realistic war ww2 20th-century action-adventure -
Soar Like Eagles by Terri Wangard
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCarol becomes a Red Cross doughnut girl, serving GIs and boosting their morale. Convinced wartime romances are doomed to disappointment, she attempts to avoid entanglements. She didn’t plan on Chet, the navigator who tempts her to throw caution to the wind. Chet’s father and brothers always belittled him. As a squadron lead navigator, he longs to prove them wrong... -
Winter at Bletchley Park by Molly Green
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe second inspiring novel in the heartwarming and hopeful Bletchley Park Girls series from historical fiction queen, Molly Green...When Rosie Frost was jilted on her wedding day, she didn't think life could get any worse. But six years later in the throes of the Second World War, she is unceremoniously dismissed from her job after they discover her illegitimate child... -
Bitter Tears by Marion Kummerow
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRichard Klausen is a fugitive. A Wehrmacht deserter, hiding out on a farm in Poland. He thought once the war was over, he’d be safe. Wrong. Things only get worse and staying in Poland threatens his very life. Katrina Zdanek longs for peace. But when it’s finally there, she soon finds out that loving the wrong man still is a crime. She’s Polish. He’s German. Antagonists even after the war... -
With Love, Wherever You Are by Dandi Daley Mackall
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEveryone knows that war romances never last. . . . Helen Eberhart always had to fight for what she wanted. Survival in a family of thirteen gave her the grit to push through nurse’s training and support herself. But after the attack on Pearl Harbor, she can’t stand catering to the pampered patients on Chicago’s North Shore... -
On the Wings of Hope by Ella Zeiss, Helen MacCormac
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAs World War II draws to a close, can two young people find love, hope—and freedom?February 1942: Terrifying reports of the Wehrmacht’s advance across the Soviet Union spread like wildfire, striking new fear into the already oppressed German families living there.Harri Pfeiffer, now sixteen, is summoned to the forced labour camp in Chelyabinsk...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Heart of the Family by Annie Groves
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe much-loved author of ACROSS THE MERSEY tells of Liverpool under bombardment as never before – but the Campion family refuses to give in.The Campions have always stuck together through danger and sorrow, but even they begin to wonder if it’s time to take their youngest, the twins, to safety away from the bombing raids... -
Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie K. Runyan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA novel—inspired by the most celebrated regiment in the Red Army—about a woman’s sacrifice, courage, and love in a time of war. Russia, 1941. Katya Ivanova is a young pilot in a far-flung military academy in the Ural Mountains. From childhood, she’s dreamed of taking to the skies to escape her bleak mountain life...Categorized as:
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The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II by Madeline Martin
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsInspired by the true World War II history of the few bookshops to survive the Blitz, The Last Bookshop in London is a timeless story of wartime loss, love and the enduring power of literature.August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe...Categorized as:
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The Lieutenant's Girl by Shari J. Ryan
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPearl Harbor, 1941. War planes hurtle across the horizon, skimming the clouds. Gunpowder fills the air as the earth shatters. Everett’s hands cup my cheeks. “If I lose you, Elizabeth, please know that the time I’ve spent with you has been worth every second I’ve been alive...Categorized as:
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The French War Bride by Robin Wells
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWorld War II Paris serves as the backdrop of a story of compassion, betrayal, and forgiveness from the national bestselling author of The Wedding Tree . . . “I never knew what he saw in you.” At her retirement home in Wedding Tree, Louisiana, ninety-one-year-old Amelie O’Connor is in the habit of leaving her door open for friends...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Last Hours in Paris by Ruth Druart
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA powerful portrait of war and retribution. A beautiful story of love and forgiveness."Words are power. They can bring you down, lift you up, make your heart soar, make you fall in love. Or make you hate."Paris 1944. Elise Chevalier knows what it is to love . . . and to hate. Her fiancé, a young French soldier, was killed by the German army at the Maginot Line... -
An Orphan’s Wish: The new, most heartwarming historical fiction novel you will read this year by Molly Green
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWar rages, but the women and children of Liverpool’s Dr Barnardo’s Home cannot give up hope. What more could you wish for than a poignant, heart-warming saga to read this Christmas? LIVERPOOL, 1943Yorkshire is the place Lana has always called home, but it’s now filled with painful memories of her fiancé, Dickie, who was killed at sea... -
Finding Rebecca by Eoin Dempsey
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNothing could keep Christopher and Rebecca apart: not her abusive parents, or even the fiancé she brought home after running away to England. But when World War II finally strikes the island of Jersey, the Nazi invaders ship Rebecca to Europe as part of Hitler's Final Solution against the Jewish population...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSix-year-old Gretl Schmidt is on a train bound for Auschwitz. Jakób Kowalski is planting a bomb on the tracks. As World War II draws to a close, Jakób fights with the Polish resistance against the crushing forces of Germany and Russia. They mean to destroy a German troop transport, but Gretl’s unscheduled train reaches the bomb first. Gretl is the only survivor...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction military realistic war ww2 20th-century
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