What I’m Reading: The Forest of Vanishing Stars

I’ve listened to so many books lately that I’m squeezing in a bonus book this week…

In the last 6 months or so I discovered author Kristin Harmel-she is the same author of our last book club selection.  I read two of her book and then went to my online libraries and looked for more books by her.  I ended up finding The Forest of Vanishing Stars and immediately put myself on the waitlist.  A few weeks later it became available and I checked it out.

This book was okay but not quite as good as the other books I read by this author.  The book just was a little unbelievable.  Here’s an example.  A baby gets stolen because a woman who has always been a nomad forest dweller just knows she is supposed to.  The nomad forest dweller who has always just rambled through the forest not staying in a home, lives off the land and ends up being 100 years old.  It was just a little too much for me to really believe.  Sure, I guess it could happen but the likelihood is not great.  I guess I’m too realistic…worse, I had the expectation in my mind that this was going to be the most awesome book ever as the other two by this author were.

Here is what Amazon had to say:
“After being stolen from her wealthy German parents and raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe, a young woman finds herself alone in 1941 after her kidnapper dies. Her solitary existence is interrupted, however, when she happens upon a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror. Stunned to learn what’s happening in the outside world, she vows to teach the group all she can about surviving in the forest—and in turn, they teach her some surprising lessons about opening her heart after years of isolation. But when she is betrayed and escapes into a German-occupied village, her past and present come together in a shocking collision that could change everything.”

Amazon readers gave the book 4.6 stars.  I’m going to give it 4.0 stars.  I know it’s a harsh rating but it just didn’t live up to the other books at all and I’m having trouble separating the two.  Had I never read the other two books, I might have given this book a higher rating.

You can find the book HERE on Amazon.
You can find a listing of all of the author’s books HERE.  Most of them look like they are historical fiction.  YAHOO!!

I strongly recommend these two as there are my favorite.
The Book of Lost Names HERE.
When We Meet Again HERE.