Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys // Book Review

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Publisher: Philomel Books

Publication Date: February 2nd, 2016

Page Number: 400 pages

Format Read: E-book (Live-brary)

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Winter, 1945. Four teenagers. Four secrets.

Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies…and war.

As thousands of desperate refugees flock to the coast in the midst of a Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom.

Yet not all promises can be kept.

Inspired by the single greatest tragedy in maritime history, bestselling and award-winning author Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray) lifts the veil on a shockingly little-known casualty of World War II. An illuminating and life-affirming tale of heart and hope.

My Thoughts:

I loved this book! The events that occurred throughout were so tragic and felt so heartbreaking! It was so interesting learning about new things in history and that there was a ship sinking even worse than the Titanic that isn’t even as well known.

You really start to feel attached to all of the characters and want them all to make it through the war.

One thing I found incorporated really well was the romance and the air of mystery and secrets. Like despite the horrible situation happening and people being killed, the plot and story was still propelled by the secrets and romance.

And those things helped make the story more interesting and want the reader to keep turning the pages.

At first I thought the multiple character POV’s would turn me off the story and I would get confused, but after three chapters, I was perfectly fine since each character was really diverse.

The only person whose chapters I kind of skimmed was Alfred. He just freaked me out in general. When we found out what really happened to his love back home, I was shocked. Like how does one not understand that they’re giving someone they love a death sentence basically??

And poor Emilia! I found her such a strong girl given that we’re practically the same age. I couldn’t imagine being on the run from Hitler while pregnant and Polish.

I think my favorite character was probably Joana, but I loved all of them too.

I definitely loved this book more than Between Shades of Gray and didn’t know much about it going into it so I was pleasantly surprised to see that Salt to the Sea took place during the same time era nearly as Between Shades of Gray.

I’m excited to see what Ruta writes next!

Verdict:

A historical fiction book with characters that brought the story to life and a plot propelled by secrets.

My Rating:

4.5 stars

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Have you read this book? What did you think?

P.s. This will probably be my last post for July, apart from my July wrap up since I’m leaving today for a sleep away journalism camp!