Anne Blankman

In 1930s Munich, the favorite niece of rising political leader Adolph Hitler is torn between duty and love after meeting a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter.

Prisoner of Night and Fog

In 1930s Munich, the favorite niece of rising political leader Adolph Hitler is torn between duty and love after meeting a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter.

In 1930s Munich, the favorite niece of rising political leader Adolph Hitler is torn between duty and love after meeting a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter. The plot contains graphic descriptions of violence.

Prisoner of night and fog

Kayleigh Septer

I got my hands on an advanced reading copy of this book and I'm so glad that I did. Prisoner of Night and Fog kept me hanging on until the last page, and left me wanting more. I am eagerly awaiting the sequel, even though Prisoner of Night and Fog hasn't even been released yet.

I highly recommend this book to people looking for good YA historical fiction.

Emelie

Gisela Ayala 

Actual deserves a 3.5, maybe almost a 4! The only reason I gave it a 3 was because the beginning was a bit slow for me but other than that it was a pretty compelling read. I am a huge fan of Historical Fiction. 

Plot-wise, the author did a great job of building up on real life events and Hitler's frightening ascend to power. There were a few times that I looked up certain situations to see how they differed and besides the fictional characters, the timeline was pretty true to real life. As I mentioned before, the beginning was slow for me, but maybe it was because I went into this book expecting one thing and got another. I had to remember myself that when it comes to Historical Fiction, it is all in the details and with that I trudge along and was rewarded ten-fold with an exciting climax and end. 

For the most part I appreciated every character that came into play, and I use the term "appreciate" because I loved the protagonists and I disliked the antagonists. But I appreciated how Blankman painted this grey picture of the characters and made them the flawed humans that they were. Gretchen was, by no means perfect. There were times when her thoughts would truly disgust me, and how she really had to go to war with her preconceived ideas of Jewish people. She was a weak character at times, and I really wanted her to be stronger, which she did get stronger at the end. 

Another thing that comes into play in this book is the mental health perspective. My favorite character was in fact the psycho analyst and the diagnosis he gave to certain people, including Hitler. It was frightening, but completely intriguing to delve deeper into the mind.

Very interesting book and although I do want to know what happens next, I probably won't be picking up the next book yet... 

Oh and can I just say her brother is an ass!!!

mevi

This has been on my TBR for years! I love the time period it takes place in, female lead, and right before Hitler takes presidency. Make sure to read the Author’s Note after you finish the book. Blankman really did her research in mixing fiction with history.

The only reason why it isn’t a 5 star is (view spoiler)[because Gretchen was very submissive until she was finally cornered. I wish she had more... guts? But, she redeemed herself by the end. It was just hard to get through some scenes tbh. (hide spoiler)]

My favorite character was Daniel. During the 1920-30’s men were taught to be masculine, and to treat women as... objects instead of people. Daniel treated Gretchen as an equal, and that helped her character development.

Amanda Kordeliski

4.5 Brilliant premise that is impeccably researched. writing is strong and you find yourself completely immersed on 1933 Munich. Fabulous background book for understanding the causes the Germans point to for the beginning of WWII. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Jennifer Merchant

ashley hopkins

It's interesting that I would request any type of book that's referenced with any history. It's not because I'm against it, but I remember history being boring in school. It's facts that I could care less about. Maybe, that seems a bit harsh, but I'm more of the creative type. I want to make up my own things. I don't care about what's happened. I should because that's how we learn from mistakes. -shrugs- So for me to read Prisoner of Night and Fog and enjoy it shocked me. 

I enjoyed reading from the perspective of Gretchen. Gretchen seemed like a very strong-willed character, and even though things became though for her throughout the story with her brother, the way her father died, Herr Hitler, and other things. She stayed true and she did what she believed was right and I applaud her.

There aren't many female characters that I would put up next to Rose, but Gretchen is definitely one of them there was nothing whiny about her.

Then we have Daniel who is on the other side of the budding war between the national socialites and Jews, being a reporter for a Jewish newspaper he began to show Gretchen just what her beloved Hitler was all about . I love that Daniel also saw through Gretchen, and seemed to care for her and helped her learn the truth about her families past. 

Another aspect I was 100% grateful for was NO love triangle!!!
See this can be done, and you can still have an awesome story, I applaud you Mrs. Blankman.


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Cassandra Brickey

Anna Agarwal

abbey

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Historical fiction has never been one of my favorite genres. Despite that, I felt compelled to read this book because the subject and the premise was so interesting to me. Boy am I glad I did. Is all historical fiction this good? If so, I really need to branch out into this genre more frequently.

The Prisoner of Night and Fog is a story that sucked me in nearly immediately with a combination of interesting characters, lovely writing and a well-paced plot. Gretchen was a fantastic protagonist. This young lady underwent quite a transition in this book. When we're first introduced to her, she seems fairly weak and prone to believing everything people tell her. Particularly the things her Uncle Dolf tells her. It isn't until her eyes are opened by a chance encounter with a Jewish guy that she begins to question the things she has been told all her life. In the end, she becomes a strong, brave and likable heroine. Her character growth is truly phenomenal. 

A lot of what I found most interesting about this book was not the romance or the action, though I enjoyed both of those a lot. Who doesn't love a good forbidden romance after all? The character studies and mention of mental illness, particularly with regards to Hitler and Gretchen's brother Reinhard, were fascinating to me. Of course, these studies also came with a lot of disturbing details about past behavior of both of these characters. 

While I understand this was a fictional story, I know a lot of it was based in fact. The behind-the-scenes look at the charming Adolf Hitler and at those in his inner circle, was absolutely intriguing. Unsettling, but fascinating. This was an ambitious book. I mean, it's Hitler. To start off a book with a young character who believes all of his theories (even though she doesn't really understand what he's saying) and supports him, have her come face-to-face with one of his hated enemies, the Jew, and save him and then have her ultimately question everything she's ever known her entire life? Intense. It was incredibly well-done, too. 

If you're a fan of historical fiction, or if you'd like to dip your toe in the waters and see if you might like it, I can't recommend this book highly enough. It wasn't an easy book to read because of all the hate speech, but that's to be expected. Again, Hitler. This book is set in one of those dark times in history that it's impossible to believe happened less than century ago. Unfortunately, it did. But I love the way Anne Blankman handled it in this book with fantastic characters (both good and bad), a plot that sucked me in and made me not want to put the book down, a sweet forbidden love story, eye-opening revelations and a fair bit of action. I tend to get bored with historical fiction and walk away from it. I was never in danger of doing that with The Prisoner of Night and Fog. I want to be clear there's no cliffhanger, but I still can't wait to get my hands on the sequel to see where the author takes these characters next. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, vie Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

Jessica Nottingham

I must admit that I wanted to read Prisoner of Night and Fog the instant I saw that it revolved around Adolf Hitler. I have this fascination with people like him. People who can manipulate, who can sway the masses so perfectly that he can cause them to turn against one another. There's something both terrifying and intriguing about a man like that. I was also very interested to see how Anne Blankman would weave her story around Gretchen. What would it be like to be part of the Nazi party? To be that close to someone so influential? I went into this book with high hopes my friends, and I wasn't disappointed.
 
Gretchen's character is perfection. Who better to show how easy it was to be caught under the spell of "Uncle Dolf" than a young girl? What's special about Gretchen is that she has a big heart. Even when the Nazi slogans and beliefs were rattling around in her head, even when she tried to steel her heart against violence towards the Jews, I couldn't hate her for it. This is how Gretchen was raised. Raised to accept what was around her, and quietly go about her business. I won't deny that I silently cheered her on as she slowly started to break out of her shell. I wanted this girl to overcome. I wanted her to see the dark, bloody truth. I liked Gretchen, and that made this book so easy to read.
 
Even more interesting is that you'll see key players from Adolf Hitler's life peppered into this tale. Even Ms. Eva Braun is a pivotal person in this quick moving story. I loved seeing deeper into his whole persona. Into the sad, lost man who was behind it all. I'll grant you the fact that Prisoner of Night and Fog is historical fiction, but it feels real. It's easy to get lost in, and that's what I'm always looking for in a new read.
 
Add in a forbidden romance, some intrigue, and the type of secrets that should stay hidden, and you have quite the book. While I wasn't in love with all the aspects of it, I can't give Anne Blakeman's book anything less than a huge round of applause. If you're a fan of this time period, or a fan of historical fiction in general, this will be a book you'll want to check out. Well-written and moving. I loved it.

Prisoner of Night and Fog

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