I had no idea this was part of a series when I started to read this book, but as far as I know is the books not linked to each other than that they take place in the town of Wedding Tree. All I knew was that I wanted to read this book the first time I saw the cover and then read the description of the book. I have a deep love for books with parallel timelines and I found the description of the book fascinating with two women, old now, finally confronting the past. Amelie O'Connor, the French War Bride who stole Kat Morgans fiancée Jack. But, what really happened? That's what Kat wants to know, but Amelie needs to tell here the whole story, from the start, not just how she and Jack met. Kat needs to know what led up to the fateful meeting between Jack and Amelie to understand why Amelie was so desperate that day in the Parisian church...

Robin Wells manages to really convey the difficult years during the Nazi occupation of France in THE FRENCH WAR BRIDE. Amelie is just an ordinary girl with an ordinary family when war arrives and suddenly her brothers have gone off to fight and then comes the terrible day when they have to leave Paris for safety in the country, but not even there are they really safe. And, it will get worse...

I was actually a bit surprised how deeply taken I was with the story and its characters. I had hoped for a good book, but I'm a bit picky when it comes to romance in books. Honestly, I thought it would actually be more of a love story than it was, but Jack wasn't even in the story for over half the book. It was Amelie's story, her experience with the occupation, watching loved one dies that that really was the focus for most of the book. Then, we had Jack showing up as a saving angel. And, the way she insinuated herself into his life. Well, let's say that she was desperate and the methods she used were a bit objectionable. However, she had her reason.

Then we have Kat, we only get some snippets from her life, how she met Jack and their courtship. However, I got the feeling throughout the book that she was more in love with the idea of marriage with Jack than she was in love with Jack. She wanted the life her parents had, her father a doctor and her mother a doting wife. I think that she had pictured the perfect life and was in love with that and Jack becoming a doctor just like her father and then going to work with him was just a perfect dream. So, Amelie arriving at Wedding Tree was for Kat a terrible blow because suddenly her dream life was gone.

I think that THE FRENCH WAR BRIDE was an amazing book that both showed the devastation of war and the resistance of the people that would not bow down. Amelie's story was deeply moving and I think if you like reading WW2 books, then THE FRENCH WAR BRIDE is an excellent choice!

Book Summary

World 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 assisted living center in Wedding Tree, Louisiana, ninety-three-year-old Amélie O’Connor is in the habit of leaving her door open for friends. One day she receives an unexpected visitor—Kat Thompson, the ex-fiancée of her late husband, Jack.

Kat and Jack were high school sweethearts who planned to marry when Jack returned from France after World War II. But in a cruel twist of fate, their plans were irrevocably derailed when a desperate French girl overheard an American officer’s confession in a Parisian church. . .

Now Kat wants to know the truth behind a story that’s haunted her whole life. Finding out how Amélie stole Jack’s heart will—she thinks—finally bring her peace. As Amélie recalls the dark days of the Nazi occupation of Paris, The French War Bride reveals how history shapes the courses of our lives. . .for better or for worse.

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