The Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

Young Llama Thoughts
  • Adventurous
  • Christian Friendly
  • Easy Reading
  • Humerous
  • Youth Appropriate
Overall
1.9 Llamas

Summary

Honestly, this book was disappointing. I really liked the first 3 quarters of the book, but then it went downhill. I didn’t actually get to finish the book. I stopped because one of the characters in it were LGBT. Now, I’m not against people like this, but I don’t want to read about it. This book was for young adults, but it was also good for older teens. I’m trying to find books that are more in my age group, and yet, it’s hard to find one without LGBT in it.

My mom had warned me about this book being sad, since the time line was placed into the Nazi territory and I would be reading about some things about the Jews. But I would have never expected to run into LGBT in a historical fiction book, even if it was a thing during the time. This book was a story I really wanted to finish, but I didn’t. I wish this story could have been in my preference, but it’s not. If you wish to read this book, I must warn you, I don’t feel like it’s a good choice for any kind of teen, and it’s especially not for kids.

Overall, I really enjoyed the first part of the book, and I wish I could have finished. This book was the kind of story I would have wanted to read over and over, but this story had some problems, both in the beginning and the end. If you are interested in some historical fiction, like me, I would advise flipping through the story before getting a book you think you would enjoy. Even history had some downfalls.

Oh, and by the way, this is the Tiger Reader. I DID MY FIRST POST!!!

Pros

  • Interesting plot line
  • Easy to read

Cons

  • LGBT characters
  • Mentions of some adult things
  • Light cursing
  • Sad timeline
Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion.
On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older woman’s frantic plea to find a person–a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially wants nothing to do with such dangerous work, but is ultimately drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning revelations that lead her into the heart of the resistance, open her eyes to the horrors of the Nazi war machine, and compel her to take desperate action.

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