Dusk by Eve Edwards

Paperback: 304 pages

• Publisher: Penguin (6 Jun 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141337397

Dusk by Eve Edwards is a beautiful love story set against the brutal back drop of WWI.

A love worth fighting for.

When Helen, a young hard-working nurse, meets aristocratic artist Sebastian, she doesn't expect to even like him, let alone fall in love. But against the troubled backdrop of wartime London, an unlikely but intense romance blossoms. And even the bloody trenches of the Somme, where they are both posted, cannot diminish their feelings for each other.

But Helen is concealing a secret and when a terrible crime is committed there are devastating consequences for them both.

When lives are being lost, can true love survive?

Cover:  Something about this cover immediately drew me in.  It's so relevant, a perfect match for the story.

I loved this book.

I'm a big fan of historical fiction, but normally gravitate towards ones set in the regency period, and am in general, just a big history nerd.

Dusk is beautifully written.  It's about a couple whose lives and relationship is caught up in the first world war.

I loved how it was told.  It wasn't linear.  One chapter would be set as Helen and Sebastian are getting to know each other, and the next could be set two years later at the Somme.  I enjoyed that going back and forth.  

This is definitely an emotive read.  There are some passages that almost made me tear up.  It really brings home the loss suffered at that time.

But I really felt for Helen and the injustices she faces towards the end of the book.  The author really makes you feel for her.

Both Helen and Sebastian are likable characters that you root for.  

Helen- a downtrodden young girl, cast as plain by her father, and considered to be in her sisters shadow.  Becomes a nurse to aid the war effort.

Sebastian- an artist that feels the pressure to enlist.

I do think you may get more out of this book if you're familiar with the events of World War I, but I wouldn't say it's a requirement.

While this may sound like a safe romance read, it's not.  There's far more going on than that.  I actually wanted MORE romance in it.  I wanted more of Helen and Sebastian together.  I feel we didn't have enough of that to really make their romance feel real.  I understand they become separated by the war, but I wanted to see more of them together.

Cliff-hanger ending.  Evil.  Need second book...like now!

Highly recommend.

4/5 stars.