Book Review: The Lines We Leave Behind

The Lines We Leave Behind by Eliza Graham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars (3.5)

There are a number of things to know about The Lines We Leave Behind in advance of reading it that might help you determine if it's for you:

1) Flashbacks.
Most of the book is told in a series of flashbacks. Our narrator can only tell the parts of the story she knows (and so it may not be fulsome at times)

2) Action then nothing.
The first 60% of this book is very quick, action-packed excitement. The last 40% is poignant, about relationships and our characters. It mellows right out. If you want a fast paced book for the whole time this is likely not for you.

3) Historical Context Lacking.
I was really hoping for some good insight into WWII and how it played out in the complex and politically unstable country of Yugoslavia at the time. Unfortunately Eliza Graham barely scratches the surface of what could have been a very informative book. While we learn about some of the rival groups and how many families were divided on either side of the conflict; the reality is that reading a Wiki page would give you more context and facts than we receive here. I was very disappointed by the lack of depth to this part of the story (and that in the afterward Graham even admits to the story being almost 100% fictional).

Still Pretty Good
Now all that to say this is actually a well written book. It wasn't necessarily what I was hoping for; but that didn't stop me from loving our characters and feeling for them by the bittersweet ending. I was very invested with our leading lady, her combat friends and spy handler (for lack of a better description).
Graham handles the idea of going from a covert high-adrenaline mission to average everyday life where no one knows how amazing you might have been at one moment in your life. This is a common experience for military, police, firefighters and EMS. Plus you also add in the PTSD aspects that invade at random times and it makes "normal" life feel very unsatisfying.

Publication
The biggest disappointment I have with The Lines We Leave Behind has nothing to do with writing, characters, plot, etc. I hate that publishers today (ahem, Amazon) have 'exclusive' agreements to only have some books on their devices. I know many indie authors say that Amazon makes them the most money; but for those outside of the USA (the only country where Kindle is the top e-reader) it limits our options. I read this entirely on my iPhone because I have a Kobo, not a Kindle. But I did want to read it badly enough to suck it up. I do however worry that this limits the audience significantly.
If I can give one piece of advice to indie authors; if you must start with Amazon for your first 6 months or a year do so. But then open up your book to all platforms and stores! There's (literally) hundreds of millions of people who may want to read your book but don't have Kindle capability.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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