Very few people can say they were born inside a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Disease, starvation, and much worse, prevented most prisoners from surviving. For infants, it was nearly impossible. I became an anomaly. I shouldn’t be alive. As a child, I didn’t know my life was different from that of others. I had nothing to compare it to, and I had no insight about the day I was born … born … until the moment I overheard the truth. In a split second, I became a stranger to my reflection, my name, and my reason for being. I was not Annie anymore, and the people raising me were not my parents. Even the blue sky I cherished became an unfamiliar sight. I felt utterly alone in a foreign world, but that changed when I met another person who was lost, like me. Fisher offered his hand to hold and began to prove his theory of, “When two missing people find one another, they can consider themselves found.” Fisher enlightened me, and through him, I gained a deeper understanding of life. Now, I know there are two sides of the beautiful, blue sky. I’m on one side, and my lost loved ones are on the other, but at the end of it all, we’ll be together again under the one and only sky.
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Mrs. Ryan did it again. She wrote another great but heartbreaking story. A well written story about a horrific part of history with a mostly HEA ending. I really enjoyed reading her work even though the topic was the Holocaust she still captures your attention for a page turning read.
Wow another amazing book by Shari. I absolutely loved this book. Although it is a standalone I would recommend reading last words first to truly appreciate these amazing women.
This was such a beautiful and heartbreaking story. This is the journey of how Annie learned that she was a missing child of the Holocaust. As a teen she overheard a conversation between her parents about them not having a birth certificate for her, and they did not know what they were going to do. That overheard conversation caused her to doubt everything she thought she knew about her life. She sets out on a journey over many years seeking the answers about her birth parents, and who she is.
The Other Blue Sky is a phenomenal book and is a must read. It will have you feeling so many emotions. Have your tissues ready.
A box of tissues shall be required as you read this book. The author has done such a brilliant job of bringing all the pain, loss, joy and happiness to life. This is a story that is told in two parts, we are told the past and see the present. It’s a story of sorry but it’s also a story of joy and hope that Annie was able to survive and find love. This is a story that impacted me deeply and even now just writing the review and thinking about the story has me teary-eyed. It’s an amazing story.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Wow, another great read. What an emotional roller coaster and amazing story. Annie is searching for her birth family and shares her story of the life she is aware of. But be prepared as Annie learns more of the life that is out there and this becomes a heartwrenching tale.
Have the tissues handy as they will be needed but enjoy this book as you read an amazing life story.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a follow-up story to the novel, Last Words, written about the daughter who was rescued from a concentration camp as a baby by a family friend, her name changed, and all the details of her past withheld to protect her from the trauma of knowing. Unfortunately, children often know when there are secrets even when they do not know what they are and they overhear discussions about secrets without knowing the whole story.
Imagine having no birth certificate, only a false name, and a suspicion that the people calling themselves mom and dad have no biological relationship to you. Any inquiry of your parents meets complete denial. Many of us would need answers, and lack of a birth certificate prevents one from getting married, attending college, traveling overseas, and getting employment. This book is about the daughter who went on a quest for answers, but combining the answers to her questions, including her birth name and those of her birth parents, the conditions into which she was born, and further losses she experienced in her life were difficult for her to process and she was stuck in a place without healing. At the end of this book, she learns that she gained things even within these traumas and that the love of her adoptive family made her lucky despite she experienced some very big losses. The book was moving and really emphasized the danger of secrets preventing people from accepting their pasts and finding closure. The author moved from past memories to the present to tell the heroine’s story. She also used this technique with the first book, and I found that it added to the suspense and mystery, essentially keeping some secrets from the reader until later in the plot. I think it was very effective and made a greater impact than if the story had been told in chronological order. It took me much longer to read than Ms. Ryan’s lighter books, but I think I needed to absorb the story more slowly. I enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to readers.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Annie’s story and secrets, a missing child of the Holocaust. An emotional story. Not to be missed!
I rated this book 5 stars because that was the most I could give it, but it definitely rates higher than 5 stars!!!
Some information from the author regarding The Other Blue Sky. This is a fictitious novel but it is made up of non-fictitious details of the Holocaust but is based on true facts. The author is a descendant of two Holocaust survivors from whom she has had the privilege of learning the facts of the Holocaust, her history and heritage. She has done hours of research to keep historical facts accurately laced in with this story that brings forbidden love to another level. It’s been challenging for her to relive a life experience her grandmother and great-grandmother survived, knowing the rest of the family did not make it.
Even though The Other Blue Sky is a spin off from Last Words, you can read this one without having read Last Words. I can’t say enough nice things about this book. Shari has done another fantastic job with her writing of this book and telling a story that can be difficult for some people to read. This book will bring tears to your eyes so if you don’t like to cry in front of people, read this when you’re alone then. It’s a page turner and interest holding from beginning to end and you won’t be able to put it down once you start. Wonderfully written!!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Read Last Words first for the best experience.
The Other Blue Sky #2 – This is the second of two books of the Surviving the Holocaust series. I highly recommend reading Last Words before reading Blue Sky. Blue will be more meaningful to know the previous generation’s story as well as Annie’s past before Blue. This well written, emotion filled sequel can be read without reading Words first but why?
The storylines continue from Words but focus on Annie, although all the previous family characters are still a large part of this story, too. The emotions are still plentiful and range the gamut. Love is a major character, along with fear. While this book is filled with pain, there is so much love and light that shines through.
The author does a wonderful job with her descriptions and the reader can see the locations and feel the emotions. There are smiles but there is plenty of pain and discoveries in Annie’s life. I contacted the author to review her books and I received this copy through Booksprout. 5*
Last Words #1 – This is my first read by this author and I find this story is amazing. I’ve read many stories by the survivors of the Holocaust and this is one of the best. Well written but full of emotions and experiences that rip the heart out of a decent person. While the book isn’t as graphic about the horrors of Theresenstadt, there is plenty of the reader to grasp what everyone was going through in that terrible period of time. The four main characters are so loving, so decent, that what happened in the past wastes 75 years of a perfect love. Ms. Ryan has a gift for telling a story full of horror and pain, and yet, lets the light of love shining brightly through the decades. I found this book on Booksprout. 5*
Having recently read Last Words, I was very interested in Annie’s story. I’ll admit that I started the book in an already emotional state because I just knew that her story, as told by this author, was going to blow me away. I was not wrong. The author has managed to craft yet another tale that is heartbreakingly beautiful and poignant, that will resonate with you for long after you’ve finished it. The story weaves between the modern-day where Annie is talking with her mother and Charlie, filling in the gaps of what she knows of her history, and the past starting when Annie realized that she wasn’t her parents’ biological child and going through the years as she developed as a young woman, wife, and mother. This book touches on so many themes I hardly know where to start. It is about identity, family, your place in the world, grief, forgiveness, love of several sorts, and grace. And I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. I don’t know how this author can create such heartfelt and beautiful words that perfectly express such a wide range of human emotions and experience. This book, like Last Words, is simply stunning. As it does deal with the aftermath of the Holocaust, parts of it are not an easy read, but the author doesn’t dwell on this. Rather, this book—like the other one—is about the triumph of the human spirit. That sounds a little high falutin’ and cerebral, but the author makes it real with believable characters that we can immediately identify with and root for as they face the challenges in the book. I can recommend this fantastic book wholeheartedly.
Annie grew up in a loving home with two parents and a loving sister. Then one day she overhears her parents having a conversation that she wasn’t ever supposed to hear. That moment changed her life and she’s come to the point where she wants rest of story from her mother. What will she find out? How will it change her life? This book brings history to life and I loved this book!
The Other Blue sky is one of THE most powerful and poignant books I have ever read. Shari Ryan has once again brought me to my knees with writing that is simply superb. She takes such a sensitive and painful subject and vocalizes it perfectly. After devouring Last Words, I was desperate to know Annie’s story, the one after she was born to such horror. And never did I imagine to fall so deeply in awe at how her strength would carry her throughout such a difficult life.
Here is a woman who has the love of a crazy family, one who adores her completely. A husband in Fisher, who would do anything in his power to make his Annie happy. But then as her story unfolds, told beautifully in both past and present, it quickly becomes apparent that Annie has so much unresolved in both her heart and her soul. And I couldn’t blame her one bit. With secrets being held about her very being finally coming to light, it’s a wonder she didn’t completely lose herself right then and there.
Annie’s journey to some semblance of peace is very complicated and extremely moving. I felt every bit of pain she did and cried many, many tears throughout. I was as thankful as she was for Fisher who could turn any difficult moment into one filled with the silliest of humor. They are truly a couple deeply in love and grateful they found each other. I could feel the utter devotion whenever they were together. And as Fisher and Annie journey through life, both embracing and accepting their difficult pasts, yet loving their time together as if nothing else mattered, there is a deep sense of despair that only Annie can seemingly conquer. This is a huge part of this book and despite it breaking my heart on a few occasions, whatever Annie thought to do or needed to do to feel whole was fully embraced by not only her loving family but by me as the reader along for this glorious ride.
The Other Blue Sky is full of a unique kind of beauty that comes from deep within. Shari Ryan uses her own heritage as a springboard to what so many families after WWII experienced and how they managed to rebuild their lives despite great loss. I am forever awestruck at the way these wonderful characters continue to pull themselves up no matter how hard that might be and the rich history they have both lived and survived and still find difficult to share. I admire Annie’s tenacity and that even through her hesitancy to find joy when there is great sadness, that no matter what, she perseveres.
This book is masterfully-written and the myriad of emotions I experienced is unmatched. I loved that the Author portrayed Annie and her loved ones as a real family, full of sharp wit, the ever-present guilt and true adoration for one another no matter what they might be going through. After two books, I feel as if I’m part of this crazy crew and I found it very hard to let them go once that last line was read.
The Other Blue Sky is exquisite and gave me an elation not often found within the pages of such a compelling book. It deserves ALL the stars!
5++++++++++++ stars
An emotionally gripping story that takes you on a journey you wouldn’t imagine. The highs and lows of this book are unlike any other. While I didn’t want to put this book down, I had to give myself time to comprehend what I had just read and let my emotions settle back down.
Shari J Ryan has out done herself on this one!! I do recommend reading Last Words before reading this one!
Absolutely sensational. Can be read as a standalone or as a sequel to Last Words. I highly recommend reading Last Words first, however, definitely not essential. Beautiful story, beautifully written. I also recommend having the tissues ready.
This one was a great read. I was told by another reader that I should read Last Words before reading this one but I decided to jump right into this one instead. It truly can be read as a standalone.
Annie has things in her life that has her not knowing who she is. In this story we get her past and present. It’s an amazing journey through Annie’s life. I finished reading this one a few days ago and I still don’t know how to express the feelings this book gave me. It’s a powerful and emotional read, that you should definitely check out.
Wow!!!
This is one of those books that will totally overwhelm you. It will hit you hard when you are least expecting it. I was happily reading the story thinking “this is a really great book” then all of sudden… BAM… Tears…The floodgates are opened and the tissues are required.
This truly emotional and moving tale is so, so special. It is a beautiful story of loss, hope, survival. Annie, a missing child from the holocaust, determined to find out her real identity. This story feels so very real, raw and really makes you think, open your eyes, your mind and your heart.
Annie and Fisher’s story is heart-breaking, heart-warming and heart-mending. It is powerful, compelling and ultimately….real!
‘Last Words’ was an absolutely amazing book, and when I realised ‘The Other Blue Sky’ was being written and was going to be Annie’s story I could not wait. And it certainly did not disappoint either.
An emotionally moving story which I would highly recommend to all. It can be read as a standalone but honestly, I would suggest you read ‘Last Words’ first simply because a) IT’S AMAZING and b) You will get a complete understanding of all the characters, their stories and the emotions behind much of it.
5 Beautiful Butterfly Stars
This story was absolutely phenomenal. I was captivated from the beginning. I have always had an interest/curiousity in all things Holocost. This book was emotional, and beautiful. I love the way Shari Ryan writes, she has a way with words. Each and every one of her books has been amazing.
Amazing story!
Such a powerful and compelling story! It will take you on an emotional journey with Annie, a missing child from The Holocaust. She is searching to find her true identity.
This story was raw, gritty, real, heartbreaking, full of angst, but it is also a tale of hope, strength, perseverance, and survival. It is beautifully written and the characters will enthrall you. The book is so powerful, it will stay with your for a long time to come. I don’t want to spoil this beautiful yet heartbreaking story for you, so I am keeping my review brief. Just know that this is a beautiful tale and a must-read. Just be prepared to have your box of tissues handy. I highly recommend going on this journey.
***I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***
The depth of this story has tangled my heart . My heart is still so attached to this story and I am not sure it will ever let go. While this is obviously a fiction story all that Annie went through and her growth into adulthood given these trials wrecked me but in a great way. This story has so much love and loss and is truly a magical tale
This book deserves more than five stars. After read Last Words, I didn’t think there was away that that book could be topped. Shari proved me wrong by writing this very emotional spin off. Annie’s story was just so profound and tells us that the suffering continued long after the holocaust. If you enjoyed Last Words, you will definitely love this book.