At the beginning of the year I challenged myself with the goodreads 2015 reading challenge, Goodread is a website that rates and reviews books and since one of my ‘non-resolutions/resolution’ was to read more – wifi less I set myself to start low and read at least 15 books this year.

A bit over a month ago I received in the post Girl at War, usually I’m able to squeeze in a bit of reading each day but lately I’ve been so busy that this became solely my ‘weekend book’

As I do with movies, I usually like to read a couple of ‘non-spoiler’ reviews of the books Im about to read, specially to see if they are worth reading and when I researched Girl at War I was surprised to the amount of amazing reviews and ratings it had. Only at goodreads at least 40% gave it 4 out of 5, 30% 5 out of 5 and the rest it’s divided between the rest.

After finish reading it, I could see why. This is a well-written book that follows the story of Ana Juric, a young girl caught in the middle of the Croatian war. Her character is likeable and relatable and makes the reader feel engaged and almost protective of her as she grows. Even though is a fictional story it depict a real picture of what war really is like, but from the innocent view of a 10 and then 20 year old.

Captivatingly raw, charming while completely terrifying, the author knows how to keep us hooked throughout the story. At first I personally found it a bit slow and hard to begin but quickly found myself engaged with the story and couldn’t let it down.

Thank you to the girls at Hachette to sending me this copy. Girl at War by Sara Novic can be found in stores over New Zealand, and as for me, I can cross out another book for my reading challenge. I’m currently one book behind with 40% of the challenge completed. Do you have any books to recommend?