In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

Millions of healthy young adults and children dropped dead from the flu, boys got transported out of the country to be blown to bits, and the government arrested citizens for speaking the wrong words. Such a place couldn’t be real. And it couldn’t be the United States of America, “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
But it was.
I was on a train in my own country, in a year the devil designed.
1918.

I've got a lot of emotions about this book. I have picked up this book so many times. Spaniish influenza and ghosts?? But every time it never gets read. Well. I read it.

Stats:

Genre: Paranormal-ish Historical

Feelings: YesSs

Happiness: Ah yes.

Cuteness: Not really?

Fast pacing: Debatable. But very engaging.

Series: No.

Read if you like: Ghosts, historical settings, sicknesses, creepy things, photography.

Content: Some "intense" kissing. And that's basically it.

In one sentence... He's dead, right? 

Thoughts: An old photograph, a compass, and a pair of aviator goggles.
*NEW*Messages: Life is hard. You lose people. But you lose a little bit of yourself if you hang on too tight.

Overall:

Rating: 3.5/5

This review is SPOILER FREE

The Lovely Bits

The writing. This story swept me up right away. The writing was gorgeous and simplistic, with some amazing images of life in this hard time. You get a lot of emotions from characters you don't even know the name of. 

Every character introduced was well shaped and had an instant personality, which was refreshing. I really liked getting this new picture of this way of life. I feel like, often times, we hear about these awful times and sometimes pass them off. But in this book...you see how it really was and it was awful and interesting.

This book just had a lot more ghosts and death than I thought. And while a lot of it was weird, it was great. It just gets crazy, man. With Stephen? When Stephen starts speaking from her body, or when Mary starts getting his dreams...it gets crazy, guys, but well done.

The plot was really well structured. The story web was so complicated and crazy, so if Mary hadn't mapped out on a regular basis what was happening I would have been lost. Honestly I never had a single idea what was going on. At all. And I liked that.

This book stood out to me 

I really liked the female characters in this book. Aunt Eva was strong, and when she realized she made mistakes, quickly fell back. She focused on her love and dedication to her niece, even when awful things happened. She was a great character. She cut off all her curls and went to work at a shipyard. Mary was the type of girl who would take apart everything to figure out how it worked. She'd leave the house and work at a hospital to help and research. She was likable...but not.

The Less Lovely Bits:

I honestly don't know how I feel about Mary? I can't imagine being in her situation so I can't tell if its realistic or immature. But she kinda of...annoyed me. She was fun to read, but sometimes I couldn't quite figure out how I felt. 

Same with Stephen. He was okay? I am having trouble really putting together my opinions. Other than that, there was very little I disliked. Some things really didn't sit well, and that's it.

Overall, it was great. It was emotional and lovely. So so lovely. So so so lovely. Read it. Go. Now. I really want to read her latest book.