The Things We Did for Love Review

France: February, 1944.

As war rages in Europe, teenagers Luc and Arianne fall passionately in love. But German forces are closing in and Luc, desperate to atone for his family's past, is drawn into the dangerous world of the Resistance. Arianne will do almost anything to keep him safe, but someone else is secretly in love with her - someone who will stop at nothing to get rid of his rival...

I’d wanted to read a YA book set in World War Two for some time but didn’t really know of any titles until I put a request out on Twitter and was flooded with recommendations.  My desire to read about war came after watching the movie Pearl Harbour on TV (don’t judge me, I know the dialogue is crap but I love the soundtrack) and wishing there was a YA story like that.  I didn’t quite get what I wanted with The Things We Did for Love by Natasha Farrant but it was still a beautifully told story, full of youth and innocence.

The Things We Did for Love is set in a sleepy Nazi occupied French village and features heavily on two main characters – Luc and Arianne who fall in love despite the difficult circumstances.  Luc is a strong willed young man who gets himself tangled up with the resistance and I don’t blame him.  There’s a war going on and he wants to help his country, his people but of course, this is fraught with danger.  Watching from the sidelines is Romy, a young man with issues who fell for Arianne when she was nice to him one day and now he’s got it in his head that she should be with him.  With everything that’s going on, all the secrets, the lies, the risky behaviour, now add in a particularly jealous love rival and you’ve got trouble with a capital T.

This book is a romantic tragedy and you can see that from the setting alone.  This is war and so it’s never going to end well.  I will say however that I was impressed with the ending of the book which was not predictable and there was a little twist I didn’t see coming which was very clever indeed.  The book reminded me of a story I read back when I was ACTUALLY a teenager and I could definitely see this being turned into a Sunday afternoon drama.

I loved the historical side of things and despite the throes of war; it was nice to see the human side of the soldiers portrayed.  I particularly enjoyed the blossoming romance between Luc and Arianne and how their youth and innocence shone throughout the novel.  It’s quite refreshing to read a standalone with no awful cliff hanger to worry about as well.

Overall, I really enjoyed this heartbreaking story set around real world events, a story of innocence yes but in the end, everyone was guilty of something.

The Things We Did for Love was published on 1st March, 2012 and you can currently buy the UK kindle version for 99p which is a bargain!  To find out more about Natasha Farrant and her books, please click here to visit her website.