A dual timeline tale with a unique setting. The book alternates between Vivian in the past and Elise in the present. The setting is Camp Atterbury, a POW camp in the Midwest. Vivian is trying to hold her family together while Elise is trying please her mom and fiancé. Both women struggle with what they want versus the weight of expectations.
I found this to be an interesting and well paced book.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was such an endearing story. The characters are so well done and I loved them. The storyline follows both past and present and weaves it all together beautifully. Historical fiction at its best! Well researched

So... this took me an abnormally long time to read because my Kindle Unlimited membership expired in the middle of me listening to the audiobook and I was invested enough to want to finish reading but not invested enough to pay money for another month of the membership. So 3 months passed before I got a free trial again, and here we are.

With all that in mind - this book was enjoyable, but it wasn't life changing by any means. I definitely think this is a book that my mom would love to read, and that's a good thing! She likes easy to read books that have some drama but overall a happy ending. Having 2 hot priests with questionable romance plots did help add to the drama as well.

The two main characters are enjoyable to read about and the only problem I actually had was Vivian not standing up for herself enough, but that was just part of her personality AND part of how women were expected to act back in that time frame. So overall, enjoyable characters and a decent plot - it was just very average. I'd say more of a 3.5 rather than a 3 - easy to put down, but easy to enjoy.

I really enjoyed the grandmother's story. The historical aspects were fantastic. I am from Indiana and even went to college in the area this book takes place and had no idea about any of the history talked about in this book. It felt well researched and also gave insight into some of the WWII events going on in the states. The part where this book lost me is in the modern day with the granddaughter. I was fine with her for the majority of the book and was even enjoying her story but I could not get past the ending. It just didn't seem plausible with her mom, the director, the fiance, and the priest. It was all just too much. Aside from the modern ending, I also felt like the grandmother's ending was a bit far fetched too. There was a slow build of the conflict with the husband and her relationship with Trombello but it just all ended so aggressively and suddenly.
Book would have been 3 stars if not for the ending.

Now I see there's a prequel(???) coming out about the grandmother's rise to fame after the events of this book. I want to read it because I did enjoy her story so much and think the Hollywood aspect could be really fun. But I am worried its going to have a similar story to the granddaughter's and I just cannot subject myself to more of that.

A very interesting story, told in dual perspective by a woman and her grandmother. I found the storyline very captivating, and enjoyed Elise's journey and guessing what role Vivian's history played in her granddaughters future.

Imagine my surprise, when I realized this story took place at Camp Atterbury and the nearby small town of Nineveh. In the early 70’s we had a lake lot on nearby Cordry Lake. My husband spent some time at Camp Atterbury while in the National Guard in the early 1970s.. I also knew it was used to house Afghan refugees in 2021-2022. I quickly became involved in the story of Vivian Snow a local Nineveh resident who became a well-known singer. She was hired as a translator and secretary for WWII Italian POWs at Camp Atterbury during WWII. The other storyline focused on Elise who has returned to her grandmother’s hometown to arrange her wedding. Elise’s mom and her new love Mac are filming a documentary about Elise’s grandmother.

Loved both the grandmother’s and Elise’s stories. My thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book. I ended up getting the audio to while reading the story. I loved the narrator’s voices. I can see myself listening to again in the future.

I really enjoyed this book. It was different than anything else I've read recently. I couldn't put it down! I will keep an eye out for this author's future work!

Camera-shy Elise Branson is different from the other women in her matriline. Her mother is an award-winning actress. Her late grandmother, Vivian Snow, is a beloved Hollywood icon. But when Elise’s upcoming wedding coincides with a documentary being made about Vivian, Elise can’t escape the camera’s gaze. And even in death, neither can her grandmother.

It’s 1943 when Vivian, a small-town Indiana girl, lends her home front support to the war effort. As a translator in the nearby Italian POW camp, she’s invaluable. As a celebrated singer for the USO, she lifts men’s spirits and falls in love with a soldier. But behind this all-American love story is a shocking secret—one vital to keep buried if Vivian is to achieve the fame and fortune she covets.

For Elise and Vivian, what’s hidden—and what’s exposed—threatens to unravel their lives. The heart-wrenching choices they must make will change them both forever.

I really enjoyed this story.

Loved it. The story goes from present to past to weave together a full picture. There is a component of history in this book as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

A dual narrative time story following Vivian, in the 1940's and Elise, her granddaughter in the present day who find both of their lives take a turning point in small town Indiana. For Elise, it is to trace her grandmother's story with documentary filmmaker while planning her upcoming wedding. For Vivian, it's how her work as a translator at a P.O.W camp paved the way for a life in Hollywood.

If a dual narrative features a protagonist tracking down secrets hidden from the past, I am going to grab that book! In this novel, I was very intrigued to find out what secrets lay in Vivian's past and wondered how that would shape Elise's future. Both women had complicated love lives that just seemed to get even more chaotic when romance flies from an unexpected corner.

Emily Bleeker truly delivers some dramatic moments in both storylines and some of them did feel a little cliché( Tom and Vivian, Hunter and Elise). I have read a few reviews that stated they didn't like the documentary aspect and star power of Elise's mother, Grace. I liked the characters of Max and Grace. Lastly, I appreciated the research that the author did regarding life in the Italian P.O.W camp and what the nightlife was like at the USO.

Although I much prefer her suspense thrillers, I enjoyed this addition to WWII historical fiction.








Publication Date 01/12/23
Goodreads Review 31/01/24


#WhenWeWereEnemies #NetGalley.

A dual timeline story following Vivian and Elise, who are related. Fascinating from the beginning. Excellent job with the dual timeline and character development. Vivian is second generation Italian and takes a job at Camp Atterbury. I learned quite a bit about this Camp, close to my home. It housed Italian and German POW’s during WWII. It also held USO functions as it does today. It also talks about housing close to 5,000 refugees from Afghanistan recently. The history was quite interesting. Elise is getting married in modern times and coerced into marrying at the chapel in Camp Atterbury built by the Italians POWS. This book gave a glimpse into the lives of these Italian POW’s at this Camp. Vivian and Elise have much in common with family life and romance, both have bumpy roads. This was a new author for me and I look forward to more of her books. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am voluntarily leaving my review.

Told from two different time periods, this novel follows a few months in the lives of Vivian in 1943 and her granddaughter Elise in 2023. I didn't particularly like either of the women and, although they were intended to be portrayed as strong, independent women, in reality they came across as people pleasers who did what was asked of them without much pushback.

The best historical fiction completely immerses you in the story, and this book did just that. This story follows the lead character as her life parallels her grandmother's unexpectedly.

I could not put this one down! I highly recommend this to all my fellow historical fiction lovers.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

I purchased this book since I accidently archived, and it was a great historical fiction read. I have never read about Italian POW camps before, so it was an interesting perspective on WWII.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

There is a lot of drama in this book! I was entertained, but felt like every chance/plot device was taken to shake things up (ie TV documentary filming, rushed marriage, uncomfortable Mom/daughter dynamics, forbidden feelings/flirtation with a priest, paternity DNA testing, physicality/ fist fighting, murder…). It’s a lot.

It was easy to follow the story as it jumped forward and backward in time, but I didn’t really feel endeared to any of the characters and wished the female lead Elise would have stood up for herself more. Ending tied together nicely.

Bleeker connects a grandmother’ s and her granddaughter’s stories through flashbacks in the same setting, a small town in middle A,Erica where an army camp resided during WWII.
I liked the Indiana setting since I’m a lifelong midwesterner.
I thought Mac and Hunter were fiends and were stinky from the first. I didn’t have much use for Elise’s mother either since she was more focused in her own selfish gains no matter if it hurt her daughter.
Love is possible even if it means one of the partners has to become defrocked.

I got the opportunity to read this book through NetGalley Advanced Reader Copy.

I love how this story unfolds with the narrators of Elise and Vivian sharing their parallel experience decades apart. I love to getting to hear some of the stories about the POW in America that I knew little of. This book was hard to put down.

I highly recommend to those that enjoy historical fiction.

This was a great read. It is told in 2 timelines, current day and WWII era. I live near the Indiana locations in the story and loved reading the history of the area during the WWII days. Like others, I thought parts of this were a little slow and then it really picked up near the end and was then finished. Overall, a great story though.

While scrolling to choose my next book, this cover & title immediately caught my eye. I was fully engrossed from Chapter 1. If you enjoy historical fiction or a slow burn, add this to your TBR now.

When We Were Enemies is a historical fiction novel based in a small town in Indiana. It’s a dual POV set during the Grandmother’s life in 1943 as a translator at a POW camp & her granddaughter’s present day life while participating in a documentary about her Grandmother’s iconic history. This compelling, generational storyline reveals striking parallels, family secrets, & devastating choices. This book was so eloquently written with family drama & historical detail, I could not put it down.

Elise desired to stay out of the limelight while her Mother & Grandmother thrived as Hollywood stars. As a recently engaged woman & PR powerhouse, she reluctantly agrees to participate in a documentary that captures her Grandmother’s life while coinciding with her upcoming wedding. She soon realizes that her Grandmother may have possessed secrets that will unravel their life forever & that she, herself, may be more like her Grandmother than she ever believed.

Vivian was a small town girl that longed to be under the big, bright lights. But she also felt a strong pull to contribute to her family’s struggles & make her Papa proud. All the while, she enjoyed assisting with the war effort at home while concurrently doing what she loved most, performing. She finds herself falling in love, but nothing is as it appears.

@emilybleekerauthor did such a wonderful job of combining these women’s stories. I was always needing more! I finished one woman’s chapter to go onto the other woman’s chapter in order to seek the answers I needed. But I only became more engrossed in each previous chapter to continue to devour the book!

I was so impressed when the book concluded to learn about Emily’s research journey. I enjoyed the many historical facts throughout the story based on her detailed research. I look forward to reading more from Emily in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley & Lake Union Publishing for an e-copy of this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "When We Were Enemies" and all opinions expressed are my own. I was a bit bored reading this. It was slow going and the characters didn't interest me. Overall okay.