Phenomenal book, and I have to say - phenomenal life. I stayed rooted to the story, and if it wasn't late in the night and time to sleep, I would have just finished it in one go.

Before reading it, I was afraid of graphic and heartbreaking content, as it is in tales of poverty, hardship and war. And yes, there was that, but the author told it in such a way that it didn't carry a very dark emotional undertone and wasn't as hard to read as I thought it would be. It was still serious and painful, and unimaginably sad - but there were also many meaningful stories of happy things, and somehow the hard things she just didn't dwell on for too long. All of this made the book feel very warm and accessible, even for a sensitive reader like me.

Trigger warning: I was also worried about the part where the author gets raped (not a spoiler, it's in the blurb) - but the whole thing takes ONE paragraph and is not graphic at all. I am usually wary of books containing that kind of violence, but as with anything this author put in the story, there was grace in how she wrote it. I don't think it will unsettle you to read it, even if you are sensitive like me.

I can't really pick any other word for this book other than comfortable. Despite so many rocky experiences, the author just makes her tale so comfortable and warm. By the end of it, I was genuinely so happy for the author's life and how it all turned out. After that kind of story, you want to breathe a sigh and say, thank god it worked out.

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.

I am endlessly fascinated by stories like this. I learn much about culture and tradition and heartache when I read revealing memoirs. It’s a,so shows the strength of human character to endure the things the author did to survive.

This is the story of one girl's life in Vietnam. She was born Nguyen Thi Loan in 1947 in North Vietnam and she lived through the wars in Vietnam - between the Vietnamese and the French in the 1940s-50s, then the civil war between the North and the South of the country when Vietnam was partitioned by the Allies after the second world war, then she is a young woman when America sent almost half a million soldiers to the country in the 1960s.

It's an incredible story, told in an easy to read style. We learn of her life as a young child in rural Vietnam. We learn of her simple lifestyle and family traditions. We see how the fighting affected her family and neighbours. We learn of the mass exodus and flight to the south which left thousands homeless and starving. We learn about her cousins and her brothers and sisters and the expectations on Linda as a girl.
We learn of how her family survived and the sacrifices they had to make.

There are deaths and incredible hardships but I have to say that I found it an uplifting story and the personal ending for Linda is amazing.

She has such a strong spirit and she grew up in situations which are almost impossible to contemplate, yet she survived and found her own way, by her own initiative, by luck and by courage.

This story tells of events from the humble perspective of an ordinary person. I found the details about daily life enthralling. There is no political agenda. It's a simple testimony. For that reason, it's an incredibly powerful story.

"The price of freedom was indeed dear."

Linda, known then as Loan, certainly knows the truth about the price of freedom.

Born in 1947 there was no way her family could have known that their simple but happy lives would change and become filled with heartache and strife.

Thankfully, they were blissfully unaware of the political upheaval their country was to find itself embroiled in for many years to come.

Linda has managed to write a memoir that drew me in from the very first chapter. She has lived a dangerous and fascinating life and has quite the gift for story-telling.

The title, RED BLOOD, YELLOW SKIN says it all. It does NOT matter what color your skin happens to be, we all bleed the same red blood. This message is especially important at this moment in history. With racial prejudice filling the headlines, it is essential for people to realize their hate is ridiculous. We need to embrace the diversity that exists in North America today. We need to celebrate that diversity and tap into the power that exists when different cultures, races, colors, sexes, etc all come together with a common goal. Reading memoirs such as this one will open people's minds and hearts.

This is the first book in a duology and tells Linda's story from birth to the end of the Vietnam War. She has recently released her second book ENDLESS JOURNEY: BOOK TWO OF RED BLOOD, YELLOW SKIN which allows the reader to get to know her not just as a new immigrant but also as a proud American who has run a successful business for many years.
My review of Book Two will be posted within the next few days.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I would rate it 6 Stateside that was actually a thing, but for now, I give READ BLOOD, YELLOW SKIN a rating of 5 out of 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A very personal memoir about her life journey from a small village in North Vietnam, then on to several locations in South Vietnam before leaving home to work in the bars of Saigon.
The setting is the 1960s and 1970s when Vietnam was in turmoil. Initially the turmoil arose from the Chinese backed communists of the Viet Minh then it turned to bloody armed warfare against the French before the Americans sent thousands upon thousands of young men into a bloody conflict that America could not hope to win.
The author's future husband was one of those young Americans sent to Vietnam and they first met in Saigon. The story of their blossoming relationship and the love they eventually had for each other is one of the heart-warming aspects of the book.
The book is a fascinating insight into the people and culture of Vietnam.
On the whole the author writes well and the story has humour as well as tales of the shocking waste of human life. I do wish she had used more "show" and less "tell." It would have made for a better read. For that reason I will not be reading the sequel to this book.

I wasn't able to connect with this title, but would like to pick it up again in the future.