And it was clear that the author had done a LOT of detailed research, right down to what a visitor might see from the window of the Eurostar as it pulls into the city. It's set in Ypres, a place I've wanted to visit since way before I discovered one of my relatives is buried there, as he was killed in WWI. I enjoyed it, but I had expected it to be phenomenal and.it just wasn't. It was slow to start with, too, but soon enough I was joining Rose on her search for Joe, through trenches and barracks to vintage cafes and a mysterious hotel. Not to mention the book was written in third person, which can work occasionally, but this time it just made me feel so detached from the characters. This is a MG book so it makes sense that the language would be simple, but it was almost bland. That really disappointed me because history is one of my favourite subjects and I've been interested in the war ever since I was really young. Valentine Joe was on the brink of being slightly too young for me, which is no fault of the book of course, but the language was very simple and didn't go into much depth about the war. Unfortunately, this is one of those three-star reviews, a.k.a one of those reviews which is difficult to write because you didn't love it but you didn't hate it either. That night, Rose hears marching and when she looks out of her window, she sees a young soldier. There, the name of one boy stays in her mind: fifteen-year-old Valentine Joe. Rose goes to Ypres in Belgium to visit the graves of those who died in the Great War.
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