This was actually my first read Ruta Sepetys and I'm not sure why. I've owned others but never got around to reading them. I'm glad that I finally got a chance to read one! I'm usually not a fan of books that switch perspectives back and forth. I feel like they get repetitive and boring and leave me wanting more of one of the perspectives but this worked. I really enjoyed the setting of Spain because I feel like it's a setting that often gets overlooked. This period in history in my opinion is often overlooked and I feel like recently, Spain has been getting a bit more attention finally.The suffering and pain are well received by the reader in this beautifully written novel. I'm glad to have gotten a copy and reading their interconnecting stories was awesome.