This may not be your normal review. I’m just gonna tell it like it is. I’ve been waiting for this book with an unhealthy amount of anticipation. Since the moment I pre-ordered it on Amazon, I’ve been stalking its delivery like a total weirdo. My UPS man already thinks I’m crazy, so whatever.

When I first heard the premise of Lovely War—Greeks Gods and World Wars I and II—I impulsively clapped my hands because I knew Julie Berry would do something incredible with this. And people, it is incredible! Lovely War is that reading experience we readers crave like a drug. It only takes a few pages—a few lines, really—and you’re standing next to the characters. You see their eyes blink, their hands twitch, a drop of sweat run down their neck. And then it happens—we step into their skin and feel their pain and their joy. We get to feel everything. Lovely War is 468 pages of this.

And then there’s Aphrodite. She’s the one telling the story. We get to be in her head. What Julie Berry did with the voice that is Aphrodite is pure magic. I never thought I could love a character who was at the same time so iconically perfect and heart-breakingly flawed as Aphrodite, but I do. I want to be her friend in real life. I want to follow her around and hear all her thoughts and witty asides, especially when she thinks no one is listening. You need Aphrodite in your life. You need Lovely War. Go buy it and read it. You’ll see what I mean. In the meantime, I’ll be out buying a pink coat (reference “weirdo” comment above).