Evanthia's Gift
by Effie Kammenou
EskieMama Reads is giving away one Amazon copy of Evanthia's Gift! Enter below!
Blurb:
In the year 1956, Anastacia Fotopoulos finds herself pregnant and betrayed, fleeing from a bad marriage. With the love and support of her dear friends Stavros and Soula Papadakis, Ana is able to face the challenges of single motherhood. Left with emotional wounds, she resists her growing affection for Alexandros Giannakos, an old acquaintance. But his persistence and unconditional love for Ana and her child is eventually rewarded and his love is returned. In a misguided, but well-intentioned effort to protect the ones they love, both Ana and Alex keep secrets - ones that could threaten the delicate balance of their family.
The story continues in the 1970’s as Dean and Demi Papadakis, and Sophia Giannakos attempt to negotiate between two cultures. Now Greek-American teenagers, Sophia and Dean,
who have shared a special connection since childhood, become lovers. Sophia is shattered when Dean rebels against the pressure his father places on him to uphold his Greek heritage and hides his feelings for her. When he pulls away from his family, culture and ultimately his love for her, Sophia is left with no choice but to find a life different from the one she’d hoped for.
EVANTHIA’S GIFT is a multigenerational love story spanning fifty years and crossing two continents, chronicling the lives that unify two families.
Review: 5 stars
Evanthia’s Gift was a beautifully written two generation Greek-American love story, once I started reading it, I hated to put it down. The book starts out with Ana & Alex’s love story, what a wonderful love that was, Alex had loved Ana from the first time he met her in college but never let his feelings known and lost his opportunity when she married another. They meet few years later through a mutual friend and this time he never let the opportunity get away this time. You could just feel how much Alex loved & cherished Ana & her daughter Sophia, who he adopted, he would not stop until Ana trusted & loved him. I could just feel the pain the couple went through early in their marriage, it almost destroyed them but as a couple they love was more powerful than it was before the tragedy. I loved Alex & Ana’s story but to me the best was yet to come with Sophia & Dean’s story.
Sophia & Dean’s love story there was so many ups & downs, when you finally thought yes a big NO came. Dean had always thought of Sophia as another sister along with his own sister. They were always together, with their parents being best friends, more like family, living next door to each other, family functions & Sophia as far as she could remember Dean was always her “Dino” & she always loved him, until one kiss that changed it all.
There was so many times I wanted to go through the book & wring Dean’s neck, shake him until he finally realized what was right in front of him. But eventually, many years later, he did it for me finally opened his eyes and realized what truly mattered in life.
This book took me on an emotional roller coaster, I was laughing, yelling at the characters, and find myself crying. I also loved learning so much Greek history, I myself never knew their was Greek Jews, and the struggles that Greeks had to through to keep their beliefs. If you are looking for a beautiful love story that will take you away on a emotional rollercoaster, that expands over 50 years, I recommend you grab a copy of Evanthia’s Gift today! Effie Kammenou has earned a new fan in this reader & I can not wait to get my hand’s on the next book in the The Gift Saga!
I received a copy from the author for my honest review for EskieMama Reads Midweek Spotlight!
Reviewed by Mel
Happy Reading!
I would love to read Evanthia's Gift!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the blurb.
ReplyDeleteBecause it sounds really good.
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