Between Worlds 4: What Friends Do

by Lori Wolf-Heffner, Susan Fish (Editor), Heather Wright (Editor)

Juliana struggles to support best friend Rachel through the darkest time of her life: She can’t fly home, phone calls leave the girls in tears and unable to hug, and social media shows Juliana how many other friends Rachel has to help her. Will this tragedy change their friendship forever?

When Georg’s fits from the war become so severe it’s clear he needs help, Elisabeth doesn’t know what to do: Should she listen to Mammi and the rumour mill and stay away from Georg? Or help a former soldier whose mind is out of control and replaying the war inside him?

561 pages, Paperback

Published July 6, 2019

About the author

Lori Wolf-Heffner is the author of the young adult series Between Worlds and the sweet romance series Love on Belmont. She was an inaugural member of the Canadian National Tap Team, wrote and submitted a Star Trek novel in her teens (it was rejected—she needed an agent), and spent one day twice in Luxembourg and 15 minutes once in Switzerland. She can still do cartwheels.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is part 4 in this series. I have not read parts 1 to 3.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and the Goodreads program. Thank you for this opportunity.

This book was beautifully written, a very enjoyable story about two teen girls and their life and families living in different time periods.

Juliana is upset because her family has moved to a new community in Canada, and now lives in Kitchener, Ontario. Juliana's best friend Rachel suffers a devastating loss and Juliana's parents cannot afford to send her to Rachel to help her through this difficult time. Juliana feels very frustrated and conflicted.

Elizabeth is a teen living in the time frame after World War I in a small village in Romania. She lives in different circumstances than Juliana altogether. Her home is a simple hut with dirt floors and religion and reading the Bible are a huge part of her life. She is very worried about her mother, as she is pregnant and seems very stressed and overworked. Her father has traveled to America to find work; so Elizabeth feels a huge responsibility to her family, brothers and sisters.

Since Georg, Elizabeth's cousin, has returned from the War, he is experiencing "fits" and everyone feels that he is just being a difficult person. Elizabeth feels protective towards him but the people in town warn her to stay away from him. She ends up experiencing an incident with Georg and is confused as to where her loyalty should lie. She is told that Georg is being punished by God.

As the story goes on, some lovely surprises occur that include connections of the two story lines. A very educational story about empathy, family bonds, the effects of War, deep friendships, loss, grief, acceptance and maturity. A very worthwhile read!

[Sharon Gallup · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a win from the Good reads giveaway contest. i started to read it when i went to bed as that is when i enjoy most of my reading, thinking that it wouldn't be long before i got tired. well as a surprise to me when i started reading this story, i couldn't put it down till i was finished the book. It deals with a family in the past and how their story of life affected the members of this family in today present time. It tells a story of how war affects those who came home from fighting in the war , how to hold a family together in conflict. and keeping the families history to be told to the now generation of the family. i love genealogy and the stories it tells so this story held me spelled bound. Because this was book 4 that i won it gave the desire to get hold of the other books to start at the beginning and wait anxiously for the book 5. It was such a pleasure to read a story that was so real, and telling life as life really was then and now.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely story about two teen girls from very different eras. Juliana lives in the present day and has recently experienced a big move across Canada that takes her away from her best friend during a tragic incident in that girl's life. Elisabeth lives in Semlak, Romania post World War I. She struggles with knowing how to respond to men returning scarred - physically and emotionally - from the fighting. She also works through internal questions about how to reconcile obedience to her parents with her Lutheran faith.

It took me a few chapters to get into the girls' stories, but slowly I connected to both characters. The relationship between the two is revealed and the story comes together beautifully. I have to say it was heart-warming and uplifting to see how these girls face their difficulties with such maturity and in such a positive, affirming way.

Thanks to the author for posting the book on the Goodreads giveaways. It was lovely to win such a great read!