4 out of 4 stars
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GalveStorm 1900: A Story of Twin Flames is a historical novel featuring Uri Petrokov, a Russian immigrant who, together with his brother, left the cold and harsh homeland for a better life in America. He moved to Galveston, Texas, where he lived for several years. This is Uri’s tale which started in 1898 when Uri was 25.
Uri was working with his brother at their shop called The Galveston Printing Company when one day it happened: he saw the one, his twin flame, and his life was never the same again.
I loved the way the author described the strong bond between Uri and Genevieve Parker. After reading the book, I found it difficult to disregard the notion of twin flames. Genevieve was rather forward and modern for a woman of her time. While most people in Texas distrusted Russian immigrants, Genevieve felt only love for Uri, and nothing deterred her from holding on to that love and passion with all her heart.
Uri was a man who had everything, lost a lot, but went on despite the many adversities in his life. He was a character I could easily warm up to. Despite all his issues with the locals, his outlook on life was quite positive and optimistic.
The tale takes the reader from the late 1800s to the horrific hurricane that took Galveston by storm in 1900. The story is fictional; however, it is based on a major tragic event unknown to me before reading the book. The author added many real-life details, which made me believe I was reading a memoir of the times, albeit a fictive one. I found his research on the hurricane impressive.
A big chunk of the story deals with the aftermath of the hurricane, along with its effects on Uri’s family, which prompted the main character’s decision to alter the course of his entire life. The losses most people experienced during the hurricane were terrible, and Ervin Mendlovitz captured those emotions quite well. He gave the people in town an air of authenticity and made the readers feel a strong kinship with them.
The story is easy to read with no awkward phrases found in books written by first-time authors. The dialogue is natural, and places and events are well described. In terms of editing, I found a few punctuation issues. There were some wrongly placed commas, missing periods, and names of places were not capitalized.
My only issue with the book has to do with the title. Amazon shows the title as GalveSton 1900, hinting at the catastrophic event in that small Texas town at the turn of the century. Yet, both the copy I’m reading and the author’s Facebook page show the title as GalveStorm 1900, which makes me wonder: Which title is the correct one?
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. Few stories made me shed a tear while reading, but this one did. Hence, despite the few grammatical issues, I give it 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend GalveStorm 1900: A Story of Twin Flames to people who read historical romance novels. Those who enjoy fictional biographies will probably love it as well.
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"GalveStorm 1900: A Story of Twin Flames"
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