MISTS OF THE SERENGETI by Leylah Attar

Blurb:
„And just like that, in an old red barn at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, I discovered the elusive magic I had only ever glimpsed between the pages of great love stories. It fluttered around me like a newborn butterfly and settled in a corner of my heart. I held my breath, afraid to exhale for fear it would slip out, never to be found again.”
When a bomb explodes in a mall in East Africa, its aftershocks send two strangers on a collision course that neither one sees coming.
Jack Warden, a divorced coffee farmer in Tanzania, loses his only daughter. An ocean away, in the English countryside, Rodel Emerson loses her only sibling.
Two ordinary people, bound by a tragic afternoon, set out to achieve the extraordinary, as they make three stops to rescue three children across the vast plains of the Serengeti--children who are worth more dead than alive.
But even if they beat the odds, another challenge looms at the end of the line. Can they survive yet another loss--this time of a love that's bound to slip through their fingers, like the mists that dissipate in the light of the sun?
„Sometimes you come across a rainbow story--one that spans your heart. You might not be able to grasp it or hold on to it, but you can never be sorry for the color and magic it brought.”
A blend of romance and women’s fiction, Mists of The Serengeti is inspired by true events and contains emotional triggers, including the death of a child. Not recommended for sensitive readers. Standalone, contemporary fiction.

Véleményem:
Úr Isten! Ez a könyv gyönyörű volt! Imádtam! Az írónő minden könyvét szerettem eddig (The Paper Swan53 Letters for my LoverFrom His Lips) , de ez volt a kedvencem! Leylah Attar nagyon szépen ír.
Rodel, aki Angliában él elvesztette nővérét, Jack, aki Afrikában él elvesztette lányát, Lily-t, ugyanabban a robbantásban Afrikában. Akkor találkoztak, amikor Rodel Afrikába utazott, hogy összeszedje testvére cuccait. Megtudta miket tett testvére, azt, hogy albínó gyerekeket mentett meg. Ez volt első alkalom, hogy arról olvasok milyen veszélyes helyzetben vannak az albínó gyerekek Afrikában, ugyanis testrészeiknek varázserőt tulajdonítanak egyesek. Miután elolvastam a könyvet, egy jó pár cikket találtam a neten, ami erről a problémáról szól.
Rodel úgy döntött, hogy befejezi, amit nővére már nem tudott, és megment néhány albínó gyereket, de ehhez segítségre volt szüksége. Ekkor ment el Jack-hez, aki azonban elég rossz állapotban volt, teljesen összetört, mert elvesztette kislányát. Amit teljesen meg tudok érteni. Azt is teljesen megértem miért nem akart segíteni Rodel-nek. Nem tudta megmenteni saját gyerekért hogy lenne ereje megmenteni másét? Végül beleegyezett, hogy segít. És a történet elkezdődött...
Nagyon izgalmas volt a történet, mert sok veszéllyel, problémával kellett szembesülniük míg utaztak: vadállatokkal, maszáj harcosokkal, olyan fegyveres emberekkel, aki albínó gyerekekkel/testrészeikkel kereskednek.
A történet érdekes volt, mert megismerhettük az őslakosok hagyományait, szokásait. De ugyanakkor szívszorító is volt, nemcsak a főszereplők vesztesége miatt, hanem azok miatt a dolgok miatt amik Afrikában történnek (főként albínó gyerekekkel).
Másrészről ez egy nagyon szép szerelmi történet. Nagyon jó volt olvasni, ahogy a szereplők megnyílnak egymásnak. Teljesen beleszerettem Jack karakterébe, főleg miután a korábbi énje felszínre tört. Nemcsak egy szexi farmer volt, hanem okos és vicces is. Arról ne is beszéljünk hogy milyen volt az ágyban! Imádtam! 😋
Nagyon szerettem őket együtt, de volt egy nagy problémájuk. Rodel Angliában élt, amit nagyon szeretett, Jack viszont Afrikában nőtt fel, Afrika az ereiben volt, itt temette el családját, itt él nagymamája, nem költözhetett el.
Miközben olvastam a könyvet, végig azon gondolkodtam tudnék-e Afrikában élni, ha ott találkoznék a nagy Ővel. Teljesen más világ, meg tudnám-e vajon szokni. Illetve engedném, hagynám-e a Szerelmemnek, hogy ő hagyja ott Afrikát miattam? Nem egyszerű kérdés...
Nemcsak a főszereplőket kedveltem meg, de Jack nagymamáját és Bahatit is. :)
Ajánlom mindenkinek, aki egy izgalmas, érdekes, komoly problémát érintő történetet szeretne olvasni, és aki szereti a szép szerelmi történeteket! 5* Kedvenc!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


My Review:
OMG! This book was beautiful! I loved it! I loved all of Leylah Attar's books( The Paper Swan, 53 Letters for my Lover, From His Lips), but I think this one is my favorite! The author writes beautifully. 💓
The most profound, most memorable moments of life are the ones that make you feel.
Some circles never close, some wounds never heal. Love is like that. It leaves you forever open, forever vulnerable. 
That's what love did. It turned you stupid and made you do things you never thought you'd do. 
The two main characters lost their loved ones in Africa. Rodel lived in England, she lost her sister, and Jack lived in Africa, he lost his daughter, Lily. They met when Rodel traveled to Africa to collect her sisters belongings. She became to know what her sister did, that she saved albino kinds there. It was the first time I read about that the kids with albinism lived in danger because a lot of people thought that their body had magical power. After I read this book I found a lot of articles about this problem. 
When you lose someone you love, it doesn’t end with that event, or with their funeral, or with their name on the tombstone. You lose them again and again, every day, in small moments that catch you off guard.
Rodel wanted to finish what her sister started. She wanted to save a few albino kids, but she needed help. She met Jack, but he wasn't in a good shape. He was devastated, he could save his own daughter. I totally understood him, why he didn't want to help Rodel. He couldn't save Lily, why would he want to save other kids? Finally he agreed to help Rodel. And the story began...
This story was so exciting because they had to face with a lot of problems while they were travelling: with wild animals, with Maasai Morans, with people who were collecting albino kids for their body parts. It was interesting too, because I became to know more about African people's life, and about their traditions. But this book was also heartbreaking, not just because the main character's loss but because the awful things which were happening there (especially with albino kids). 
The other hand it was a beautiful love story. I loved to read about how they opened up to each other. 
I tasted the whole universe in Jack’s kiss—the blue heat of spinning stars, the birth of distant suns, atoms buzzing and colliding and fusing. 

And just like that, in an old red barn at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, I found the elusive magic I had glimpsed only between the pages of great love stories. It fluttered around me like a newborn butterfly and settled in a corner of my heart. I held my breath, afraid to exhale, for fear it would slip out, never to be found again.
I fell in love with Jack, especially when he started to live like before Lily's death. Jack wasn't just a hot farmer, he was clever and funny too. Aaand I loved him in the bedroom too! 😋

I loved them together, but they had a problem. Rodel lived in England, she loved her life there, but Jack lived in Africa, Africa was in his blood, and he burried Lily and his family here. He couldn't leave. 
When it's all said and done, we belong in different worlds. My home is here, yours is there. I could never ask you to stay, and you can never ask me to leave. It wouldn't be fair. And I don't have what it takes to let you in and then let you go.
 I will remember a strange, beautiful girl who liked the feel of old books and drank her coffee sweet. She snuck onto my porch on a gray day and taught me to see in color. She was a thief, my rainbow-haloed girl. When she left, she took my heart. And if I had another, I would give her that too
When I was reading the book I was thinking: Could I live in Africa because I met the one? What would happen if my love leave Africa behind? Would I be ok with it? Could we live together? It was a really hard question. I didn't know. Living in Africa wouldn't be easy, but I couldn't ask my love to leave his life and family behind....
Sometimes you come across a rainbow story—one that spans your heart. You might not be able to grasp it or hold on to it, but you can never be sorry for the color and magic it brought.
I loved all of the characters, not just Rodel and Jack was lovable, but Bahati, and Jack's grandmother Goma too. 
Sometimes heroes were found between the pages of a book, and sometimes they stood on a hill, their checkered togas fluttering in the wind, holding fort for the rest of us.
I recommend this book to those who love exciting, interesting stories about serious topics, and love to read beautiful love stories. 5* Favorite!

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