Vanguard by C.J. Markusfeld

Vanguard
by C.J. Markusfeld

ARC, Kindle Edition, 354 pages
Published July 17th 2015

Sophie Swenda, a refugee aid expert, is accustomed to saving lives on a grand scale. It becomes more than a job when the person she needs to save is the man she loves. 

Michael Nariovsky-Trent, a Baltic-born American doctor, vanished months ago after joining the resistance in the Soviet Republic. Sophie believes he's trapped inside the fences and barbed wire of a sinister refugee camp, lost in a sea of freezing, starving prisoners of war. 

Despite her long-ago failed romance with Michael, Sophie’s always believed their time would come – no matter how unlikely it seems to everyone around them. His blazing temper, her obstinacy, and their shared brilliance and competitiveness have made the road to love a rocky one. More than a decade after they separated, they’re too stubborn to forgive past mistakes … and still too in love to move on. 

She embarks on a mission like no other before. Unless Sophie can find him, their long-delayed chance at love will be lost forever. With the world’s security forces deadlocked and the camp’s commander seeking vengeance, Sophie is on her own. She must bargain for the life of the man she loves – and everyone else in the camp – before the commander destroys them all. 


~* MY REVIEW *~

The story is about Sophie Swenda (an American citizen) and Micheal Nariovsky-Trent, (an Orlisian with an American father, a dual citizenship), who met on a Global Youth Leadership, the world's most exclusive private education for future leaders.
They requited the 50 youngsters who have the most potential as future leaders. In the program, they travel the world for a year of hands-on learning.

Sophie Swenda is an American, a young volunteer for Refugee Crisis International, an non profit organisation, she co-founded to help refugee all over the world. When she was 17 years old, she met Michael Nariovsky-Trent,  an Orlisian-American. Shophie was very interested in everything about Orlisia, she even learnt the language. Orlisia is a small country, occupied by The Soviet Republic.

At that time, Sophie was in a relationship with somebody's else, while Michael distracted himself with the other member of the program. After years of keeping contact, they still wouldn't confessed of each other's feeling, until I guess they think they wasted so many times of their life...

When Michael decided that he should came back to Orlisia to help the resistants for the independence of Orlisia, Sophie couldn't do anything to stop him for leaving. Once she lost contact with him, she immediately started a rescue mission.

The story continued with the rescue mission, and then after a decade of relationship, Sophie and Michael, suddenly couldn't stop touching each other in a warzone environment, which I found very strange... And then, off course, made so many complications of what they've done.

I admire of how brave Sophie is, although a bit off with Michael who's being very emotional. I understand that there are people who naturally emotional, however in my opinion, incontrol emotion tends to make people seems to be ungrateful.

And I also don't really like the ending, although it's a happy ending, I get the feeling that the focus of the story is shifted... From a merely romance relationship between Sophie & Michael, with the background of warzone and the politics, to the Global Youth Leadership program and the relationship between the members?

I don't know, maybe the author wants to call out the readers' attention towards such programs or other social missions? But I just felt it's kind of messing the story... since it's not nicely placed.

I give it 2 out of 5 stars for I guess I don't really into it...