Book Review: As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner

As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner
ARC, e-Book, 387 pages
Berkley Books
February 6, 2018
★★★★☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received the book via Netgalley request

From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and A Bridge Across the Ocean comes a new novel set in Philadelphia during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which tells the story of a family reborn through loss and love.

In 1918, Philadelphia was a city teeming with promise. Even as its young men went off to fight in the Great War, there were opportunities for a fresh start on its cobblestone streets. Into this bustling town, came Pauline Bright and her husband, filled with hope that they could now give their three daughters--Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa--a chance at a better life.

But just months after they arrive, the Spanish Flu reaches the shores of America. As the pandemic claims more than twelve thousand victims in their adopted city, they find their lives left with a world that looks nothing like the one they knew. But even as they lose loved ones, they take in a baby orphaned by the disease who becomes their single source of hope. Amidst the tragedy and challenges, they learn what they cannot live without--and what they are willing to do about it.

As Bright as Heaven is the compelling story of a mother and her daughters who find themselves in a harsh world, not of their making, which will either crush their resolve to survive or purify it.

What an interesting read! There are so many angles to this story, areas that are not frequently explored in fiction, that this story felt fresh and new throughout. There aren’t many novels that deal with the Spanish Flu, even when they are telling the stories of WWI, but Susan Meissner handled the effects of the Flu on Philadelphia masterfully and wove it into several critical story plot twists that have lasting implications for the Bright family. The full effects of the Flu are explored from the symptoms, how it seemed to come about, how many people were dying, and how it really contributed to the rise of the funeral home business. It’s always interesting to me to see how major events affect areas that you wouldn’t even consider, like funeral homes. And speaking of the funeral homes, we get an inside look in how they would have operated and what was needed to be done to preserve bodies.

The only part of the novel that was a bit of a struggle for me was the beginning; it felt very slow and I put it down/picked it up several times. I think part of the issue for me was the multiple narrators and I couldn’t connect with anyone right away. Once the story got rolling and they were in Philadelphia and each was their own distinct person, it was much easier to enjoy and I raced through those pages. I understand the importance of those early scenes, but they didn’t do anything for me in terms of getting me into the story. Each of the Bright women and girls have their own unique set of struggles with the move to Philadelphia and the effect of the Flu and the subsequent directions their lives take and I enjoyed exploring their storylines. The twists and turns of this story I did not see coming and feel that they paid out well for the reader.

I would definitely read more works by this author as I loved the depth that the author was able to bring to both the characters and the events of the time explored.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Literary Vacation
• Rhapsody in Books Weblog

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Susan Meissner:

Secrets of a Charmed Life

A Fall of Marigolds

The Shape of Mercy

A Bridge Across the Ocean

Stars Over Sunset Boulevard

The Girl in the Glass

Lady in Waiting

A Sound Among the Trees

Find Susan Meissner: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Copyright © 2018 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: A Promise of Ruin by Cuyler Overholt

A Promise of Ruin by Cuyler Overholt
Book 2 in the Dr. Genevieve Summerford Mystery series
Unabridged, 12 hr. 20 min.
Recorded Books
Carly Robbins (narrator)
August 8, 2017
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

Source: Received from publisher for review

To stop the trafficking ring plaguing her city, Dr. Genevieve Summerford must dive into New York’s underworld

In early 1900s New York, the formidable crime syndicate known as the Black Hand has been terrorizing the city's Italian community with bombings and kidnappings. When a young Italian girl is found drowned and sexually defiled, Dr. Genevieve Summerford suspects the organization has expanded into forced prostitution, and she won't rest until the trafficking ring is brought to justice.

While A Deadly Affection (book 1) very much had its roots in the medical field that Genevieve was making inroads into, in A Promise of Ruin it plays second string to the kidnapping and trafficking storyline. Genevieve still attends to her clients and uses the knowledge to help some of the other characters cope with things they are dealing with, but it was not the focus here. Genevieve actually struggles with the fact that her psychiatry practice is not taking off and she is spending more time providing actual physical medical assistance, which felt very real. While this was something that I enjoyed in the first book, the characters held my rapt attention here and I didn’t miss it.

And oh the characters! I love the Genevieve and Simon back and forth. Their relationship is full of fun banter and tension between them that keeps the reader on their toes. We also get to know more about the retainers in the Summerford household who worry about Genevieve as one of their own; Katey is quite the spitfire and I loved how she helped resolve the mystery. Even the men and boys who are a part of the world Simon moves in were well fleshed out and entertaining. You gotta love those little boys!

There is much more focus on the police investigation (and Genevieve’s meddling in it), but it felt very well set in the time period and not out of place at all. I’m a huge fan of police procedurals and this worked here, although I hope the books to come to not all feature this. I have done some studying of the Black Hand and the Italian camorra and I enjoyed how these elements were seamlessly woven into the fabric of the story here. Additionally, a lot more of this novel is committed to Genevieve helping those from the lower classes, whereas previously we were more set in the upper class – it was very different.

I really enjoyed spending time with Genevieve and friends again and look forward to seeing where the next book take her – especially in terms of her relationship and her medical profession.

★★★★ ½☆

My opinions on the narration are very much in line with my thoughts on book 1, as they are both narrated by the same person, Carly Robins. Robins was able to relay the author’s pacing well in this audiobook presentation. There is an interplay between slow or fast reading based on the need of the scene. I appreciated the appropriate pause length between sentences – just the right amount of time. Robbins imbues her Genevieve with an earnestness, but also demonstrates fear or hesitation when appropriate. It certainly feels like she spent some time getting to know the characters before recording the passages. There is some voice work here to make characters unique, and this is one of the few times I have found myself feeling comfortable with a narration of characters of the opposite sex from the narrator. Additionally, I feel that she handled the variety of accents well as we have American, Irish, and Italian among the characters. An admirable job that never felt jarring or out of place.

You can check out a sample from the audiobook below (links to Audible):

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Annette’s Book Spot
• Gizmo’s Reviews

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Cuyler Overholt:

A Deadly Affection (Book 1)
[My Review]

Find Cuyler Overholt: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Copyright © 2018 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: The Secret Life of Mrs. London by Rebecca Rosenberg & Giveaway

The Secret Life of Mrs. London by Rebecca Rosenberg
e-Book & Paperback; 348 pages
Lake Union Publishing
January 30, 2018
★★★★☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received for review with HFVBT tour

San Francisco, 1915. As America teeters on the brink of world war, Charmian and her husband, famed novelist Jack London, wrestle with genius and desire, politics and marital competitiveness. Charmian longs to be viewed as an equal partner who put her own career on hold to support her husband, but Jack doesn’t see it that way…until Charmian is pulled from the audience during a magic show by escape artist Harry Houdini, a man enmeshed in his own complicated marriage. Suddenly, charmed by the attention Houdini pays her and entranced by his sexual magnetism, Charmian’s eyes open to a world of possibilities that could be her escape.

As Charmian grapples with her urge to explore the forbidden, Jack’s increasingly reckless behavior threatens her dedication. Now torn between two of history’s most mysterious and charismatic figures, she must find the courage to forge her own path, even as she fears the loss of everything she holds dear.

I am not very familiar with Jack London; beyond knowing he had written White Fang and Call of the Wild I knew nothing. This is precisely the reason why I didn’t actually put together that the titular character, Mrs. London, was the wife of this author until quite some time after reading the blurb and then setting down to read it. He is just so far off my radar at this point in time.

This is, however, the third or fourth book that I have read from the perspective of a wife of one of the world’s great male authors of the early twentieth century (Hemingway and Fitzgerald previously). As was my prior experience, I find that I don’t like most of the men at all, they all seem to have been perpetually drunk, the women were overshadowed even when they were writers too, and everyone had affairs with everyone else. Jack London appears to fit that mold quite well too.

Rosenberg did an excellent job of illuminating the mood of the pre-war era, the appeal of Socialism, and the atmosphere within which London and his gang moved. I never quite got inside his head, but we do climb right in to the mind and thoughts of Charmian, his second wife. She was a woman who was so passionately in love with Jack and was critical to his writing process and maintaining his legacy after his death, but she was not without her flaws, which made her such an accessible character, even if I had never known she existed before. She was a very complex and rich character and I especially enjoyed her interactions with Bess Houdini, that woman was a hoot!

As has happened in the past when I have read novels on the life of famous authors, it has stirred my interest in reading London’s works and I have even went so far as to check out online the historical park created of his home in California. If nothing else, these novels serve to reignite interest in the original author’s works.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Layered Pages
• Just One More Chapter

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Find Rebecca Rosenberg: Website | Facebook | Book’s Facebook Page | Blog | Goodreads

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Follow the Tour

At HFVBT Website or on Twitter: #TheSecretLifeofMrsLondonBlogTour

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Review at A Bookaholic Swede

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Interview at Planting Cabbages

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Review at Reading the Past

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Review at Pursuing Stacie

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Review at Back Porchervations

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Guest Post at My Reading Corner

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Review & Giveaway at Suzy Approved Book Reviews

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Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

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Review at Caryn, the Book Whisperer

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Review at Bookish Beck

Copyright © 2018 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: The Woman in the Camphor Trunk by Jennifer Kincheloe

The Woman in the Camphor Trunk by Jennifer Kincheloe
Book 2 in the Anna Blanc Mystery series
Unabridged, 10 hr. 52 min.
Jennifer L. Kincheloe, Ltd
Moira Quirk (Narrator)
December 6, 2017
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Historical Mystery/Thriller

Source: Received audio download for review as part of the tour with Audiobookworm Productions

Los Angeles, 1908. In Chinatown, the most dangerous beat in Los Angeles, police matron Anna Blanc and her former sweetheart, Detective Joe Singer, discover the body of a white missionary woman, stuffed in a trunk in the apartment of her Chinese lover. Her lover has fled. If news gets out that a white woman was murdered in Chinatown, there will be a violent backlash against the Chinese. Joe and Anna plan to solve the crime quietly and keep the death a secret. So does good-looking Mr. Jones, a prominent Chinese leader who has mixed feelings about helping the LAPD and about Anna.
Meanwhile, the Hop Sing tong has kidnapped two slave girls from the Bing Kong tong, fuelling existing tensions. They are poised on the verge of a bloody tong war that would put all Chinatown residents in danger.

Joe orders Anna out of Chinatown to keep her safe, but to atone for her own family's sins, Anna must stay to solve the crime before news of the murder is leaked and Chinatown explodes.

Oh dear Anna Blanc, how you get yourself into even bigger scrapes in this book than you did before! One might have thought you would have learned something…but it is just as hilarious, so keep bringing it. That is one thing that I have to mention – while this book is a historical mystery and sometimes thriller, there is so much comedy in the writing and dialogue that it keeps me listening hour after hour!

Book 2 picks up just a short time after the culminating events of the previous installment – Anna is figuring out even more how to navigate the working class world on her own, without her father’s money. But what she lacks in know-how she makes up for in spirit! As she gets herself wrapped up in a case of kidnapped Chinese women and a simmering war in Chinatown, she continuously bests the “real” cops is solving the crime. She knows a little more about the seedy world than she did before, but Chinatown is WAY out of her experience zone, so she is constantly playing catch-up. Through this storyline the author explores many Chinese customs as well as the barriers and stereotypes that the Chinese faced at this time.

I still loved Joe Singer and Anna’s relationship – that push-pull is there no matter how much they fight it, avoid it, and move on, but they are still SO hung up on each other that their working together is HILARIOUS. I loved the scene where Joe is in jail and Anna is intent on taking on solving this crime herself – he is having NONE of it! They are from such different worlds and really want different things in life, but something keeps pulling them back together and some of their best scenes are when they are looking out for each other.

The plot was pretty tight and covered A LOT of ground. There were a couple spots in the middle where I felt we didn’t need to be off on this tangent (while still relevant), but the banter and relationship growth moved me quickly through it enough that I don’t feel that it much affected my enjoyment of the novel. I would pick up another installment in a heartbeat! There is still so much unresolved!

★★★★★

Much like the first book, this was one of THE best audio productions I have listened to. It is excellently narrated. Moira Quirk is someone that would now lead me to pick up a book I’m not even interested in because she could interest me in it through her performance (believe me, I have already went and shelved a few of her other works in my Audible wishlist that are paranormal in genre, which isn’t my typical thing). And a performance it truly is. Quirk doesn’t just read the novel, but imbues Kincheloe’s characters with even more life. As I stated above, Kincheloe wrote some amazing characters that I loved, but Quirk brings out their complete nature to where you feel like they are standing in the room next to you. Yes, each character has their own unique voice, but many narrators do that. However, Quirk not only brings a different voice, but you can envision their mannerisms as well just from the way they are speaking. I’m not sure how she does this, but whatever it is, keep doing it! There is quite the range of nationalities and type of personalities in this novel and Quirk makes them all feel truly real, not cookie cutter or stereotyped. And there is singing! Actual singing! That is one of the things that always disappoints me is when a part that is clearly intended to be sung is instead simply read. And while I know that there are often legitimate reasons this has to be done, it does take away from the experience of the book and colors my perception of it.

Loved the book, loved the production, loved the narrator! Go pick up this book in print (if you don’t listen to books), but I HIGHLY encourage you to check out this audiobook production, it is FANTASTIC and you will not regret it!

You can check out a sample of the audio production by clicking the play button below.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• The Lit Bitch
• The Internet Review of Books

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Jennifer Kincheloe:

The Secret Life of Anna Blanc (Book #1)
[My Review]

Find Jennifer Kincheloe: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Find Moira Quirk: Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook

Follow the Tour!

On the Audiobookworm Promotions Webpage

Jan. 4th:

• Dab of Darkness Audiobook Reviews

Jan. 5th:

• AudioSpy
• The Writing Train

Jan. 6th:

• terriluvsbooks

Jan. 7th:

• The Maiden's Court

Jan. 8th:

• Buried Under Books

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• The Book Addict's Reviews

Jan. 10th:

• Jorie Loves A Story
• History from a Woman’s Perspective

Copyright © 2018 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: In the Shadow of Denali by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse

In the Shadow of Denali by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse
Unabridged, 8 hr. 28 min.
Recorded Books
Christina Moore (Narrator)
January 3, 2017
★★★½☆☆

Genre: Historical Fiction; Christian Fiction

Source: Received from the publisher for review

Cassidy Ivanoff and her father, John, work at the new and prestigious Curry Hotel outside Mt. McKinley. While John will be an expedition and wilderness exploration guide for the wealthy tourists, Cassidy has signed on as a cook's assistant. Both are busy as the hotel prepares to welcome the president of the United States on his way to drive in the golden spike to officially complete the railroad.

Allan Brennan travels to the Curry Hotel to be an apprentice of a seasoned Alaska mountain guide. Ever since his father's death climbing Mt. McKinley, he's worked to earn enough money to make the trek to the Alaska territory himself. His father's partner blames their guide for the death of his father, but Allan wants to find the truth for himself. He finds an unlikely ally in Cassidy, and as the two begin to look into the mystery, they suddenly find that things are much less clear, and much more dangerous, than either could ever imagine.

I was so excited to get my hands on this book because when I saw the opportunity to read it I was getting ready to head out on my adventure to Alaska with my own family. I wanted to see how much Alaska actually factored into the novel versus just being a backdrop. It is such a unique setting and truly brings a life of its own that you won’t experience elsewhere. So I was excited but also hesitant about diving into the novel.

I can happily say that the authors truly did their research, and I would hazard to guess that one or both of them have been to Alaska because it felt so true to my experience. The land of Alaska just vividly came to life, from the plants and animals to the way people would have encountered and engaged with a still relatively untouched environment. Denali had just become a National Park and the Curry Hotel was the only hotel in the area. There was also a great interplay between the native perspective and the perspective of outsiders streaming in to the area on the new railroad. But the one thing that I feel that they hit squarely on was the experience of climbing Denali. Of course, I haven’t done this myself, few have, but after having read Denali’s Howl, which explores in great detail the dangers of climbing that mountain, I feel comfortable saying they did an excellent job with that aspect of the story.

The plot here follows the death of Allan’s father early on and how it affects the main characters throughout and how they grow and change. It’s definitely a story of characters finding themselves in the wake of tragedy and it affects each of them differently. That being said, there is one character who really never changes and it very, very clearly, the bad guy and you will know that from the moment you meet him. It almost felt a little comical how explicitly evil he is, especially when compared with the other main characters who are complex and interesting. This is a work of Christian fiction, so the majority of the characters encounter religious evolution or crises of conscience and it was interesting to see how these moments affected their decisions. It didn’t feel heavy-handed at all, even for someone who isn’t all that religious.

While I loved the atmospheric nature of the novel and the character development, I did have a couple issues with it that affected my enjoyment. First was that there were a few obvious “info dumps”, even if some of them were interestingly concealed. There were clear details that the authors wanted to utilize that delineated the differences between life in Alaska and life in the lower US, and I appreciated that instead of literally just describing them, they had them be revealed while a character read a newspaper or magazine, but it still felt like minute details just being listed to me for the benefit of listing them. I don’t tend to notice these things unless they are strikingly obvious, so I feel the need to point it out. The other thing that was a little bit of an issue was that I felt the plot was a little long-winded. There was a lot crammed into this novel and I got a little lost from the objective about halfway through only to be brought back to the realization at the end. There were a few of the more minor storylines that I feel like could have been eliminated to make it flow better.

★★★★☆

Christina Moore did an excellent job narrating this novel. She kept the pacing moving forward; even when I felt that the plot was bogged down a little bit, the narrator kept it from feeling slow, which I think would have been more obvious in print format. She imbued the characters with a patience and contemplation that they needed, especially when grappling with their faith. While she didn’t have a plethora of distinct voices for all the characters, there was enough differentiation that you were never confused while reading.

You can check out a sample of the audiobook below (links to Audible):

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Book Reviews from an Avid Reader
• Montana Made

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse:

Out of the Ashes (Heart of Alaska #2)

Find Tracie Peterson: Website | Facebook

Find Kimberley Woodhouse: Website | Facebook

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: The Jersey Brothers by Sally Mott Freeman

The Jersey Brothers: A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and His Family’s Quest to Bring Him Home by Sally Mott Freeman
Unabridged, 18 hr. 41 min.
Simon & Schuster Audio
Cassandra Campbell (Narrator)
May 9, 2017
★★★★★

Genre: Non-Fiction

Source: Received download from the publisher for review

The extraordinary, real-life adventure of three brothers at the center of the most dramatic turning points of World War II and their mad race to change history—and save one of their own.

They are three brothers, all Navy men, who end up coincidentally and extraordinarily at the epicenter of three of the war’s most crucial moments. Bill is picked by Roosevelt to run his first Map Room in Washington. Benny is the gunnery and anti-aircraft officer on the USS Enterprise, one of the only carriers to escape Pearl Harbor and by the end of 1942 the last one left in the Pacific to defend against the Japanese. Barton, the youngest and least distinguished of the three, is shuffled off to the Navy Supply Corps because his mother wants him out of harm’s way. But this protection plan backfires when Barton is sent to the Philippines and listed as missing-in-action after a Japanese attack. Now it is up to Bill and Benny to find and rescue him.

Based on ten years of research drawn from archives around the world, interviews with fellow shipmates and POWs, and primary sources including diaries, unpublished memoirs, and letters half-forgotten in basements, The Jersey Brothers is a remarkable story of agony and triumph—from the home front to Roosevelt’s White House, and Pearl Harbor to Midway and Bataan. It is the story, written with intimate, novelistic detail, of an ordinary young man who shows extraordinary courage as the Japanese do everything short of killing him. And it is, above all, a story of brotherly love: of three men finding their loyalty to each other tested under the tortures of war—and knowing that their success or failure to save their youngest brother will shape their family forever.

The war in the Pacific during WWII is something of a new area for me in non-fiction (or fiction for that matter); I have read more widely on the European front of this war. To be honest, I found it harder to connect to because I didn’t know anything about the locations and pretty much only knew about Pearl Harbor. However, when I saw this book, I knew I had to dive into this one. Not only is the cover hauntingly fabulous, but the story of these three brothers encapsulates so many elements of the war that I felt it would give me a thorough indoctrination into the Pacific side of the war. At the same time it is memoir-like in my mind as it was written by the daughter of one of the three brothers from the book. Oh and I forgot to mention that it is narrated by one fabulous narrator who I LOVE – but more on that later!

Throughout The Jersey Brothers we follow Benny, Bill, and Barton through their WWII travails. Bill begins his war time as an aid to President Roosevelt in his Map Room while brings us into the political machination of the war and then later he serves aboard several ships in the Pacific and physically searches for Barton in the Philippines. Benny serves primarily aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, which was involved in MANY major battles in the Pacific arena, and his story brings us right into the heart of an ocean battlefield. Then we have the story of Barton, who was captured as a Prisoner of War when the Philippines fell to the Japanese early in the war. Benny and Bill try everything they can think of to try to find and rescue Barton and their quest gives a physical face to the quest of the many families who sought information about their sons/husbands/relatives that were taken captive in the Pacific field of war.

It is very clear from the earliest pages of the book that either something terrible happens to Barton or that he doesn’t come home; the author discusses how her quest to write this book spun from an overheard family dispute about her uncle Barton. Although I knew that this book would not result in a positive outcome, I kept hoping and hoping that the result would somehow be different. The author made me feel so much for these three brothers and their families. Although this is a story personal to the author it was also able to keep enough distance from the subjects to feel impartial, but still imbue it with heart and passion in every word.

I couldn’t get enough of this book and thoroughly absorbed every word of it.

★★★★★

Cassandra Campbell is a narrator that you should look for when perusing the lists for new audiobooks. I have had the opportunity to listen to her read both fiction and non-fiction titles and she has done it brilliantly each time, although very different. In this circumstance, her voice lends a soothing and respectful tone to the severity of the events transpiring. Another thing that blew me away was her pronunciation of the foreign words and names that are fast and furious in this book; while I may not know if they are correct, they sounded well practiced and added to my impressions of the book. Stellar narration.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Let’s Take a Shelfie

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

You can preview a sample of this audiobook below:

Find Sally Mott Freeman: Publisher’s Website | Facebook

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
E-Book, 528 pages
William Morrow
June 6, 2017
★★★★★

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Personal Collection

In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth ...no matter where it leads.

I have been a HUGE fan of Kate Quinn’s throughout her writing career having read almost all of her works (still trying to find time to finish Empress of the Seven Hills and start The Lion and the Rose). Her heroines always have this spunk and sass to them, that comes through when you meet the author as well, that instantly draws me to them. I’ve been a bigger fan of her novels set in the ancient world and had hesitantly taken interest in The Alice Network only because it is SO far removed from the era that I think Quinn excels in. The time period between and surrounding the World Wars hasn’t traditionally been my thing and I haven’t openly embraced it despite the shift in interest of the publishing houses to this arena lately. However, after hearing from successive bookish friends and bloggers just how much they loved The Alice Network, and finding myself with a big gaping hole in my reviewing schedule, I jumped at the opportunity to pick up a copy and get to it!

Each chapter alternates between the WWI period told from the perspective of Eve and the immediate post WWII period told from that of Charlie. There are parallels that can be drawn here between these ladies who are similarly aged but seemingly so different for so much of the book, however deep down, they are more alike than they realize. For awhile I was much more into the Charlie chapters. While I loved the behind-the-lines, spy storyline of Eve’s, I felt that Charlie’s internal narrative was more of a personal struggle and I loved watching her grow over the story. I also loved that Charlie’s narrative is where the pieces start to come together and resolve.

The characters were all fabulous. Eve is so unusual a heroine, but that would be why she was so effective a spy: she was easy to overlook, but she had so much going on under the hood and she was passionate and daring. She gave up so much of herself for something so much bigger than herself. Charlie is a girl in trouble, but also a girl on a mission. She is trying to redeem herself and escape from the shadow of her parents expectations and money. This makes her and Eve such a hilarious foil of each other. And throw Finn into the mix and they are one interesting road trippin’ trio. Really, I found Finn to be one of the only truly likable male characters, despite his background, and I LOVED his character development throughout the story and how he effected the other two ladies. And his relationship with his car is something else! This trio was phenomenal to read.

Kate’s writing is always fun to read and she throws in some humorous scenes throughout, even little moments that just take the edge off some of the deeper, more tension fraught scenes.

I very rarely read a book a second time (has only happened twice) or own a book in multiple formats, but simply based off my enjoyment of the book and the sample of the audio I have listened to, I am very interested in going through this one again as an audiobook (I also might need to get it in print because…deckle edge!!)

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Flashlight Commentary
• Literary Quicksand

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Kate Quinn:

Mistress of Rome (Empress of Rome Book 1)
[My Review]

Daughters of Rome (Empress of Rome Book 2)
[My Review]

Empress of the Seven Hills (Empress of Rome Book 3)

The Three Fates (Empress of Rome Book 3.5)

Lady of the Eternal City (Empress of Rome Book 4)
[My Review]

The Serpent and the Pearl (The Borgias #1)
[My Review]

The Lion and the Rose (The Borgias #2)

A Song of War (Short Story Collaboration)
[My Review]

A Day of Fire (Short Story Collaboration)
[My Review]

A Year of Ravens (Short Story Collaboration)
[My Review]

Find Kate Quinn: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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