Tag: historical fiction

Book Review: A Peculiar Combination (Electra McDonnell #1) by Ashley Weaver

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Fiction Mystery
Length: 304 pages
Author: Ashley Weaver
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Release Date: May 25th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The first in the Electra McDonnell series from Edgar-nominated author Ashley Weaver, set in England during World War II, A Peculiar Combination is a delightful mystery filled with spies, murder, romance, and the author’s signature wit.

Electra McDonnell has always known that the way she and her family earn their living is slightly outside of the law. Breaking into the homes of the rich and picking the locks on their safes may not be condoned by British law enforcement, but World War II is in full swing, Ellie’s cousins Colm and Toby are off fighting against Hitler, and Uncle Mick’s more honorable business as a locksmith can’t pay the bills any more.

So when Uncle Mick receives a tip about a safe full of jewels in the empty house of a wealthy family, he and Ellie can’t resist. All goes as planned–until the pair are caught redhanded. Ellie expects them to be taken straight to prison, but instead they are delivered to a large townhouse, where government official Major Ramsey is waiting with an offer: either Ellie agrees to help him break into a safe and retrieve blueprints that will be critical to the British war effort, before they can be delivered to a German spy, or he turns her over to the police.

Ellie doesn’t care for the Major’s imperious manner, but she has no choice, and besides, she’s eager to do her bit for king and country. She may be a thief, but she’s no coward. When she and the Major break into the house in question, they find instead the purported German spy dead on the floor, the safe already open and empty. Soon, Ellie and Major Ramsey are forced to put aside their differences to unmask the double-agent, as they try to stop allied plans falling into German hands.

WELL WELL WELL.

It always takes me a minute to decide about picking up a WW2 story because I have just read A LOT of them. But this was a true mix up in historical fiction and I was hooked on the mystery and slow bur romance. THAT KISSING SCENE THOUGH. Clearly I can’t get it out of my head.

I loved the set up of the plot. I loved that Ellie was a part time thief who got to use her strengths for other deeds. I loved that Major Ramsey was a no nonsense kind of man but you could see that soft spot growing for Ellie. This banter was on point and I laughed out loud multiple times with the well placed moments.

There is a great amount of action and twists. I didn’t know how all the pieces would come together and I binged this audiobook in a day (loved the audio too). I will absolutely be continuing this series!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fiction + Mystery
  • Romance: Heated kisses
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: WW2 setting, gun violence, murder, kidnapping, near death experiences

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ARC Book Review: Roads of Resistance (Falcon Point Historical #2) by A.L. Sowards

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Fiction
Length: 370 pages
Author: A.L. Sowards
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Release Date: July 15th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The line between enemy and ally can shift in a heartbeat.

1940

After her father is murdered, fifteen-year-old Ingrid Lang flees her home in Austria only to become separated from her siblings and stranded in the Dutch city of Arnhem with a pair of broken legs. Her future would be bleak if not for the kindness of a local doctor and his daughter Anita van der Veen. But before Ingrid can finish her healing and continue her journey to find her brother and sister, the forces of Nazi Germany overrun the Netherlands, leaving her trapped in an enemy occupation.

Four years later, Gerrit Hendriks, wanted by the Gestapo for his work with the underground, flees to his grandfather’s home in Arnhem, where he finds Ingrid and the van der Veens deeply ensconced in the local resistance. But suspicion, prejudice, and conflicting beliefs soon leave Ingrid and Gerrit at odds with each other.

As Ingrid and Gerrit gather intelligence for the Allies, smuggle airmen and other refugees to safety, and plan acts of defiance against the Nazis, irritations soften and teamwork blossoms. They soon realize that if they want to have any hope of outsmarting a German intelligence officer with a tie to Ingrid’s past, they’ll have to work together. As Ingrid and Gerrit begin to recognize just how much they mean to each other, they find themselves in the middle of an enormous airborne operation, and the imminent battles have the potential to change everything—for Ingrid, for Gerrit, and for the Netherlands.

Thank you to the author and the publisher for the gifted copy.

ABOUT TOOK ME OUT.

A.L. Sowards continues to be one of my favorite historical authors and this was another book that took me on an intense journey. I love the way that A.L. pulls out these complex characters and getting to see many angles of the war and how it effected everyone for years to come.

I just loved Gerrit and Ingrid. There are so many nuanced things I could discuss about them independently and as a couple that I could fill pages with. The resilience and strength and the willpower each step took as the years stretched was empowering to read. I love their love.

A.L. never shies away from the intensity and brutality of war and that was once again present here. I liked the Netherlands setting because it’s one I don’t know as much about and only added to the story. Sowards knows how to craft an amazingly intricate and beautiful book and it wrenches my heart every dang time.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fiction
  • Language: none
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: WW2 themes (starvation, mentions of concentration camps, work camps and more), loss of life, weapons violence, physical violence, loss of a baby, grief/depression depiction

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Book Review: One Final Turn (Electra McDonnell #5) by Ashley Weaver

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 304 pages
Author: Ashley Weaver
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Release Date: June 3rd, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The fifth and final installment in the Electra McDonnell series brings safecracker Ellie on a mission across World War II-era Europe to Lisbon, Portugal to rescue a key group of escaped POWs.

Ellie McDonnell is about to embark on her most perilous mission go to Lisbon, Portugal to save her beloved cousin Toby who has reportedly escaped from a German prisoner of war camp. Toby has been missing since the Battle of Dunkirk and Ellie had all but lost hope in ever seeing him again until Major Ramsey, the British military intelligence officer she had been working closely with over the past few months, shared the news he’d intercepted.

Nothing will stop Ellie from finding her cousin, not even the awkward experience of having to travel to an unknown country with Ramsey after he’d dismissed her for being untrustworthy just as she’d realized she had fallen in love with him. Under the supervision of Captain Archie Blandings, a charming intelligence officer based in Lisbon, Ellie meets with undercover operatives to track down where Toby might be hiding from the Nazis and whether they are too late to safely recover him, all the while fighting her feelings for Ramsey and the incessant burden of war looming around her at every turn.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the gifted ARC.

WHAT A CONCLUSION.

I AM SO SAD THIS SERIES IS OVER. I have loved every single book and this was an amazing wrap-up to a fun and romantic series.

The mystery continued well throughout and the pages truly fly by. I love how the story is executed in a short amount of pages. This took a few turns I wasn’t expecting and hot dang I loved it!! I loved the romance, the characters, the plot, the mystery, just everything.

I feel like I can’t write much more without giving things away for the series. If you’re reading this review first you can know, without a doubt, that this entire series is worth the read and is now complete for you to binge!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical mystery + romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: war themes, loss of life, weapons violence

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ARC Book Review: The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Historical Fiction
Length: 400 pages
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Viking
Release Date: June 3rd, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

#1 New York Times bestselling novelist Maggie Stiefvater dazzles in this mesmerizing portrait of an irresistible heroine, an unlikely romance, and a hotel—and a world—in peril.

January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles.

Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the front lines—to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile.

Meanwhile FBI Agent Tucker Minnick, whose coal tattoo hints at an Appalachian past, presses his ears to the hotel’s walls, listening for the diplomats’ secrets. He has one of his own, which is how he knows that June’s balancing act can have dangerous consequences: the sweetwater beneath the hotel can threaten as well as heal.

June has never met a guest she couldn’t delight, but the diplomats are different. Without firing a single shot, they have brought the war directly to her. As clashing loyalties crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, June must calculate the true cost of luxury.

Thank you to Viking for the gifted ARC.

WHERE WAS THE PLOT?

Oh y’all, this book tested my will to live. I have a very hard time DNFing ARC’s because I feel obligated to get it done (and I secretly think, maybe the next chapter will be better!!). I have read and enjoyed multiple books for MS and was looking forward to her adult debut. ALAS, what in the world was this???

The general concept of following a hotel overrun by FBI agents during WWII is interesting. It did make me feel curious to know about more hotels and situations that happened in this time period.

BUT. This book lacked any sort of direction or true story line. And I think there’s supposed to be some kind of magical realism component? It was so faint that I hesitate to call it that. AND, the romance takes up approximately 3% of the book so please don’t pick it up thinking it’s even a sub-plot. I almost would have rather just taken that piece all of the way out.

At around 80% or so things picked up marginally but at that point I had checked out.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fiction (with a dash of magical realism)
  • Language: low
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: racism, Nazis, ableism, suicide attempt

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