Sisterhood of Ravensbruck

 

The Sisterhood of Ravensbruck: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler's All-Femal Concentration Camp- Lynne Olson

Random House

Release Date: June 3, 2025

Rating:📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: For decades after World War II, histories of the French Resistance were written almost exclusively by men and largely ignored the contributions of women. Many current overviews of the subject continue to underplay the extent and importance of women’s participation in the Resistance, treating the subject, in the words of one historian, as ‘an anonymous background element in an essentially male story’.

The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück corrects that omission, surveying the bond between four women — Germaine Tillion, Anise Girard, Genevieve de Gaulle, and Jacqueline d’Alincourt — who fought valiantly against Nazi oppression. While the women belonged to different Resistance movements and networks, they were united by a common they were arrested by the Gestapo, underwent merciless interrogations and beatings, were jailed — and, most significantly, survived, if just barely, the hell of Ravensbrück, the only concentration camp designed specifically for women. In an institution designed to dehumanise and kill, the sisterhood maintained their sense of self and joined together to face down death.

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Lynne Olson is one of my favorite historians, and has a wonderful talent for bringing out hidden voices and stories during World War 2 that help us discover so many new aspects to that time. Her last two books (Madame Fourcarde's Secret War and Empress of the Nile) explore the lives of two women who were trail-blazers both during and after the war, but who during the war helped build the French resistance against the Nazis. The Sisterhood of Ravensbruck follows the lives of four women: Germaine Tillion, Anise Girard, Genevieve de Gaulle, and Jacqueline d'Alincourt who were also part of the French Resistance- and who were sent to (and survived) Ravensbruck camp for that resistance.

The book is divided into three sections: before, during, and after Ravensbruck, and I was a little surprised at much of it focused on the after. As you'd expect with any book dealing with Nazis, concentration camps, etc. there are some parts that are hard to read. But the sisterhood that developed among the women in the camp, particularly the French women Olson focuses on, brought with it such surprising hope as well. They helped each other survive through so many acts that it brought tears to my eyes as I was reading. The Polish women (called "rabbits") who were used as medical experiments in the camp were helped by everyone, including being hidden when the order to kill them came at the end of the war (if you've read Martha Hall Kelly's Lilac Girls, it's based on the rabbit's story). The prisoners knew they all faced death for defying their captors, but they resisted the Nazis again. The strength of the women, sharing their tiny amounts of food, medicine, gathering evidence of the crimes against them in the hope that one day they would be free to use it, was staggering to me. As I read I could only wonder if I would have been that brave, and hope the answer would have been yes.

It should come as no surprise that none of the Ravensbruck women stopped being amazing after leaving the camp. They continued to stand together to ensure whoever needed medical help got it, to help each other reintergrate into post-War life. They stood as witnesses for the dead against the crimes the Ravensbruck Nazis had committed. They helped the "rabbits" get to America for medical tretment. And continued to stand up against injustices and crimes against humanity wherever they saw them for the rest of their lives. 

The inspiration brought to me by this story leaves me speechless. It is hard and uplifting, often at the same time– and absolutely a book we should all read and learn from. As we should learn from these women.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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Medusa's Sisters

Medusa's Sisters- Lauren J.A. Bear

PenguinRandomHouse/Ace

Release Date: August 8, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Even before they were transformed into Gorgons, Medusa and her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, were unique among immortals. Curious about mortals and their lives, Medusa and her sisters entered the human world in search of a place to belong, yet quickly found themselves at the perilous center of a dangerous Olympian rivalry and learned—too late—that a god's love is a violent one.

Forgotten by history and diminished by poets, the other two Gorgons have never been more than horrifying hags, damned and doomed. But they were sisters first, and their journey from sea-born origins to the outskirts of the Parthenon is a journey that rests, hidden, underneath their scales.

Monsters, but not monstrous, Stheno and Euryale will step into the light for the first time to tell the story of how all three sisters lived and were changed by each other, as they struggle against the inherent conflict between sisterhood and individuality, myth and truth, vengeance and peace.

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This was a powerful retelling of the story of Medusa and her sisters, and is kind of what I'd looked for in Natalie Haynes' Stone Blind but didn't get. The story alternates between Stheno's first-person narrative and a limited third-person narrative for Euryale, which took some getting used to. At first I found it jarring, but I got used to it the longer I read. As I didn't really like Euryale, I was happy not to be in her head for her chapters.

The first third of the book or so was a little slow for me. They are born and growing up and not much is happening except to show us immortality, the relationship between the sisters, their mother, and a few of their other relations. As the sisters (who can pass as human at this stage) decide to travel and learn about humans things pick up. Other stories are woven in and we learn the sisters' personalities as they learn about humans. Stheno is the protector, Euryale the self-absorbed flirt, Medusa the ever-curious and innocent. 

This story probably has the best reason (if you can call it that) for why Athena cursed the sisters after Poisidon raped Medusa of any version I've read. Certainly the most personal, selfish, and heartbreakingly awful one. The author doesn't shy away from reminding us that Greek culture, like the myths, didn't place much importance on women and rape was a regular thing that men were not usually held accountable for. Or that women were generally blamed for. There is certainly victim blaming for Medusa. So consider most of the book a trigger warning, if you hadn't already assumed that by the idea that this was about Medusa and her sisters. The author doesn't gloss over much.

Without giving away spoilers, I can't get too specific on much. I was surprised to learn this was a debut novel- the writing was mostly better than I expect from debut novelists (although there was a lot more "if I had but known" writing than I needed). At the same time, I'm not sure the author had quite figured out how to end the book and it seemed to get a little awkward again towards the end.

The women take their stories back here in ways you expect and also in stories and ways you don't expect. Medusa's death and what comes after are powerfully and emotionally written and actually brought me to tears in a few places. This is definitely one of the most powerful retellings I've read.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Resonance Surge

 

Resonance Surge (Psy-Changeling Trinity #7)- Nalini Singh

Penguin RandomHouse

Release Date: July 18, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: StoneWater bears Pavel and Yakov Stepyrev have been a unit since birth, but now Pavel’s life is veering in a new direction, his heart held in the hands of Arwen Mercant, a Psy empath—and the only man who has ever brought Pavel to his knees.

This is it. A point of irrevocable change. For Pavel . . . for Arwen . . . for Yakov . . . and for another pair of twins whose bond has a far darker history.

A low-gradient Psy, Theodora Marshall is considered worthless by everyone but her violently powerful twin, Pax. She is the sole person he trusts in their venomous family to investigate a hidden and terrible part of their family history—an unregistered rehabilitation center established by their grandfather.

Places of unimaginable pain designed to psychically wipe minds, leaving the victims shells of their former selves, the Centers are an ugly vestige of the Psy race’s Silent past. But this Center was worse. Far, far worse. And now Theo must uncover the awful truth—in the company of a scowling bear named Yakov who isn’t about to take a Marshall at face value . . . especially a Marshall who has turned his dreams into chilling nightmares.

Because Yakov is the great-grandson of a foreseer . . . and he has seen Theo die in an unstoppable surge of blood. Night after night after night . . .

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Resonance Surge is the story of Theodora Marshall, a low-gradient Psy and granddaughter to former Councilor Marshall Hyde, and Yakov Stepyrev, of the StoneWater bear clan in Moscow. Yakov has been assigned the job of helping Theo investigate an unregistered "rehabilitation Center" that Theo's powerful twin Pax has traced back to Marshall Hyde. But in the days of Silence these centers were accepted, so why hide one? Naturally, Yakov doesn't trust Theo, even if his bear is sure there's something very special about her. After all, they've been having dreams about Theo for longer than they've known her.

Theo is under no illusions when it comes to her family. She knows they are terrible people and her grandfather was the worst of them all. What she isn't sure of is where she falls in the scheme of things. When her brother finds clues that make no sense, but seem to connect her to a hidden research center, she wants answers. I liked that Theo is willing to find those answers no matter what the cost. She accepts that the friendship she has developed with Yakov will be destroyed when they find the answers and considers the good times he shows her as 'stolen moments', but she never considers turning away. Yakov is her perfect balance, willing to accept her fierceness and remind her that sometimes it is needed to survive while teaching her how to play and enjoy life. I had to laugh every time Theo thought she knew what to expect thanks to her "research" on bears, but Yakov slid right past her defenses anyway. They really are a perfect match. And since Yakov is Pavel's twin, we are also treated to Pavel and Arwen (Silver's brother from Silver Silence) and some of their mating dance as well! I loved that we got to see into Arwen's mind, behind the confident exterior to the man trying to make sure he knew who he was before making the decision to fully commit to Pavel. And the flashbacks to some of Arwen's excuses not to date Pavel were priceless! So much better than "washing my hair". 

Resonance Surge is another example of Nalini Singh's brilliance when it comes to worldbuilding. Having built Silence and what it allowed many Psy to become, then ended Silence, she now has her characters dealing with the aftermath. Things aren't simply "ok" in the fall of Silence. It isn't only the faltering NetMind (which plays very little role here) that the Psy need to deal with, it is questions like: what happened to the people who were tortured under Silence? In this case: what about the people who were "rehabilitated"? And, of course, what evils could be hidden inside accepted rehabilitation facilities? Singh knows how to put layers on top of layers to create characters and a world full of light and darkness, vibrancy and life, and keep the reader captured in the story well past the last page.

While Resonance Surge can be read as a standalone, you'll get more out of the world and its characters if you at least read the other Trinity books first. Plus they are all awesome, so you should read them anyway.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

 

 

Thief Liar Lady

 

Thief Liar Lady- D. L. Soria

Random House

Release Date: July 11, 2023

Rating: 📚📚

Synopsis: I’m not who you think I am.

My transformation from a poor, orphaned scullery maid into the enchantingly mysterious lady who snagged the heart of the prince did not happen—as the rumors insisted—in a magical metamorphosis of pumpkins and glass slippers. On the first evening of the ball, I didn’t meekly help my “evil” stepmother and stepsisters primp and preen or watch forlornly out the window as their carriage rolled off toward the palace. I had other preparations to make.

My stepsisters and I had been trained for this—to be the cleverest in the room, to be quick with our hands and quicker with our lies. We were taught how to get everything we wanted in this world, everything men always kept for themselves: power, wealth, and prestige. And with a touchingly tragic past and the help of some highly illegal spells, I would become a princess, secure our fortunes, and we would all live happily ever after.

But there’s always more to the story. With my magic running out, war looming, and a handsome hostage prince—the wrong prince—distracting me from my true purpose with his magnetic charm and forbidden flirtations, I’m in danger of losing control of the delicate balance I’ve created . . . and that could prove fatal.

There’s so much more riding on this than a crown.

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Spoiler Alerts!

I'm a fan of reading re-tellings of fairy tales and myths (though they don't all work, many do) and it had been a while since I've seen a fresh take on Cinderella, so the idea of a spin where Cinderella was conning the prince and in league with her stepmother and sister the whole time? Let's try it!

I didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it either. I struggled a lot with it. At first I was definitely confused by Ash's motives and the politics- those were a huge and annoying tangle but sort themselves out as you keep reading. Eventually, you have two different motives going on: Ash's stepmother Seraphina wants Ash to snag a rich lord, while Ash's grandmother wants Ash to snag the prince so she can influence politics and help the rebellion of a neighboring/occupied kingdom. Ash's main motive seems to be to prove to both women that she can do the jobs they've given her, despite them not totally having faith in her. As we all know, Ash gets her prince (thanks to magic that she keeps enchanting him with- something I was not ok with), our story starts in the lead-up to the wedding with her playing the part of the doting, innocent fianceé. She plays so many roles and lies to so many people (including herself) that I never felt like I knew her. The parts I did know, I didn't really like. Morally grey or completely self-centered on proving herself without worrying about what she was doing to anyone else? I'm still not sure, but I feel like she was on that scale. The other characters were either equally hidden (her stepmother and sisters) or completely flat and one-dimensional. The thin worldbuilding meant that I never figured out the magic and its rules, the politics, or much of anything else.

There were really good ideas here, and a lot of potential. But the book dragged in the beginning and then went on longer than it should have in the end. Ash never seemed to know what she was doing, despite priding herself on always being in control. And I never felt like I knew the world or any of the characters enough to feel even a touch of magic for this story.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Much Ado About Nada

 Much Ado About Nada- Uzma Jalaluddin

Penguin Random House

Release Date: June 13, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she's still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother's unsubtle pleas to get married already. While Nada has a good job as an engineer, it's a far cry from realizing the start-up dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of a double-crossing business partner. Nothing in her life has turned out the way it was supposed to, and Nada feels like a failure. Something needs to change, but the past is holding on too tightly to let her move forward.

Nada's best friend, Haleema, is determined to pry her from her shell . . . and what better place than at the giant annual Muslim conference downtown, where Nada can finally meet Haleema's fiancé, Zayn? And did Haleema mention Zayn's brother Baz will be there?

What Haleema doesn't know is that Nada and Baz have a past--some of it good, some of it bad, and all of it secret. At the conference, that past all comes hurtling back at Nada, bringing new complications and a moment of reckoning. Can she truly say goodbye to what once was, or should she hold tight to her dreams and find their new beginnings?

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In Uzma Jalaluddin's retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion (with a Canadian Muslim twist) Nada is stuck in the rut of family life and work. Her big idea app was a flop because her business partner stole her idea, Nada retreated into her shell and hasn't come out since. Her best friend Haleema drags her to a giant Muslim conference to meet Haleema's fiancé Zayn and hopes to set Nada up with Zayn's brother Baz. The only problem is that Baz and Nada have a history that Haleema doesn't know about. As the past is resurrected, Nada knows she has to decide: say goodbye to past dreams of love or take a chance and confront her fears?

Persuasion is one of my favorite Jane Austen books, and it is a tough one for a retelling- even more so than most second-chance romances. Bringing it into the modern world is even tougher. Uzma Jalaluddin did a really good job transferring this classic love story to modern-day Toronto, with the tension between generations in Toronto's South Asian Muslim immigrant community standing in for Austen's Regency rules. 

I loved how Jalaluddin made all of her characters, not just Nada, complex. There was a lot going on for each of them, and she did a good job of taking characters that at first seemed basic, then you get an insight part way through that changes how you look at all of their interactions. Nada gets to really go through a lot in this book and I felt like I watched her grow as a person as she fought through her sense of loss and betrayal over her app and losing Baz at the same time- and still feeling that years later but now seeing a second chance and being ready to fight for it. 

I liked the flashbacks to Nada and Baz in college, seeing them fall in love and getting some sense of why they kept it a secret, though I felt like they fell into the classic rut of not communicating or listening to each other. Both of them made mistakes, but it seemed like Nada was the only one willing to work to maybe change the present. While it would have ruined the book to get both viewpoints along the way, there were times I wished I knew what Baz was thinking, or knowing that he was working to change himself as well. Surprisingly, Baz was one of the characters that came off as flat for me.

Overall I enjoyed this book, though the pacing dragged occasionally. I love how Jalaluddin brings the reader into the South Asian Muslim community of her characters without feeling like she has to overexplain the community for her non-Muslim readers. We absorb and are absorbed by the community and Jalaluddin's beautiful writing.

Despite the many times I've referenced Jane Austen and Persuasion here, you don't have to have read it to enjoy this retelling.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Empress of the Nile

 Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples From Destruction- Lynne Olson

Random House

Release Date: February 28, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: In the 1960s, the world’s attention was focused on a nail-biting race against time: Fifty countries contributed nearly a billion dollars to save a dozen ancient Egyptian temples, built during the height of the pharaohs’ rule, from drowning in the floodwaters of the massive new Aswan High Dam. But the extensive press coverage at the time overlooked the gutsy French archaeologist who made it all happen. Without the intervention of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, the temples would now be at the bottom of a vast reservoir. It was an unimaginably large and complex project that required the fragile sandstone temples to be dismantled, stone by stone, and rebuilt on higher ground.

A willful real-life version of Indiana Jones, Desroches-Noblecourt refused to be cowed by anyone or anything. During World War II she joined the French Resistance and was held by the Nazis; in her fight to save the temples she challenged two of the postwar world’s most daunting leaders, Egypt’s President Nasser and France’s President de Gaulle. As she told a reporter, “You don’t get anywhere without a fight, you know.”

Yet Desroches-Noblecourt was not the only woman who played an essential role in the historic endeavor. The other was Jacqueline Kennedy, who persuaded her husband to call on Congress to help fund the rescue effort. After years of Western plunder of Egypt’s ancient monuments, Desroches-Noblecourt did the opposite. She helped preserve a crucial part of Egypt’s cultural heritage, and made sure it remained in its homeland.

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Historian Lynne Olson, best known for her fantastic books on little known aspects of World War II history,  (Last Hope Island) gives us another little known but hugely influential story in Empress of the Nile. Along the lines of Madame Fourcade's Secret War, Empress of the Nile focuses on a Frenchwoman- Christine Desroches-Noblecourt, a resistance fighter during World War II. But what I thought would be the most interesting part of her story ended up being only a small part, and by no means the most fascinating.

Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt was fascinated by Egypt from a young age and was fortunate enough to have parents who supported her in following her dreams. She became the first female archaeologist and Egyptologist in France, facing incredible hostility from the men in her field, who didn't want her on dig sites. They disliked her presence in general, her talent and intelligence, her familiarity and positive working relationship with the local Egyptian workers, and her successes. When not on a dig in Egypt she was working at the Louvre. As the Nazi threat began to loom, the Louvre packed up its treasures and shipped them to different places for protection, with Christiane helping catalog, pack, and transport the Egyptian collections. She remained in Paris during the occupation and was part of the first resistance group against the Nazis, a fascinating collection of men and women who were mostly museum workers but were able to help hide escaping POWs in their museums and get them to safety, among many other things. When Christiane was arrested, questioned, and then released by Nazi officers she knew she would be under surveillance and backed away from the group to keep her friends in the movement safe. While I thought this early part of her life would have been the most fascinating, what really captivated me was what came after the war. Christiane worked with Egyptian officials, UNESCO, and other agencies during the 1960s to save Abu Simbel, the Temple at Philae, and other priceless monuments from being lost to flooding with the building of the new Aswan High Dam. She was the visionary and the driving force behind the effort, even though she received little credit then or now. It was Desroches-Noblecourt who brought experts and professionals from around the world together to work on a project with no political motivation, just pure desire to save archaeological treasures for the good of humankind.

Lynne Olson describes the race to save Abu Simbel, the Temple of Philae, and the other endangered monuments in breathtaking details that leave the reader's heart racing, desperate to find out what will happen next and how they will succeed. What will go wrong? How will they triumph? What political disasters will get in the way? The reader feels some of what Desroches-Noblecourt must have felt as she worked nonstop to save the temples. Along the way I learned a lot about the politics of Egypt, from when France and England took over during the 1800s through the 1960s and how the world's politics affected Egyptology. And how this can be overcome when a few voices prove what really matters.  

Empress of the Nile is a fascinating story of the little known life of Christiane Desroche-Noblecourt and her life long dedication to discovering, interpreting, and preserving Egypt's past. Carefully researched and beautifully written, this is the story of a strong and dedicated woman who inspired generations of archaeologists, and should inspire future generations of people to go for their dreams, no matter how impossible they seem. Because sometimes, you can move mountains.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

 

Phaedra

 

Phaedra-Laura Shepperson

Alcove Press/Penguin Random House

Release Date: January 10, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚

Trigger Warning: Rape, violence, suicide

Synopsis: Phaedra has been cast to the side all her life: daughter of an adulteress, sister of a monster, and now unwilling bride to the much-older, power-hungry Theseus. Young, naïve, and idealistic, she has accepted her lot in life, resigned to existing under the sinister weight of Theseus’s control and the constant watchful eye of her handsome stepson Hippolytus. 

When supposedly pious Hippolytus assaults her, Phaedra’s world is darkened in the face of untouchable, prideful power. In the face of injustice, Phaedra refuses to remain quiet any longer: such an awful truth demands to be brought to light. When Phaedra publicly accuses Hippolytus of rape, she sparks an overdue reckoning.
 
The men of Athens gather to determine the truth. Meanwhile, the women of the city, who have no vote, are gathering in the shadows. The women know truth is a slippery thing in the hands of men. There are two sides to every story, and theirs has gone unheard. Until now.

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As a fan of Natalie Haynes, I enjoy giving mythological retellings a chance- seeing Greek, Norse, etc. stories from more feminist perspectives and bringing to life the women who were left in the silent shadows of the original stories has lots of potential. Phaedra is a story that had lots of potential, but never quite lived up to it for me. A lot of it was the writing style. Despite having multiple POVs- many, many characters tell this story- all of them sound exactly the same. There is virtually no way of differentiating any of the voices if you just closed your eyes and opened to a page. There is almost no character development among the characters, including the main women, Phaedra and Medea, although I had high hopes for Medea and personally thought some of her scenes were among the best in the book. Phaedra starts out as a young and naive princess who ends up married to Theseus and is in Athens really as a hostage instead of a wife. She is sure she is supposed to witness the gods' justice against the terrible wrongs Theseus has done on Crete. There is hatred in her early on, but that gets banked and we don't get to see it again until pretty much the end. The rest of the time she's . . . not much. You'd think she couldn't be as naive as she acts sometimes, that she'd figure out her status doesn't save her from the terrible things that happen in the Athenian palace. But she never seems to change, or to grow up from the girl we first meet.

When she accuses Hippolytus of rape and the statesman Trypho convinces her to bring it to trial, the modern reader sees plenty of the MeToo movement trying to rise up in ancient Athens. The problem being, of course, women have no voice in ancient Athens and the men who will do the voting are the men who are behaving just the same to the servants in the palace. Maybe Phaedra's status will mean something to them, maybe not. One of the most realistic and heartbreaking scenes in the book is between Phaedra and Theseus when he comes to ask her to stop the trial before his son can be judged. After all, why should his life be ruined because she suffered for a few minutes? It made me want to cry and be sick at the same time, because you know this was genuinely how this man understood the situation, and how generations since have and still do think.

By the end of the book we see the limited choices women in this world have: the vast majority, the 'night chorus', choose to silently accept the violence done to them and find small ways of avoiding the worst of it-working in pairs, putting sleeping draughts in men's wine, moving in shadows to avoid being seen. Medea has made choices others condemn her for, but she believes were right. What will Phaedra choose?

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Sweetwater and the Witch

 Sweetwater and the Witch (Harmony series)- Jayne Castle

Berkley/Penguin Random House

Release Date: September 20, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: If there’s something Ravenna Chastain knows, it’s when to end things. And after she almost winds up the victim of a cult that believes she’s a witch, it’s easy to walk away from her dead-end career, ready for a new start. But where to find a job that would allow her to use her very specialized skill set? The answer is clear: she becomes a matchmaker.

But even a successful matchmaker can’t find someone for everyone, and Ravenna considers Ethan Sweetwater her first professional failure. After nine failed dates, Ravenna knows it’s time to cut Ethan loose. But Ethan refuses to be fired as a client—he needs one final date to a business function. Since Ravenna needs a date herself to a family event, they agree to a deal: she will be his (business) date if he will be her (fake) date to her grandparents’ anniversary celebration.
 
What Ethan fails to mention is that attending the business function is a cover for some industrial espionage that he’s doing as a favor to the new Illusion Town Guild boss. Ravenna is happy to help, but their relationship gets even more complicated when things heat up—the chemistry between them is explosive, as explosive as the danger that’s stalking Ravenna. Lucky for her, Ethan isn’t just an engineer—he’s also a Sweetwater, and Sweetwaters are known for hunting down monsters…

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Ravenna Chastain, criminal profiler turned matchmaker, has been put in the awkward position of having to fire her company's highest profile client as unmatchable. Ethan Sweetwater didn't make things easy at the start by not filling in most of his profile questionnaire and he doesn't make it easy to fire him as a client. He needs a date to a business function, she (with over 30 failed dates to her credit) needs a date to a big family function. What could go wrong? When Ethan arrives to pick up Ravenna for their date (which is also going to involve some clandestine spying for the Arcane Society) and finds her standing over the unconscious body of the man who just tried to kill her, he rolls with it. That freaks Ravenna out more than a past date trying to kill her. Is Ethan a mob connection? Who else knows just what to do with duct tape? Things heat up from there with more attempted assassinations, high drama family functions, and dust bunny shenanigans. 

This was definitely a fun book for me. You don't have to have read previous Harmony novels (Guild Boss, Illusion Town) to enjoy it, although being familiar with Harmony and the Krentz/Quick/Castle Arcane Society world helps you spot some fun Easter eggs along the way. Ravenna has enough FBPI training to handle herself as more than a matchmaker in the increasingly tense situations she winds up in as collateral to a much larger picture, but enough sense at the beginning to worry when her date is willing to help her disappear a body like its a normal thing. Most women would worry, even as they found it convenient. Ethan is the mild mannered engineer who is much more than he seems, and is stubborn enough to keep going for what he wants. I loved the declaration and "it's always been you" moment at the end! 

Sweetwater and the Witch was fast paced, full of fun, wry humor, danger and mystery, and everything a reader expects from Jayne Castle. Also, I loved Harriet the dust bunny! With her love for pens and popcorn, I think we may be soul mates. 

A book not to be missed for the Jayne Castle fans!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Witch & the Tsar

 The Witch and the Tsar- Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

Ace/Penguin Random House

Release Date: September 20, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: As a half-goddess possessing magic, Yaga is used to living on her own, her prior entanglements with mortals having led to heartbreak. She mostly keeps to her hut in the woods, where those in need of healing seek her out, even as they spread rumors about her supposed cruelty and wicked spells. But when her old friend Anastasia—now the wife of the tsar, and suffering from a mysterious illness—arrives in her forest desperate for her protection, Yaga realizes the fate of all of Russia is tied to Anastasia’s. Yaga must step out of the shadows to protect the land she loves.

As she travels to Moscow, Yaga witnesses a sixteenth century Russia on the brink of chaos. Tsar Ivan—soon to become Ivan the Terrible—grows more volatile and tyrannical by the day, and Yaga believes the tsaritsa is being poisoned by an unknown enemy. But what Yaga cannot know is that Ivan is being manipulated by powers far older and more fearsome than anyone can imagine.
 
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore weaves a rich tapestry of mythology and Russian history, reclaiming and reinventing the infamous Baba Yaga, and bringing to life a vibrant and tumultuous Russia, where old gods and new tyrants vie for power. This fierce and compelling novel draws from the timeless lore to create a heroine for the modern day, fighting to save her country and those she loves from oppression while also finding her true purpose as a goddess, a witch, and a woman.

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In The Witch and the Tsar, Olesya Salnikova Gilmore does for the infamous Baba Yaga what Madeline Miller did for Circe, what Genevieve Gornichec did for Angrboda, and what Natalie Haynes' upcoming StoneBlind promises to do for Medusa: allow a traditionally "villainous" woman to take control of the narrative and tell her own story. Her own story is not that of an evil hag, but a good woman: half goddess, all healer, turned out by villagers and vilified when Russia turns towards Christianity. So she lives in a hut with chicken legs out in the woods and waits for peasants to come to her for help under cover of night, but no longer lives among them. She sees her mortality as a weakness and tries to ignore it, and to stay out of human affairs. But one day Russia's tsaritsa, Anastasia, Yaga's old friend and now wife of the tsar, comes to her. Anastasia is being poisoned by a hidden enemy and Yaga agrees to save her, even if that means going to Moscow itself. Soon she discovers the danger is much bigger than just to Anastasia's life, that gods and immortals are meddling with humans and nature and Yaga must decide if she is brave enough to risk everything to protect the people she has come to love.

The Witch and the Tsar may be Gilmore's debut novel, but you would never know it. Beautifully written with the confidence of one who might be on her tenth novel instead of her first, The Witch and the Tsar is crafted so that the reader appreciates the complicated lives of each character- none are one dimensional, throw away, figures. You feel sorrow for Yaga's enemies even as your heart breaks for the choices Yaga must make, this is a triumph in fantasy storytelling. Russian history and mythology weave together into an intricate world and beautiful creation that you feel as if you, the reader, are a part of. The sights and sounds, the smells, the food and clothes, the woods and city streets, all come alive and draw you in.  It is clear from the beginning that Gilmore loves the characters she has created, the ones she has drawn from history and mythology as well as her own imagination. Whether or not you are familiar with Baba Yaga and Ivan the Terrible before starting this book, expect surprises both beautiful and heartbreaking in the most unlikely places. Gilmore shows us through her characters that in the darkest places we can find our true selves and our strengths, and that even immortals can discover something new- in the world and in themselves- after hundreds of years. A message of hope for us all.

I defintely look forward to future books from Olesya Salnikova Gilmore and will be recommending The Witch and the Tsar to my friends who enjoy fantasy and feminist retellings!   

  

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review 

River of the Gods

River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, & Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile- Candice Millard

Doubleday

Release Date: May 17, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was  a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe – and extend their colonial empires.

Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton spoke twenty-nine languages, and was a decorated soldier. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton’s opposite in temperament and beliefs.
 
From the start the two men clashed. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke’s great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate,Speke shot himself.
 
Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan’s army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without Bombay and men like him, who led, carried, and protected the expedition, neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived.
 
In River of the Gods Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers.

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Candice Millard's (Hero of the Empire) newest book delves into the search for the source of the White Nile by British explorers Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke and their invaluable, extraordinary guide, Sidi Mubarak Bombay. Over multiple trips and many years the men traveled hundred of miles and encountered endless dangers together. With other expedition members, porters, guides, and guards they used (then) Zanzibar as their jumping off point to search for rumored lakes believed to be the source of the Nile River, often nearly starved, died of diseases, insects, and worse. On their second trip, with Burton too ill to continue, Speke and Bombay reached Lake Nyanza (which Speke renamed Lake Victoria), where Speke believed the Nile to originate. Speke didn't prove this to Burton's satisfaction and this doubt was one of the many instances that came between the two explorers to create a rivalry that would last the rest of their lives. 

River of the Gods shows mid-nineteenth century British exploration in all of its complexities: the positive, the negative, and every political, emotional and ethical shade in between. Millard does a good job of balancing Richard Burton and John Speke in the same way. Neither are complete heroes, neither total villains, in their own minds each are completely right in the actions they take and justify themselves along the way. In hindsight we know that the exploration of Africa by England of other countries isn't "just" about the need to fill in blanks on a map- it is leading to complete colonization and further exploitation of people and resources across the continent. We see the contrast of places like Zanzibar: a beautiful paradise of white sandy beaches and clear blue waters, while at the same time one of the worst slave auction sites that bothers even many slavers. Burton is generally someone who takes people as they are, interested in their customs, cultures and languages for what he can learn (whether or not he should) while at the same time being European enough to look down on Africans as a lesser race until the end of his life, while Speke looks down on everyone. What I appreciated about Millard here is that she put everyone's thoughts and actions in the context of their time and not in our modern day sensibilities. We know what we find racist and abhorrent today, so I'd rather know what was the cultural norm at the time and how it changed over the time frame Millard covers, which I thought she did well.   

It is toward the end that she reminds us that there was a third main explorer who deserves as many accolades as Burton and Speke: Sidi Mubarak Bombay. Enslaved as a child, he returned to Africa as an adult and was a trustworthy guide, interpreter, and friend to European explorers like Burton and Speke- and later helped the famous journalist Stanley find Dr. Livingston. Bombay helped shine a light on the native guides and interpreters that Europeans needed to succeed in being "the first" to do so many things, from finding the source of the Nile to climbing Mt. Everest, and that today historians must try to discover the little told stories of these men and women and celebrate them just as much as their more famous (or infamous) European counterparts.

Millard's brilliance for a truly riveting, engaging writing style is evident from page one in River of the Gods, drawing the reader in and refusing to let them go until the final page.  Every step in the exploration, every twist in the bitter verbal sparring between former friends, keeps you emotionally engaged and waiting tensely to see what will happen next.  It isn't just the adventures in Africa that read like adventure stories, it is the entire book.  

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Confidence Men

 

The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History- Margalit Fox

Random House

Release Date: June 1, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Imprisoned in a remote Turkish POW camp during World War I, having survived a two-month forced march and a terrifying shootout in the desert, two British officers, Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, join forces to bamboozle their iron-fisted captors. To stave off despair and boredom, Jones takes a handmade Ouija board and fakes elaborate séances for his fellow prisoners. Word gets around, and one day an Ottoman official approaches Jones with a query: Could Jones contact the spirit world to find a vast treasure rumored to be buried nearby? Jones, a trained lawyer, and Hill, a brilliant magician, use the Ouija board—and their keen understanding of the psychology of deception—to build a trap for their captors that will ultimately lead them to freedom. 

A gripping nonfiction thriller, The Confidence Men is the story of one of the only known con games played for a good cause—and of a profound but unlikely friendship. Had it not been for “the Great War,” Jones, the Oxford-educated son of a British lord, and Hill, a mechanic on an Australian sheep ranch, would never have met. But in pain, loneliness, hunger, and isolation, they formed a powerful emotional and intellectual alliance that saved both of their lives. 

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When we think of great POW escapes, we generally think of the daring tunnelers who escaped from German POW camps (The Escape Artists).  But in The Confidence Men, Margalit Fox introduces us to perhaps the most unusual POW escape in history.  In a remote POW camp in Turkey, British POWs tried a variety of methods to entertain themselves, including making a Ouija board to try and contact spirits. Harry Jones became an expert at running the board and tricked his fellow officers into believing they were talking to spirits. in séances. When the men running the camp heard Jones was a talented medium, what began as a way for Jones to pass the time and entertain his fellow prisoners became the basis of a long con that would eventually lead to freedom for himself and his partner Cedric Hill- via six months in a Turkish asylum.

Margalit Fox does an excellent job balancing the story of Jones and Hill with explanations on why the con worked- the psychological and sociological factors behind séances and spiritualism of the times, the psychology of cons both long and short, and the various factors that allow them to work.  I never felt like these aspects of the story were forced in, they flowed as a part of a behind-the-scenes aspect of the con Jones and Hill were performing. Using detailed research, including the men's autobiographies, Fox describes how Jones and Hill were able to trick the camp prisoners, commandants, and medical professionals at an asylum into believing first that the séances were real and second that the madness the two men suffered as a result of those séances was real.  

Confidence Men reads as a gripping thriller, a psychological drama that had real life or death consequences, You hear Jones and Hill's voices, feel the weight of the challenge they have set for themselves, the stress they are constantly under and the physical and mental effects when they reach the asylum. You cheer every victory and, even knowing from page one that they will eventually succeed in their plan, you worry along with them every step of the way for all of the things that could go wrong. 

An excellent read for World War I historians, military history aficionados, and people whose interest lies solely in the confidence game, Confidence Men is a book for the casual reader as well as the dedicated historian.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review