First Line:

The humid Atlanta air settled around Mari like a sticky sweatshirt as she walked briskly down the sidewalk past the science building heading towards the baseball field.

spies never quit by m. taylor christensen

It has been a long time since I have read a YA cozy mystery. I have gotten caught up in other genres, and these books got pushed to the back burner. That all came to a stop last month when I decided that I would read Spies Never Quit. I am glad that I did because I enjoyed this book a ton!

Spies Never Quit has a face-paced plotline. The book starts with a bang and doesn’t slow down. There was a tiny bit of lag in the plotline in the middle of the book (when Mari was undercover). It didn’t affect the plotline, and the author was able to keep the plotline zipping along.

I thought Mari was a powerful main character. She adapted quickly to everything that the bad guys threw her way. She was also willing to do whatever it took to free her mother from the bad guys. What I liked the most was that the author humanized her. She wasn’t an instant spy, far from it. She was an average college girl who got sucked into that life by her mother’s kidnapping.

What I liked the most about this book was the girl power vibe. I liked that the girls (Mari and the Banana Girls) didn’t need a man to figure out how to rescue her mother. It made the book so much more fun to read.

Spies Never Quit is a clean read. While there is no sex or sexual situations in the book, there are some very mild kissing scenes—nothing graphic and, honestly, sweet.

I wish the author had spent more time on Mari’s mother’s technology (the swarming nanobots). I was very interested in that but could only glean bits and pieces of what she did from conversations between the bad guys and from what Mari/the Banana Girls knew.

I liked that there were strong parallels to Charlies’ Angels, James Bond, and Batman. What I would give to have the cars that those girls did!!!

The end of Spies Never Quit was action-packed. I loved how the storylines were resolved. I am hoping that there will be a book two because I would love to read it!!

I would recommend Spies Never Quit to anyone over the age of 16. There is mild violence, mild language, and some very mild kissing.

Berlin had never been so quiet. Cars and trucks lay in useless pieces. Even bicycles were scarce.

the living and the lost by ellen feldman

I have read a lot of books about WWII and the Holocaust. Reading on that particular time in history is an obsession of mine. But, I have read very few books that take place after WWII ends. And I have read zero books that take place in Germany during that time. So, when I read the blurb for The Living and the Lost, I knew that I had to read it.

The Living and the Lost had a medium-paced storyline. There were times where the storyline dragged but overall, the pacing fit the book. There was also a tiny bit of lag in the middle of the book, but that was quickly resolved.

I found it very hard to connect to Millie in the first half of the book. She was so angry and so full of self-hatred that it transferred over to me. I did pity her, and I understood that anyone running from that sort of traumatic situation would have issues. I connected to her after she started dating Major Sutton and started working through her problems. I wish that the connection had come sooner.

I was fascinated with David and how he joined the intelligence community. His portions of the book were gritty, realistic, and in line with what I have read about that type of training. I do wish that the author had written more about what David did because it interested me.

There is a lot of anger in The Living and the Lost. A lot of anger and did overwhelm me during specific chapters. There is also a lot of sadness. There were scenes where I cried (like when Elke was forced to go back with her mother). So, be warned, you will need a lot of tissues.

There is a bit of romance in The Living and the Lost. I wasn’t sure how Millie and Harry’s romance would fit into the book, but the author did a great job weaving it into Millie’s story.

The end of The Living and the Lost was a little anticlimactic. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what was written….lol.

I would recommend The Living and the Lost to anyone over the age of 16. There is sex (nothing graphic), mild language, and violence.

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Date of Publication: August 10th, 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | World Cat

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received: Publisher

Trigger Warnings:

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s 1927 when Olive McCormick moves from Minneapolis to New York City determined to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Extremely talented as a singer and dancer, it takes every bit of perseverance to finally make it on stage. And once she does, all the glamour and excitement is everything she imagined and more–even worth all the sacrifices she has had to make along the way.

Then she meets Archie Carmichael. Handsome, wealthy–the only man she’s ever met who seems to accept her modern ways–her independent nature and passion for success. But once she accepts his proposal of marriage he starts to change his tune, and Olive must decide if she is willing to reveal a devastating secret and sacrifice the life she loves for the man she loves.

First Line:

I saw the marquee first, jutting out onto West Forty-second Street with bright white lights – Ziegfield Follies Of 1927 – all full of light bulbs and ready to illuminate the street when the sun began to fade.

The Show Girl by Nicola Harrison

Review:

The Show Girl captured my attention from page one. I had expected the author to jump right into Olive’s story as a Ziegfeld Girl. But, instead, it started with something painful to read. I know that what happened to Olive and the consequences were not uncommon for that era, but still. My heart broke for her.

I loved how the author gave a peek into what being a Ziegfeld Girl must have been like. Florenz Ziegfeld had insane requirements for his girls. They had to be a specific body shape, have particular hair color, certain shoe size, and keep a certain weight. Plus, they had to be somewhat talented. I know this; I would have never been a Ziegfeld Girl….lol.

Olive was a relatable character, which surprised me. For that era, she was headstrong and knew what she wanted. Olive wanted to be a performer with Ziegfeld Follies. But even when she was performing with Ziegfeld Follies, she still did things her way. Olive didn’t conform to Florenz’s standard of beauty. Instead, at one point, she became a flapper. She didn’t bow down to the overt sexism of that time. An example of that was her relationship with her father. He expected Olive to conform to what society dictated at the time and was enraged when she didn’t.

Olive’s relationship with Archie was the only thing I didn’t care for in the book. It started with him lying to her about his relationship status and then morphed from there. I didn’t doubt for a minute that Olive loved him, but I did have my doubts about Archie. Plus, Olive’s secret was always there, and it got worse when they got engaged.

The Show Girl takes place a couple of years before the stock market crash of 1929. The author did a fantastic job of showing how lavishly the well-to-do people lived. But the author also weaved in whispers of the impending crash—a line here, a paragraph there. Even though I knew it happened, it was still a shock for me to read. People lost everything in that crash.

The Show Girl also took place during the Prohibition Era. The author did a fantastic job of showcasing speakeasies, the horrors of bathtub gin (look it up, people died), and the raids the Federal agents did. There is one scene where a raid happens during one of the shows. Agents raided the show. They dumped out/smashed hundreds of bottles of wine/champagne and then left.

The last half of The Show Girl didn’t live up to the first half. But that was a good thing. The first half of the book had almost a frantic pace to it, with Olive’s lifestyle. The second half was a lot slower and more reflective. Olive had time to reflect on the things she did (and didn’t do). She also spiraled. That was well written, and I liked how the author brought Olive out of that spiral.

There was a big twist that took me by surprise. I was not expecting what was revealed. I didn’t blame Olive for reacting the way that she did. Because if I had found that out, I would have had the same reaction. But, I also liked how she overcame her shock and wanted to help.

The end of The Show Girl was almost fairytale-like. While I liked it, I didn’t believe it. Olive got everything she wanted and then got to walk away. It was almost too good to be true.

The Show Girl was a fast-paced, exciting look into what life was like in late 1920. The storyline was good, and the writing was fantastic.

I would recommend The Show Girl to anyone over the age of 21. There is one scene of rape, one scene of a traumatic birth, drinking, smoking, and some mild language.