Good storyline, history and landscape and the suspense/mystery was well written and engaging - overall I liked it. 

However, I had a little frustration with Inez as a MC - she started off well and I liked her spunk and determined attitude but after a bit it just morphed into immaturity and being extremely naive and gullible. It was annoying how she refused to consider logic or that maybe things aren’t as they seem. And the back and forth with Whit got a little old. 

Super thorough and comprehensive. It’s the first enneagram book I’ve read that incorporates the 3 instincts and how it shifts the numbers. I also appreciated the first person examples in each type for more real-life views. 

Well written and enjoyable as Abby Jimenez's books always are, but this one was sad to me, mostly for lack of communication and felt like the resolution was so short. I liked it, just not my favorite. 

That went downhill fast… so cringey - not a fan of the MMC. DNF’d at 12%. 

Super interesting, seeing an aspect of WW2 resistance from inside Germany. I’ve heard of the White Rose and Red Orchestra but not read much on it, nor about the assassination attempts on Hitler. I thought it paired together well the deportation and murder of the Jews, but also the property seizing, and the resistance efforts, and how some of that became a moral gray in Germany. 

The dual timeline was well done, and I really liked Audrey’s character. She had consistent grit and determination and carried her role well. 

I did not, however, care for Kate’s character. She constantly had a victim mentality and was super self-focused, taking offense at everything, giving up easily, or lying to protect herself without thought on what that would do to others. I get that she was dealing with grief and shame but that doesn’t cause you to have a consistent lapse in character like she did unless that lapse already existed. 

The only thing that didn’t make sense for me in the story, is Berlin in May 1945. That’s when the Red Army was knee deep in occupation there and you did not want to be a female of any age existing in Berlin. The book didn’t acknowledge any of that, or rather seemed to ignore it. 

All in all, it was well written and had a very interesting and unique perspective that I enjoyed. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine. 

Very cute and endearing. Lots of Family Man and 13 Going On 30 vibes. It took me a minute to get into it but I really enjoyed it once I did. I absolutely adored Sam and Felix. They made the book for me. 

Also, I will admit the ending made me panic just a bit at her choice, but thank God for epilogue lol. 

This series overall is for sure one of my favorite sets of books ever. I was excited to find out it was continuing after the first 3, however, I was so conflicted on this book after finishing it. 

The “new” parts of this book were fantastic. Same great storyline, characters, action, and struggles as the first 3. I loved the plot reveals, and while I had figured they were coming, rolled out in a great way and still offered a couple fun additions you didn’t know would show up. It also sounds like the series will continue, especially now that Camp has shown up as a new protege with a lot of skin in the game. 

The difficulty I had was in the “old” parts of the book. Especially in the first half, there were a ton of flashbacks to the prior 3 books. Not just summarized recaps (which I’m all for) - verbatim, word-for-word, paragraphs or chapter majority sections of previous content. I’d maybe estimate 25+% of this book was from the previous books. It just made it difficult to get into and had me skimming because I knew all this already, and just wanted to get to the story at hand, which was frustrating. 

I still love the series and that it sounds like it’s going to keep going which I’m all for. These are such a great mix of action, hope, great characters, and a little bit of romance, and I’ve enjoyed them a lot.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of these books. All opinions are mine. 

Great mixture of light romance and small town mystery. I thought it was endearing and while at times sad, it added depth to the story. Well written characters, I liked both Teri and Nate, and the peripheral characters were great. Loved Teri’s family. 

Methodical and unfolded well, though not super unpredictable. There were a lot of characters to keep track of though. Very sad about the landscape of foster care in Ireland. 

This was a great ending to the series and I absolutely loved the crossover with the Parish Orphans series. I thought it tied the two together well. 

The marriage of convenience trope was actually a bit different than most I’ve read - usually I find they start with the marriage and the relationship grows from there so this was a bit surprising that the marriage was at the end. The book leaned more heavily on both Stella’s and Teddy’s own stories seperate and then converging at times. Still loved it tho, it just lacked some of the romance content most of Ms Matthews’ books have.

I thought the frustration and mental state of a living with a disability in the time period (and in general) was really well done. It’s not a typical character perspective and enjoyed seeing it. Also I loved how forthright both MCs were with each other.