As always, Ms White writes a sweet and hopeful love story full of vulnerability, empathy, mystery and humor, while bringing out biblical truths in a personal way in the midst of it. Nature of a Lady was no less, along with added mystery and a search for forgotten pirate treasure. Nice light, but thoughtful story.

I like the premise of the story - a post-WW2 spy and art hunt as Austria tries to rebuild itself - but it struggled to keep my attention and I found myself continually reading-reading sections trying to follow it, and just kept losing interest.

There were so many sections of either thoughts or reminiscing of the characters or location and art descriptions that got so wordy and sort of rambled, I lost often the intent of what was going on. It made the story drag quite a bit. At the same time, oddly where detail was needed, it was often left out when it came to what was actually happening in the story - they’d go from sitting to all the sudden walking; thinking about how to get in a shop stealthily to all the sudden being inside; hearing a shot and staggering but no explanation of whether he was actually shot or where he was shot until pages later; etc. Just a constant vagueness. I kept rereading thinking I had missed something that I didn’t, which made me lose even more interest. It was just odd.

All in all a much slower book than I anticipated for a spy-focused novel and so much rereading for bypassed detail it was frustrating.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are mine.

Beautifully and heartbreakingly told, the story of Ana and Ester had me captivated and it was hard to put the book down. The writing was fantastic, you couldn’t help but feel along with them, and war mentally and emotionally at all they faced. It was descriptive and had extraordinary depth in the setting, characters, and unfolding thought process of being under the conditions that they endured. It gave such a realistic understanding of how difficult hope was, but how necessary.

It is unfathomable to me that 3000 babies were delivered by the real midwife in Auschwitz-Birkenau and just as unfathomable how few of those mothers got to actually keep their babies. The concept of tattooing the babies to match their mothers was absolutely brilliant and yet horrific that it was needed.

I’ve read about the Lebensborn program but did not know it also happened at the camps. I can’t imagine as a mother, how you deal with wanting your baby to survive but warring with knowing them staying is essentially a death sentence, while also having them ripped away from you to live with a Nazi and to never see again is a death sentence in its own right.

Really loved this one and will be reading more from the author.

A lot of good information. I had heard Dr. Mindy on a DOAC podcast and was fascinated with the idea of fasting to assist your body, and I will agree that I feel a lot better when I do intermittent fasting vs not. While I knew of it in theory, I didn't know the practicality or breakdown of different types of fasting and what time frames cause what benefits, combined with hormonal changes.

I did wish she touched on surgical-menopause and what that does or whether it alters any of the guidance, but it was good information regardless. Some of the book also felt a little sales-pitchy with what brand of products to use. But eat the fish, leave the bones.

One of those books that has you wondering, what would I do? Such an interesting concept - every person finding out how long you had left to live (unless you refused to look) and how the rest of the world changes and responds.

I think it was a pretty realistic portrayal of how quickly people would categorize and discrimination would pop up - the ugly part of human nature’s desire to control and a portion of the population capitalizing on the opportunity to dominate. But maybe also the beautiful parts of humanity that desires to come together for each other when confronted with sorrow and grief.

While there was an overall theme that was heavy and sad, I enjoyed a very different look at the what ifs, figuring out to navigate something you don’t have control over, and the resulting caring community and resilience that was a result of bad news. That life can’t be compartmentalize by time, but by what you do with what you’ve been given in that time.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Not a fan of this one. The whole thing felt monotone and miserable and I argued with myself multiple times to keep going and finish it rather than shelve it.

There were aspects of Nancy Mitford’s life that were really interesting that could have taken the focus like her work spying with the French or taking care of the refugees. But the entire book was about her awful marriage and equally awful family, with a small bit of her love life at the end. And it went from one event to the next fluidly without much emotion or feeling, but with *loads* of inconsequential detail that just dragged on and in for me. I don’t understand why the book kept saying she stayed in her marriage because Peter wouldn’t give her a divorce when post 1937 England, women themselves could file in cases for infidelity.

There was a dual timeline with Lucy but her part was so short and stilted it felt more like an afterthought than really part of the story.

After awhile it just felt miserable with how much the book revolves around Nancy’s loveless marriage and her refusal to end it no matter how much Peter cheated on her, or how completely unhappy that made her.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved the premise and how the story unfolded. While it was fairly predictable, I liked the candor and how Justin wasn’t wholly aloof and harsh like sometimes the men in the marriage-of-convenience stories are. I’m liking Mimi Matthews’ books more and more with each I read.

Also fun seeing the crossover of some of the characters in the newer series of Belles of London. Love that tie in.

Very sweet story and well written. I really enjoyed the humor between the characters as well.

So good. The story was both inspiring and at times devastating - both Grace’s and Roman’s pasts imbedding hurt and shame into their lives, and the mistakes they made because of that, but how they found redemption and restoration out of it. It was identifiable and relatable, and very well done.

I really loved the friendships they both had as well supporting each of them thru both good and bad, and how it wasn’t a simple-fix ending that would have contradicted their history and wounds - or even a clean-slate one that also would have contradicted - but one made out of life-change, still in character and personality.