4.5/5 stars!

This prequel to Lilac Girls could be a stand alone if needed. You don’t need to read it before Lilac Girls to understand what happens, but I do recommend reading it after Lilac Girls as I did.

I couldn’t help by tear up with the interactions between Eliza and Henry and smile when I realized who Serge of Lilac Girls is. Carline certainly gets her spunk from her mom and grandmother.

I haven’t read a historical fiction that takes place in Russia, so I was hooked into reading Sofya and Verinka’s sections. I couldn’t help by hate Taras and even started to really dislike Verinka.

Martha certainly did it again!

I look forward to reading more historical fiction that take place during World War 1 and within Russia or Eastern Europe

Astonishing.

I first learned about Theranos in class during my senior year of college (I majored in human biology) and I couldn’t wait to learn more. Now, as someone who works in regulatory, I am even more disturbed by the actions of Elizabeth Holmes after reading Bad Blood.

John Carreyrou got doctors and former employees to go on the record, risking harassment and feuds with lawyers, in order to uncover Elizabeth. This is an example of wonderful reporting.

2.5/5

I was fully prepared to either DNF this and give it one star or trudge through and give it two stars. Luckily, part two was much better than part one and saved the book for me, resulting in a 2.5 star rating.

Part one was really hard to read for me as it seemed as if it was written by a high schooler. I think thus book was very hyped up due to Bobby Hall being a popular music artist.

I’ll be leaving this at a book exchange on vacation. Not worth packing it to take back home.