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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2336 KP) rated City of Scoundrels in Books

Nov 8, 2019

Saving a War Widow from Scoundrels

It’s the fall of 1918, and the draft age for World War I has been increased, upsetting Elizabeth Miles since her fiance, Gideon Bates, has been drafted. Gideon is focusing his last few weeks as a civilian on drafting wills for soldiers. Most of them are, but one of the exceptions is Tom Preston, part owner of Preston Shoes, which has made a fortune providing shoes to the soldiers. Tom wants a new will leaving his share of the family business to his new wife and their unborn child – a wife the rest of his family knows nothing about. When word comes back that Tom has died, this new will goes missing, and his family doesn’t want to acknowledge his widow. Elizabeth is quick to jump in, getting her family, all conmen, to come up with a scheme to get this war widow the money she should have inherited. But what complications might there be along the way?

Yes, there are complications. We wouldn’t have much of a novel without them. It would have been nice if they are started a little sooner, but that’s a minor complaint. I was hooked the entire time, and it only became harder to put the book down the further I got into it. History came alive, and I felt like I was part of what was happening in the New York City area during this time. It helps that the characters are extremely strong. Through them, I came to care about the plot and the history that was unfolding around us. Yes, I felt that welcomed into the world that I was actually part of what was happening on the page. If you aren’t taking these trips back in time, you need to do so today.

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Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated The City of Tears (The Burning Chambers #2) in Books

Jan 19, 2021

The City of Tears (The Burning Chambers #2)

Kate Mosse | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics

9.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

A must read!

What a book! An amazing sequel to The Burning Chambers. The detail in the description is exactly what I have come to expect from Kate Mosse’s books and she did not disappoint with this one. I loved seeing Piet and Minou’s family grow. There was the same amount of suspense about whether and how things would work out for them all, and that suspense carried on right until the last chapter and even the last sentences. I cannot wait for the third instalment of this series and to find out more about what happens to they Reydon family and whether they can in fact live their lives in peace or whether trouble will always find them! A must read for anyone who is interested in historical fiction as it touches on some major events in history.