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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Children of the Siege (book 1) in Books

Feb 22, 2024  
CO
Children of the Siege (book 1)
Diney Costeloe | 2024
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
33 of 220
Book
Children of the Siege (Book1)
By Diney Costeloe
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Nineteenth-century Paris is in flames, houses ransacked, streets barricaded. Most people are fleeing the ravaged city, but the St Clair family have made a fateful decision – to return to Paris from their house in the country.

As the horrors of the Commune and the ensuring siege engulf the St Clairs, little Helene falls ill and becomes separated from the family. Lost and alone, she must fend for herself on the war-torn streets.

This was a pretty decent read. I love historical fiction, this is set in 19th century France when war is raging as well as civil unrest we follow a family dealing with life and the changes war has brought on them.
  
    Coalitions

    Coalitions

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    Tabletop Game

    Coalitions is based on the series of conflicts known as the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....

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Sassy Brit (97 KP) rated Bring Me Back in Books

Jun 5, 2019  
Bring Me Back
Bring Me Back
B.A. Paris | 2018 | Thriller
7
7.9 (14 Ratings)
Book Rating
Bring Me Back – hailed as “The gripping Sunday Times bestseller with a killer twist you won’t see coming” – is B.A. Paris’ third novel, but did it live up to its hype?

I have to admit as much as I tried to avoid reading other reviews of this book, I soon discovered that to my horror, many people were in shock that this was not as good as her previous two books, and that kind of put me off reading it at first. However, I finally got around to reading it only to discover it’s not that bad! Now I kick myself for not picking it up before. haha!

There is, however, quite a contrast to B.A. Paris’ previous two books. I think the shocking end was a little unbelievable, although it was deliciously evil of the author to spring on us!

I also thought the ending then went on to ‘wrap up’ with a confessional letter revealing all, which went on for far too long and made the earlier shock ending fall a little flat afterwards.

The premise of the story is that Finn and Layla went on holiday to France but only Finn came back. The boyfriend Finn was a suspect for a while, but since Layla just went missing and no body was found the case was eventually closed due to lack of evidence.

But if Layla went missing in France, then who is sending Finn emails and leaving little Russian dolls all over the place – seemingly from her – twelve years later?

Not my favourite book by B.A. Paris, but I am pleased I read it. The mystery of who is messing with Finn is definitely worth finding out!
  
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Cassie Osbourne (6 KP) rated An Officer and a Spy in Books

Nov 9, 2018  
An Officer and a Spy
An Officer and a Spy
Robert Harris | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Dreyfus Affair was one of the biggest miscarriages of justice that France (and possibly the world) has ever seen and this book presents the story through the eyes of Colonel Georges Picquart.

Towards the beginning, I was a little disappointed in the book. The writing style is brilliant and how faithful it is to actual events is great but in some ways, this is also its downfall. The conspiracy went on for years which makes the pacing very slow in parts and incredibly quick and exciting in others. All the characters in this book, even the tiny bit characters, were real people tied up in the affair; however, none of these characters has any real development until the very end and only for a short amount of time. As someone who favours character-driven story arcs rather than plot-driven ones, this was very frustrating for me to read as they all seemed to be very one dimensional (with the exception, perhaps, of Henry) and it doesn't really make any of them terribly likeable.

All that being said, I did very much enjoy the last two hundred or so pages where the pace really picked up and became exciting as everything seemed to come together rather than people sitting on files and information - but this is, of course, the nature of courtrooms and trials.

Although I probably won't read this book again, I am glad that I did as it introduced me to an interesting army conspiracy in France that I will definitely be doing more research in to.

Characters - 6/10
Atmosphere - 9/10
Writing Style - 8/10
Plot - 7/10 (score majorly affected by pacing)
Intrigue - 6.5/10 (as above)
Logic - 10/10 (real events so difficult to score lower)
Enjoyment - 6.5/10 (again pacing and lack of character development)

Score average - 7.8/10