Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

Title: Mistress of Rome (Empress of Rome #1)

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: Berkley 2010

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 470

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf

Where I Got It: Unread Shelf

First-century Rome: A ruthless emperor watches over all—and fixes his gaze on one young woman...

Thea is a slave girl from Judaea, purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia. Now she has infuriated her mistress by capturing the attention of Rome’s newest and most savage gladiator—and though his love brings Thea the first happiness of her life, their affair ends quickly when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.

Remaking herself as a singer for Rome’s aristocrats, Thea unwittingly attracts another admirer: the charismatic Emperor of Rome. But the passions of an all-powerful man come with a heavy price, and Thea finds herself fighting for both her soul and her sanity. Many have tried to destroy the Emperor: a vengeful gladiator, an upright senator, a tormented soldier, a Vestal Virgin. But in the end, the life of Domitian lies in the hands of one woman: the Emperor’s mistress.

I cannot tell you how many years this book has sat on my Unread Shelf. I know that I got it before we moved back from California, so at least 6 years. I’ve read many of Kate Quinn’s later books, but never this series. We picked it for our November book club selection and I finally dove in. Overall, I really enjoyed this look at Ancient Rome. The first 150 pages are fairly slow, but once we get past those, the story really gets going. We have to establish our world and our characters before we get to the meat of the story. Thea was a great outsider character left to navigate the treacherous and unjust world of Rome. I was rooting for her right from the beginning. Marcus was fascinating and I really wanted to see more of him that we got. Lepida was horrid and I really wished she has faced a more terrible end, but at least she did face her end. I liked the interplay of the storylines and the different levels of Roman society depicted. We got a little of everything, even a few real historical people. I just wish it had been about 100 pages shorter with some extra slow and long sections trimmed down. Still, I have the rest of the series and will put them in my TBR short pile.

Empress of Rome

• #1 Mistress of Rome

• #2 Daughters of Rome

• #3 Empress of the Seven Hills

• #4 Lady of the Eternal City

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

Title: The Briar Club

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: William Morrow 2024

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 432

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Lifetime - 60s; Library Love

Where I Got It: Library

Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; policeman’s daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears the house apart, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: who is the true enemy in their midst?

I snagged a copy of Kate Quinn’s newest book and immediately started reading it. I always enjoy her books that expand on women’s stories from history. In this one, Quinn takes a slightly different tactic. Instead of one woman or a few women, we get many different stories based in history but not exact women. I loved the collection of characters that we meet in each chapter. The murder mystery slowly unfolds as we learn about the backgrounds of a variety of people. I loved how Quinn weaves in a variety of topics: McCarthyism, racism, workplace misogyny, parenting, romantic relationships, growing up, etc. We get a rounded picture of life in the United States in the early 1950s. I didn’t emotionally connect with the characters, but I really enjoyed following them along in life.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

Title: The Phoenix Crown

Author: Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

Publisher: William Morrow 2024

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 384

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Decades - 1900s-1910s

San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace.

His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined . . . until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice.

One of our choices for book club discussion at the retreat. Kate Quinn is always a crowd-pleaser and I was hoping this new one would fit the group. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Right away we meet three women attempting to navigate life in early 1900s San Francisco. I loved Alice and was intrigued by Suling. Gemma was my least favorite of the women. Despite being “worldly,” I felt that she was the most naive of the women. I wanted to spend more time with Alice and her studies. And I wanted to see the city through Suling’s eyes even more than we get. The big earthquake is coming (they of course do not know) and there is a sense of dread in every chapter. More so than Quinn’s other books, this one has a suspense feel to it. I wasn’t opposed, but it was a different tone. Chang’s voice comes mainly through Suling and her discussions of Chinese Americans and Chinatown. I would have love more information about the Phoenix Crown itself and more discussions about the theft of artifacts. Alas, those sections fall a little short. I throughly enjoyed my reading time, but this one doesn’t quite reach the heights of The Alice Network.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Signal Moon by Kate Quinn

Title: Signal Moon

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: Amazon 2022

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Pages: 57

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER

Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s her job to intercept enemy naval communications and send them to Bletchley Park for decryption.

One night, she picks up a transmission that isn’t code at all—it’s a cry for help.

An American ship is taking heavy fire in the North Atlantic—but no one else has reported an attack, and the information relayed by the young US officer, Matt Jackson, seems all wrong. The contact that Lily has made on the other end of the radio channel says it’s…2023.

Across an eighty-year gap, Lily and Matt must find a way to help each other: Matt to convince her that the war she’s fighting can still be won, and Lily to help him stave off the war to come. As their connection grows stronger, they both know there’s no telling when time will run out on their inexplicable link.

Do not let the short length fool you. Kate Quinn packs this short story with so much plot and characterization that you would swear that it had to be longer. But at the same time, the prose does not lag. I zipped through this story and then wished that I could turn around and read it again for the first time. With a very quick but concise setup, we are thrown into the mystery of the transmission as Lily tries to understand what she just heard. From there, we switch to Matt and piece the two storylines together. I was absolutely tearing up by end of the story. There’s a reason that Quinn is one my favorite writers.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

Title: The Rose Code

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: William Morrow 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 624

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart. 

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter--the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger--and their true enemy--closer...

Another great WWII historical fiction novel based on historical fact from Kate Quinn. I really loved her previous two (The Alice Network and The Huntress) and this new one was no exception. Instead of being in physical danger, the women of Bletchley Park are in psychological danger as they navigate the secrets they must keep, doing their job, and having a personal life. I loved learning even more about BP (I had a fair bit of knowledge before reading) and diving in the lives of these three women. Osla was never my favorite, but I was intrigued by her life. Beth was an enigma throughout, but I felt a kinship with her at many times along her journey. Man was most definitely my favorite. She was such a complicated and interesting character. I was in tears when tragedy befell her. I was rooting for her all the way through the novel. A well-executed historical fiction was just what I needed. If you read, make sure to read the author’s note at the end that details The Who and what were real. Very interesting.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

Title: The Huntress

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: William Morrow 2019

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 560

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Popsugar - Astrology Term; Women Authors; Historical Fiction

Bold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans. When she is stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, and only Nina’s bravery and cunning will keep her alive.

Transformed by the horrors he witnessed from Omaha Beach to the Nuremberg Trials, British war correspondent Ian Graham has become a Nazi hunter. Yet one target eludes him: a vicious predator known as the Huntress. To find her, the fierce, disciplined investigator joins forces with the only witness to escape the Huntress alive: the brazen, cocksure Nina. But a shared secret could derail their mission unless Ian and Nina force themselves to confront it.

Growing up in post-war Boston, seventeen-year-old Jordan McBride is determined to become a photographer. When her long-widowed father unexpectedly comes homes with a new fiancée, Jordan is thrilled. But there is something disconcerting about the soft-spoken German widow. Certain that danger is lurking, Jordan begins to delve into her new stepmother’s past—only to discover that there are mysteries buried deep in her family . . . secrets that may threaten all Jordan holds dear.

To be honest, this one is not as good as The Alice Network. But if I had read it before The Alice Network or at least without reading the other, I would have really enjoyed this book. As it is, I thought the latest from Kate Quinn was good and a compelling story. It just doesn’t have the big gut punches of her previous work. The terror over confronting the Huntress just wasn’t there. I think most people figured out the identity of the Huntress within the first few pages. It’s not a big secret, which makes the confrontation lackluster. We just don’t get the big emotional upheaval. And I wasn’t a huge fan of the romances featured. They just didn’t feel that real. I did love the storyline featuring the Night Witches and Nina is a great character.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

Title: The Alice Network

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: William Morrow 2017

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 560

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Popsguar - Recommended by a Celebrity; Alphabet Soup - Q; Historical Fiction

1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth...no matter where it leads.

After hearing so many friends yell at me for not reading this book, I picked it up and tore through the pages in just a few days. This is a gripping novel of spies in WWI and WWII. I was along for every twist and turn along the journey. I was worried that Charlotte’s story was going to be boring compared with Eve’s. But thankfully, Charlotte grew a lot in these 500 pages and become her own woman with a connection to Eve’s history. At times it was hard to read about the awful things down to some of the characters, but realize that these kinds of atrocities happened all the time during the wars (and even now, I know). Getting to the last page, I was satisfied with the ending of the story, but lingered, not wanting to leave the characters. Definite must read! Make sure to read the author’s note to find out what was historically accurate and what was embellished or made up for the book.

Next up on the TBR pile: