(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Paris, 1919—Even as the world's leaders gather to discuss how to proceed after the Great War, Margot Rosenthal's growing weary of the city.  Brought to France by her father—a German Oxford professor who's been granted diplomatic status in order to attend the historic conference—Margot is bored and lonely.  Still, the 20-year-old's not in any great hurry to return to her home country.  The moment she steps onto German soil, she'll have to face her fiancee, Stefan.  Although he's still recovering from serious battle wounds, Stefan wants to proceed with their marriage as soon as possible.  He's waited four years to make Margot his bride; he refuses to delay it any longer.  Margot knows it's cruel to prolong their separation, but she hardly knows Stefan anymore.  Does she love him?  She's not sure.  Can she marry him, even if it's only out of guilt and pity?  She knows she must.  Just not yet.

Torn between her feelings for Georg, her concern for her father and her anxiety over her impending marriage, Margot must decide what—and who—she really wants.  How much is she willing to sacrifice in order to chase her own dreams?  In days as tumultuous as these, is it smarter to play things safe?  Or is it the perfect time to take a few risks?  

The Ambassador's Daughter, a new historical novel by Pam Jenoff, is a fast-paced romantic thriller set in the tension-filled days that bookended the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.  Although it gets predictable in places, the novel's plot moves fast enough to keep the story interesting.  My biggest beef with the book is actually Margot.  While I felt some sympathy for her, I mostly thought she was too selfish to be truly likable.  Plus, she's a little slow on the uptake.  Those irritants notwithstanding, I enjoyed this atmospheric and suspenseful tale.   

(Readalikes:  The publisher compares The Ambassador's Daughter to Anna Karenina.  I haven't read the Tolstoy classic, so I don't know how apt that comparison is.  The story reminded me a little of other Jenoff novels, especially The Kommandant's Girl and The Diplomat's Wife) 

Grade:  B-

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG-13 for mild language (no F-bombs), violence and sexual innuendo/content

To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of The Ambassador's Daughter from the generous folks at Harlequin/MIRA via those at Book Trib, for whom this review was written.  Thank you!

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Thanks to the good people at Harlequin/MIRA, I have one copy of The Ambassador's Daughter to give away.  If you're interested in entering the drawing, please leave a comment on this post.  Be sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win.  The giveaway is open to readers with U.S. and Canadian addresses only.  I will choose a winner (well, Random.org will) on February 20th.  Good luck! 

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

At first glance, The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women looks like any other East Coast boarding school.  But that's just its cover.  No one would ever guess the school's real purpose—to train the next generation of super spies.  Gallagher Girls may look like ordinary teenagers, but they're not; they're the best, the brightest, the most elite spies-in-training on the planet.

The daughter of two legendary spies, 15-year-old Cammie Morgan can't wait to put the skills she's learning at Gallagher Academy into action.  She just never imagined she'd be practicing covert operations on the hot guy she meets in town one evening.  If only she could talk to Josh without sounding like an idiot, Cammie wouldn't have to hack into his computer or tap his phone to get to know him better.  But she can't.  She's tried.  And, she definitely can't "be herself" around him because everything about who she is is classified.  What's a love struck super spy to do?  Get her man by any means possible, of course!  Will her first mission be a roaring success or a miserable failure?  How about a little of both ...

Considering the book cover and title, it doesn't take a genius (or a super spy) to figure out that I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter is a whole lot of fun.  It's one of those light, funny stories that just makes a person smile.  The tone is upbeat, the story moves swiftly, and there are some plot curves to keep the reader guessing (a little).  Yeah, yeah, it's predictable, but who cares?  This is a delightful beginning to a popular series that I should have picked up a lot sooner than this.  Did I mention how totally fun it is?  

(Readalikes:  The other books in the Gallagher Girls series [Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy; Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover; Only the Good Spy Young; Out of Sight, Out of Time] and Heist Society by Ally Carter)

Grade:  B

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG for mild language and a (very) little innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

"We don't have to be monsters.  We still get to choose" (17).  

As much as I love dystopian novels, I've been a little reluctant to venture into the grittier side of the genre.  I'm just wimpy that way.  Because while I enjoy walking on the dark side once in awhile (fictionally speaking, of course), I can only handle so much bleakness in my reading.  Thus, I've mostly stuck with YA dystopians, leaving the adult versions to hardier readers.  I have fewer nightmares that way.  

I should have known Megan (of Leafing Through Life fame) would lead me astray.  Her reviews are just too darn convincing.  She tempted me with this intriguing recap of White Horse by Alex Adams and like the proverbial lamb, I was led right to the slaughter.  Believe me, I tried to resist—I even put the book down several times.  Not for long, though.  The story Adams tells is just too dang compelling.  I had to read it.  And fast.  So I did.  I liked it, too, even though I'm kind of ashamed to admit it.  Because as absorbing as the  novel is, it's also very raw and extremely graphic.  Disturbing in the extreme.  It's like a Stephen King novel, just with more succinct and clever prose.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's back up and talk plot:

White Horse revolves around Zoe Marshall, a 30-year-old widow, whose life has been pretty ordinary up until now.  Now being the end of the world.  A vicious plague has swept the planet, killing 90% of Earth's population.  Zoe's one of the few survivors, although she's feeling anything but lucky.  Without electricity, medical supplies, gasoline or any of the "necessities" she's used to having, she might as well be living in the Dark Ages.  What's left of the world's population has gone mad, willing to steal, maim, even murder in order to ensure their own survival.  It's all so hopeless that Zoe probably would have given up long ago if it wasn't for a man.  She's fallen hard for her psychiatrist, Nick Rose, and she refuses to die until she finds him.  But trekking through a bleak, broken Europe is not easy, nor is it safe.  Danger lurks around every corner, hiding in the shadows of this empty, changed world.  Zoe can't trust anyone because, diseased or not, they've all become monsters ... Clinging to her tattered faith in humanity, she soldiers on, wondering how long it will take before she, too, turns into something completely unrecognizable.  

Yeah, I know.  The book sounds interesting—it is interesting.  Too interesting.  And well-written to boot.  Adams knows how to manipulate language so that it's both raw and beautiful, violent and lovely.  She's creative, too, able to twist a plot in ways the reader never sees coming (the last line of the novel is brilliant, I tell you, absolutely brilliant).  And, while White Horse is relentlessly gory and graphic, it's also unyieldingly hopeful.  Overall, it's a complex, convincing novel that makes me eager for the next installment in the series (I know, I know!).  I can't emphasize this point enough, though:  White Horse is not for the feint of heart.  Proceed with caution because, once you start reading it, you will not be able to stop.  You've been warned.  

(Readalikes:  Although I haven't actually read the book, The Road by Cormac McCarthy comes to mind.  Also, The Passage by Justin Cronin.)

Grade:  B

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  R for strong language, violence, gore, sexual contact and all-around disturbing content

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of White Horse from Barnes & Noble with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.  

     

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

I've tried and tried to write a plot summary that does justice to Out of the Easy (available February 12, 2013), a new historical YA novel by Ruta Sepetys, but it's just not happening.  The jacket copy says it well enough:

It's 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan to get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in a police investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street.

Should she avoid Jesse, the mysterious motorcycle boy? Can she trust Patrick, her best friend at the bookstore? Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in a quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

What the blurb doesn't quite capture is the richness that just oozes out of this very compelling novel.  From its colorful setting to its memorable characters to its heartbreaking plot twists, it's impossible not to feel this one.  Deeply.  I empathized with Josie from the very first page of her story to the last, which made her plight both personal and affecting.  The tale is a gritty one, to be sure, but it's also engaging, engrossing and inspiring.  Bottom line:  I loved it.

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:  B+

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG-13 for language (no F-bombs), sexual content, and violence

To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of Out of the Easy from the generous folks at Penguin.  Thank you!