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beccaand's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, and Blood
Moderate: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping
bergamot_breeze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence
heapofhay's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery
mandi4886's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Vomit, Trafficking, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
unsuccessfulbookclub's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
heydebigale's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Romances where I learn history are top tier books! The book opens up the same year that *that incredibly racist popular book is set* this book is from a Black perspective & is SO good.
Elle is a spy for the union who has an impeccable memory. Malcolm is also a spy for Pinkerton but is posing as a Rebel soldier. The pie work together to uncover a confederate plot to break up the union blockade.
Elle is based off of a real Black spy named Mary Bowser who had an eidetic memory who was placed in the Jefferson Davis whitehouse who funneled information to the Union. Definitely read the authors note!
This book addresses many of the issues faced by enslaved and free Black people during the civil war. I appreciated the discussion on repatriation & Elle’s realization that America was her home.
Highly recommend this book!
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, and Violence
confusedmuse's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Death of parent
chels_ebooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Elle is undercover as an enslaved housekeeper in the Caffrey household. She's an enormously valuable spy because of her eidetic, or photographic, memory. Despite this, she's often overlooked by her Union cohort, which is enraging and frustrating, because the work she is doing is extremely dangerous.
When Malcom first approaches Elle, she doesn't realize he's also a spy, so she takes his Confederate uniform at face value. Malcolm doesn't realize how terrifying he is to her, which is a huge oversight on his part, as he attempts to converse with her.
This is the first of many lessons Malcom gets about being an ally. You have to be careful, and you have to sacrifice your pride. As he falls deeper and deeper in love with Elle, he begins to chafe at his disguise, particular because it casts him as her oppressor.
But Elle doesn't want his guilt. She has no use for it.
Malcolm loves Elle so much that it's clear that he'll put her above everything else. She wouldn't do the same for him (the cause his too important), and he needs to be okay with that.
Graphic: Racism
this_momma_is_booked's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
First off, I tend to have issues with insta-love in general, but I feel like it's even more unlikely considering the circumstances in which these characters find themselves. Elle and Malcolm knew each other for, like, two weeks before they're professing their love for each other and willing to undo all the hard work they've each done to defeat the Confederacy. Also, I felt like Malcolm was a caricature of performative white allyship. Throughout the book, he keeps saying that he wants to free the slaves but he doesn't give much thought to what freedom means for slaves, how their lives would be affected once freed. He even admits this to himself when talking with Elle, thinking that he hasn't really considered how their lives are impacted by slavery and who they don't have any resources to assist them when freed. He also says that he recognizes how selfish he is being by pursuing Elle but that he doesn't care. He even goes so far as saying that it's not Elle's job to educate him on the plight of Blacks in the U.S., but he allows it anyway.
The plot was also SO SLOW. Normally this doesn't bother me too much but when there is zero character development, it's really noticeable. I was 70% of the way through the book and nothing happened yet, which means the last little chunk of the book was just a free fall. The plot twists didn't really leave any emotional impact. Overall, it was just blah.
I will say that I love the time period selected for this historical romance. I think part of my issues is that this should have been marketed as historical fiction that happens to have a romance rather than a romance outright. There are plenty of people in my book club that loved the book, though, so check it out if it sounds like your cup of tea!
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
jmmd's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Rape