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jenpaul13's review
4.0
Running a successful con takes cunning and dedication. In Victoria Thompson's City of Lies, unforeseen circumstances derail the life of a female grifter.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Elizabeth is capable of taking on many roles and being whoever would best suit her current endeavor. When her latest mark discovers the con she and her brother were working, she's forced on the run to save her life. Disappearing into a crowd of suffragists marching on Washington, D.C. Elizabeth thought she would just bide her time until she can make her way to a safe rendezvous in New York City, but she soon comes to understand and care for the women in the suffragist movement. In entering into friendships with a few of the women, Elizabeth finds herself struggling to keep all her secrets from both them and Gabriel, the son of one of the women, as she becomes more entangled in their lives.
Providing an interesting combination of history, a quick-thinking, clever female protagonist managing a caper, and a hint of romance, the narrative is entertaining and engages with its historical context instead of using it merely as a backdrop. The story jumps quickly into action without allowing for much exposition to provide a decent establishment of the main characters; though it tries to develop the characters along the way, it was a struggle to understand their motivations from the outset as they could have used more thorough development.
Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Elizabeth is capable of taking on many roles and being whoever would best suit her current endeavor. When her latest mark discovers the con she and her brother were working, she's forced on the run to save her life. Disappearing into a crowd of suffragists marching on Washington, D.C. Elizabeth thought she would just bide her time until she can make her way to a safe rendezvous in New York City, but she soon comes to understand and care for the women in the suffragist movement. In entering into friendships with a few of the women, Elizabeth finds herself struggling to keep all her secrets from both them and Gabriel, the son of one of the women, as she becomes more entangled in their lives.
Providing an interesting combination of history, a quick-thinking, clever female protagonist managing a caper, and a hint of romance, the narrative is entertaining and engages with its historical context instead of using it merely as a backdrop. The story jumps quickly into action without allowing for much exposition to provide a decent establishment of the main characters; though it tries to develop the characters along the way, it was a struggle to understand their motivations from the outset as they could have used more thorough development.
Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
thewrittenadventure's review
3.0
The description that is given is a little misleading as is the title, I was expecting a woman that we see very much in the beginning of the novel. We see "Betty" swindling people for their money, using her charms to con a man, and then? She completely loses her agency when she goes into jail. I feel like it was a smart idea for her but at the same time, while she is in jail, she seems to forget about her sense of urgency. I feel like we lost her character while she was incarcerated and my interest in the novel dwindled there. I feel like this novel was supposed to be more interesting and I was very much led astray by the fact that it wasn't as interesting as the description stated. 3/5, the only saving grace is the good writing style.
I was given this book through the First to Read program in exchange for an honest opinion.
I was given this book through the First to Read program in exchange for an honest opinion.
desertlover's review
2.0
1.5 to 2 STARS...rounding up due to my love of the author.
I am a huge fan of Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries and couldn't wait to start a new series. Sadly, this book was a complete disappointment. I had anticipated a cozy/mystery aspect, and there was none. The heroine was one of the most unlikable characters I've encountered in recent memory. Needless to say, I will not continue with the series.
I am a huge fan of Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries and couldn't wait to start a new series. Sadly, this book was a complete disappointment. I had anticipated a cozy/mystery aspect, and there was none. The heroine was one of the most unlikable characters I've encountered in recent memory. Needless to say, I will not continue with the series.
kolson687's review
3.0
I have read almost all of Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight series which are quick cozy mysteries, this book is not really a mystery. I enjoyed the parts of the novel that are based on the true story of the suffragists who demonstrated in front of the White House during 1917. I knew very little about what these women endured. The romances in the novel seemed very far fetched. It will be interesting to see where the second book goes.
gmamartha's review
4.0
Change of pace with heroine being the one in the con business. 1917 women's suffragists.
jena_33's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
doritobabe's review against another edition
3.0
3/5 - but a different 3/5 than I gave [b:The Water Cure|39335566|The Water Cure|Sophie Mackintosh|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1521604165s/39335566.jpg|56832986], which I read right before this. I actually liked TWC better than City of Lies , but I am trying to avoid rating books *against* one another.
City of Lies is slotted in the "Historical Romance" section of my library, but I think would do well being in the general fiction, or "Historical" section. What I am trying to say is this book is light on the romance, heavy on the history. Thompson has covered a real historical event associated with the Suffrage movement (The Night of Terror), and this takes up probably a good 1/3 of the text.
City of Lies follows Elizabeth Miles as she flees from a murderous money-maker Mr. Thornton (forever ruining Mr. Thornton for me from [b:North and South|156538|North and South|Elizabeth Gaskell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1349633381s/156538.jpg|1016482] :(. ) She has it coming though; Elizabeth and her half-brother are con people who scam the wealthy out of thousands and thousands of dollars. During the con-gone-wrong, Elizabeth flees from Thornton and his thugs and hides in a group of petitioning suffragists, where she is eventually taken to jail in Virginia where she meets Anna and Mrs. Bates. Once freed, Elizabeth is taken in by her new friends and continues to live a life of lies, even lying to her beau, Gideon.
The writing was decent, the historical pieces interesting, but I really felt that the characters were inconsistent and the depiction of them completely flawed with who the author wanted them to be. For instance, Elizabeth is supposed to be a masterful con-woman, but her face gives EVERYTHING away, and she is VERY emotional --despite what the author is telling the reader-- and she ends up in many blunders. Additionally, Gideon's description is a bit HOT at first, really making him overly lustful and unattractive in my mind. He cools down a bit later, but...
Overall,I don't feel like the characters were as fleshed out as the third person omniscient perspective could have done.
My second issue (loss of second star) is that the cons that were played in this novel were underwhelming and Mr. Thornton was a bit too much of a caricature of a bad-guy.
Fun read. Definitely a beach read. Maybe if I want something light I will read the second in the series, but I doubt it.
City of Lies is slotted in the "Historical Romance" section of my library, but I think would do well being in the general fiction, or "Historical" section. What I am trying to say is this book is light on the romance, heavy on the history. Thompson has covered a real historical event associated with the Suffrage movement (The Night of Terror), and this takes up probably a good 1/3 of the text.
City of Lies follows Elizabeth Miles as she flees from a murderous money-maker Mr. Thornton (forever ruining Mr. Thornton for me from [b:North and South|156538|North and South|Elizabeth Gaskell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1349633381s/156538.jpg|1016482] :(. ) She has it coming though; Elizabeth and her half-brother are con people who scam the wealthy out of thousands and thousands of dollars. During the con-gone-wrong, Elizabeth flees from Thornton and his thugs and hides in a group of petitioning suffragists, where she is eventually taken to jail in Virginia where she meets Anna and Mrs. Bates. Once freed, Elizabeth is taken in by her new friends and continues to live a life of lies, even lying to her beau, Gideon.
The writing was decent, the historical pieces interesting, but I really felt that the characters were inconsistent and the depiction of them completely flawed with who the author wanted them to be. For instance, Elizabeth is supposed to be a masterful con-woman, but her face gives EVERYTHING away, and she is VERY emotional --despite what the author is telling the reader-- and she ends up in many blunders. Additionally, Gideon's description is a bit HOT at first, really making him overly lustful and unattractive in my mind. He cools down a bit later, but...
Overall,I don't feel like the characters were as fleshed out as the third person omniscient perspective could have done.
My second issue (loss of second star) is that the cons that were played in this novel were underwhelming and Mr. Thornton was a bit too much of a caricature of a bad-guy.
Fun read. Definitely a beach read. Maybe if I want something light I will read the second in the series, but I doubt it.
eve_prime's review against another edition
3.5
It's 1917, and Elizabeth Miles is part of a New York City gang of con artists. She and her partner are in Washington, D.C., trying to get money from one particularly unpleasant wannabe arms dealer, but things go wrong and his thugs are after her. She runs and runs and finds a group of suffragists rallying outside the White House, so she joins right in, figuring that at least if she's in jail she'll be safe from the bad guy. However, the women are more than she expect - kind and sympathetic - and she's never had people show her such friendship and respect before. She starts seeing the world and her choices a bit differently, but she'll still have to do something about this big problem hanging over her.
It was obvious from the beginning that Thompson is not a very high quality writer, unlike, say, Laurie R. King; I'd give her prose a B-minus and that might be generous. However, she's a solid storyteller, and her characters are vivid and realistic, and I quite enjoyed reading it. I especially appreciated thatshe had Elizabeth come clean to the young man who'd fallen in love with her, instead of conning him some more and saving her big reveal for a later book in the series. I also really enjoyed the solution she had to discovering that her young suffragist friend had fallen in love with her without knowing that lesbianism is a thing - she introduced the girl to her lesbian aunt who, with her partner, runs a weekly salon for creative gay folks.
It was obvious from the beginning that Thompson is not a very high quality writer, unlike, say, Laurie R. King; I'd give her prose a B-minus and that might be generous. However, she's a solid storyteller, and her characters are vivid and realistic, and I quite enjoyed reading it. I especially appreciated that