This got buried in my metaphorical stacks when it first came out, but I rediscovered it recently when searching for reads set in Spain. Very much worth revisiting, even if Hemingway is still terrible—and McLain does such a good job portraying him as such!

What happens when two strong people who seek action and attention meet and fall in love? This is the basis of this historical fiction between war journalist Martha Gellhorn and adventurer Ernest Heminway. McLain does it again with her descriptive words on their courtship, marriage and life. I highly recommend this book and it is a good one for book clubs.

Paula McLain's Love and Ruin is a fascinating account of Ernest Hemingway's third wife, Martha Gellhorn. One of the reasons I liked this novel better than The Paris Wife had to do with Martha Gellhorn herself. She seemed a more fully realized person and character than first wife, Hadley Richardson. Gellhorn had a life apart from Hemingway which made her interesting in her own right. Her whole world was not Ernest Hemingway. She was a war correspondent in the Spanish Civil War and in various places in Europe and Asia in WWII. And she was also a writer who had ambitions for her own work. This was an interesting read. It made me want to read Gellhorn's work. 3.75 stars.

Reading this historical fiction novel about Hemingway and Martha was intriguing and a topic I knew very little about. I loved seeing the growth of Martha and all of the great things she accomplished.

This is the fictionalized story of Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway. She is a war correspondent, he a well known writer. She is a fiery, independent woman. He wants to be a hugely successful writer. She wants to be a successful war correspondent. This is her story and shows how independent she is and her drive to be everything she wants.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I have read other books by this author in the past and have enjoyed some and not really enjoyed others. I wasn't expecting to love this book but I honestly couldn't put it down. I thought it was astounding how the author took real historical figures and certain plot points of their actual lives and created flesh and blood characters that leapt off the pages. The reader can see the smoke from the bombings and hear the sounds of the shelling - it feels as if we're right alongside the characters in the novel living on the front lines of war. The book was a little wordier than I usually enjoy but in this case it only added to the reader's ability to experience exactly what Marty (and in certain cases Ernest) are feeling and seeing. Marty was an immensely interesting character - her bravery and determination to be right on the front lines reporting the war efforts was amazingly admirable and I loved reading about her. And while it was interesting to read about the development and ultimate deterioration of Marty and Ernest's relationship, it was really Marty's journey to find and fight for herself that I couldn't tear myself away from. I'd definitely recommend this one, especially to historical fiction fans! It was a great read.

I thought Love and Ruin by Paula McLain was a fantastic read! I was very invested in the characters and couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I highly recommend.

I've read Paula McLain's first book and enjoyed it, but something about this one fell flat with me. I'm also not 100% a Hemingway fan, so that might have attributed to it.

This is a gripping read with great historical sweep. Readers of Paula McLain's previous book, The Paris Wife, which tells the story of Hemingway's marriage to his first wife, Hadley Richardson, will find much to enjoy in Love and Ruin, which delves into his third marriage to the celebrated journalist and wartime correspondent, Martha Gellhorn. McLain brings this daring and complicated woman to life, and skillfully balances the riveting story of Gellhorn's relationship with Hemingway against the vivid settings of the Spanish Civil War, Madrid prior to the beginning of World War II, China, Finland, and Cuba. Gellhorn's spare and straightforward writing style was often compared to Hemingway's, and McLain's Gellhorn tells her story in a similar cadence to great effect. Italicized passages present Hemingway's take on their story (including his traumatic breakup with second wife Pauline Pfeiffer, who was introduced in The Paris Wife). I admire the way that McLain humanizes two larger-than-life figures of the twentieth century, and appreciate her note on her sources which shows the depth of her research while acknowledging that the true Martha Gellhorn will always be a mystery.

Thank you to Random House Publishing - Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing me early access to this title in exchange for an honest review.

Paula McLain has created a believable biography in Love and Ruin. Martha Gellhorn reaches off the page to pull the reader into her life with Ernest Hemingway. She is the love-struck beginning reporter who readily risks everything to become "one of the guys" war correspondents. Reading her story, I could look down the road and warn her about what was coming, but I knew she wouldn't listen. And I had to keep reading. All fictional biographies should be this personal and captivating.

This was my favorite of Paula McClain's books so far. I loved the way she characterized Martha Gellhorn, and I appreciated the different perspective of Hemingway than we got in The Paris Wife. Paula McClain is definitely an author I will pick up, no matter what she writes.

This book follows Martha's life through being a reporter in the Spanish Civil War, to falling in love with Hemingway, to making a choice on whether or not she can handle being overshadowed by Hemingway's success. I had a tough time at certain points with Martha's choices and even though I know it is based on facts, it just fell a little short for me.

This book was a great read. It often made me forget that this is a historical fiction and not a memoir! The relationship between martha and ernest is so real. You can empathize and or relate to Martha's pains. They both have such ambition in their writings. The author did their research! The only thing I didn't care for was how helpless our heroine was at times.

Well written. Sure didn't make me like Hemingway (again). I often wonder how they pay for their extravagant lifestyles. (More money than sense.)

I absolutely loved this book! The relationship between Martha and Ernest was so well written. You felt their love for each other and then Martha's pain in the relationship. It gives a great insight into the kind of man that Ernest was. It talks about the ambition of both Martha and Ernest in their writing. This was a book that I really enjoyed and did not want to end.

I found this novel about the romance between Martha Gelhorn and Ernest Hemingway, and their marriage, so thoroughly absorbing that it felt more like a memoir than fiction. This book is a follow-up to the Paris Wife, focusing on Hemingway's third wife, Martha Gelhorn. She was an incredibly interesting woman and this book did justice to her story. I highly recommend it.

While reading this book about Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway, I was totally engrossed in their lives. It was easy to forget that this book was fiction, as it seemed so real and authentic. It was obvious that the author had done a lot of research about them both. I had read The Paris Wife several years ago and loved that book, so I had great expectations about this book and was not disappointed. Martha was so well drawn that I felt like I was reading about a friend and the trials that she was going through. She was a great war correspondent, and although she was afraid, knew that this work was important. Her life with Ernest was at times charmed and felt like paradise for her, but other times was like a war where she had to choose her battles. I highly recommend this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book captured my attention right from the beginning and held it through to the end. Paula McLain brought journalist Martha Gellhorn to life in this historical fiction. She truly was a woman before her time as she sought to break into the male dominated field of journalism- especially a war time correspondent. Her relationship with Ernest Hemingway is explored and the impact it had on both of them both personally and professionally. The tension that resulted from being rivals in the field took a devastating toll on their marriage. Martha Gellhorn refused to give up on her dreams, until it became clear her dreams were incompatible with each other in those times and she was forced to choose between what she loved to do and the people she loved. Her experiences in war torn countries are riveting as well as the ups and downs of her relationships. I highly recommend this book. #amazon #loveandruin #netgalley #goodreads

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I don't usually enjoy historical fiction but I really like how author Paula McLain develops strong characters in her books.

McLain does it again, this books sweeps you into the world of Hemingway again through the story of Martha Gellhorn. Gellhorn was fiercely independent, ambitious and the greatest female war correspondent of the 20th century. Complex characters, beautifully developed with the backdrop of war. You learn so much about the Spanish civil war, Hemingway and Cuba, their home Finca. Don’t miss the beautifully written story.