I enjoyed the book. Found it a compelling civil war read. Would like more from this author, and will look forward to seeing the next book. The civil war is one of my favorite periods to read about.

This story takes place during the Civil War about Anna who was raised in New York but her father married her off to a Southerner over a business deal. Her husband treated her terribly. When the war is on she becomes as spy for the North. The story follows those who come into her life and that of her daughter who also becomes a spy. The ups and downs of relationships. The trickiness of trying to get word out to the North. The story goes through much of the war. Shows how life can be very unfair sometimes. I found it interesting how Anna and her daughter, Kady's relationship changed as they worked together from when Kady was growning up. Gives a different look at the war I thought too.

I initially picked up this book because it's set during the American Civil War - a period I'm interested in learning more about. From its blurb I learnt that it centred around a spy ring, which only furthered my interest.

This book is quite hard to compare to any historical fiction I've read recently - and I say this as a good thing, because I found it refreshingly unique. Kat Michels crafted a twisty plot full of suspense, and some quite shocking moments. I could never predict which way the story would go next, and the unpredictability kept me eagerly moving through each chapter.

Probably my favourite aspect of this novel was the complexity of the characters. Multiple perspectives were followed at various points, and every single one of those characters were morally grey. My opinion of each character leapt around repeatedly as Kat Michels explored the lengths people will go to in times of war.

Not knowing much about the period in question, I can't comment too much on historical accuracy - but it did seem as though a lot of research had gone into this novel. I certainly felt the image of the war created by Kat Michels was believable, and multiple angles were presented, offering depth to the story. The author certainly didn't back away from describing some of the more disturbing aspects of war - it's worth noting that at points the book is rather graphic.

While I did really enjoy the story, what made this book a 4* rather than a 5* read was the writing. This was Kat Michels' debut adult novel, and I felt that it could have done with undergoing another round of edits in order to make the writing stand out. For me there were often too many chunks of very long paragraphs which halted momentum previously gained. I also feel there could have been more made of the dramatic twists, in order to have them really pack a punch.

All in all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable and intriguing debut, and I'll be looking out with interest to see what Kat Michels writes next.

This book is set during the civil war in the USA between North and South. Anna is being abused by her husband. She is recruited as a Union spy. Anna does her best to keep this a secret. I enjoyed reading this book. The pacing was good. I like the characters. At first I didn't like Kady, she acted so spoiled. But later on we got to know her better and she became my favorite character. For me the ending of the book was a let down, which is why I only gave it 3 stars.

I love the story about spies at time of the Civil War. Very entertaining read with great female characters!

I had to stop reading this book. Although interesting, it was filled with too many scenes of adultery and I was not able to process the killing of the spy’s family in or around chapter 4. I am sure that all of these things happened in the historical context of the civil war but when they were strung together so closely within the first four chapters the value of the plot possibilities took backseat and I started to wonder if I was reading a cheap erotic novel. I can tolerate these stories in passing but the pages where these take place seemed to irratate me and ultimately made me not want to finish this novel. I think the gist of plight of the characters could have served well and not the lengthy descriptions of private bedroom times or mass murders. I am disappointed as the premise had great potential.