Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have only managed to make it halfway through so I'd rather stop here and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher, and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

I really enjoyed reading his book. It's set in Victorian America at about the same time as the greatest showman, so it was fun to read about a couple of references to the same era. I was a bit unsure about the book when reading the first chapter, but I'm really glad I carried on reading, as it drew me in, and I really couldn't wait to finish it off - I kept sneaking off for some quiet time so I could keep reading. Definitely recommended.

This book wasn't what I expected but I did enjoy it.

I thought it would be a sweet historical romance/women's fiction book. Instead, it's a historical thriller/mystery. I found myself intensely disliking Cora Lee and I didn't find her terribly sympathetic. But, Kang is a gifted writer and I found myself wondering about the ending, which did surprise me.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was not one of my favorites. The cover of the book first caught my eye, but I just never got into the story. I really thought I would enjoy it. Cora has two hearts, but knows she needs to keep it a secret due to being a medical mystery. She seeks out others with abnormalities and sells their bodies after they die to the medical schools and freak shows. So pretty much she is a grave robber. Eventually a $500 reward is posted for anyone who can find the girl with two hearts.

The book would have been two stars but from the moment Cora learned the truth about Leah, I really enjoyed the book. Unfortunately this was pretty much towards the end. The biggest question is how did so many people not realize Jacob and Cora were the same person!!!???? Flint was able to figure it out and he just met Cora/Jacob. I never suspected who was behind the killing of all the people on Cora's list. That did take me by surprise, along with Leah's part in everything.

I do recommend the book. It just wasn't the right fit for me and someone else might love it. I didn't hate the book but it also wasn't one I couldn't put down and had to keep reading.

Thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and the author, Lydia Kang, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.

Cora Lee is one of the top resurrectionists in New York. Anatomists are desperate for cadavers and are willing to pay a pretty penny for the newly dead. Living a double life, she scouts her latest specimens as Cora by day and digs their bodies up by night as her identical twin brother, Jacob. There’s more to her profitable job than just money. Cora has a secret: she was born with two hearts. She wants to make sure that her finger is on the latest gossip among the resurrectionists so that she knows when they’re looking for her. Sadly, that time has come. Someone is murdering people with medical anomalies and Cora’s now a wanted woman.

This is my second book from Lydia Kang and she is absolutely brilliant. One of the things that I liked about “A Beautiful Poison” is that it’s well researched, and “The Impossible Girl” is no different. It’s clear that Kang did a lot of research into the era and the history of resurrectionists, or grave robbers, early on. It really set the tone and helped me feel like I was right beside Cora as the story unfolded. There’s even an extra bit of info about the era and the inspiration behind the story at the end of the book, which I love.

The story and its characters are extremely compelling, which left me wishing that I could binge it every time I had to put the book down. Cora is such a complex character who is fun to follow. Born with two hearts, she was raised as Jacob until her caretakers decided it was time for her family to believe he died. Once they made the move, she took on a new life as a resurrectionist until she made enough money to retire, move, and start over. Living a double life, Cora is able to move through society as a man and a woman. I thought it was interesting that Cora preferred to live as Jacob, but I understood her reasons. As a woman, she’s expected to be light of heart, not have complex interests, and eventually settle down. As a man, she can express herself however she wants, is free to have complex interests, and freely move through town until there’s a price on her head. In the mid-1800s, I don’t blame her for preferring to move among society as Jacob.

There are many fascinating characters throughout the story. Dr. Blackwell is a character that I wish we saw more of because she’s a doctor in this era, which is frowned upon. I love how her relationship with Cora unfolds and how she eventually became immersed in her predicament. Cora’s cousin, Suzette Cutter, surprised me once we got to know her. Cora’s team of resurrectionists are a fun bunch who truly care for her as much as she cares for them. Then there’s Cora’s self-made family, Charlotte, Leah, and Alexander, who seemingly love her both too much and not enough in their own ways. There isn’t a single character that doesn’t leave an impression.

I cannot praise this book enough. It has fascinating characters, a compelling mystery, and an overall wonderful story that has left me a big fan. I’m a mystery buff and I love the way that Kang writes her mysteries. She stunned me with a major reveal yet again! I called some things and figured out some plot elements before they were fully revealed, but I definitely did not see the big twist coming. One of my favorite things to do is reread a story that left me blindsided, so I’m excited to reread this in the future.

I really wanted to like this book because of the blurb, but it wasn't for me. Nothing was wrong with it - the storyline is intriguing, the characters well drawn and engaging, but I had a difficult time following all the points of view, esp. when some of the characters only appeared once.

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC.

I'm always on the lookout for some macabre historical fiction and when offered the chance to review this book, my expectations reached the gothic spires.
I wasn't disappointed.

Come, let's enter the morbid world of graverobbers.

It's 1850 and the New York resurrectionists are digging up freshly buried bodies to sell to the medical schools. The ones with the most fascinating anomalies fetch the best price, so there's quite an industry in following the sick and departed. Doctors are lending a helping hand. There is also a list with parts most wanted by the anatomical museum.
The robbers have their work cut out for them.

Our main character, Cora, carries a secret that might destroy her. In order to survive she leads a double life as Jacob, resurrectionist. She's a fierce lady by day and a tough guy on the nightly digs.
That is, until rumors start spreading about a girl with two hearts, with a bounty of $500 quickly becoming the most sought after person in town.
Cora has to get hold of her childhood doctor's diaries, to stop the rumors and prevent her life from being ripped apart. The race is on.
The story continues at great pace with quite a few surprises keeping the excitement going. Eventually there's a well crafted twist leading up to a wonderful finale.

The book is filled with indepth characters, the good, the bad and the ugly. Vivid writing of lush mansions, dirty alleyways and earthy graveyards throughout.
I thorougly enjoyed the chapters where the dead have their say. The anomalies are just too delicious and, despite their sad tidings, had me laugh out loud.

The Impossible Girl is an amazing read, fast paced and entertaining from the start. Highly recommended.

The Impossible Girl follows Cora, a girl born with two hearts, as she navigates her life with a target on her back. As a resurrectionist (grave robber!), she has one foot in the door with the medical community, but must always be looking over her shoulder, living cautiously, as her very existence (deemed impossible by her two hearts) is in danger. Cora is valuable alive, but she might be more valuable dead.

This novel is a wonderful balance of plot and character development; Kang's characters are flawed, but not overly so, and the plot was paced perfectly. I was so completely engrossed in this novel while I read it that I often found myself reacting verbally to the events and the characters choices. Cora is a strong woman, and progressive for this time period, claiming her body is her own and she can and will do with it what SHE chooses to do. It's a message women can relate to even now, though doubtful are at risk of being killed because of a medical anomaly, and will have readers cheering on Cora and her independent spirit. She's surrounded by a cast of characters who are likable and hateful in their own respects. These characters will not only come off the page and surprise you, but they will stay with you after you have turned the final page of this book.

Though many people may pick this book up purely for the beautiful cover, they will find themselves completely drawn in by the story Kang tells. This novel fits the description of "genre bending" - historical fiction, mystery, thriller, and even science fiction fans will enjoy this novel because it has a little bit of all of those elements. I've never read anything that had the genre-diversity that this novel did.

The Impossible Girl was a unique mystery novel. I had not read much before about resurrectionists (graverobbers). It was a fascinating subject in itself, before the added novelty of a female resurrectionist and her own medical anomaly. Cora and her band of merry morbid robbers were definitely a new kind of protagonist. She was strong enough for a man but made to be a woman. The novel's mystery is based on the seemingly widespread practice of robbing graves to steal bodies with unique medical diagnoses to sell as medical research subjects. Potter's Field was fine for run-of-the-mill bodies, but to get rare cadavers, robbing graves was the answer, apparently. Cora got into the profession because she, herself had a condition that would make her body sought after by nefarious anatomists who were not content to wait for subjects to die in their own time. By being in the profession, she had a good basis for learning if anyone had knowledge of her having two hearts and if anyone was after her immediately. Of course, there is all sorts of double crossing and family drama to sweeten to pot.

The Impossible Girl was at once old-fashioned and very modern in a way that blends very well. The cover was to-die-for gorgeous! I couldn't put the book down until I knew what was going to happen. There was enough romance and humor to balance out the dark subject matter. There was enough realistic history to make me want to go read more about this subject and time period. Well done all around.

Thank you to Lydia Kang, Lake Union Press and NetGalley for my advance ecopy of The Impossible Girl in exchange for an honest review. I will be adding Lydia Kang to my list of go-to-authors immediately.

I found this book to be an enjoyable, suspenseful read. I ended up reading it in less than a day.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Cora Lee, the protagonist of The Impossible Girl, is an amalgamation of weird circumstances.

Cora, the illegitimate child of a wealthy socialite, is born with a physical anomaly that makes her of scientific interest. Cora's Aunt Charlotte raises her--and Charlotte is only too well of the danger presented by Cora's two hearts. To keep her hidden from anatomist's who would love to dissect such an interesting specimen, Charlotte initially disguises Cora as "Jacob," in hopes that the legend of the girl with two hearts would eventually dwindle away.

Ironically, Cora becomes the only female resurrectionist in New York, exhuming bodies for the medical establishment for dissection and allowing Cora to be aware of what physical abnormalities the anatomists are eager to examine. When the legend of the girl with two hearts is suddenly revived, Cora's safety is at risk. And someone is killing the people on Cora's list before their time.

An intriguing mystery that highlights medical advancement and the New York of the mid-1800's, The Impossible Girl had several twists that I wasn't expecting. Cora proved an interesting character in interesting times!

Read in June; blog review scheduled for 9/2/18.

NetGalley/Lake Union Publishing
Historical Mystery. Sept. 18, 2018. Print length: 364 pages.

4/5 stars

First of all - look at the cover! Look at it! It's so beautiful. Was the cover the reason this book caught my eye? Absolutely, I am a cover whore after all. And then I read the description and I was completely sold!

When I was reading this book a thought sprang to mind "this is what "Stalking Jack the Ripper" should have been. Minus Jack the Ripper. There are a lot of similarities between the books, but they are also very different from each other.
We have the strong feminist character, who is actually a strong feminist character - not just pretending to be one, the macabre world of the dead bodies and dissections, and a mystery.

The Impossible Girl was impossible to put down for the first 50 percent of the book. The plot was moving beautifully, the main heroine, Cora was a delight to read about and the topic was fascinating. I loved, loved Cora's secret identity! It was just such a cool perspective to read from.

The other 50 percent of the book dipped pretty low on the fascination scale - it was a bit too repetitive for my liking and few things happened that left a bad taste in my mouth. But it did pick up later on with a roller coaster speed and I was back engrossed into the world of living and the dead. The plot twist, while I myself figured out early on (I just read A LOT of mysteries when I was a teenager so honestly not many things can surprise me) was still pleasant from the writing point of view. It was definitely done the correct way. And the madness that was uncovered with that twist? Disgusting, but oh so brilliant!

Things were pretty bad for a while for poor Cora, and when you think they couldn't have gotten worse, they of course did. I'd say that the last 20 percent of the book were pretty stressful to read through. Which is how it should be in a mystery book!

​I can tell that this book was brilliantly researched and I genuinely enjoyed all of the medical things portrayed in it - and I am the world's biggest hypochondriac! For the side characters I enjoyed Suzette a lot, which I didn't expect myself to do and I liked Dr. Blackwell, but I wish she got more page time to be honest - there was so much more potential to her.

​Some parts were laced with pretty great humor which made me laugh out loud. There was a part which made me feel very unconformable and I was flabbergasted at how Cora had no proper reaction to it whatsoever. If I saw what she saw I'd be scarred for life, but I guess she was a very tough girl after all.

This will be published in the late September - perfect in time for Halloween, when all of us crave macabre books! I definitely recommend!

Big thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a digital advanced copy for a review. All opinions are my own, honest and come from the heart.

I was provided an ARC of this book by Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"The girl with two hearts, too impossible to have truly been born."

The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang is listed as Adult General Fiction/Women's Fiction which is why I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it is a mystery book more than anything. And a stellar mystery book at that as I did not, not even once, consider the twist when the murderer is finally revealed

Set in the mid 1800's and written in third person, The Impossible Girl follows Cora, a resurrectionist, aka a grave robber, that procures bodies of people with medical anomalies and sells them to those that wish to study and/or profit from their demise. Cora herself being born with two hearts, is the most sought after anomaly of them all and thus her life is in danger from those wishing to profit from her death.

I enjoyed this book very much. It is a very fast read with a story unlike anything I have ever come across. There is a separate chapter from the viewpoint of each of the deceased that Cora resurrects, giving an insight into their life and their death, which I think was a clever idea by the author. This story offers a twist reveal that is delicious and blindsiding. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ from me.

A strange and interesting novel that I wanted to read thanks to the great cover. I would recommend this to fans of strange plots.