Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

A little known fact about Bonnie Parker is that she was quite the gifted poetess. Who knows what kind of life she might have led if she hadn't gotten tangled up with the likes of Clyde Barrow. But fall for him she did, becoming half of the infamous robbing, kidnapping, murdering duo Bonnie and Clyde ... and as they say, the rest is history. You likely know how this story ends on a winding country road in north Louisiana, but do you know where it begins? Christina Schwarz is here to bring "Suicide Sal" to life in her novel Bonnie, a biographical fiction account of Bonnie Parker's childhood in the Dallas, Texas area to her later highly-publicized crime sprees with Clyde Barrow.

Going into Bonnie, I knew little about Bonnie Parker's life aside from the fact that she traveled around the country committing crimes with the man she loved, Clyde Barrow. Prominent during the Public Enemy era, Bonnie and Clyde's offenses were splashed across newspapers far and wide, and they achieved a level of fame akin to A-list celebrity status. Frankly, I didn't need to know anything about Bonnie before picking up this book because Schwarz describes her life in great detail from childhood to her death at the hands of the police. Schwarz paints a sympathetic portrait of Ms. Parker, highlighting her more sensitive, feminine side, and suggesting that all that she did, she did out of love.

Schwarz captures the mood and atmosphere of the 1930s, completely enveloping readers in this era when gangsters ran wild, robbing and murdering whoever they pleased. As distasteful as Bonnie and Clyde's transgressions were, I was enraptured by their tale of life on the run. This novel builds such tension and peril, and had me on the edge of my seat as I was reading, both wanting and not for Bonnie and Clyde to make their escape. My only fault with it is that Schwarz's writing could sometimes be vague and succinct, and events, such as a getaway, would happen before my mind had time to process that they had. The ambush that resulted in their demise also happened quickly and without much fanfare, and I wish that Schwarz would have slowed down and let us absorb the scene. Then again, Bonnie and Clyde, moved like lightning, thieving and killing with the pedal to the metal, so maybe Schwarz was trying to capture their essence in the pacing of her novel.

Bonnie is recommended to anyone who is naturally fascinated by the story of Bonnie and Clyde, as well as though who are curious to surmise how a woman of the early 20th century could and did turn so violent and bold.

Unfortunately, I could not get into this book.

Thank you @Atriabooks and #netgalley for the e-ARC.

In BONNIE, New York Times bestselling author Christina Schwarz immerses readers in the life of 20-year-old Bonnie Parker --- or, as you may know her, Clyde’s literal partner in crime. Evoking the same heightened emotion she so masterfully cultivated in DROWNING RUTH and drawing upon the real Bonnie’s “ripped from the headlines” lifestyle, Schwarz introduces readers to the lady behind the legend, a romantic young girl with the passion of a woman and the naivete of a child.

Born in a small town in western Texas with limited opportunities, Bonnie Parker knows she wants more than the industrial wasteland outside of Dallas where her family settled after the loss of their father. A gifted speller and natural performer, Bonnie is the sort of girl who can actually make it out of Dallas --- bright, enchanting and inherently joy-filled. She is a dreamer through and through, but is haunted by the sense that she is missing something, the feeling of being known. It is this void that pushes her toward romance, most notably with her partner, Clyde, but first with a young petty thief named Roy. Married at only 16, Bonnie, still practically a child, demonstrates the same qualities that would lead her to slinging guns with Clyde and his posse: a blind eye where love is concerned, an infatuation with attention and a nearly unbelievable gullibility when it comes to men.

In short, compulsively readable chapters, Schwarz walks readers through noteworthy moments in Bonnie’s life --- from her dates with men to her friendship with her mother and her first meeting with Clyde, a smooth operator who charms his way into her heart almost immediately. The Clyde we meet is not yet the criminal he would become, but more of an ambling petty thief whose “heists” are less Ocean’s Eleven and more “so crazy it just might work.” He rarely escapes the eyes of the police, but when he does, it is more dumb luck than preparedness and calm-headedness.

Still, Bonnie is in awe of his bravery and the taste of the outlaw life he adds to her otherwise boring existence. Their courtship is rather conventional at first, but with Bonnie’s mother playing more friend than parent, their relationship proceeds a bit too quickly. Before long, Clyde is arrested, pulled by police right off Bonnie’s family’s living room couch. Bolstered by the romance of it all and viewing their parting as a sort of Romeo and Juliet-like tragedy, Bonnie is more in love with Clyde than ever, and the course of their relationship is set.

As Clyde bounces back and forth from prison to half-assed crime spree to Bonnie’s arms, Schwarz sets the scene of America’s Depression-era Wild West beautifully. The sense of place and time is not only immersive but educational, and though we may not be reading the facts of what Bonnie and Clyde’s beginnings were like, Schwarz certainly provides a plausible, reasonable explanation for their passion and debauchery. While it is true that Bonnie and Clyde lived in a time and remote area where there were few options beyond crime, readers may be surprised to learn that Bonnie was, more or less, a good girl who hated guns. But with her attraction to Clyde growing and his grasp of criminality finally gaining momentum and success, she finds herself riding along on his trips, then keeping watch for the law, and soon brandishing guns and calling shots herself. Bonnie is no angel, and she can definitely hold her own in an argument with Clyde. But she is so wildly naive that readers will want to jump into the book and shake her, or at least hold her hand (and pull her away from Clyde, fast).

Though Schwarz easily highlights the thrill of the outlaw life and the draw of the notoriety, especially for Bonnie, she is careful to provide both sides of the story, stripping away the glamour and explaining that Bonnie and Clyde often felt trapped when they were on the run, a contradiction that made Bonnie feel hopeless. Schwarz explains how the reports of Clyde’s early crimes were exaggerated, but also how careless he was with details.

In one surprisingly humorous scene, Clyde and a friend kidnap a police officer with Bonnie in the car, only to turn on the radio and hear that the police officer’s body has been found decapitated. The report is clearly fabricated, as the lawman is sitting right behind them, but Clyde knows the pressure to catch him will be heightened and the sentence significantly worse if he is caught. Then, only a few chapters later, Clyde attempts to steal a car he doesn’t even want. When the homeowner catches him in the act, he complains that he can’t understand why the man would even care to protect such a piece of junk.

With Clyde leaping back and forth between victim and perpetrator, one would think that Bonnie would roll her eyes and walk away, but intoxicated (literally and figuratively) by his nearness, she dreams only of the day they can stop running. Of course, we all know how that dream ends.

My one complaint about BONNIE is that it can get bogged down in detail, particularly near the end when the book reads more like a rap sheet than a work of fiction. Schwarz is careful to relay every detail of Bonnie and Clyde’s crimes. Although prolific, the duo was not very creative, so every repeated crime tends to drag the narrative down rather than propel it forward. Similarly, as Schwarz becomes more immersed in the actual history, she occasionally loses the threads of the characters’ interiors --- their motivations, fears and shared passions. Through about two thirds, BONNIE is a dreamy, believable exploration of the interior life of Bonnie Parker the woman. But the final act rests on the mythos of Bonnie the criminal, making the book feel almost incomplete, if only because Schwarz so masterfully rendered her Bonnie in the beginning.

Schwarz is, hands down, one of the most beautiful writers I’ve had the pleasure of reading. She writes with the romantic overtones of V.C. Andrews and Anne Rice, but her prose is never overly flowery or heavy-handed. Instead, she is able to summarize major points, complex emotions and nuanced subjects with pointed, sharp turns of phrase that read almost like song lyrics. As a huge fan of DROWNING RUTH, I was a bit worried that she would not be able to control her prose as effortlessly with the pressure of a real-life character pushing her on. But I am thrilled to report that the book is written with tremendous care and a mastery of language that feels singular in its talent.

Despite any criticisms about the heft of the details, BONNIE is well worth reading and recommending, particularly for fans of Marie Benedict and Megan Collins.

I very much looked forward to reading Bonnie and really tried...twice. I think I was expecting a little more excitement in her young life , but even after Bonnie met Clyde, the story itself seemed to drag. I think part of it is just my mood these days and needing a little more action, but I had to quit on Bonnie after about 30%. I chose not to cover this book on my blog or Bookstagram.

Anytime I read historical fiction and I am inspired to research more on the subject, then that was a good book. The story of Bonnie Parker was very intriguing to me. It was well written and researched. The writing style kept me engaged and wanting to know more.
Many thanks to Atria Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A less than glamorous look at Bonnie Parker before and after Clyde Barrow. Depicts the reality of being on the run for robbery and murder by bringing the reader to the gunfight s. The characters are well drawn and the time period shows the author's research. Suspenseful and high energy even if you know how the story ends.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

Bonnie and Clyde like you've never seen it before! This almost reads like a thriller, but it is also great historical fiction. I could not stop turning these pages, and I think it was very well researched. I also found it very empowering for women!

Forget that romantic couple of the 1960s film, sleek and handsome in slim '30s fashions, driving vintage cars along Southern backroads, Tommy guns blazing as banjo music plays and the cops are always a half mile behind.

Instead, imagine two worn-out folks exhausted from sleeping in the car or on the ground, bony from having to grab food where they can--they are too well known to go to a restaurant or store. Plus, they're jittery from anxiety and booze, some drugs, and it scares people. Their bodies hurt from gunshot wounds and car accidents. They are worried all the time.

Clyde Barrow was a psychopath from a poor family filled with them. What was Bonnie Parker's excuse? She was smart, educated by the standards of the time and place, wrote poetry, and did not smoke cigars. Sure, her prospects were limited to waitressing or marrying and having a bunch of kids, living poor, but from that to murder and kidnapping?

Christina Schwarz tells the story from Bonnie's point of view, revealing how this impatient, loving, hopeful girl ended up riddled with bullets on a Louisiana backroad. Money was never the object--with all that killing and stealing they were always on the run and rarely had time to spend any--but the excitement was contagious. Schwarz does not delve into the powerful sexual aspect of their relationship: her Bonnie and Clyde are too exhausted and anxious. I think this is a miss. There had to be something so intoxicating about their bond that it would keep Bonnie tied to him until the end, even though both their families begged her to get out.

Schwarz gives us the dusty, poor, ramshackle South of the Depression where people dress in flour sacks and just hope to get on to the next day. The story of Bonnie and Clyde gave them excitement but also scared them to the core. This crazy couple popped up all over the midwest leaving ordinary citizens dead in their wake. You could be next. It's a fascinating look at a mindset that exists today, well told, and hard to look away from.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this title.

~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader

Thank you to Netgalley & Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read & review this ARC.

This is a fictional account of Bonnie Parker, better know as the better half of Bonnie & Clyde Barrow. While many of the accounts in the book are actually true, it’s fiction due to the story narration where the author had to “fill in the blanks” so to speak of what Bonnie may have thought or said. It’s clear the Author researched well, even down to the clothes Bonnie chose to wear. You’ll find this book to be a quick easy read on the lives of Bonnie & Clyde, their love of family, their crime spree, and the fact that they knew the only way out would be death.

Author #Christina Schwarz has a new novel out ‘#Bonnie’. Yes this is the account of Bonnie of the Bonnie and Clyde couple so famous for crimes. The book is romance-historical and share a lot really not known. The adventures behind the scenes are fun to read about......
Thank you,
#Netgalley, Christina Schwarz and #Atria Books

I had high hopes for this book. I requested it from Netgalley because I was immediately hooked by the premise. I know so little about the real Bonnie and Clyde, and thought a fictional "untold story" would be perfect for me. Unfortunately, I had to put this down. I couldn't get into the story and wasn't interested in any of the characters - even when they were the iconic Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.

What worked for me:
-The setting and atmosphere was fully realized and a departure from my usual reads. Depression-era Texas isn't something I read about often, and poverty and hopelessness seeps through the pages.
-The writing itself was well done and sentences flowed beautifully.
-I loved finding out that Bonnie Parker was under 5 feet! I have to support fellow petite queens.

What didn't work for me:
-A slow start. I know this book is about Bonnie's life, but she doesn't meet Clyde until 25% into the book! Get to the goods!
-I found the story to be repetitive. Obviously, this was an abusive relationship so there is a cycle, and that's how they work, but it made the reading experience taxing and didn't keep my interest.
-I didn't really like any of the characters! Normally this doesn't bother me (I love a narrator I can hate), but I was rolling my eyes at Bonnie's behavior. I wanted this to be more of a True Romance vibe where you really root for them.

I wonder if I'd like this book at a different time. I am definitely a mood reader and I couldn't connect to the story.

Thank you to Net Galley, Atria Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

As I read, I had to keep reminding myself that this book is fiction. The author obviously researched her subject very well and presented a story that - though fictionalized - rang true. I couldn't help picturing Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway even thought the descriptions of the characters were different. That movie is just ingrained too much in my memory to be ignored. Reading this book felt like an expanded version of the movie.

The author did a great job with description and details, evoking the times so I felt like I was right there. It was a little jarring when some of the events depicted in the book deviated from those in the movie, but there were enough similarities to make visualizing easy.

I was thinking through most of the book that I would be giving it five stars - I was really enjoying it. I wish the author had stopped about 50 pages sooner. That last stretch seemed repetitive and didn't really add to the story, just detailing yet more robberies and stolen cars. For me, it diluted the excitement and felt anticlimactic. Still, I enjoyed the book immensely!

I absolutely loved this story of Bonnie because I was always fascinated by what would make a woman follow the path of Clyde Barrow which ended in their deaths. It reads like fiction. Well researched and a seamless story line will have you happily reading from beginning to end. Happy reading!

Bonnie Parker is someone who I've been fascinated with for most of my life. First - because of Faye Dunaway's portrayal in Bonnie & Clyde and then because of the book "Go Down Together" by Jeff Guinn.

Christina Schwarz has taken Bonnie and created a fictional account of her life that isn't too far from the truth. A lonely childhood, dreams of being a star and then falling in love with Clyde Barrow. There's a marriage that ends and dreams left unfulfilled but at the heart, Bonnie is an artist and a writer. There's a reason I fell in love with her all those years ago.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I loved this so much! After listening to the Last Podcast on the Left’s series on Bonnie and Clyde I dove deep into research because I wanted to know the people behind the legend. This book was a dream come true and you can really tell that the author did their research and made sure everything added up but added something new to a story that is almost as old as time. I felt for Bonnie and as much as she was a criminal she was a human and the ethos and pathos of the book was beautifully balanced.

So maybe I'm a tad bit obsessed with the history lesson of Bonnie and Clyde. I can remember sneaking and watching that old movie at my grandmother's house.

He had a confidence about him that made him appear relaxed, even though Emma could see that he was exquisitely alert. His hair combed and his shirt was pressed; he even wore a tie-and his eyes were ardent when he looked at her daughter.

Thus starting my stalking of the story.
This take was easily readable and even though I knew it was a fictionalized version of their story (because who knows the real story) it read so real to me.

This is mostly the story of Bonnie. Her thoughts and emotions in the time that she was a little girl til her meeting and time with Clyde Barrow. (Her marriage to Roy is mentioned but it's not the centerpoint for this story)
Bonnie and Clyde's attraction to each other is almost immediate and no matter how many people try to get her to see him as he truely is..she just can't pull herself from him. She knows he is not the good guy. She knows being with him is going to be her end.
You want us all to go down together.

Clyde fancied himself a wolf, able to lead a pack, but Bonnie saw that he was more like a coyote, snatching at scraps. Or like a rabbit, poised to run even as it nibbled it's blade of grass.


I've been in a relationship a hundred years ago where I thought I couldn't live without that person. Even though he was an asshole. So I kinda related to this storyline.

She loved that he loved her too much to do right by her.

Another thing I LOVE about this book is the author totally sent me down a rabbithole of snooping around and seeing if things I didn't know about this couple were true. I LOVE when a book does that.
PS Bonnie was not always so in lurrrrve with Clyde. They were playing around in this photo but she did buck against him at times.


And she hated this photo. She was again just playing around and thought that a woman smoking a cigar was trashy.


I'm gonna shut up now. Because I could talk about this book all day.
Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

The fictional account of Bonnie from the infamous pair Bonnie & Clyde that at times I felt my heart pounding from excitement but at other times breaking from sadness.

This book follows the life story of Bonnie Parker from her childhood to her descent into violent crime alongside Clyde Barrows. Although fiction, everything in the novel is based on the author’s thorough research (make sure to read the author’s note).

This book was both exciting and sad. The author did an excellent job of placing you as the reader in that time period and I felt like I was riding right alongside Bonnie in the (many) cars she and Clyde stole. I wanted a little more “show” than “tell” when it came to Bonnie’s affection for Clyde, but that could be me not understanding why in the world a woman would stay with a man like Clyde. The author changed POV’s sometimes in the story, but this makes more sense after you read the author’s note as the author read these people’s first-hand accounts of Bonnie and Clyde. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fictional portrayals of real-life people and authors such as Melanie Benjamin and Therese Fowler.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC that was provided in exchange for an honest review.

So everyone knows about the infamous criminal couple Bonnie & Clyde but I didn’t really know anything about Bonnie Parker’s life before she got with Clyde. The prologue starts in the middle where Bonnie is determined to be done with Clyde after some scheme goes wrong and get her into trouble but history tells us that this doesn’t stay true. Bonnie was a very good student, gregarious and outgoing. She wanted to be a movie star and just get out of the small town she lived in and dreamed of bigger things.

I really enjoyed reading the first half of the book which covers Bonnie’s early life and how Christina Schwarz interprets how she lived and the naïve girl who just wanted better than than the life she was living and who fell in love with the wrong guy and wouldn’t let him go. It showed how much she was still a teenager in how she thought that this was for her a do or die love and she wouldn’t give him up because that would prove she didn’t really love him. And that she really loved the attention that she was getting for the crimes they were committing. The other 1/2 of the book was just a pretty accurate day by day retelling of their crime sprees that lead to their death which while interesting, it ended up being a little repetitive. All in all though a really interesting read.

Thanks to Atria and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

2 1/2 stars

Bonnie and Clyde are two of the most infamous criminals of the 20th century, but just who were these people? Author Christina Schwarz focuses on Bonnie's story in her novel in an attempt to reveal some of the mystery behind the gun-slinging pair.

I am a huge history buff and have always loved a female-centric historical novel. I had such high hopes for this that unfortunately fell completely flat. The first quarter of the novel definitely has some merit in its portrayal of Bonnie's childhood and the various incidents that shape her desire to get out of her small town. This is the only part of the book where I really got a sense of who she was as a person.

Once she meets Clyde and starts running around with him, everything just goes downhill. So much of the novel becomes a play-by-play of their crime spree, which ends up getting insanely repetitive and frankly uninteresting. Rather than delving into the characters at this crucial point, Schwarz gives them one-dimensional explanations for their actions and moves onto the next heist. I do think that it is important to pay homage to the history when writing historical fiction, but this focused so much on the minutiae that I found it hard to connect to anything or anyone in the story.

Bonnie had so much potential to bring to life a fascinating and complex woman, but did not quite hit the mark. I think that people who are unfamiliar with Bonnie and Clyde would find this interesting, but it was definitely not for me.