Elsie and her friends, Mina and Bea, are tapped by a secret society of women to be the wives of powerful men in history. Every woman in the society is chosen and assigned a role, whether it be Wives or Gossips or Spinsters. Each and every woman is trained so they can best influence men towards paths of their choosing. They root out men who will become powerful and follow them, setting up interactions with pretty women who will eventually become their wives. They also help women in trouble, who are in abusive situations or otherwise need help. Elsie and her friends are assigned to a Priority One, Andrew. Such a high priority means he is tapped to one day become president. And so becoming his wife is the highest honor. Only, Elsie isn’t so sure being the wife of a powerful man is enough for her. She has dreams, too, and wants to make a name for herself, not to be the nameless woman behind a powerful man.

Elsie and her friends are powerful in their own right, assured of their beauty and their skills. Elsie and Bea are both fat and they are still judged as beautiful, despite that. It’s mentioned as a contentious part in the beginning, and there are a few digs from Greta, one of their fellow society girls, but their size is quickly left behind in favor of their other skills and beauty. Elsie herself is a great lover of literature, and writes her own poetry. She understands the value of words and how to use them to her advantage. Mina is the skinny one, a mechanic. And Bea loves baking and is poor. That is what they are reduced to. Bea especially is reduced to her ability to bake, the way into Andrew’s heart, apparently, living up to the age old adage.

I don’t like how Elsie vacillated between wanting her own power and then went on to try and charm Andrew, betraying her friends and throwing them under the bus in the process. They always forgive her, anyway, all too easily. And she claims to not even want Andrew at all, that there aren’t any sparks between them because she’s hung up on Patch, a boy she met once and immediately sprouted feelings for. Then she goes out and tries to get Andrew, interrupting the planned meetups between Andrew and the other girls, every single time. I just couldn’t pin down her motive there. It felt incredibly selfish of her to try and be the center of attention, to claim that she would win his heart then say that she didn’t want him and wanted one of her friends to get him instead. This goes back and forth all the way through til almost the end, when there’s a pretty big twist and some heartbreak. Maybe she was just trying to seek her own power but didn’t know how, so she latched onto the only thing she’d been trained to do: a powerful man is the only way she’ll ever have a voice of her own.

Everything moved so fast. It only took about a week, probably less, for the main part of the story to take place. Again, unbelievable for me. I refuse to believe in love at first sight. I refuse to believe that someone can see someone else and instantly fall for them, going so far as to put their livelihood on the line so they can be together. It just throws me straight out of the story. It also didn’t definably put the story in any particular year. The current events were only alluded to and I had to look up the summary to see when the story is supposed to be set.

The society is one made up of women but the titles, such as Matron, Spinster, Gossip, and Wife, remind me all too strongly of the dystopian world of the Handmaid’s Tale. It rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning, especially once I read what the women are supposed to do and when they are assigned their roles. They are assigned their roles at a young age, meaning they are determined whether they are going to be a wife to a powerful man, or the mother to powerful men when they aren’t even fully women themselves. Elsie begins to realize that she wants to be more than that but even then she works within the structure of the society to get what she wants. There are a lot of loose ends and many possibilities, as well as an unexpected tragedy that was used to move things along. Patch is introduced and I thought there would be some real chemistry there, making Elsie choose between Patch, Andrew, and her own autonomy. And there is a struggle here but it didn’t feel genuine or like how I expected it to. I expected the Matrons to pull Elsie from the mission, to intervene, to stop her from going off task. Or to pull her entirely. But, no. They are all too understanding, as are Elsie’s friends of her betrayal.

There is an attempt at representation, a lot of name dropping of queer identities. But all the main characters are white. There is mention of a previous match that was a black woman, so why couldn’t there have been a black woman in this case? Is it because Andrew was supposed to be a future president and they couldn’t have a black woman marry a president? I mean, I guess it’s the 1920s so that would be out of the question for the time period. But there aren’t many other black people in the story, either, not as fleshed out characters. They could have had their Spinster, and friend, Iris, be a black woman. She’s trans, which is wonderful, but they could have upped the rep instead of explaining it away with a weak throwaway line.

This book had a lot of potential. I love the cover and the body positivity, as well as the casual queer inclusion. I don’t really like how dystopian the society is, or how they let themselves be in the shadows of powerful men, as if that’s the only thing they can be even though powerful women have existed throughout history way before the 1920s. They set women up for lives they might not be fit for, ignoring their potential in other areas because women can’t do that. It’s a bizarrely sexist thing for a feminist society to participate in. Despite how easy it was for me to be drawn into this book, in retrospect, there was more that bothered me than I enjoyed. The premise had a lot of potential but Elsie and her wavering loyalties to her friends, as well as incomplete plot lines, really drew me out of the story.

I really tried to enjoy this book. It sounded like it was right up my alley. The premise was interesting. However, I had absolutely no idea what was going on at any point. I was sad to have to give it one star. I really wanted to like it!

A SISTERHOOD OF SECRET AMBITIONS by Sheena Boekweg is a fantasy set in the 1920s involving Elsie and three other young girls who are part of a secret society originally founded by Abigail Adams ("remember the ladies") and her peers. Members of the society include Spinsters (warriors), Gossips (spies), and Mothers. The girls are training to be Wives and participate in a contest to see which one is chosen by Andrew Shaw, a young man destined to be President. Sadly, I found Elsie to be quite selfish and self-centered, continuously bending rules and thwarting the efforts of a much shier, but sincere and truly kind young girl named Bea. Booklist suggests this title for grades 8 to 11. I appreciate the author's efforts to frame these characters as controlling their own destiny, but instead they seemed manipulative and even cruel at times. I am giving A SISTERHOOD OF SECRET AMBITIONS a neutral 3 star rating.

This is such a unique and interesting story about women, sisterhood, and knowing one’s worth. A secret sisterhood of women who use marriage to influence government and society, the Society recruits and trains women, sorting them into different roles that suit their temperament and talent. This story focuses on Elsie, who is competing with three other members of the Society to win the heart of a future president.

There’s a lot to like about this book, including the beautiful writing, the immersive story, the fascinating time period, and the strong themes of female empowerment. The author’s writing style is wonderful, and I found myself highlighting many powerful and thought-provoking lines from the book. The writing pulls you in right from the start with an interesting story and an alternate world where women have more influence than expected.

I love the way that women are depicted throughout the story and the strong messages about self-worth and acceptance. Elsie and her friends are all shapes and sizes and colors and sexualities, and I love the diverse representation. Elsie and her friend, for example, are both plus-size, and they are both comfortable in their own skin. In a society that glamorizes thin women, it’s refreshing to see plus-size women loving the way they look. They see the beauty in and embrace their bodies, looks, intellect, and skill. I love all of the body and sexuality positivity! There are several touching moments where the women discuss their feelings about their bodies and sexualities, and their unflappable support of each other is one of my favorite parts of the novel.

The story takes place in an alternate 1926 America, and women have a bit of behind-the-scenes power in the country. However, this understated influence is not enough for Elsie, who hates that she will never be considered an equal to and as important as her brother just because of her gender. Elsie wants change, and she wants the same opportunities that men have. I love Elsie’s growth throughout the story as she realizes her own worth, takes control of her future, and tries to invoke change. She is a strong woman who wants more than what the patriarchal society offers.

Elsie has a strong bond with two of the other women who are trying to win over the future president, which creates some competition. They don’t always act in each other’s best interests, and that causes a lot of friction. These well-rounded and dynamically developed women are not without faults, yet ultimately they share a strong connection. I also like that they each want different things for their lives. They are all on a journey of self-discovery, which could lead their lives in very different but equally significant directions. And that is the heart of the book – the idea that everyone is important. Everyone has worth.

Elsie, in particular, makes some mistakes and acts selfishly. She lets her ambition take precedence over her friendships, and she is sometimes guided by her passion and heart instead of her head. There are several times when she is lucky that she has understanding and forgiving friends. When Elsie starts to question the Society and her role in it, things change. Though she likes the mission of protecting and empowering women, she sees new ways to achieve her goals, which changes her relationships with her friends and family.

Interspersed throughout the novel are poems written by Elsie. I love the inclusion of these poems and feel like they deepened my understanding of her character. Through her poetry, you see her truth – her fears, her scars, and her desires. Elsie is a gifted writer, another skill that would be commended if she were a man, but is sadly glossed over since she is a woman. On paper, Elsie is free with her thoughts, as she knows her words will never be discovered.

In addition to the great characters and messages, this a unique story with a fascinating secret society, spies, two budding romances, secrets, lies, manipulations, betrayals, treacherous plots, and more. But above all, this story is about sisterhood, empowerment, and the message that everyone has worth. I’m so thankful to Sheena Boekweg, Turn the Page Tours, and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

[1.5 Stars]

Look, I think the main message here is (for the most part) good. I just think the execution really botched this whole experience. This book still needs a lot more revisions and editing.

To start off, I think that the representation of different ethnicities, sexual identities, and body types was decent, but not casual. Every time there was a poc character (which there were really only black characters, no other ethnicities were present) it felt like the author was patting herself on the back. Like "look here, I've added representation and it's good". But no poc character was fleshed out or really on-page at all, and all the main characters were white. The author only gave a lame one-sentence excuse for this and moved on.

Also, the Society as a whole is very undeveloped. How do they know that 18-year-old Andrew will be President? How is the Society so pervasive and all women seem to know about it, yet they still stay in the shadows? I had to suspend my disbelief a lot about that whole thing.

The book pushes the idea of sisterhood and friendship a lot but Elsie is a horrendous friend. I can see how Boekweg was trying to show Elsie's ambition, but she continuously sabotages her friends with zero consequences. Even when she knows that her friend, Bea, genuinely wants Andrew and that she doesn't, Elsie still swoops in and messes stuff up?? It was so bizarre and everyone just kept forgiving her for it. Either she shouldn't have been doing that or there should have been more discussion around what had happened.

Speaking of bizarre, what even was that Patch storyline? I hated it the whole time and it was never explained. Who was he working for? What was he taking notes/photos etc for? Why did we need this instalove side-plot just for her to forget he even exists by the end? Why did he burn a house down? The questions go on and on and on.

Furthermore, the writing was clunky, the atmosphere was nonexistent, the characters were underdeveloped, and the author inserted pages of forced monologue that took away from the story. I think there's a lot of potential here but, as it stands, it really dropped the ball.

What I absolutely LOVED (yep, all caps) about this book are the following:

The Cover 😍
The Title 👏
The casual queer representation 🏳️‍🌈
The body positivity ✊🏽
The idea of the book 👍🏽
Let me touch on the last idea first.

I really like the idea of this novel.

These brave, bold, and beautiful young women who are part of this secret society in an alternate 1920’s America. Trying to shape the world for a better future. And Boekweg goes into a little depth of the society itself, how there are titles for every part of the organization. Where our main character falls into the Wives-to-be.

My frustration with the novel mainly had to do with the main character and the plot. Elsie doesn’t seem like a very likable character. She’s rather selfish throughout the novel. She and her friends receive a mission. Each young woman will compete to win the heart of a man who may become president. And throughout the competition, she constantly undermines all the other Wives-to-be (and even acknowledges she’s doing it, but won’t stop).

I’m going to pause there.

How they know an eighteen-year-old will be a future president isn’t explained. We’re supposed to suspend our disbelief and believe that this particular person is going to be the next president. I couldn’t buy into it though regardless of this being an alternate reality. Because an eighteen year old becoming president just seems so unlikely. And Boekweg never mentions when Andrew, the bachelor everyone has dibs on, will actually become president.

Overall the idea of the main thread of the story and diverse representation is good. It’s the execution of the plot that didn’t work for me. There were too many long drawn out scenes of unnecessary dialogue. Subplots that didn’t make sense. And a relationship between the MC and a side character that left me confused and annoyed.

A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions has a great deal of potential, and though this one wasn’t for me, it’s still a novel to check out if you enjoy historical fiction.

Happy Reading ̴ Cece

Please check back to our website for posted review on June 19th

There are so many things I want to say about this book. First let me state that this genre of book is never my first go-to. I asked for this title because it was outside my norm and I wanted to explore something different. Not surprising that this book was very different and I loved it. The cast of characters was so enjoyable to read and the world came alive to me. The ending was full of emotion that I really cannot explain what I felt. I would recommend the title to anyone that is looking for a strong female lead or group and historical fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for sending me an advanced copy of this to review! I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised going into this. I didn’t know much about it, but I really enjoyed the writing style and the characters. Plus, the world Boekweg has created is intriguing!

This is a historical fiction book with a bit of a twist. It feels a little like The Handmaid’s Tale and a little like The Selection. Elsie is a strong main character, sure in her beliefs and confident in her appearance. There are a lot of great conversations between her and her friends about body acceptance and things like that that really stood out to me. Those elements aren’t included nearly enough in YA books.

There is also queer representation that feels effortless. One of Elsie’s friends realizes that she might be asexual, and their discussion about this validates her feelings. The main group of girls are also so supportive of each other, even though they are all competing for the same man. Yes, Elsie slips at times, but they always make up and keep their friendship strong. As someone always looking for these strong friendships in YA, this was probably my favorite aspect of the book.

My only complaint might be the pacing of the book. It felt a little uneven throughout, and I wanted a little more breathing room for the ending. Despite this, Boekweg ends on a powerful note (no spoilers), but it made me love Elsie even more.

All in all, if you like books like The Selection, this is definitely one that you’ll want to pick up!

3.5 stars

Honestly I feel like I experienced this book in two parts. During the first half, I couldn't help but feel disappointed about how little I was getting about the background of the secret society and our main character, Elsie. For the first hundred pages or so, I felt like Elsie was barely involved in the story despite being the narrator. So much was focused on describing what the other girls were doing and because of that, there was this disconnect between me and the story.

And then, about halfway through the novel, something clicked. I don't know if it was the action picking up or me just getting more into the story, but I really started to get a sense of who Elsie was as a character and as a woman. I was much more impressed with the second half of this book and how it depicted Elsie discovering that there is more than one way to fight for women.

Going into this book, I thought that it had so much going for it and to some extent, I still think that after reading it. However, I wish that the stakes, the role of the secret society, and the characters had been made just a little more sharp from the outset. It is hard to receive social commentary when you are still stuck on the elements of worldbuilding.

Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Great ideas, but not enough there to keep my interest. If you hadn’t been told in the blurb it took place in 1926, you wouldn’t know it. There are no setting details. And the story itself just feels all over the place.

I believe this book is a classic case of an author biting off more than they can chew. Or perhaps a book that would have been great if it had gone through a couple more revisions. The ideas were all there, it just wasn’t put together very well. As a result, it ended up being incredibly boring, and a slog to get through.

Let’s start with one of the things I found to be a major letdown: there was no atmosphere. This book is supposed to take place in 1926. But let me tell you, I probably never would have been able to guess that if it didn’t say so in the blurb. Other than the lack of modern technology and a few scarce references to things like “the Great War” or “the suffragettes” there wasn’t anything that really placed that book in the timeline. It didn’t have quite the glitz and glamour I might hope for, nor did it delve into the specific political issues of the day (besides the aforementioned suffragettes). As far as I could tell, there wasn’t any reason that this book just needed to be set in 1926. I love historical fiction! I love the twenties! But that’s a part of your setting and I believe you really need to utilize your setting.

Not only am I disappointed because I didn’t get any roaring twenties content, but I’m disappointed because it makes the political ideas presented in the book fall flat. I get that the author was trying to keep it general so that it can easily be related back to the politics of today, but I think it just made the messaging bland. You know what kind of discussions you could have added? Working conditions of female factory workers. Child labor laws. Immigration laws. Living conditions in the city. Everything was kept on such a broad scale of “women are people too and deserve to be treated as such.” Which is a good message, but one I’ve heard 100 times before. Which means that to really add something to the conversation, you need to be more specific.

Moreover, the writing would jerkily shift into what was clearly just the author preaching to the choir. We would get paragraphs upon paragraphs of Elsie’s inner thoughts about how it wasn’t fair that women weren’t allowed to want things, blah blah blah. 1. It felt preachy (once again, to the choir) and 2. It was incredibly obvious what was happening. It didn’t always naturally fit into the story, I would think “oh the author is clearly trying to say something here.” These moments especially contributed to the clunky feeling of the book.

Now, I hesitate to use the term worldbuilding for a historical fiction book, but it is an alternate fiction, and I don’t have a better term. So I’ll just have to go with worldbuilding. The worldbuilding was flimsy. I feel like the idea of the society was very interesting, but it was kind of all over the place, and never explained well. It didn’t feel fully-formed, and instead just felt like a hodgepodge of things strung together.

These issues really come down to my biggest issue with the book: the writing just wasn’t at the level it needed to be at to make this concept work. As I already mentioned, there were some weird parts of messaging that were almost separate from the story that messed up the flow. Moreover, the prose overall felt very clunky.

On top of this, the characterization was severely lacking. Really only Elsie and maybe Mira actually felt like real people, the rest of the characters never got fleshed out, and were left as 2-dimensional. Even then, I didn’t think Elsie’s characterization was very good. The whole book hinges on this idea that Elsie is incredibly ambitious, but I don’t think we get to see enough of her motivation. Obviously she wants to be seen as more than just a pretty face, but you don’t have to be president to do that. So why exactly does she want to be president besides the fact that she can and should be able to? Like, the idea is that women should also be able to be president, and be allowed to want to be president, which is completely valid. But I never got a strong sense of why Elsie wanted to be president other than to prove herself to others. And no offense, but that’s not a good enough reason.

Elsie also didn’t really have a lot of character development. The main mistakes she makes are being mean to her friends by, for lack of a better word, sabotaging their times with Andrew. This could have maybe played into some much more complicated ideas about how women should be allowed to be ambitious, but how do you manage your own ambition without pushing others down. Instead, she offers a lame apology and the entire thing smooths over. Elsie is mostly the same the entire book. She decides to stand up for herself, but none of her fundamental ideas about the world seem to shift much. This lead to a very boring main character.

And that is just really what this book comes down to: it was boring. It should have been interesting, but the writing wasn’t good enough to make it so. The plot needed a major reworking (which I didn’t even touch on, but this review is too long now), the prose needed help, and the characterization was sorely lacking. Although some might be able to enjoy this, I can’t say I recommend this book.

Behind every successful man, there is a strong woman. This adage has been floating around for generations, but what if there was more to it than that? Sheena Boekweg’s A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions explores just that, in an alternative historical fiction that will knock your socks off.

The Society has been molding women to shape the world through their influence on men since the days of Abigail Adams. As Mothers, Wives, Spinsters, and Gossips, they try and make the world safer for all women. They help women escape dangerous situations, they guide powerful men to good and right decisions, and they do it all in secret.

Elsie joined the Society as a child, chosen to be a Wife and trained up to not only make a man fall in love with her, but to discreetly lead him in all of his decisions. Her dearest friends, Bea and Mira, are trained up in this same fashion, as is their frenemy, Greta. When they’re all selected to compete for a Priority One in the summer of 1926, to win the heart of a future President, their friendship is challenged in new and dangerous ways. To be a First Lady- that’s one of the highest positions in the Society, a real way to make a lasting difference in the world. All they have to do is make one man fall in love with them.


Elsie’s world is well constructed and believable, a 1926 unlike anything we’ve seen. As Prohibition reigns, Elsie and her friends set out to change the world as a Wife. But complications arise- a dashing rumrunner, ambition for more, and a yearning for an acknowledged identity all collide in unanticipated ways.

There was so much to love about this novel. The grand era, the well developed spy network, the tapestry of all women- trans women, women of color, unmarried women, asexual women- all working together to make the world a safer place for women inside and outside the Society alike. It’s a dream world, yet even it is complicated. But the representation of all types of women, and it’s presentation as normal and not a plot point– that is something that makes my heart soar. This novel is inclusive and beautiful in myriad ways, and it’s all presented as standard.

The representation in this novel is absolutely incredible. In addition to the variety of women listed above, there are also all shapes and sizes of women. Elsie is plus sized, as is her dear friend Bea. They are beautiful and comfortable with their size. Much like in our own present day society, it is the outside world that is left uncomfortable with their curves. Though there are a few moments of self-doubt after particularly hurtful moments, their self-love shines through most of all. It’s uplifting and encouraging to see larger main characters, when their size is not a plot point but just a fact of who they are.

The diverse cast is all intricately developed, making the characters feel real and causing the reader to want to befriend all of them. Their relationships to one another, their flaws, their ability to love on another- all of these components combine to create this entirely believable sisterhood, where they can be competing and helping one another at the same time.

The plot is well paced and thoroughly enjoyable. There are moments of intensity in the plot, and I’ll include a trigger warning well down below, as it does contain a spoiler.

This is an iceberg book, so be prepared for a deep dive. There is more here than meets the eye. It is thought provoking, enchanting, and there’s a fair chance it’ll make you cry. It’s one of those novels that once you close the cover, your mind keeps drifting back to it, ruminating over plot points and how it made you feel.

It truly gave me all the feels, in a way I won’t soon be forgetting. It’s the kind of book that stays with you, and it definitely has re-readability.

A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions will be available on June 1, 2021. Thank you to Net Galley, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, and Feiwel & Friends for this advanced copy so that I could write this review.

The trigger warning below includes a spoiler. Please proceed with caution.

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Trigger Warning: This novel contains a child’s death.

3.5 stars

This book has the ingredients for a sure winner in my reading life: diverse characters, solid representation, and some advanced (relatively) ideas about women's roles and opportunities in society.

I was immediately sucked in by the first scene and the whole concept of the Sisterhood, but while the early parts of the novel felt exciting, as soon as the main mission arrived, the excitement waned a bit. Yes, this mission is a great backdrop for getting to know the characters and their motivations, but in some ways, it felt like a very slow and even creepier version of a dating show at times.

The characters are engaging, the concept is gripping, and this is an entertaining read overall, but I hoped for a more exciting series of events. I'll definitely read more from Boekweg.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book!

3.5/5. I really, really, REALLY like the concept of this book. The 1920s combined with social justice issues including race, LGBTQ+, feminism, voting, body shapes and sizes, etc. was interesting to read -- albeit a bit strange considering the historical context. BUT that's what makes this book beautiful.

The prose is absolutely amazing and has many quotable lines. Additionally, our protagonist Eloise is an amazing writer herself, and the chapters occasionally end with poetry about the events in the novel. The novel itself is about dreams and ambition (e.g. the title of the book) and the ending was immensely satisfying.

I do this the prose was semi-chaotic though because it ran as a stream of consciousness almost from Eloise. At times, I just couldn't keep up because it was almost annoying trying to keep up with what was going on with the writing style.

★★☆☆☆ 2/5

first off i just want to say how much i LOVED the casual queer representation. i would have liked to see a w|w character though...

unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations for it. the plot was kind of all over the place, and there were a lot of loose ends that were never tied up.

— SPOILERS —
i DESPISED the whole patch storyline. not only did it throw off the entire plot, involve the worst trope ever (instalove), and kill one of the only interesting characters in this book for no reason, but we have NO idea what happened to him. okay, he was thrown in jail. but he is never mentioned again?? elsie was in love with him and you’re telling me he was just WIPED from her thoughts instantly? bullshit.


(arc provided by netgallery and Feiwel Friends. all thoughts and opinions are my own)

I’m writing this review through tears. I just finished reading A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions and Elsie’s (the MC) speech at the end gutted me. I’m left with hope, with heartache, and a desire to call my sister and tell her how much I love her.

Elsie is a bit brash, a bit selfish, and a bit much. But I absolutely adored the love she has for her friends and for the women she and the Society help in general.

With a cast of characters you love (and maybe a couple you love to hate), you’re rooting for every single one of them to get a happy ending. And maybe the happy ending isn’t what they want, but what they need.

I was invested in the story from the first page and fell in love as soon as they described their guns as ‘sleek as a pair of pumps.’ The author has a magnificent way of bringing the feminine and strong into every single sentence, every single paragraph, every single page. I want to thank the author for bringing attention to Asexuality, the truth about Chanel, the value of mothers and those who choose a different path—all of us are worthy.

As the author said and conveyed through the entirety of the book,
“WORTH IS INTRINSIC.”

♥♥ ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ♥♥

Using their feminine wiles and roles, a secret sisterhood founded by Abigail Adams helps rescue abused women and controls politics through wives. A group of friends are given the opportunity to attract a future president, priority one level.

Elsie is determined to marry Andrew Shaw so that she can make her parents proud and be in politics. But when her fancy is caught by another, she must decide if her ambitions or her heart will lead. And if she even wants to be a wife...

Despite morally gray choices, Elsie is a likeable, plus-sized character who is secure in her intelligence and her curves. There is positive queer rep and plenty of awesome feminism.

A great read-a-like to SPEAK EASY, SPEAK LOVE by McKelle George.

A secret sisterhood created by Abigail Adams during the founding of our country? Yes, please! I think A SISTERHOOD OF SECRET AMBITIONS can best be described as a super feminist Bachelor meets the Selection with a splash of the Handmaid's Tale that takes place in the 1920's. The story was so unique, creative, and thought provoking and I would be so excited to see a prequel detailing how the society was created by Adams as well as a follow-up to this novel to see how each woman made their impact on society as they grew older. SO much potential as a series! This book definitely had a liberal slant, but wasn't overtly political and had some great girl power vibes as each woman tried to use their voice and believe in themselves, rather than men they were to be attached to. There were a lot of inspiring quotes that I found myself highlighting. I can't wait to share this book with our audience and I will keep it in mind as a serious contender for a future book pick for our monthly book club. Thank you to Feiwel Friends and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.