Member Reviews

One for All is a fun mystery/action tale with heroines, representation, and a plot twist that left me gasping.

The first seller for this book is the POTS representation in our main character, Tania, which I really appreciate being depicted. Though she struggles with it, she overcomes, and POTS does not define her, nor should it.

I wish the cast of characters was a bit more distinguishable from one another, but I definitely grew to love our main character, Tania.

I did enjoy the plot of this book. It was a clever concept, and who doesn't want to see female musketeers posing as ditsy noble women, then turning those they trick on their heels. It was quite an enjoyable read.

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A thrilling tale filled with twists and turns along with a diverse (and charming) cast of characters -- really excited to share this one with students!

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First, I want to say thank you to the author, the publisher, NetGalley, and the FierceReads for making an e-arc copy for me to read in exchange for an honest review.

Tropes: finishing school used a cover for something else, love triangle, found family,
Representation Included: POTS, a lesbian character, an ac character, a demi bi character,
Content and Trigger Warnings: ableism, implied sexual assault, death of a parent, murder, violence, blood, gore

ONE FOR ALL by LILLIE LAINOFF is an Own-Voices feminist, gender-bent retelling of the Three Musketeers following a female main character with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). All Tania wants is to become a musketeer like her father but when he is found dead and the circumstances sound suspicious, she sets her sights on finding who killed him and why. The next thing she knows, she is sent to a finishing school (a place to teach women to be proper ladies and wives) as part of her father's will. At first, Tania is appalled by her father's choice of school but quickly learns why. The finishing school is secretly a cover for what is really taught: how to use a sword, hide weapons underneath skirts, and how to use them, to seduce men and get secrets. Tania starts to feel like she's found where she belongs, a place where she and her illness are accepted but she has to choose where her loyalties lie when she starts to fall in love with her first target... and he might have information on who killed her father.

Before I begin my review, I read this book mostly with an audiobook because the book has been released by the time I got around to reading it. Talia is about 16 years old and that is shown by how naive she can be. Some parts of the book were a little easy to guess based on books with similar tropes and plots, but I didn't mind it. The main twist towards the end I didn't catch onto because I fully believed the twist would've involved one of the musketeers. I do not have POTS so I can not speak on the accuracy of the representation from that perspective. However, I can speak on it from what I know through research and friends that have it. Based on what I know, I think the POTS representation was done well and explored more than just the fainting spells. I liked seeing Talia's growing connection with the musketeers and the small family she found from it, how they supported her and "wouldn't let her fall." Overall, I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook and anticipate reading the ebook or physical book will be even better.

My content featuring this book:
-August TBR https://youtu.be/nVPYzsM5Zfk
-September TBR https://youtu.be/GAqnZvCFdOw

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3.5/5 Stars

A gender bent retelling of The Three Muskateers with a chronically ill heroine who joins a secret sisterhood of sword-fighters to uncover an assassination plot against the King.

I really liked Tania as a main character. I like how she slowly came to realize that she wasn't weak or unable to fight. She never let her disability get in the way of her dreams, and I really loved that about her. I loved how much people underestimated her, and how much of a badass she was regardless of her illness. The found family aspect of this book really shone through, as Tania developed close relationships with the other girls at the academy. I was really loving the first half of this, and I did think it would be a higher rating for me, but I felt like it lost steam as I continued reading... I just stopped caring after awhile about anything that was happening.

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I absolutely love the disability rep in this book! While I don't have the same illness as Tania, seeing a lead character who has a chronic illness, save the day, means a lot to me. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

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What a charming book! I LOVE historical fiction that feels accessible and fast-paced and this book delivered. The book is plotty. The characters are so lovable (especially the musketeers). And the ending is satisfying.

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feminist retelling of the three musketeers
heroine that suffers from a chronic illness (POTS)
uncovering an assassination plot
secret sisterhood of badass sword fighters

It was quite interesting to read the author's YA debut story about the Three Musketeers in a feminist twist. Throughout the novel, Tania, the main character, is narrated from her point of view. A chronic illness (POTS) forced her to live a sheltered life. Her illness caused her to feel dizzy and fatigued often. Several times, she was bullied by an old friend who had once been close to her. Despite her loneliness, her father taught her fencing skills because he had once been a courageous Musketeer. As a result of helping her to learn these skills, he also helped her reduce her dizziness. In the aftermath of her father's vicious murder, Madam de Treville sent Tania to live under her tutelage in Paris. In order to keep France safe, those socialites secretly trained as Musketeers behind closed doors at a finishing school.

There was plenty of action and adventure in this story as well as some romance thrown in. There was a lot going in this story from the almost causal and fun ways the girls practiced dance and social skills in order to seduce their targeted men to the more intense fighting scenes, especially those involving Tania. She not only had to battle her enemy but her dizziness as well.

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This was a fun adventure romp! I greatly enjoyed following such a strong-willed main character and the engaging cast as they navigated the exciting story, plus the excellent disability rep was a major boon when there's far too little of that on shelves!

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I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good

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One for All is a very solid debut! As a huge fan of The Three Musketeers, I got very curious about the ya genderbent retelling of Dumas’s novel, and it did not disappoint! One for All is an engaging, heartwarming and fun read that’s definitely catered towards a younger reader but is still entertaining even for an older audience.
The story follows Tania De Batz—a ‘sick’ young girl and a daughter of a retired musketeer, who takes up her father’s mantle and operates through the French Royal court. On her journey Tania meets three other female musketeers, forming the titular team of four. The girls are mentored by Lady De Treville (a genderbent equivalent from the original The Three Musketeers) and accompanied by her nephew as they uncover conspiracies that threaten the safety of the French throne.
The plot of the book was very easy to follow and it didn’t take long to get things going. Of course, I do have some problems with it, especially the somewhat formulaic nature of it (which is a common issue for me now especially when it comes to recent YA releases), but it was still really fun, and being able to compare it to the original Three Musketeers and see the differences and the subtle nods to it was really entertaining. My biggest problem perhaps was the twist villain and the sudden lovers-to-enemies dynamic, which, frankly, I'm not really fond of. It felt rushed and definitely took away from my entertainment, partly because I’ve seen this exact plot development in a plethora of recent ya releases.
The characters were fun to read about. While they didn’t seem especially multi-faceted, I still appreciated the dynamic between the musketeers and the found family aspect of the story. I also appreciate the disability rep that the main character introduced, since it’s not often that we get to read a book with a disabled mc. The characters that bothered me most were the potential love interests of the main character—they felt very one dimensional and didn’t really seem interesting beyond their designated ‘love interest’ role.
I think the pace of the novel was one of its strongest aspects —it’s fast and entertaining and only slows down for the more emotional moments. Though I do think at some points the narrative could have slowed down to flesh out other characters besides Tania, since after the establishment of her character, the sequence of events quickens significantly.
Overall, I enjoyed One for All. It’s a nice, relaxing read that the readers don’t have to take too seriously to be entertained by. Although far from perfect, One for All manages to keep the attention of the reader and be a really nice read. I’m excited to see what the author does next!

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This is such a fantastic debut and all around amazing re-imagining of the Three Musketeers!! The disability rep is so thoughtful and well done. Who doesn't want a story full of mystery, sisterhood, and swords? Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for review

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One for All is definitely one of my favorite books of 2022. The love story centered around friendship and *redacted* had me floating on cloud nine. This gender-bent retelling of the three musketeers and bravery had me wanting to quite literally climb into this world and sword fight beside my own sisterhood. I can't wait to read what else Lainoff will create!

#Sisterhoodofthestab

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THIS WAS SO GOOD!
absolutely loved it, the themes it explored and the characters and their journeys. just everything! highly recommed.

- thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an early review.

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One for All is a gender bent retelling of the Three Musketeers. The heroine is very unique because she is disabled. I love the friends that she meets! There is a lot of action and adventure! Therefore, this was a very refreshing retelling! I recommend this for fans of Scarlet, Olivia, Twist, and Defy the Night!

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Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a historical fiction novel set in France at the time of the Musketeers. The main character Tania has a health condition, POTS, that makes her dizzy, faint etc. Tania becomes a secret musketeer after her father is killed to enact revenge. I enjoyed this novel but the beginning was a bit slow. I had to try 3 times to get through it. Ioved the concept of female musketeers and I appreciated that the main character has a health issue to conquer. A good read overall.

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Thoroughly enjoyed this gender-bent retelling of the Musketeers! With strong female characters and a compelling plot, I was engaged throughout. I especially appreciated the chronic illness rep, which was handled with care and the sisterhood between the characters.

The audiobook was an excellent way to engage with this story, and Mara Wilson is a perfect narrator.

A thank you to RB Media for the audiobook in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

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When I first heard about this last year I remember being so shocked at just the synopsis alone. I remember saying “just take my money.” I was hoping it was good, but I was still so scared to see if it would live up to my expectations. And I can say it did.

When Tania’s papa is murdered, she vows to do everything she can to try to avenge him. But that proves rather difficult because she’s a woman, and she has a chronic illness that makes the dizziness creep in during stressful times. But her mother doesn’t feel the same. So when a letter from her late father shows up and says she’s to send Tania to a finishing school, she is too happy to oblige. But Tania quickly realizes this isn’t a finishing school like she thought. And the girls here are like sisters…. sisters in arms. Very different than what she thought she would see….

I loved the writing style in this. There’s a mystery, there’s a love story, there’s some action, it has a little of everything. Normally that would make me feel like it had too much going on, but it wasn’t an issue with this. It never felt like too much. Maybe because it was introduced little by little and nothing was overlapping anything. If that makes any sense. It wasn’t hard to follow and it made for an engaging read.

I also liked the representation. I don’t have tachycardia, but I actually do have someone in my life that does. My mom’s best friend has lived her entire life with it. She said hers is also the stressful situation one, and she thought it was cool that I had read about someone like her in a book. And when I told her it was ownvoices, she said she was going to go buy it. However, as we know, this disease is not a monolith, and although her experience was the same, not everyone’s is. But between her and my mom’s friend, it definitely hit home for her.

And then there was the fencing aspect. Seeing her overcome her illness and be bad ass like she was? Yeah, that was a boss move. She was so cool. I loved seeing her learn new things and be the bad ass she was. Now I don’t know anything about fencing, but the way she wrote those scenes was pretty cool. I learned a bit of the terms and the language and that’s the sign of a good book to me. If I’m entertained and I can learn something, then it’s good.

Lastly, the mystery aspect of this was pretty good. Although I guessed who it was, I still enjoyed it. That’s another way to know I liked something. If there’s a mystery involved and I’m not completely annoyed that I guessed whodunit, then that’s the sign of another good book to me. And oh man, the person who it was and how she handled it?! I loved it. I didn’t care for how she handled it. I would have done something else lol

This was a pretty cool book to read. I was a little worried because The Three Musketeers? Really? It seemed weird. But it really worked. This retelling was super creative and one that I was glad I got around to reading.

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All for One is a gripping historical, YA novel following a young woman with chronic illness, who dreams of being able to stand up and defend herself. As the son of a Musketeer, Tania had been trained as a fencer, but her mother isn’t convinced she’ll be able to do anything more with her life than her married due to her illness. However, when her father is suddenly reported dead, Tania is sent off to a special finishing school for upstanding young ladies, and she discovers that the school is more than it seems. Along with her new sisters in training, Tania will practice her fencing, learn new skills, and become a spy for a whole new generation of Musketeers.

I loved the twist on The Three Musketeers with an emphasis on feminism and the positive chronic illness representation. All of the “sisters” are well developed characters who mesh in interesting ways. And there is a good flow of mystery underlying the character growth. All for One is a great read!

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A fast-paced entertaining genderbent spin on The Three Musketeers, Lillie Lainoff's work is remarkable for the way it seamlessly depicts a heroine suffering from a debilitating chronic illness who refuses to let her pain define her.

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This was lovely. It's an empowering story and I could feel the author's sincere enthusiasm to write a book where girls will feel seen and she succeeds very sweetly. It reads more like a middle-grade story in terms of vocabulary and thematic depth--not a criticism--and I would love to see it find a place in middle grade libraries as well as high schools.

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