This was a great read. A little slow at the beginning but so glad I stuck with it. Really enjoyed it and will definitely be looking at others by this author. Great storyline and good strong characters. Definitely recommended.

Thank you Netgalley.

Great book, liked the characters and enjoyed the story and how the tale unfolded. Would definitely recommend

Really good book. It took me a little to get into. I like the history behind it and the mystery that was going on. I get frustrated with the "old" ways of doing thing and how women were treated but i guess that how things were done back then. Looking forward to read more from this author :)

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

As a nurse, this story was especially interesting to me. It was well written with a cleverly crafted plot.
Many thanks to HarperCollins UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed reading the story of Uma's journey from a life on the streets to a dedicated, educated nurse. it is not an easy journey for Uma. i love that she makes friends along the way and has to make lots of important decisions about which direction she wants her life to go. Pretty inspirational.

A great character in Una Kelly,a tough ,gritty young girl with street smarts and determination. We also learn a lot about the early days of nursing and it's strict rules.

The beginning may seem slow. However, all of it is necessary to understand Una Kelly and the circumstances she finds herself in. From the time she decides on nurse’s training, it will fly past. The story is captivating and intellectually stimulating at the same time. I learned many things about nurses training: from the things they had to endure, the procedures they were required to perform, and the scrutiny and responsibility placed upon them as women. I found the mystery compelling and enjoyed the way it was solved. A thoroughly enjoyable read. Great characters who carry thought provoking subplots throughout.


I received an ARC from Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter through both NetGalley and Goodreads. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

Loved this story of a tough, female grifter turned nurse trainee in 1880's New York City. Una Kelly is fierce, smart, and quick-witted and makes for a great main character who is easy to cheer for and sympathize with. She's an ambitious pick-pocket who lives by a strict set of rules, the first of which is to watch out for no one else but yourself. When she finds herself in trouble with the law she takes a turn at honest living by enrolling in a new nursing program at Bellevue Hospital, if for nothing else but to create an opportunity to lay low. This new turn gives Una a fresh start and challenges all the rules she swears by. The story teems with great characters and vivid details that gives the reader a unique look into the introduction of formal nurse training in America and what the state of class and poverty was like in 1880's New York City.

Growing up in the tenements of New York City in the last half of the 1800’s, Uma Kelly has really had to raise herself and figure out how to survive. Her mother died in a fire, and her alcoholic father frequents the opium dens. AAUma survives by being a pickpocket and commits other crimes to survive. Cops pin a murder on Uma. She is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Uma escapes and on the run, she sees an ad for Bellevue’s new nursing program which teaches Florence Nightingale’s techniques. She thinks this program will be a good place to hide. With Skenandore’s knowledge as a nurse, readers benefit. I really enjoyed reading about the medical procedures. Doctors have a hard time believing that female nurses can actually be of help . It is hard for many to believe that Lister’s theories about germs can be believed. Hiding in the nursing school, we see Uma start to change. There is a little romance and a mystery to solve. I enjoyed this fast paced novel. My thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

A really enjoyable book, with grpping characters, and how life treats them, how can some
people cope against all the odds stacked against them, Quite an education finding out so much about life as a nurse.

Alrighty then, this definitely wasn’t what I expected and what a wonderful surprise. The story is set in New York in 1883. This is a compelling and gripping story of Una, who, lets say, wasn’t the kind of person that you would trust, but she does turn her life around while hiding from her past.

Amanda Skenandore has written an excellent story about things that I really didn’t know about and enjoyed learning more historically. The characters are compelling and wonderfully written. This is a story I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to #netgalley and #harpercollinsuk,onemorechapterbooks for allowing me to read the eARC of this book. All opinions expressed above are my own.

What a great interesting read this was. I enjoyed it from the very first page which isn't always easy to do. You really need to read this to find out what happens and this is getting 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

Una Kelly, a thief in 1880s New York, finds herself accused of murder. She manages to be admitted to the Bellevue Training School for Nurses inspired by the good works of Florence Nightingale. Definitely not among her peers, she nonetheless works hard toward redemption and finds herself in a career that is actually good for her. Excellent historical fiction.

Based on Florence Nightingale's nursing principles, Bellevue is the first school of it's kind in the country. Where once nurses were assumed to be ignorant and unskilled. Bellevue prizes discipline, intellect and moral character, and only young women of good breeding need apply. At first Una balks at her prim classmates and the doctors endless commands. Yet life on the streets has prepared her for horrors of injury and disease found on the wards, and she slowly gains friendship and self-respect. Just as she finds her footing, Una's suspicions about a patients death put her at risk of exposure, and will force her to choose between her instinct for self-preservation and exposing her identity in order to save others.

The story is set in New York City, 1883; The story is slow to begin with but it soon picks up it's pace. Una has a interesting backstory. She doesn't quite like the prom and proper, no-nonsense behaviour of Bellevue, A well written story that covers: murder, romance, friendship, and nursing with historical fiction. I was rooting for Una all the way. This was my first read by the author but it won.t be my last.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HarperCollinsUK #OneMoreChapter and the author #AmandaSkenandore for my ARC of #TheNursesSecret in exchange for an honest review.

An intriguing and delightful mystery. I was absolutely drawn by the premise of a nurse. The story started a little slow as everything was being laid out and set up, but once it picked up, oh man! I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It had a perfect blend of medicalese, nursing, mystery, friendship, and romance. Nothing overtly gory, but enough detail to make it realistic. It gave me some flashbacks of when I first went to nursing school, which always produces a few chuckles. I loved Una’s character development throughout the tale and the secondary characters who helped get her there. I found myself trying to rationalize through who the killer could be and how it would all play out for Una. The details were creative and brought together nicely in a plausible manner. All in all, I certainly recommend this book for all lovers of clean, medical suspense/mystery.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

Una, who is living as a thief in late 19th century New York, is forced to hide after being accused of a murder, deciding use being a trainee in a nurse's training school as cover.
This book turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Initially it shows how tough life was there for the poor at that time, then moves to a hospital giving an insight into the medical treatments of the time. There is a budding romance, a murder mystery with many twists and turns, but for me what made it a 5* story was Una's journey from a thief who only looked out for herself caused by bitter experience to a caring, professional nurse, albeit not without a few bumps along the way. I became totally immersed in the story, not wanting to put it down - always the sign of a great story - and I can highly recommend it as something a bit different.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

Una's life turns around for the better when she is accepted to Bellevue's School of Nursing. She's been living on the margins- grifting- and she's not really prepared for academia. She is. however, prepared to deal with the dirty and difficult parts of the job. She's making a different sort of friend and a different sort of life and then she realizes one of the patients has been murdered. This turns from a journey of self discovery and empowerment to a mystery- not a bad thing but I didn't need it to find this a rewarding read. No spoilers from me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of historical fiction.

This was a great read, I learnt a lot that I didn’t know before. This was a rich and interesting story, something different to what I’m used to. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

We begin with Una making her living thieving/picking pockets while she resides with mark a lei. That is until she is caught up in a most unfortunate incident and has to make a quick getaway. The answer to her prayers comes along when she catches sight of an advertisement for trainee nurses, offering food & accommodation along with the teaching. Una thinks she can blend in with the trainees without thinking about the difficulties she may incur. Una along with fellow trainee Dru really gets under your skin and you just have to keep reading to see what happens next.

Una Kelly lives in a New York tenement building in Mulberry Street and she shares a flat with three other women. Una is a grifter or a pickpocket and scammer, she works for Marm Blei and she provides her with some protection. Two murders have been committed, Una’s in the wrong place at the wrong time, when she stumbles across the third victim and now she’s on the run from the police.

Una needs to go into hiding, she applies to be a nurse at Bellevue Training School for Nurses and be a member of it's first class. Based on Florence Nightingale’s nursing principles, they only accept single women, with good breeding and morale character, with some fast talking and false documents Una manages to secure a place.

Una struggles to fit in at first, she has never lived in such a nice building as the nurse’s dormitory, she doesn't trust the indoor plumbing and she shares a room with the perfect Miss. Drusilla Lewis. She has no idea what the doctor is talking about in her first lecture, it’s all new to Una and she needs to pay more attention. What Una has in her favor is due to her impoverished upbringing, she's been exposed lice, dirt, vomit, blood and sweat, unlike her fellow probationers and she understands the patients. Much to her own surprise, Una enjoys her training and has all the attributes to make a good nurse.

When a patient dies unexpectedly Una has her suspicions, how can she tell anyone at the hospital she thinks the person was strangled and without exposing her flawed past? The serial killer might work at Bellevue and she finds herself snooping around the wards, ambulance bay and morgue looking for clues.

I received a copy of The Nurse’s Secret from NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter in exchange for an honest review. The author Amanda Skenandore is a qualified nurse, her book takes you back to a time when nurses weren’t treated well by doctors and some doctors laughed at new ideas and discoveries in medicine. Gilded age nurses thoroughly cleaned hospital wards, infection rates decreased and patient care improved. I found the medical information included in the story really interesting and despite her obvious flaws Una’s character is spirited, her heart is in the right place and she makes an excellent detective and nurse.

Five stars from me, I highly recommend this book if you like historical fiction stories about nurses, the medical treatment at the time and with a thrilling plot twist.