If you like historical fiction, as I do, you’ll love this well written novel by Amanda Skenandore. I grew up on Sue Barton and Cherry Ames nursing adventures as a child and likewise have been drawn to historical fiction with a focus on nurses. So it isn’t a surprise that is where I ended up, as well.
This was an intriguing story of a young girl, Una Kelly, living on the tough streets of NYC in the late 1800s, grifting, stealing, and lying to survive. When a man is murdered and she is suspected, she takes refuge in the newly opened nursing school at NYC Bellevue Hospital, scamming her way into the nursing program, with plans to continue her grifting and stealing until the search for her blows over. Naturally she can’t stay out of trouble and as a few more murders occur, she fears for her safety.
Amanda Skenandore is a wonderful story teller and brings her nursing experience into her novels. Her characters are interesting, with tragic backgrounds, as they struggle to survive the dangerous streets of NY.
Despite Una’s shady background, it’s easy to see her inner strength and the good that can be found beneath the layers. This is well told and well written and I really enjoyed it.
My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Kensington Publishing for the ARC.

Una Kelly, pick-pocket, grifter, and scammer is at the wrong place at the wrong time. The person she was to meet has been murdered. She is arrested and jailed. Her 'connections' get her out, but she must go into hiding.

She lucks into a position at the first nursing class held at Bellevue Hospital, essentially hiding in plain sight from the law. As she gets more involved in the nursing profession, Una develops friendships, that she'd never had before, and a romantic interest come into play. More incidents of the seamier side develop, and a mystery is woven into the fabric of this book.

I really enjoyed this! The author has definitely done her homework regarding the time frame and the conditions of hospitals then. The mystery was good, although it was easy to see who done it! I'd recommend this book to friends who enjoy historical fiction and those who like a little mystery in their reading .

Thanks to Kensington and NetGalley for the e-ARC. The review is my own.

There are two reasons that I was drawn to this book: 1) I loved this author's last book, The Second Life of MIrielle West, and 2) Being a nurse, I was interested to learn about the first American nurses training school that opened at Bellevue Hospital in 1873, one hundred years before I started nursing school.

The main character, Una, seems to be a very unlikely candidate for nursing school. Working the wards at Bellevue Hospital as a trainee nurse is a far cry from Una's previous vocation as a pick pocket and a thief. But, she uses her new identity to escape the police and a possible jail sentence for suspected murder. Una must learn to adapt in her new role while continuing to deceive others, even those who come to love her. At the same time, she uses all her skills and knowledge in an attempt to unveil a dangerous murderer, even if it means revealing her own secrets.

I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say that medicine and surgery today has come a long way from the medical care and treatment of patients in the 1800s and so has the training of nurses. The storyline and the mystery in this novel run seamlessly and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to friends and fans of historical fiction who love a strong female protagonist.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corp. for the digital ARC of this book.

The Nurse’s Secret by Amanda Skenandore is an intriguing historical novel. I thought The Nurse’s Secret was well-written with realistic, developed characters. I found Una Kelly to be a resilient woman who is resourceful and clever. She had to survive after the death of her mother and her father’s decline into alcohol. I liked seeing Una’s character change as she learned nursing and made friendships. The book has a good premise. I was drawn into The Nurse’s Secret, and it held my interest. I liked learning about Bellevue and the school of nursing. We see how Lister’s ideas on germ prevention were ridiculed (he was far ahead of his time). Medical procedures were described and some of them had me cringing. Patients dying from conditions that can now be easily cured. Sometimes the treatment was worse than the disease. I thought the author captured the time period very well. I can tell she did her research especially regarding the nursing school. I thought she captured the attitudes of people. How the doctors treated nurses, snobbery of people with better breeding, and how people felt about Catholics and Irish. The mystery is well-plotted. I enjoyed following the clues (I love solving mysteries) to see if I could identify the guilty party. There is romance too. Una meets a doctor who is kind and intelligent. She does not know, though, if it is possible to have a happily ever after when she is hiding out from the law. This was an engaging and enjoyable historical novel. The Nurse’s Secret combines survival instincts, friendship, nursing, a murder mystery, and romance into one absorbing tale. Nurse’s Secret is an appealing historical novel with a talented pickpocket, a formidable fence, an offensive officer, an appealing article, a helpful hideout, a negative nelly nurse, and a tenacious killer.

There was so much covered in The Nurse's Secret that it is hard to know where to begin! It is historical fiction, with a strong mystery component as well as insight into life in late 19th century New York City, the early age of nursing/nursing education, and some friendship and romance too. I really enjoyed the mystery element – it was truly unique and suspenseful to watch Una investigate, follow her suspicions, and use her wit/gut to pursue something incredibly unbelievable… murders in the Bellevue Hospital. Una as a character was not always likeable but she was realistic so I admire that. I felt the historical elements and relationships within this book were great too. But overall I rated this book a little lower because the mystery element seemed so unbelievable (even though it was well written). I just didn’t see how she just happened to be connected to these murders/this killer so closely. I would have appreciated seeing more of Una as a person after the mystery was “solved” too. This book was well written, and seemed very well researched… it just didn’t sit right with me all the time.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this advanced ebook copy. I am glad to have read it even though it wasn’t my favorite! All opinions are my own.

Thoroughly enjoyed this story of Una, a woman who has started off with a very hard life and enters a nursing program to lay low from the police for a crime she didn’t commit. The nursing program does much more than help her lay low. Has some mystery, romance and drama. And even though at times you don’t really like the main character, the writing has you rooting for her. Being a nurse I really enjoyed reading about the nursing practices back in the late 1800s from the book.

Una is a grifter, used to fending for herself in the slums of 1880s New York City. When stumbles upon a dead man and suddenly finds herself in the hot seat she escapes with nowhere to hide. Una comes across an article advertising Bellevue Hospital's new nursing program based on the nursing principles of Florence Nightingale. Seeing tat the program gave the student nurses room and board for 2 years she devises a scheme and conning her way into the program., the perfect place to hide in plain sight. Una soon finds out that to be able to remain in the program and maintain her cover she is going to have to do more than con her way through, she is actually going to have to pay attention and learn the skills being taught or face her luck back out on the street.
I really enjoyed this book, I not only learned about a part of history I knew nothing about , but I was pleasantly entertained by Una's story. There wasn't too much depth to the mystery in the story, it was very superficial but that is ok, the rich historical detail and Una's bad-ass, spunky personality make for an engaging, fast aced read. I give it 4+ stars and recommend to all Historical fiction lovers.
Thank you to Kensington Books and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

Within the pages of this book readers will find a story about the first nursing school of its kind in the United States. Skenandore applies meticulous research to describing the school's founding principles, the qualities that administrators looked for in candidates, and the accepted medical practices at the time. Nursing students were upheld to the strictest of standards both professionally and personally. Readers may be surprised though at how the older generation of doctors seemingly dismissed the overall value of disinfecting prior to and after surgery.
Fictional character Una provides the context by which the story unveils itself. Una's life on the streets brought with it loneliness, hardship, and financial insecurity. While Una pretends to be a strong self-sufficient person, one single choice means that she is in the wrong place at the wrong time. A single newspaper advertisement provides Una with an idea that will not only safeguard her for the short-term but will ultimately change her life.
As she embraces her undercover life as a nursing student Una toys with the idea that she just might be capable of having a future. However, Una's past isn't ready to let her go and she finds herself in a quandary of how to prevent all of her hard work from crashing down around her.
Skenandore shines in this latest novel. It is truly evident that Skenandore is passionate about the subject of nursing. Her characters jump off the page and sit right there next to you while you flip the pages.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley and the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
The Nurse’s Secret is a historical mystery with an intriguing premise. However, it combines two elements, that of having the fish-out-of-water nurse navigating Bellevue, while finding murders occurring in her midst that are reminiscent of her origins on the streets. Theoretically, this combination could work, but I found the execution here very lacking.
My main investment was in unraveling the mystery. And to have it occur in the midst of the already-intense atmosphere of Bellevue, it’s easy to be sucked into that element of the story and see the killer brought to justice. And there’s a lot about being a nurse in the latter half of the 19th century that is well-captured, both in the context of the mystery and contributing to the atmosphere.
But I found myself feeling very mixed about Una. In theory, she’s interesting, because she’s a grifter who conned her way into the nursing institution as a cover, and I like that her background makes her suitable for handling the gritty nature of the work and the dark events that unfold. But I just never really connected with her, and I kwish there had been a way to emphasize the fear of exposure that wasn’t the threat of a literal murderer, as that overshadowed her character depth.
While this book didn’t fully work for me, there are strong points from an objective perspective. And I can see it working better for someone else who also enjoys historical mystery/suspense with multiple points of suspense.

**Thank you to NetGalley, Amanda Skenandore and Kensington Publishing for allowing me this arc version in exchange for my honest review.**

I loved this book. I am always ready for a good nurse story and this one with the added historical facts, the mystery thrown in and a bit of romance took me all the way home!!
Set in New York in the 1880s Ms. Skenandore takes Una, a thief, living life one day at a time trying to just stay alive, finds she's been accused of murder. She now has to escape the 'coppers' watchful eyes, so she decides to apply for the Nursing program at Bellevue Hospital. Definitely not because she wants to do good and become a nurse but because she thinks no one will ever find her there. As time goes along and she's doing her work in the nursing program, a woman is found dead. Una senses something is a little off with the death. Shortly after that another death is very suspecting of foul play. Is Una simply being too suspicious because of her past or is there really something going on that needs deeper attention?

Una Kelly is different than the other nurse trainees entering Bellevue’s nursing program. Unbeknownst to the school, Una is a thief, who believes the school is the perfect place to lay low. I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher through Netgalley. This is my honest and voluntarily given review. This book is not only a terrific story, but also a fascinating look at professional nursing in the late nineteenth century. There is mystery, suspense, friendship, and romance. This is a book that I will remember not only because of the story, but also the main character. I love seeing Una evolve through caring for patients, a friendship, and a romance.

I really liked reading a historical fiction book about nurses that wasn’t set during a war. Una was a likable main character who overcame a lot during the story and showed a lot of growth. I love that the author is also a nurse.
Thank you to the publisher for my copy.

I loved the prickly and intrepid Una and found the descriptions of a Gilded Age hospital and nursing school to be fascinating. The mystery was fine, if pedestrian. Frankly, I think the book would have been stronger without it. The nursing school part of the story could easily have stood alone. I disliked the romance - partly because I’m just not much of a romance person and (mostly) because I found it unbelievable that a badass like Una would fall for a prisspot like Edwin!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

I have enjoyed all of Amanda Skenandore’s historical fiction and she keeps getting better! I love how her chosen time periods very widely and the lead characters are nuanced and capable. Descriptions of New York City in 1883 are vivid, never ponderous. Skenandore makes the city come alive with strong verbs, “street children still huddled over steam grates. Beggars rattled their tins. Gangs prowled the alleys.” She uses clever turns of phrases to set the reader in a bygone time. “The thick Irish brogue like that of her father had vanished from many voices like a wrinkle ironed out of a shirt.”

Una Kelly grew up in the streets of New York City after her mother died in a fire and her drunken dad was lost in his own world. She is a strong protagonist; one you will root for. We follow her from days of stealing for Marm Blei to being accused of a crime to watching as she studies to become a nurse in the first nurse-training program in the country. We see her ‘rules for life’ forge her into a resilient woman with compassion.

4.5 stars – because sometimes you just need a rags-to-riches love story with a strong female and a good story. Throw in a mystery, some clean romance, great pacing, and you have The Nurse’s Secret.

I listened to the audiobook as well read the ARC. The narrator has a strong voice which fit perfectly with the times. Characters were easy to understand, and the story moved quickly. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved so much about The Nurse's Secret. As a work of historical fiction, it was fascinating to learn about the first nurse training school at Bellevue Hospital, as well as get a glimpse of New York City during the complicated Gilded Age. The city felt as much a character as any people in the book. The human characters were wonderful too, though. Una's journey of growth and redemption were beautiful, as were the relationships she developed along the way, and the mysterious element kept the pages turning.

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.

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.

In The Nurse’s Secret we are treated to a multi-layered, fascinating historical fiction novel. The main character is Una—a grifter, a pickpocket, who ekes out a hardscrabble life for herself on the mean streets on New York City. Desperate, wanted for murder, she lies her way through an interview and enters a nurse training program at Bellevue Hospital. Una is street smart, resilient and savvy, and incorporates the skills she used to survive on the streets to get through the rigorous program. There is also a murder mystery woven into this mesmerizing story, adding danger and intrigue in unexpected ways.

It took me a few different times of reading to finish this book, I'm not ure why because it really was a good story, something good about the book was missing for me, I couldn't really get into the characters, It was just a book for me, I'm sorry, I just think it took to long to get to the next wow for me, I received this book from Net Galley, this is my honest review

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have
decided to stop reading this book
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.