This book was requested by a previous Lesbrary reviewer who did not finish or review it. In order to keep my Netgalley feedback up to date, I am submitting this review marking it as a DNF, though it was another reviewer who requested this.

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me a copy of this audiobook! I was really excited to read this gender bent novel! I feel in love with Tania! I cannot wait to read more books by Lillie Lainoff!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this Audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 Stars.
I liked the Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and to read a retelling with girls as Musketeers, I felt that it might be interesting, add to this the main female character has a disability which I found this to be a pretty amazing change from the usual perfect, sexy, badass FMC. This was the second main point that attracted me to this retelling.

Now, this audiobook took me some days to be able to finish and this for a lot of reasons; first, I hated the narrator's French with some horrible accent like when she said Les Mousquetaires de la lune. then, the plot was a bit rediculous for my taste, then, at the end, that fight with the real villain , my god that was funny. It was so obvious to the point that I wanted to be wrong and I made myself doubt, hoping it could be better. The dialogues were a bit silly.

To be more honest, I didn't care at all about the other characters, I got interested a bit in Etienne but then he became a lame character. I got sick from her hearing her father calling her name Tania, Tania,Tania, until the end, it was so dramatic, we used to see this in some movies or whatever.

I listened to an audiobook copy of this title and I really enjoyed it! The narrator did an amazing job bringing the main character to life as well as the rest of cast. I'd definitely recommend this as the way to go to consume this book!

As for the book itself, it was so refreshing to see a character with a disability and the way her badass personality melds with dealing with it. Especially in this historical setting. I was so excited to read this after finding out the author also has POTS and they did a phenomenal job with it! I'm so happy this book exists and that other young girls can see a character living life as they have and to have that connection with a character.

My favourite part of this book was 10000% the female friendships. They all warmed my heart so much! The ending had me in tears. I just love when female friendships stay so strong despite anything that might attempt to come between them.

If you're looking for a book with a strong mc and watching as she figures out life with her disability and how she still can live whatever life she wishes amid badass fencing and the best female friendships, you need to read this book now!

3.5/5

The audiobook was alright, but the book was so boring that I did eventually DNF it. I'm sure the fighting scenes were cool but I never got to them. It could have just been me in the moment and what I felt like reading (or not reading) but it just felt like it took forever to get started and I expected more action.

The representation in this book is what originally piqued my interest and it was so authentically done. The threads of the Three Musketeer story upon which the book it’s based were there, visible at some times more than others. The feminist reimagining of the tale was refreshing to see, as was the historical setting, which it’s clear the author put thought, care, and research into creating.

I just couldn’t get into this. I love disability rep, I love historical fiction, I love retellings, I love young women kicking butt, but this book just didn’t hit me right. I picked it up a couple of times trying to see if it was just right book, wrong time, but ultimately, I ended up putting it down and not picking it back up again.

I think it just wasn’t for me, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be for you! If you love any of those things, give it a try!

Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for this ALC.

A gender-bent retelling of the Three Musketeers starring with a girl with chronic illness? Sign me up!

This book follows Tania de Batz, a teenage girl in France who prefers fencing to trying to find a husband. She's also known as "the sick girl" in her provincial town because her dizziness makes it difficult for her to go through her day. But that's now how her father sees her. He has trained her to be an amazing fencer, which is why Tania is confused that his dying wish is for her to go to finishing school

L’Académie des Mariées is not what she expects. It's a secret training school for female musketeers who are socialites on the surface but carry swords on their skirts. Tania's new sisters don't treat her like the man girls from her small town, either. They're there to catch her when she falls and she's there for them, too.

However, when Tania gets her first target and he's smart, understanding, and handsome it's hard to know whether to listen to her head or her heart.

This book was an absolutely incredible debut! It was honestly shocking that this was Lillie Lainoff's debut since it is so well written, plotted, and the characters are excellent. Tania's experience with POTS is fundamentally different than mine with endometriosis, but there is some overlap in the chronic illness experience. This book hit home a lot for me. The way that no day is ever promised to be good. The horrible feeling of worrying about being a burden. Those are all thoughts I'd had and it made me feel very seen. Which is why we need more chronic illness books!

The side characters are fun too! There's queer rep, which I loved. And I loved the non-judgmental friendship between Tania and the other musketeers. It was a fun story with strong sisterhood themes and disability/chronic illness rep.

The audiobook was fun and engaging so I would definitely recommend that as well.

*Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC*

This audiobook was very well narrated and I am looking forward to hearing more from Mara Wilson in the future.
The story itself was also very engaging, albeit a little longer than I felt it needed to be. I liked engaging with all of the girls' distinct voices and personalities and the representation of POTS in a historical context helps to begin to fill a glaring gap in disability literature. Although there is no fantasy in the story, I would recommend it to fantasy fans looking to branch out to a new genre, as the writing style is just as action-packed and engaging.

I really liked the idea of a group of women musketeers defending the crown in the shadows and I really appreciated following Tania and the other girls through their missions. A really good read for fans of historical fiction !

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

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.

I found this one to be slow and I found the characters didn’t have much dept. I really wanted to love this one because it really sounded like it would be amazing

A gender-bent retelling of the Three Musketeers that focuses on a girl whose chronic illness made her a burden on her family, despite her exceptional kill with fencing. It's a very heartwarmer adventure story that I would happily have read in my middle school days. There's a lot of great representation and the girls are all very different, but it also felt like it was holding back a bit. It's a very plot-heavy story, and the conspiracy these girls were trying to unravel didn't always track. I also have an issue with it being listed as LGBTQ as that's such a small part of this book, that it's really not representative and felt more like an afterthought that was shoved in at the final stage of writing. You could take it out and nothing about the book would change. Mara Wilson is such a talented narrator, I would be very interested to listen to more of her audiobooks. I thought she did such a great job with the accents and different voices. It kept me interested when the story was a bit slower

I absolutely love retellings of classic stories and that is what first peaked my interest in this book. Even though this book is pitched as a gender bender retelling of the three musketeers, I would say it’s more of a continuation of the story but with female characters. That isn’t a bad thing, but definitely a different vibe from a retelling.

I would still recommend this book because it’s essentially a feminist “retelling”, has representation of chronic illness since the main character has POTS, there is sword fighting, and an assassination plot. In my opinion these are all makings of a good story.

The neighborhood thinks Tania de Batz’s near-constant dizziness makes her weak, but she wants nothing more than to be a fencer like her former Musketeer father. Her world comes crashing down when her father is brutally murdered. A letter reveals his dying wish: for Tania to attend L’Académie des Mariées. This is no finishing school but a secret training ground for a new kind of Musketeer. Will Tania finally find a place where she belongs?

I expected to love this book. A retelling of The Three Musketeers with girls being secret spies? It sounds awesome! But, this isn’t exactly a retelling. I’m torn between saying it was inspired by The Three Musketeers and it being a pseudo-sequel to the original book. Tania’s father was a musketeer, and told stories of his past to his daughter as she grew up. He trains her to fence, despite the disapproval of her mother.

It was clever to use the fashion of the 17th century with the wide skirts to hide swords for our girls to use. HOWEVER, I have to deduct a star for perpetuating the trope of “corsets the idea that corsets are inherently tight and evil. (I was prepared to overlook the use of "corsets" instead of stays). The "oh, corsets are so tight" annoyed me as did the "if women designed clothes, they would be comfortable." I will not tolerate the disrespect of the history of women dressmakers and seamstresses!

The plot was interesting for the first half. Then, it became too predictable. There is a betrayal near the end that was so obvious I was hoping my expectations would be subverted in a different way. I was hoping for more growth of character from Tania.

I listened to the audiobook for this one and...I think I would have enjoyed reading it more. The narrator was one I hadn't heard before, and she had a nice range of voices for the characters. However, for the most part, she sounded bored. There was no tension or change, even when Tania was facing danger.

Overall, this was an alright read but not a favorite.

ONE FOR ALL is nearly everything I could ever want in a book. It was fierce and fun and is guaranteed to *stab stab stab* its way right to your heart—and Mara Wilson is the perfect narrator for the audiobook!

Within the first seven minutes, I felt seen. It’s a tender sort of gut punch to see such specific (yet universal) parts of the disabled experience within the pages of a book, written in such a way that you know it’s coming from someone who has lived those experiences firsthand. Within the first thirty minutes, I felt seen even more. It’s an indescribable emotion to read exact thoughts you’ve had—knowing at the time you thought them, they’d felt isolating. This book would have meant the world to me as a teenager, trying to navigate my youth with an undiagnosed chronic illness. It would have made me feel so much less alone, because it had that effect on me as an adult.

I loved how immersive the world felt, pulling me through the pages all the way back to historical France and it’s rolling landscapes and gorgeous architecture. Which reminds me of another overarching success of the story: using a historical setting and featuring marginalized characters that exist and take centre stage—when so often a common thread of historical fiction is the erasure (or “all they know is suffering”-ness) of these same identities. The historical setting also allows for a specific sort of disability rep that I am forever yearning for, because I haven’t seen it nearly as often: the time before diagnosis, of navigating the symptoms of an illness you don’t know you have (in this case because the formal diagnosis and understanding of POTS now simply didn’t exist then).

The plot becomes this compelling thanks to the wonderful cast of characters that Lillie Lainoff has assembled. Tania is a fierce protagonist, and her growth over the course of the story is absolutely fantastic, particularly where she is able to overcome her internalized ableism. There is so much strength in understanding—in accepting, even celebrating—the limitations that one’s disabled body has that abled bodies do not, and that those limitations are not a shortcoming. You can be strong and you can be sick, and there is no shame in acknowledging that. Unlearning internalized ableism is…a Time™, but honestly? Personally, I felt so much more empowerment when I finally stopped fighting against my chronic illness. Instead, I went looking for ways to work with it, to fight for the accommodations and accessibility I needed. Seeing Tania do the same warmed my heart in immeasurable ways.

This was such a wonderful ensemble cast. Each of the Mademoiselles la Mousquetaire felt so fully realized, so real, that I could easily see them crossing from the page into the real world. From the aloof and perfectly composed Aria to effervescent Théa to Portia, with a wit as sharp as the sword she wields? I would lay my life down on the line for all of them. Without question. You have my sword, ladies. (and my bow, and my axe) That said, I have never been more suspicious of every single man in a book than I was while reading One For All. And for good reasons, but let me just say that…I was fool, and this book read my foolishness for filth. But that also opened the door for some really poignant reflections about why I let myself be fooled in the ways I was—and why Tania was, too.

One For All was truly everything I could have wanted, and then some. It’s bursting with action and drama with a plot that twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat, but it’s the heart of the story that will cut you to your core—in the best way.

Most of all, though? I am so, so excited for the disabled people picking One For All up once it releases and getting to see ourselves in a book—in this book, with it’s fantastical edge—as the protagonist. Not a side character mentioned in one scene, or a supporting character who dies to further the protagonist’s arc. We get to see ourselves in a disabled hero. The person leading the way and brandishing their sword and defeating the villains and finding family and falling in love. Doing it all, and on our own terms.

I liked the idea of this one more than the actual execution of it.

I will say, I love the disability rep of POTS - that is not a chronic illness I knew much about before reading this and I think it was very well done and I'm glad that people with chronic illness can finally see themselves in an adventure story and that their illness does not define who they are.

That's about where my praise for this book ends though. The writing bothered me so much - each sentence ended abruptly. The sentence then continued one. Even though it could have been on sentence. Describing the same thing. (Just like that. It pained me to even write like that!) It felt like it could have used a LOT more editing - it felt very early draft to me.

I've also seen it pointed out they use French followed by the English translation - but if they're in Paris and supposed to be speaking French....that just seems silly. Some books can pull off dual languages. This book is not one of them.

The audiobook narrator was fine but again the narration felt abrupt and it took me looking at the physical book to realize the narrator wasn't reading it that way for funsies but because thats how it was written. I feel bad for her for that.

I didn't end up caring for an of the characters and by 50% I should probably care at least a little bit. I'm not letting myself read books that I know I'll rate 2 or maybe 3 stars this year. I'm being ruthless with my DNF-ing and moving on with my life. So sorry book, you just aren't doing it for me.

DNF at 48%. I really wanted to like this one, but couldn't quite manage it. I can see it being a good fit for another reader, though, so take this with a grain of salt.

I had trouble connecting with the character, and found the worldbuilding to be very murky. I just couldn't get a grasp on what was going on or why I should care. According to an author answer on Goodreads, one of the girls is a lesbian and one is bi, but at halfway through the book I've only found the most vague hints which was frustrating.

Readers who want chronic illness representation may connect more easily.

I did enjoy Mara Wilson's narration, but it just wasn't enough to keep me invested..