4 stars- Really enjoyed this one! Thank you netgalley & the publisher for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

A huge realization that there were very active pro Natzi groups operating during WWI. Not only active but plotting and successfully distributing propaganda and sabotaging ammunition plants. The author writes beautifully about a mother and daughter who became spy’s infiltrating such a group in California. Based on true facts, Veronica finds herself working for a married couple who produce and distribute Natzi propaganda. Horrified she alerts the police and FBI who have no interest. It’s not until her mother, Vi contacts a naval intelligence officer who worked with her deceased husband that they find interest. They agree to infiltrate the local powerful German American group to meet those that are planing anti American activities. Again, woman are underestimated and therefore make perfect spy’s. Needless to say they are very successful while dodging danger at every corner. Excellent Historical Fiction.

I would have more surprised if I hadn’t found pro Natzi documents in a home I brought from an elderly gentleman about 25 years ago. Truly shocking! The gentleman was a military veteran andI lived in the Midwest.

Pre WWII Subversives and American Nazis
This is an awesome book that is based on real persons and events but fictionalized. The German depression post-WWI brought about the Nazi's rise to power. The global depression of the 1930s was fertile ground for the anti-Semitism of the Nazis as well as their Aryan, white, Christian supremacy propaganda. Many in the US, not necessarily those of German descent, bought into this notion that all of the financial woes were the fault of Jews and minorities. Good citizens were brainwashed by the notion that the only real Americans were white and Christian. This book is a look into their pre-WWII activities. Some actions were planned in Germany, others were home-grown. There are definitely similarities to every bout of Civil unrest we have experienced since then. This book brings it all to life. All of the characters seem life-like and not just caricatures. There were a few times that I needed to take a break from reading because it was just too dark. It certainly makes one look at current events in a different light.

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal

What type of job can a mother and daughter of german heritage have in the early ‘40’s in LA? Veronica and her mother Vi find that their new home is a hotbed of the pro-german and antisemite movement in America. The women try to be the best citizens possible by reporting the activity to the police, but not until the FBI is informed are they offered jobs as spies to infiltrate the German American Bund. Thanks in part to their contributions, the Bund did not maintain its hold in America. Fascinating read about a little known movement.

Thanks to Net Galley and Penguin Random House for the ARC

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal is an excellent WWII-era historical fiction that has it all: history, mystery, intrigue, suspense, and kept me glued to every page from beginning to end. I loved it!

Based on actual events and people, Mother Daughter Traitor Spy details the lives of a mother and daughter duo who go undercover to help thwart Nazism in the United States. Just as relevant today as then, are also the underlying issues of perceived racial superiority, societal faults, and victimized injustices. Mother Daughter Traitor Spy reminds us that we must always fight together for what is right; we must stand together to defy that which threatens to destroy us; and good must always triumph over evil.

What a powerful read this was. This is a historical fiction, based in the 1940's.

Veronica just graduated college and excited to start her new career with a magazine in NY. Things don't always turn out as expected, due to a relationship Veronica and her mother Vi, ( Violet) end up moving to LA. When Veronica has no luck in finding a job within publishing she accepts a job typing for an Educational Bureau. Finding out this Bureau was Pro-Nazi she made several attempts to find out whom she is to contact to report this to. Their journey begins for both mother and daughter when they go undercover.

What intrigued me the most about this book, even though the characters are fiction they were inspired by the real people.

This is a new author for me and I am excited to read more of her books.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy will absolutely be on my Top 10 list this year. The story was compelling and taught me about a part of WWII I hadn’t known about. The Nazi plans to infiltrate the US, causing physical damage and indoctrinating minds to a fascist, authoritarian Hitler led world were horrifying. The characters were well drawn and the story flowed easily. I wanted more!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for the free ARC!

I truly want sure what to expect with this one. Overall I enjoyed it, I think I just wanted more from of it. A lot of it felt too neat or maybe wrapped up to easily? I was never worried about the characters, I just had the feeling it would all be fine even though it very well could have gone poorly.

It's historical fiction that gets into dark things that happened but never read I'm a dark, depressing way. In part that may have been because we know how history turns out. All in all it was an interesting read, I especially liked the notes at the end sharing who characters were based off of.

This was an interesting historical fiction. Had a lot of background information on WWII that I had not known about. I enjoyed the book overall. Thought it moved a little slow from time to time, and didn't always seem realistic.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy is a historical novel set in early WWII Los Angeles, before the US entered the war. Mother Vi and daughter Veronica move from New York to LA. They are of German descent, blond haired and blue eyed, and are coincidentally recruited by Nazi sympathizers. But they use this to become spies. It's pretty horrifying that this went on in the US during this time. But an interesting view, and mostly based on a true story.

If you read me, you know I adore the writing of Susan Elia MacNeal and her Maggie Hope series. I assumed this was the next in the series -- and I was wrong! This is a standalone title, telling the story of mother-daughter spies in Los Angeles who work to uncover Nazis who are trying to build a following in America. I almost could not believe this was based on fact, but it is. I found it fascinating and, not surprisingly, well-written (as all Susan's novels are). However, what I can not let go of is that, while I was reading, I found so many parallels to today and kept thinking about how easy it would be for all this to happen again (or could it be happening now??). The most stark image in my mind from this book is that the people who were really heinous/racist/horrible were actually quite charming and friendly on the surface. Lovely people in lovely homes that were welcoming and helpful to Veronica and Vi. It's a reminder of how the biggest villains don't necessarily look like the ones in the movies. They may look like the people next door.

Thank you for my copy through Net Galley. This will most probably make my "Best Books" list for 2022!

This story is about two women, mother and daughter, 1940 war time when France falls to the Nazis. The characters are based on real women. Veronica graduates college ready to work at writing for a magazine. Her reputation is tarnished and they move to Los Angeles. Veronica finds a job as a secretary of a prominent Nazi. He is recruiting Americans for his campaign spreading hate, destruction and violence in America.
The two women join the underground and provide information shared with the FBI. The amount of courage and fear these ladies must have endured is amazing. The examples of how they managed to get information is dangerous.
I enjoyed the story in terms of the historic account of the Nazis during WWII in Los Angles. It is not very often written about given the enormous amount of war books out there to read.
It is clear the author did an amazing amount of research to write this book. It is worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book for my review.

3.5 stars. I rarely read historical fiction, but I enjoyed this novel loosely based on real people and events. The writing is entertaining - it's an enjoyable novel about Nazis in America, as strange as it feels to be typing such a sentence.

"June 1940. France has fallen to the Nazis, and Britain may be next--but to many Americans, the war is something happening "over there." Veronica Grace has just graduated from college; she and her mother, Violet, are looking for a fresh start in sunny Los Angeles. After a blunder cost her a prestigious career opportunity in New York, Veronica is relieved to take a typing job in L.A.--only to realize that she's working for one of the area's most vicious propagandists.

Overnight, Veronica is exposed to the dark underbelly of her new home, where German Nazis are recruiting Americans for their devastating campaign. After the FBI dismisses the Graces' concerns, Veronica and Violet decide to call on an old friend, who introduces them to L.A.'s anti-Nazi spymaster.

At once, the women go undercover to gather enough information about the California Reich to take to the authorities. But as the news of Pearl Harbor ripples through the United States, and President Roosevelt declares war, the Grace women realize that the plots they're investigating are far more sinister than they feared--and even a single misstep could cost them everything."

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine/Random House for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

I typically do not read books that are written in a time period from back in the day. I gave this book a chance and it turned out it was a decent book. It had some confusing twists and turns but it did have a good ending. It took me several chapters to even get into the book but it sort of hooked me in a way because I wanted to find out the outcome. Overall it was a decently written book with a great outcome.

I’m normally not a huge fan of war time books, however this one did catch my interest. I loved the fact this was a mother daughter duo, going against major groups themselves. It did keep my very interested to see if they got caught or not!

It’s amazing what the real Lewis and Roos did to fight an uphill battle to stop Naziism in the US during WW2, and loved the story of women spying to help. Also crazy the extremes the US took - practically ignoring domestic Nazis and their threats pre-Pearl Harbor and then post, interning anyone who was remotely German or especially Japanese, stripping them of their rights and homes.

The book itself had some great information and I learned a lot about what Southern California looked like during that time. How much the Government became pigeon holed looking at Communism, that really, they’d continue to do for decades, rather than an obvious threat right in front of them. And how, as usual, women were underestimated and therefore perfect options for spying and working undercover.

Some of the dialogue seemed a little forced and unnatural at times, while other times it seems like there is wonderful detail in a scene, and then it jumps to a later scene without a lot of connection or character development. Because of that I never really identified with Veronica or Vi beyond a surface level. It also felt like Veronica lacked some of the stability and backbone someone in a successful spying role would need.

Overall I liked it but it wasn’t quite as gripping as I wanted it to be. Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine alone.

Although this is based on the true story of a mother/daughter duo who posed as Nazi sympathizers in LA early in WWII and infiltrated an American branch of Nazis in order to gather information to bring the organization down, the book itself reads as very unbelievable, at least to me it did.. I can tell the book was well researched, and the story of LA Nazi rings and mother/daughter spies is not one that is well known so it should have held my interest way more than it did. I enjoyed reading about the actual facts, the real history of the story, but the dialogue and the character development left me flat. I simply could not stay invested, the plot moved slowly, seeming to drag from chapter to chapter till I was ready to DNF the book. I ended up skimming the last half of the book and reading the historical notes at the end which I found interesting. I am sure many will love this book, the writing style is just not for me. I will still give 3 stars because the storyline and historical fas=cts are good.
Thank you to Random House Publishing-Ballantine and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

In June of 1940. World War II is in full swing in Europe, France being the latest country to fall to the Nazis. In the United States, there is significant opposition to entering yet another war “over there.” Veronica Grace lives with her mother in New York City having graduated from college with a promising journalism job in hand when she is set afloat because of a youthful indiscretion. She and her mother, Violet, decide to move to Los Angeles where Veronica takes a job as a typist only to find out that she is working for one of the Nazi’s most virulent propagandists. Veronica quickly finds herself at odds with those who are “in bed” with Hitler and look forward to the day when the Fuhrer comes to the US in victory. Her attempts to get the police and the FBI involved prove fruitless, which leads to her being introduced to an underground network - a loose group of individuals who work relentlessly to expose these anti-American groups. She and her mother are encouraged to - and do - become operatives infiltrating the burgeoning German network. Plenty of tension and even a few surprises as these women take on a dangerous and basically unrecognized role. The afterword by the author explained how most if not all of the characters in the book were based on real people and fictional though related to real events. I found this book so interesting because it dealt with a WWII topic that I was totally unfamiliar with - the Nazi movement within the the United States, and especially California, during the early days of the war. Whilst not on the same scale as the divisions in our country today, it provided a good lesson on how significant evil has existed in the past and how it can be dealt with. I struggled with the rating (between 4 and 5 stars), and chose the lower because it was an excellent read but the writing was somewhat choppy at times. My thanks to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

It is June, 1940, and two women are starting their lives over in Los Angeles….in the midst of a group of Nazi sympathizers.

An unwise relationship has cost recent college graduate Veronica a prestigious job as a journalist in NYC, while her mother Violet still mourns the death of her husband. When Violet’s brother urges them to move from the East Coast to California and stay at a home he no longer uses, Veronica and Violet make the decision to start over. Veronica has no success in finding a job in her field, but with her funds running out a casual encounter in a restaurant leads her to a position as a typist. The couple for whom she will be working seem perfectly lovely…until she discovers that their publication is in fact rabid Nazi propaganda. Similarly Violet, who is talented with embroidery, strikes up a relationship with some well-to-do women who want to pay her to use her needlework skills to enhance their wardrobes….and they too prove to be Nazi sympathizers. The women are rebuffed when they bring their concerns to the FBI, but persist until they connect with the man who is the unofficial anti-Nazi spymaster in the Los Angeles area. They are persuaded to risk their lives to act as undercover informants, gathering information with the hope that government authorities will finally act to stop the agitators.

Much as she did with the Maggie Hope series, Ms MacNeal has based her story on real people and events. It is a piece of history of which I had been unaware. We have all heard of the fear of Communists in the Hollywood community, but Nazis? Yet a real mother and daughter, upon whom Veronica and Violet are based, did indeed help infiltrate and bring down a ring of Nazi sympathizers in LA.

I found it an enjoyable tale as well as an introduction to an aspect of World War II of which I was previously unaware. If you are a fan of the Maggie Hope series, or other historical mystery and suspense stories, you will certainly find this book to your liking as well.