This was an intriguing read set in Lisbon in WW2. I'm not sure I've read a book set directly in Lisbon during this time period, I learned a lot about their neutrality and what that could have looked like for the people involved. It makes you think about if neutrality can really exist in situations like that and the consequences of our actions. The female characters were strong to me, and I'm a sucker for a good love interest in the midst of any historical fiction. Sometimes the intimate scenes were a little graphic for my opinion. I enjoyed this read and would read another book by this author.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this book . It told a different story take on the usual WWIi book as it was set in Portugal . It was well plotted and had amazing characters
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

I forget how much I love the historical fiction genre, but this book reminded me of this fact. I enjoyed hearing about how the war affected Portugal, since normally WW2 stories focus on Britain, Germany, France, or the U.S., so it was nice to see a change of perspective, especially since Portugal didn’t fight. I loved the friendship between the main character, Bea and Selene, and the spy aspects were my favorite. I highly recommend this if you want to get into the historical fiction genre since there are spies, strong female characters, romance, and mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

Many WWII books play in countries that were occupied during WWII, this one plays in Portugal. It was truly interesting to find out what life was like in Lisbon. It was a nest of spies and life wasn’t easy despite the fact that it was not at war. To find out what the American spies were asked to do was shocking. “Go get yourself a lover in order to infiltrate”. What?? The book was very well researched and I thoroughly enjoyed learning so many facts about Lisbon in WWII. The two main female characters were very real, pleasant and well developed throughout the novel. If there’s a part two, I would love to find out how one of them fared on a different assignment.

However, I read this book to learn more about the topic at hand, not to read racy sex scenes. The book could have easily done without these. In fact, it would have made the story stronger and paid proper tribute to the memory of those men and women who chose to fight the wrongs and at times gave their lives. Romance, sure, but a “they disappeared into the bedroom” would have been much more pleasant than the explicit sex scenes. They very much spoiled my enjoyment of the book and is the main reason I’ve given it 3 stars. I’m sorry that an author who’s able to write so well and integrates research beautifully into the story, feels it necessary to add these bits to books that deal with some very serious issues of our past.

Thank you NetGalley and Zando Projects for providing me with an ARC. I was not required to leave a positive review and all opinions are my own.

The Librarians of Lisbon is a historical fiction novel set in Lisbon, Portugal during World War II. The main characters are Boston librarians who are trained by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (precursor to CIA) and assigned to work in Lisbon. The librarians have day jobs, but are also assigned missions for which they are sworn to secrecy—unable to reveal even to each other. Nobody in Lisbon is who they seem to be. Will the women find fulfillment in their work and in romance?

I expected to LOVE this book as I enjoy the genre, setting, and subject. I enjoyed the development of the strong female characters as they accepted challenges, took risks, and experienced personal transformation and growth. However, I rated it four stars instead of five because I was about 70% through the book before it became “un-put-downable”. There were a few scenes of physical intimacy that while not gratuitous, didn’t particularly add to the story. They were detailed enough that some readers might want to be forewarned or prefer to skim through those parts. I REALLY enjoyed the historical information provided in the epilogue.

I appreciated the opportunity to read this ARC thanks to NetGalley.

This is the first time I have read a book by this author. I will admit that I enjoyed it very much, and I look forward to more in the future. I love historical based novels, so this was my cup of tea. The story line revolved around a lesser known aspects of WWII. The characters were interesting and well written. The plot was well thought out. The only down side was the use of foreign language, but it did make it a more authentic story. I would recommend this book to other for reading. Thank you Net Galley ARC!

A well written account of a lesser known WWII story. Could have taken more care with the use of portuguese expressions. Calling someone "Dono" was never a proper greeting and sounds really creepy. The correct form is Dom if he belongs to an aristocratic family and Senhor if not. Senhorinha is only used in Brazil, in Portugal it is simply Senhorita.
Despite these annoying issues that would only concern Portuguese readers, I did enjoy the book and the plot. The characters are interesting and mostly likable. I especially enjoyed the chapters in Casablanca.

I really enjoyed the World War 2 elements to this book and how it worked in the story being told. It had that historical fiction element that I really enjoyed a lot. I enjoyed the idea of two librarians and that it was suspenseful and still have its romance going on. I thought Suzanne Nelson’s writing was perfect for the story and glad I got to read this.