I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction because for the most part it makes me mad seeing what my ancestors were put through. It really seems like a content warning because I get frustrated that this had to happen to them. But this one book helped ease the sting a bit. Watching her get her revenge was so cathartic lol

Ok so these idiots literally took her from her home in Africa, brought her to England, and then acted like she should have been grateful that they were doing things like putting honey in her hair and naming her after the ship she arrived on. I will never understand this mentality. So I already knew this was going to be a book that made me mad, so I had to give myself some grace and try not to get too mad. Idk how much was artistic liberty because I had never heard of Sarah before, but I appreciate the way that Raughley portrayed her. I definitely thought of wanting to do some of the same things to those people for her lol

I don’t always love historical fiction because of how they make me feel, but I love them for what they make me learn. This one taught me about a person I never knew about. I fell down a rabbit hole of things that she did and things that happened to her after I found out who she was. She was so smart. I hated how the Queen used her like that. I found a couple of sites that gave a look at her real story. I enjoyed learning more about her.

The story itself was ok. I loved the way it opened with the stairs thing. I think if the rest of the story had been like that I would have been fine. But there was nothing more that made it like that? She was fighting with people yes, but they were not anywhere near as smart as she was? It almost didn’t seem fair. They discounted her and it was annoying. But because of that, it was annoying because I got bored. And then there was the part that was a real trigger for me. I lost an aunt and almost lost an uncle to ODs. Because of this I almost DNFed this because of her uncle. There was nothing there that showed him doing the act, but it was shown that he was using and how he acted. I couldn’t do it. It’s just a me thing. So don’t take this rating to heart.

I loved this in some ways and didn’t in others. But I will most definitely be telling people about this one. I can’t wait for more people to read this and meet Sarah. I hope to help make sure people learn more about who she is.