Welcome to Litsy!

Exciting, engrossing historical fiction about three women who worked at Bletchley park during WWII and the impact that time -- of personal freedom on one hand and intense secrecy on the other -- impacted their lives. It is on the melodramatic side but interestingly, some of the most astonishing elements were drawn from true stories. (I was a little uncomfortable that Prince Phillip is a major character.)

One of the characters is almost (cont)

I‘ve started my third Kate Quinn book tonight for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

Considering the hype for this WWII book, my rather “meh” feelings about it are sure to be unpopular, but I just share in the love for this one… I thought it dragged on, didn‘t maintain suspense, didn‘t really establish the friendship between the three women convincingly & was pretty predictable… I enjoyed the audio performance but maybe I‘ve just read too many books set in this era to be wowed any more? I didn‘t hate it, but really didn‘t love it!

This was a solid read for #authoramonth. A bit overally long and melodramatic at times but still enjoyed it. 👍

Good but a bit too long. #authoramonth @Soubhiville

@TheAromaofBooks Thank you so much! Made my day to come home and find my #BookspinBingo prize waiting for me. Made for an amazing Friday! I can‘t wait to read this one and I‘ll do so for the #authoramonth challenge in April. Thank you again for all your time and effort managing #Bookspin .

Scrolling through my photos and I saw this Enigma machine that I saw at Hôtel des Invalides in Paris.
It made me think of Kate Quinn‘s The Rose Code!

I love free read Fridays!! #teachersoflitsy

I listened to this one as an audiobook. I liked it, it was long. It was good for re-building Lego sets, cleaning, working on puzzles. It was an interesting story about women that were code breakers during WWII. It was my first Kate Quinn book.

#AboutABook #BasedOnATrueStory @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

IMO Kate Quinn is the master of weaving historical record into her fictional narratives to create something doubly compelling. This is the first of her‘s I read and it remains my favorite.

I had joined a bookclub and suggested this novel because Ihad found it interesting and liked the characters. The other members declined it based onthe fact that the paperback version was longer than 500 pages.
After a couple more meetings I found out that they would decline any book longer than 300 pages and would only want to read mysteries and thrillers. I stopped going,

1. When I was a kid, I wanted Laura Ingalls to be my roommate, but she‘d probably watch the faux news channel all day the way my current “roommate” does.
2. The main characters in the tagged book are roommates at Bletchley Park.
#two4tuesday

I‘m going to visit my daughter in a couple of weeks and she had (barely) started this here over Christmas but left it behind, perhaps because I hadn‘t read it yet (it‘s mine) so I thought I‘d read it and take it to her when I go.

This was a fantastic novel about three women who met during WWII and worked at Bletchley Park decoding German military codes. Now seven years later they have to reunite to find a traitor and save themselves.

Probably the only thing I didn‘t like was the convenience of the timing of an event near the end. Thinking more about it, they likely would still have figured it out (in a different way) before the very end. And wow! I was surprised at how much in this story was real! The characters, some based wholly on a real person and some on a mix of people. But even the events… so many of them really happened.

1. Yes, I had a goal to reach 100 books and I‘m ninety percent there.
2. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn - tagged
3. The Fourth wing

#CloakandDaggerChristmas - mystery set during wartime

A soft pick. The book was exactly what the author intended, but I prefer historical fiction without the romance. This is the story of 3 women who work at Bletchley Park during WWII and how they betrayed each other and were betrayed by a society which had little respect for them once the war ended. I did like the details about code breaking and the monumental effort of wartime intelligence.

#Weekendreads

I‘m slowly plugging away at the Lepore essays. I hope to finish the tagging this weekend for #CloakandDaggerChristmas . Then I can really hunker down with the two Sci-Fi novels for #ClassicLSFBC and #LitsySciFiBookClub .

Mab, Osla, and Beth come from very different walks of life to work at Bletchley Park, the top-secret home of WW2 code breakers. Life at BP is full of mysteries, and among them someone might be spilling the secrets. I thoroughly enjoyed Kate Quinn‘s character development, historical references & mystery. 10/10

One book down for #SummerEndReadathon

I didn‘t love this book, but I enjoyed it. The story was a bit long, and then it wrapped up quickly. Also, the Kindle version had some typos, including some weird line breaks for the word codebreakers.

I did find the characters and the actual codebreaking interesting, even when some of the personal interaction was a bit overwrought. We should have a good book club discussion.

Europe during WWII? No thank you!

Lothlorien? Yes please!

#sundayfunday

The Rose Code is the current mystery read. It‘s a bit long.

Ten Women is a little depressing, so it‘s slow going.

Children of God has been riding around in my car since the book club meeting on Tuesday. I might have to return it to the library unfinished, because someone else has requested it. I stopped putting off the hold on a book to take its place.

Nothing finished this week, in other words.

#RushAThon

This was good near the end when the pace picked up, but most of the book kind of dragged. It should have been about half the length, and as with most dual timeline books, I found one story more interesting and unfortunately in this book it was the story that less of the book was devoted to. I hope someday this dual timeline trend will die off.

This book is sooo highly rated ; it is a good simple story easy to read and well researched but overly long ! My goodness at 656 pages it should have been edited down to 400 some chapters were just totally unnecessary but still a good if overly long read for anyone interested in that period , it was my village bookclub pick if it hadn‘t of been I doubt I‘d have bothered

April village bookclub read and another one on the April #bookspinbingo 6% on kindle and already an intriguing 🧐 start with a young Prince Phillip & a society debutant / enigma girl , think 🤔 it‘s gonna be a winner 🏆

#temptingtitles #April2023 #withacolor

Another historical fiction home run for Quinn! Following the lives of three women serving at the British codebreaking headquarters, Bletchley Park, during WW2, Quinn expertly weaves history, friendship, betrayal, and romance together as she writes about this insular world. BP comes to life through the pages, and visiting is now on my bucket list. A little verbose (600+ pages), but this story held my interest, and my heart, unflinchingly. 5⭐️

My April choice for #12Booksof2022 would easily be in my top ten for the year, if not top 5. The Rose Code is a fabulous book with some key surprises at the end and covers the work of the code breakers at Bletchley Park in the Second World War.

Also notable mentions for two books from my favourite series, A Room Full of Killers, Book 1 in the Fabulous Matilda Darke Series by Michael Wood, and Six Graves by Angela Marsons. Love Kim Stone books.

You know you‘ve got the best bestie when she surprises you with a Christmas ornament filled with your favorite books from the year.

Day 7 #AdventRecommends April Book 1

Simply loved The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, another of her excellent World War II stories, this time focused on the code breaking activities at Bletchley Park. A great story that has some surprising twists and includes some detail on Prince Philip before he married Elizabeth, soon to become Queen. Strongly recommended.

@emilyrose_x

Here is my list for November #bookspin! Excited to see what comes up. 😀

This was good. A little predictable.
I enjoy Quinn‘s writing and her interweaving of history and story. I like that she does her research.
Strong women, history, a bit of love and intrigue.
Recommend.

My #HHS package has mailed as planned! Estimated delivery in Texas is Tuesday. I‘ll update and tag the lucky (I hope she agrees!) recipient then. A terrific swap and season. @wanderinglynn

Another Kate Quinn. She‘s becoming an auto-read for me.

Kate Quinn is slowly but steadfastedly becoming one of my favorite authors!

I loved this. But be warned about the tears. You will probably cry. So maybe read it at home. Or out in the wild with the other commuters. If you don't mind crying in front of strangers.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Missed my train. Trying not to do screamy things right now. So me and big bertha here are getting an extra HOUR together. Also if you dislike crying in public, read this at home.

So behind on book club books. Actually lugging this chunkster on the train. It's exercise, right?

For some reason, I‘ve been telling myself lately that historical fiction isn‘t my thing — and I was dreading reading this book. Turns out, I was wrong! It‘s a story about female codebreakers during WWII. Concurrently, it‘s a story about fighting against societal expectations, and about life-defining relationships (both romantic and platonic). Remember, though: “there‘s a war on.” Don‘t read without your tissues! 😭

I went on vacation with my book club (friends from college); here are a few of us, all reading the same thing at the beach. 😅 It made me laugh.

Kate Quinn 2 days in a row 😂 But this one actually fits the #letterR. I loved it!
#alphabetgame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Great Book. Considering how much I love reading non-fiction and fiction books about WWII, I was surprised I still learned a few new things. 600+ pages flew by. 4 out of 5 stars.

#bookspinbingo
#August2022

Three young women who couldn‘t seem more different fall into and out of friendship while working as codebreakers at Bletchley Park. After the war is over two of them are asked to help the third with a life or death situation. Love, war, loss, and betrayal, and three smart women strong enough face it all. This was a terrific book with rich characters and twists and turns that made me want it to never end.

Me: “I need a break from World War II books”

Me, two days later: “oohhhh, female code breakers”.

#currentlyreading

Not the tagged book, but this short story releases August 1st (not in the Litsy database) and it features a listening station that sends data to the code breakers featured in The Rose Code. Anywho…this is a wonderfully written short story with two timelines (1943 and 2023). It‘s available from Amazon First Reads now. I loved the characters and the plot. It‘s not original, but her writing skill is undeniable and it feels like she had fun writing.