Review: Rebel Spy by Veronica Rossi
In a need for a cosy historical fiction read to go with that tea or coffee you’re having? Rebel Spy has you covered. Set in the American Revolutionary War, it is filled with a little romance, camaraderie, and not least of all spies, it is sure to satisfy that cosy need!
In this book (not to mention the cover is super stunning!), we meet Frannie, who somewhat finds herself on a ship, away from her step-father, Sewel, who sounded rather nasty and abusive. Frannie is relieved to be away from her step-father, however quickly finds out that she’s about to trade her life away in order to be able to gain passage to the ship’s destination- New York. The crew mistaken her for the rich Emmeline, who was thought to be rather well mannered and lady-like, things that Frannie is not.
I liked that the book has a comparison between what Frannie was before the ship, and after, given that the social classes are vastly different to each other. I also enjoyed the character development of Frannie throughout, as she was trying to figure out how to fit into this new, extraordinary life. I believe that this was super important to have in the book to give the reader a greater sense of context.
Although this is driven by the research done on the mysterious real-life spy 355, I felt that the spy aspect (including the spy ring) didn’t take the forefront in the story. Whilst I appreciate that it was hard to incorporate the spy aspect with the already double life, I would’ve loved to see a lot more of it as the story progressed. Whilst spying in this context sounded super risky, I was also rather sympathetic to Frannie as she was trying to battle who she was on top of being a spy.
Whereas the focus was more on Frannie and her status in society, I did like how romance and love (or lack thereof in some cases) was incorporated throughout as a key theme. We had the abuse of her stepfather telling her that she wouldn’t find anyone to marry, to potentially finding someone in high society. Whilst the latter was kind of flowery, I kind of felt like there was a bit of tension between Frannie and Asa Lane (or is it Asa Latimer? Time will surely tell.), which I enjoyed a lot. I wished I got more Asa page time as he was honestly my favourite character, even though he tried to pretend that Frannie is too good for him. To me, Asa and Frannie gave me the same vibe as the early Bella and Edward from Twilight vibes (if you get what I mean, with Edward being super cold at the start.).
I also enjoyed the writing style, full of prose and historical terms that made me delve right into the past mindset, trying to figure out how everything fit within the United States at the time. The book was slow to start with, as we got familiar with Frannie, however, I really felt like the book really did pick up pace when we hit New York, on the boat. Imagine that- fleeing from the Bahamas to New York by boat, when a flight is only two and a half hours long now. The pace towards the end of the book was perfect for me to keep going and not stopping, something I often look for in a book that sounds (and looks) so good!
Overall, if you’re looking for a cosy read and historical fiction is your jam- this book might be what you’ve been missing. Definitely fill that hole by reading this one when it comes out!
Rating: 3.5/5
I was given an ecopy of this book via The Nerd Daily for review. This review was originally published on The Nerd Daily and you can find the link here.
In this book (not to mention the cover is super stunning!), we meet Frannie, who somewhat finds herself on a ship, away from her step-father, Sewel, who sounded rather nasty and abusive. Frannie is relieved to be away from her step-father, however quickly finds out that she’s about to trade her life away in order to be able to gain passage to the ship’s destination- New York. The crew mistaken her for the rich Emmeline, who was thought to be rather well mannered and lady-like, things that Frannie is not.
I liked that the book has a comparison between what Frannie was before the ship, and after, given that the social classes are vastly different to each other. I also enjoyed the character development of Frannie throughout, as she was trying to figure out how to fit into this new, extraordinary life. I believe that this was super important to have in the book to give the reader a greater sense of context.
Although this is driven by the research done on the mysterious real-life spy 355, I felt that the spy aspect (including the spy ring) didn’t take the forefront in the story. Whilst I appreciate that it was hard to incorporate the spy aspect with the already double life, I would’ve loved to see a lot more of it as the story progressed. Whilst spying in this context sounded super risky, I was also rather sympathetic to Frannie as she was trying to battle who she was on top of being a spy.
Whereas the focus was more on Frannie and her status in society, I did like how romance and love (or lack thereof in some cases) was incorporated throughout as a key theme. We had the abuse of her stepfather telling her that she wouldn’t find anyone to marry, to potentially finding someone in high society. Whilst the latter was kind of flowery, I kind of felt like there was a bit of tension between Frannie and Asa Lane (or is it Asa Latimer? Time will surely tell.), which I enjoyed a lot. I wished I got more Asa page time as he was honestly my favourite character, even though he tried to pretend that Frannie is too good for him. To me, Asa and Frannie gave me the same vibe as the early Bella and Edward from Twilight vibes (if you get what I mean, with Edward being super cold at the start.).
I also enjoyed the writing style, full of prose and historical terms that made me delve right into the past mindset, trying to figure out how everything fit within the United States at the time. The book was slow to start with, as we got familiar with Frannie, however, I really felt like the book really did pick up pace when we hit New York, on the boat. Imagine that- fleeing from the Bahamas to New York by boat, when a flight is only two and a half hours long now. The pace towards the end of the book was perfect for me to keep going and not stopping, something I often look for in a book that sounds (and looks) so good!
Overall, if you’re looking for a cosy read and historical fiction is your jam- this book might be what you’ve been missing. Definitely fill that hole by reading this one when it comes out!
Rating: 3.5/5
I was given an ecopy of this book via The Nerd Daily for review. This review was originally published on The Nerd Daily and you can find the link here.
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