By Kelly Bridgewater
Amid the chaos of the
Great War, two master assassins risk it all for love.
Washington DC, 1914.
Ivy Olwen knows how to survive on the streets without two coins to rub
together. But when she finds herself whisked into a secret society that seeks
to maintain the balance of good and evil in the world, she can’t believe
there’s more to life than just surviving. In the hallowed and historied halls
of Talon, she learns European languages and ballroom dancing, as well as
demolitions and sharpshooting—in short, everything a spy and assassin will need
to survive in the field.
The first day Jack
Vale meets Ivy, he knows she is not to be underestimated. The second day, he
knows his heart will belong to no one else. Between sparring bouts and constellation
gazing, Jack takes Ivy under his wing, and the two form a bond that soon turns
to love.
While the rest of the
world tumbles into war, the two embark on an official mission to take down a
madman who has left a trail of blood and murder across Russia. Little do they
know the unfathomable peril waiting in the wings of a chaotic Europe.
When Jack and Ivy are
thrust into encounters each more terrifying than the last, Ivy must determine
how far she will go to save the man she loves. Equal parts historical fiction
and adventure novel, Ciesielski’s epic tale of espionage and romance will leave
readers both enchanted and thrilled.
My
Thoughts:
From the first
chapter of The Brilliance of Stars by J’nell Ciesieskli, she introduces
the readers to a world of spies and trouble. Right away, the story jumps into
the action. There are plenty of backstory to develop Ivy’s character. Jack is
just sprinkled in with a little bit of his backstory. Readers are given hints,
but readers do not fully understand what his story is and why it is important
to the development of his character. Whereas, Ivy has a deeply hurt background
that helps motivate her movements in the story. The romance takes away the
reader’s breath. Many moments of the heroine and hero jumping through the hoops
to try to stop the overarching pending danger. Plenty of action when the
climactic moments occur, but there are moments of taking a deep breath and
watching the characters relax and plot their next movement. The story does end
in a cliff-hanger, so who knows how long it will be until the next book.
Definitely something that I have to keep on hand because I will probably have
to read again before I read the next book in the series. Overall, The
Brilliance of Stars by J’nell Ciesieskli started with a bang, then flipped
to some training and background, but then it jumped back into the high tension
moments. I think this was a nicely handled World War I spy novel, but I can not
wait to read the next novel.
I received a
complimentary copy of The Brilliance of Stars by J’nell Ciesieskli from Thomas
Nelson Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.
My
Rating: 4 out
of 5 stars
Purchase The Brilliance of Stars
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