“A Socialite in Disguise Seeks Truth and Justice
Henrietta “Etta” Maxwell is a hard-hitting investigative reporter for The Enterprise Daily. The catch? Etta must pen her columns under the nom de plume, Henry Mason—a fact that routinely puts a knot in her knickerbockers.
Leo Eriksson is a second-generation firefighter with a passion for rendering aid to those in need.
When Leo discovers that Henry Mason is really Henrietta Maxwell, the fire department’s wealthy benefactress, he agrees to keep her identity secret. After a sudden blast rocks the Grover Shoe Factory, Leo and Etta team up to determine if the explosion is related to a series of suspicious fires in the area.
When an unnamed source reveals Etta’s secret identity to a rival reporter, she falsely accuses Leo of being the informant. As the truth comes to light, Etta must persuade Leo to give her a second chance or lose the only man she’s ever loved.”
Series: Book #2 in the multi-authored series “Enduring Hope” and does not seem like it will be connected to any of the other books. (Review of Book #1 Here!)
Spiritual Content- 1 Peter 4:10 at the beginning; Scriptures are mentioned, remembered, quoted, & thought over; Prayers & Thanking and praising God; Talks about God, gifts from Him, callings; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Both main characters have active faiths; Mentions of God, Jesus, trusting Him, His peace, using our gifts to glorify God, & callings; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches (both Protestant and Catholic), services, priests/reverends, & a hymn; Mentions of miracles; Mentions of blessings & Being blessed;A few mentions of fire victims making peace with God in their final moments; A couple mentions of blaming God (or not) after a tragedy; A couple mentions of faiths; A couple mentions of godsends; A mention of the Holy Spirit; A mention of Bible reading; A mention of those & an event in the Bible;
*Note: Phrases like “for the love of Pete and all that’s holy”, “for heaven’s sake”, “good heavens”, “heavens”, “what/how in heaven’s name”, “heaven help [her/him],” and “thank heavens” are all said up to twice; Leo calls his sister-in-law a saint and comments about not being sure how she ended up with his sinner of a brother; A couple mentions of an event of circumstances being called “the perfect witch’s brew”; A couple mentions of luck & being lucky; A mention of being late is a cardinal sin in the newspaper industry.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘doggone it’, a ‘gives a hoot’, a form of ‘screw up’, two ‘holy smoke’s, and two ‘idiot’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Fires and Smoke, Explosions, Helping and Rescuing injured people, Finding the deceased from a fire, Injuries, Pain, & Blood/Bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Finding bodies, Seeing deaths (including people being burned alive), and Hearing their screams (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Etta witnesses a mother toss her baby out of a second-story window during a fire & is concerned she’ll hear the death of the infant (she does hear the mother’s screams of pain, barely-above-not-detailed); All about & Many mentions of fires, the origins and telling marks, deaths (including from being burned alive and the bodies being unrecognizable; also the death of a fireman is mentioned), grief, major injuries and injuries, possible arson, & destroyed buildings (semi-detailed); Mentions of a crime family & possible insurance fraud; Mentions of blood/bleeding, pain, & major burns; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deception; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of cigars, cigarettes, & smoke (including Etta watching her father prepare and smoke a cigar); Mentions of manure; A few mentions of an elderly man drowning after falling through a frozen lake; A few mentions of other deaths (including the historical steamboat, Sultana); A few mentions of the smell of burning flesh and hair; A few mentions of nightmares of witnessing the awful fire & deaths; A couple mentions of blackmail; A couple mentions of hunting; A mention of car accidents; A mention of a man pouring clear liquid from a flask into his coffee on a rough day;
*Note: Etta has decided to conceal her identity and dress like a man to be able to write news articles & there are discussions/mentions of what her being female dictates what she can and cannot do (Etta’s parents do not know about her being Henry Mason despite Etta calling them “more progressive” than most of their peers and are in favor of women’s suffrage in general; When she’s dressed as a man, her landlady refers to her as Henry to keep the secret; Etta still wants to get married and have children one day; Etta comments on the fact that she hasn’t received the same credit that male journalists earn despite her hard work); A few mentions of a man having melancholy after the death of his best friend; A mention of Etta’s father saying that women don’t have the temperament for driving an automobile.
Sexual Content- A fingers-to-lips touch, two hand kisses, four cheek kisses, a jawline kiss, a forehead kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, a semi-detailed kiss, and a detailed kiss (that leads to him kissing her jaw, earlobe, and neck; The kiss “aroused feelings” she’d never known before and he apologizes for the kiss because it wasn’t gentlemanly of him); Remembering kisses (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss & be kissed (which Etta admits to herself is a bit “wanton”; barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, Tingles/Jolts/Sparks, Butterflies, Nearness, & Smelling (semi-detailed); Remembering touches & sparks (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of sparks of attraction between couples & possible couples; Mentions of flirting; A few mentions of dates; A mention of a man making a tawdry comment about a couple having an “assignation”; Love, falling in love, & the emotions.
-Henrietta “Etta” Maxwell
-Leo Eriksson, age 30
P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 1905 (Epilogue in 1907)
256 pages
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My personal Rating-
I was a little nervous going into this book because I was concerned that Etta was going to be a “before her time” kind of female lead. Meaning that she acts and has thoughts that fit a contemporary woman when it comes to working and being independent, but lives in a historical time period. She was actually what I would call a pretty decent representation of a modern woman of 1905. She never felt snobby or thinking of herself as better than her peers, which I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that detail. I never got a feminist tone from this book either, which is usually the case with books featuring a female character not being the society norm.
Unlike a lot of other books where a main character is a reporter, we actually see—not just hear about—Etta being a reporter throughout the whole book. She does interviews, asks hard questions, types her articles with her typewriter, and we even see her list of follow-up questions to ask the next day. This was a nice element of the story.
Our main couple were attracted to each other a little faster than I usually prefer, but because they knew each other from events, it made sense and wasn’t completely insta-love. They were also pretty awkward around the other in the beginning, which made it more realistic in my eyes.
As the romance continued, while I wouldn’t call it romance heavy or super descriptive, there was many parts of their attraction to the other and a couple kisses that felt a bit much. Maybe the best way to put it would be to say that it felt more intimate? Like I was intruding or even a third-wheel? Particularly in regards to their feelings, reactions to the other’s nearness and touches, and then how those scenes affected them. I thought they were a good, cute couple, but because of these parts, I would suggest this book for 16+ because of how these scenes were written.
In all my years of reading, I don’t think I’ve read a historical book featuring firefighters before. This led to many bunny trails of research and a lot of fascination on my part. It is wild to think about the differences and how much technology and just newer equipment in general has been created in the 120 years since this book was set. It was honestly sobering to read about in this book. Reading the author’s note and finding her Pinterest board for this book after finishing definitely added to it.
I have to comment on the faith content and how lovely it was to see a couple in a Christian Fiction book both have strong faiths instead of only one of them. I often see that in the genre and it’s a mission of mine to find more with equally yoked couples. Both faiths were natural for the characters and well-done in my opinion.
I was a bit shocked that not more people figured about Etta’s secret because she did slip up more than she should have with knowledge about somethings she shouldn’t know.
There was, what I would call, unnecessary angst towards the end with stupid decisions and jumping to conclusions. It didn’t completely taint the book for me, but did annoy me to pieces and I’m pretty sure I had a disgusted look on my face at their idiocy. It was very unnecessary and then was resolved in such a simple way. I can honestly see readers docking the book for all of it as I was tempted to myself. The ending is good, but I do think it would have been better without that ending angst (this is me who’s talking, you know!).
All in all, I have to say that I was overall pleasantly surprised by this one. Again, I didn’t like the angst at the end (they were both fools!), but the rest of the history was fascinating if not horribly sad as well.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Barbour) for this honest review.
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