“Amid the hushed city, two hearts must navigate danger and deception, bound by a love that outshines the stars.
Katherine Schneider's life as a dentist in 1913 New York is upended when a patient reveals details of a deadly plot while under the influence of laughing gas. As she is plunged into danger, she seeks help from the dashing Lieutenant Jonathan Birch, a police officer she has long admired from afar.
Jonathan has harbored powerful feelings toward Katherine for years but never acted on them, knowing his dark history is something she could never abide. Now, with her safety on the line, he works alongside her through the nights as they unravel the criminal conspiracy that threatens her . . . even as he keeps his deepest secrets hidden at all costs.”
Series: Book #1 in the “Women of Midtown” series.
Spiritual Content- Thanking God (twice); A Scripture is mentioned; Talks about God & forgiveness; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; Katherine believes that when someone gives themself over to Christ, they can be redeemed no matter what they’ve done; Jonathan feels called to a certain profession (no mention of God with this calling besides the fact we live in a fallen world and then Katherine thinking that God could have called him to it); Jonathan is Catholic, crosses himself (a few times), & goes to a rosary; Katherine is confused to learn that Jonathan is Catholic (it’s never brought up again); Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food (including to saints); Mentions of a churches/cathedrals, church going, & priests; Mentions of Mass, holy water, blessings, & rosaries; Mentions of saints; A few mentions of those in the Bible; A few mentions of sins & confessing; A couple mentions of faiths; A couple mentions of a priest offering general absolution to law enforcement officers who wanted it before a dangerous mission; A mention of a Blessed life; A mention of a godsend; A mention of someone being called an angel; A mention of shrines at a cathedral; A mention of a young Jonathan being confirmed in the Catholic Church; A mention of “life in the hereafter”; A mention of the pearly gates;
*Note: Jonathan thinks of himself living in the “twilight between good and evil”; The villain says that the church (along with the police and government) are “agents of oppression and must be destroyed”; Heaven is thanks thrice; Mentions of Achilles; A few mentions of evil people; A few mentions of being lucky; A couple mentions of goddesses; A mention of sons looking at their dad like he walked on water; A mention of some newsies looking at cops as if they were “like gods to who walked the streets”; A mention of Santa Claus.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘heck’, a ‘my word’, a ‘shove off’, a ‘wickedly’, two ‘good heavens’s, three ‘shut up’s, five forms of ‘stupid’, and six forms of ‘idiot’; Mentions of curses (including by Jonathan, said, not written); A mention of a rude gesture being given; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Going to a funeral for a law enforcement officer (up to semi-detailed); Seeing a man commit suicide (with a gun, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Being held at knife-point, Seeing someone killed (shot), A gunshot, Being attacked (including an attempted murder/slit throat), Being drugged, Passing out, Pain, Blood/Bleeding, Injuries, & the Scar (up to semi-detailed); Bombs/Explosions, dismantling bombs, seeing a major injury, seeing a body in pieces, & deaths (up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler but Animal Death Trigger* A mother owl is killed by a raccoon so Katherine and her friends have to feed the babies (her body is described, up to semi-detailed) *End of Spoiler*; Jonathan intimates a man to gain answers from him (including with a pistol); Jonathan’s life is built on lies and deception (he also lies to Katherine about his background/past and *Spoiler* when she finds out, she is incredibly hurt and later wants to pick a fight and unleash the bitterness at him *End of Spoiler*); Jonathan tells Katherine that not telling someone something would be an act of omission and not a lie, but she doesn’t see the difference and plans to tell the truth; Jonathan trips a man into the water (knowing that the other man can’t swim); Jonathan has a major rivalry with a man he’s known for years and works with (they make snide comments towards the other); An elderly woman hits Katherine (up to semi-detailed); All about many, many mentions of bombs, how they are made and work, bombers/bomb makers, explosions, fires, plans of harming and killing many, injuries and deaths from the events, & bodies being in pieces from it (up to semi-detailed); All about many mentions of mafia families, rival families and turf wars, extortion, crimes, criminals, weapons, deaths/murders of those in that field, & violence (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of a revolutionary group, an anarchist organization, threats, blackmail, arrests, & prisons/jails (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deception (including Jonathan’s father teaching him to lie from the time he started to talk); Mentions of an assassination & assassin; Mentions of executions & pictures of those who were executed (including death penalties & the Mafia believing that Italians who cooperated with the police deserve an execution, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of someone being run-over by horses, an attempted murder (slit throat), the attack, blood/bleeding, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a man cutting the Achilles tendons of anyone who betrays him (& using this as a threat, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of wars; Mentions of fights & fighting; Mentions of a brick being thrown through a window, threats, blood/bleeding, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of pain, drugs, blood, & dental work (including pulling teeth and injecting numbing drugs, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of poisons & drugs; Mentions of physical abuse from a father & the son feeling worthless due to his words and actions (including that he would hold his son’s head underwater, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of a child nearly drowning & another nearly being hit by the subway; Mentions of thieves, thefts, stealing, & smuggling; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, drunks, & taverns; Mentions of gambling & gamblers; Mentions of cigars, tobacco, & smoking; Mentions of envy; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of a bully; Mentions of the remnants of an owl’s dinner & someone wanting to remove a nest of baby owls (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); A few mentions of gunfire & deaths; A few mentions of gangs; A few mentions of cheating; A few mentions of hatred; A couple mentions of a suicide; A couple mentions of murder victims; A couple mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of someone dying in their sleep; A mention of a bank robbery; A mention of Jonathan’s mother cuffing him in the face when he would slip up (due to her fear of something happening, not to be cruel); A mention of a murderous widow suspected of killing multiple husbands; A mention of a young boy growing up without a father; A mention of a married couple being “prickly” with each other over money; A mention of eavesdropping; A mention of manure;
*Note: Both Katherina and a co-worker face prejudices about being dentists (because she is female and he is Black); Jonathan accuses Katherine of having a charmed life & not knowing what it’s like to struggle (she’s hurt by this and he apologizes); A man says Jonathan was lucky to have had his mother until he was fourteen; A man calls a relative a “worthless old sack of garbage”; Mentions of prejudices (towards gender, race, and ethnicity; the word ‘bigoted’ is used once when Katherine thinks about submitting something to the police but only has the ethnicity of a suspect); Mentions of Marxists & their thoughts (some call it “claptrap”); Mentions of disrespect towards the police (including negative comments about them); Mentions of a book & a song (Lorna Doone & “The Sugar-Plum Plum Tree”); A few mentions of a man pretending to pull teeth from elephants and tigers for a crowd’s amusement; A couple mentions of anxiety (when Katherine feels that way at a couple parts); A couple mentions of a deep-seated insecurity & Sigmund Freud’s theories; A mention of someone having to be in a wheelchair of the rest of their life du to another’s actions (looked as negative or a terrible thing that could happen to the person); A mention of someone butting in; A mention of a brand (Tiffany & Co.).
Sexual Content- Two hand kisses, a nose kiss, a forehead kiss, a fingers-to-lips touch, three barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and a semi-detailed kiss; Remembering kisses (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Shivers, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing & Staring (up to semi-detailed); Jonathan sneaks into Katherine’s woman-only building so they can be alone together; Jonathan rubs Katherine’s bare feet/ankles (which someone calls “tawdry groping”, barely-above-not-detailed); Katherine wants Jonathan to kiss her when she’s under the influence of drugs (which he won’t because of that reason); A showgirl doesn’t care that a man has a wife since he has dated other women and wants the next one to be her; A showgirl offers Jonathan a generous view of her bosom (all that’s said about it); Mentions of prostitution (the names ‘floozies’ and ‘hookers’ are also used); Mentions of flirting, flirts, & a womanizer (including a known womanizer looking down a woman’s blouse); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of Jonathan receiving female attention wherever he goes (including girls throwing themselves at him & a chorus girl kissing his cheek and wrapping her arms around his neck, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of blushes & winks; A handful of mentions of a man & his housekeeper “carrying on” (a secret affair); A few mentions of a young man seducing a young woman; A few mentions of crushes; A couple mentions of a showgirl sitting in a (married) man’s lap; A mention of male staff trying to get “overly familiar” with female residents of a boarding house; A mention of a man “groping” a housekeeper; A mention of a man being a “red-blooded American male” (i.e. flirting and being very interested in women); A mention of a married couple kissing; A mention of chaperones; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Katherine fixes her appearance before meeting with Jonathan a few times (because she wants him to think of her as pretty); A couple mentions of Jonathan not liking how a man orders his wife around.
-Katherine Schneider, age 28
-Jonathan Birch, age 34
P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 1913 (Epilogue in 1915)
352 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Hmmm.
Can I just leave it at that? Hmmm.
Elizabeth Camden is an author I’ve read every book from (with the exception of a couple novellas) because I find her historical details and information so interesting. They always lead into different bunny trails of research for me and this book was no different in that regard.
It was different in the regard, however, that it didn’t feel like her other books in the historical setting and details. It didn’t feel like a book by this author. There’s the historical details that are interesting which is on par for her books, but for some reason this book just feels slightly off to me. Remember, this is coming from someone who has read all of her other books. It just didn’t feel like an Elizabeth Camden book. And I have no idea why.
I figured his secret out very quickly. Well, it wasn’t really much of a secret since we kind of have it confirmed about 50 pages in, but the main girl doesn’t get told the information until much later and it causes major problems. I didn’t really care for Jonathan. I find the details of the police work of this historical setting to be interesting, but I really didn’t care for him and it was because of his lying and his petty rivalry with a co-worker. He’s thirty-four years old and still allowing the guy to taunt him. It was border-line ridiculous.
I have a lot of thoughts. But most of them have to do with spoilers, so I can’t share many of them. But oh, I have thoughts. I was so hopeful about something that could happen in the future of this series, but the author dashed them. To pieces. All my hopes. Gone. With a boom. (Literally.) So not to be dramatic or anything, but I don’t think I’m going to forgive the author for that twist in the story. I’m not happy about that at all. :(
As the book continued, I just wanted to tell Katherine, “honey, not now.” and for the book to go back to his point of view because actual interesting things were happening his point of view. She honestly was Pollyanna at the beginning (and I don’t mean that as a compliment) and then she started to become very selfish. Concerned about her own future and what will happen to her if certain events happen—when there’s major and serious events going on. It didn’t endear her to me at all. At the beginning of the book, she’s absolutely infatuated with him and typically that would be cute but she’s making up things about him and assuming things because he doesn’t tell her at all anything about himself. That concerned me.
This is one of those situations that you play the would you rather game: would you rather have a book with an interesting plot and mediocre characters or a mediocre plot with fantastic characters? I will always choose the latter option. This book, however, was the first. I was so interested into this plot and into the historical details of what was going on especially at the very end, but Jonathan and Katherine were not my favorite characters, to say the least. Whether it be their comments, actions, or stupid different things they said and did, they got on my nerves.
The faith content is very light with Jonathan being Catholic and it being implied that Katherine is Protestant—which isn’t discussed by them at all or even the difference in faith details (especially before confessing of their feelings happens).
The bravery of those in the law enforcement field was definitely highlighted in this book and its plot, and I did really, really like that part. The ending kept me in suspense and I enjoyed that as well, but else wise there really wasn’t much I truly enjoyed from this book, which is very disappointing.
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.
