I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
A fascinating and rule shaking story with a feisty and powerful heroine at the centre.
A good read.

I truly loved this book set in the 1920s in New York City, because it has an interesting central character and all the Art Deco detail and glamour I could have wished for. Evie Lockhart has a dream. She wants to become a doctor and is desperately trying to pay her way through Columbia medical school. So she auditions for the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway. This is a great solution to her money problems, but it might affect her fledgling relationship with Thomas Whitman. He’s a city banker from the Upper East side and their relationship could have a future, if only she lived a less scandalous lifestyle.

I felt this was actually a feminist novel masquerading as a romance. Evie is destined to leave her middle class family when she has married her equally middle class husband. Yet she has a different future in mind. Having had an education in following your dreams from the books of F.Scott Fitzgerald, she is inspired by the death of an old friend to train as a doctor. I love that Evie doesn’t take the easy option of becoming a wife to a rich man. I felt I was watching an awakening. Evie’s eyes are opened up by her training. She starts to see the huge gap between rich and poor in the city, and how poverty seriously affects your life chances. She meets unmarried mothers and realises how men have so much power and avoid their responsibilities. There’s a realisation that a hierarchy exists in society, involving gender, race and which family you were born into.

I would argue that this book is not a romance. It’s a book about love, but it’s self -love. Evie jumps over the obstacles that get in her way due to her gender. There is a part of me that thinks it would be very difficult to star on Broadway and train as a doctor, but not enough to ruin the book. It was pure escapism to me and I had great fun reading it.

A story that I thoroughly enjoyed and I found it gripping and fascinating.
I loved the well researched and vivid historical background, the great cast of characters and the tightly knitted plot that kept me hooked.
The author did an excellent job in describing the life of women in the '20s and I loved her description of the life at the Folies.
The romance was interesting and realistic, I rooted for the characters.
An excellent read that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was a such an epic story, told over years with character development to hold on to. It was also a feminist story that really opened my eyes to the misogyny in the 1920s and women being on that cusp of being able to break free.

Evie the protagonist, was a women from a good family with a desire to study and become an doctor. She went through so many hurdles in this story and danced as one of the Follies to pay for medical school. Scandal upon scandal!

There was an intricate story running underneath this where family was complex, difficult and not always a family you’d want. I loved Evie’s character and how she was able to be determined and overcome such a lot. I was interested to read the research underpinning these times, and women studying to be a doctor in the acknowledgements. Thank goodness we live in a time where women advocate for women and men are feminists too.

The Follies storyline was interesting and I would have liked a little more focus on this at times. Life in the hospital was brutual but friendships and hope saw Evie through.

The way this story ended and wrapped up really was so fulfilling. The romance was slow burning and beautiful, the family aspects were eventually wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learnt more about this time in history and what a women’s life could be like.

I don’t normally add trigger warnings but I do want to in this case, as I feel there are themes that could be difficult for some. TW: graphic details of the death of babies during labour/delivery.

Thank you to Little Brown UK for the gifted review copy.

I loved this book. It was a little slow to start but once I got into it I couldn’t put it down. Evie Lockhart is an absolute delight, a fully rounded character that has you rooting for her to succeed. From fighting to become a doctor to the Ziegfeld Follies and all roads in between. I didn’t want it to end. It would make a beautiful film. Thank you to Natasha for writing such an amazing story.

I love this book. Seriously, I rarely rave about a book but this, this one I hold very highly in my heart. The characters are interesting and the scenes are painted so vividly. It’s beautiful, it truly is a wonderful book. I highly recommend this book to join your bookcase!