This book was just ok. My feelings for this book come down to me; I'm burned out on historical fiction that focuses on WWII and would be interested in a fresh perspective from another time in history. I would give another book by this author a shot since this book was well-written and well paced.

I enjoyed Mother Daughter Traitor Spy very much. Being a Maggie Hope fan, I was excited to see a stand-alone by Ms. MacNeal. I liked the mother-daughter relationship between Vi and Victoria and the espionage story, which is based on true events. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I have long been a fan of Ms. MacNeal's Maggie Hope series, so was intrigued by this standalone novel. Inspired by some of the research Ms. MacNeal did for The Hollywood Spy, this story is based on real people and events. It follows a mother-daughter team as they find the courage to go undercover to spy for their country against the Nazi movement in California. One of the reasons why I love historical fiction is that I can learn something new, and I definitely learned about a part of American history that is not covered by the classroom textbooks. As always, Ms. MacNeal's research is stellar. With vivid descriptions, her prose brings to life little known events in American history. Plot-pacing was excellent and characters very real.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author/publisher through Netgalley and was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. Veronica and her mother, Violet are thrust into the middle of a Nazi cell in Los Angeles in 1940 before America becomes involved in WWII. They both quickly begin working undercover to feed intelligence to the Americans, utilizing their German heritage as a cover. The fact that this was based on a true story made it even more fascinating, and at times unsettling to see the parallels between Nationalism at that time and in present day. It was nice to see to very strong female characters holding their own to take down powerful people for the common good.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a historical fiction set in WWII in the US. I enjoyed this novel as it had elements of history not commonly found in WWII novels.

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal. Pub Date: September 20, 2022. Rating: 3 stars. Set during WWII, this is the story of a mother and daughter who are pulled into a world of espionage in Los Angeles. Upon discovery of a Nazi community in America working towards anti-semitism and propaganda campaigns to keep the United States from supporting the Allies, a mother/daughter duo work to infiltrate this movement. I thought the storyline was unique, but felt the writing was slow and clunky at times. I appreciate new perspectives/stories in the WWII historical fiction genre and this is one storyline I have not come across yet. I learned quite a bit, which was great! Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #motherdaughtertraitorspy #netgalley

When you spend so much time with ignorant, racist, low lives in order to extract information from them, you deserve a medal just for not switching sides under that pressure. Being true to your ideology and universal truth, keeping your North Star right in front of you are true qualities you want to harbor. Examples of such things that we are facing today are spouts from roots that were planted before WWII. Hate, racism, anti-semitism are still here; people are still trying to “normalize” nazi salutes.

Veronica and her mother Vi found themselves in the middle of such eruption in LA in early 40s. Veronica was supposed to work at a magazine in NY and her mom was supposed deal with her menopause. But Veronica’s relationship with a married man caused her banishment from NY. While it felt like a punishment at the beginning, her new life in LA turned her into the war journalist she always wanted to be: an Aryan looking spy in the middle of American nazis.

I loved how both mother and daughter were described as normal human beings with all of their accomplishments, mistakes, and vices. They weren’t glorified and put on a pedestal to be admired. They were portrayed as good citizens who tried their best to weed out poison ivies of the society. They were cut off from the spy world when they need to be. Knowing that this story was based on real characters, I wanted to take the time to thank all those who stand on humanity’s side.

3.5 rounding up to 4 stars. This book was a simple and quick read for me and I finished it in one day. I enjoy historical fiction, especially WWII. What I liked about this book was it's based here in the United States and gave us a different perspective from what we usually see, which is how Americans fought and used spies against the Nazis we had on our very own American soil. American citizens that were not only against joining the war, but agreed and supported Hitler. I have not read a book that showed this perspective, so I learned alot. It was sad, and yet felt eerily familiar, from what we see in this country today, sharing similar parallels with current events. I often wondered if that was the point the author was trying to make.

However, I can't quite put my finger on the reason, but I just didn't overly love this book. Something was missing to make it that perfect 5 star read for me. Maybe it was the characters that I couldn't quite get attached to, or the writing was just too simple or rushed. I'm not sure, because the content was good. I just feel I won't remember this book or the details after a few days of reading it.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

Mother, Daughter, Traitor, Spy. The plethora of roles a person plays. Some only a select few people know about. This book was everything I was looking for in a historical fiction novel. This mother daughter duo was such a ride to follow throughout this book. They went through so much, I was on the edge of my seat during parts. There were devastating parts. Just everything you could ask for.

WW2 historical fiction books are my go to. The mother daughter story was very intriguing and captivating. The book was easy to follow and very enjoyable.

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal is a WWII novel of which I’ve read so many, but this is a new story in a new location. The book starts in New York and then lands in Los Angeles in 1940. Veronica Grace, a very promising national award winning journalism major has just graduated from college and intended to take a job with a prominent magazine, Mademoiselle. But when Betsy Blackwell, the legendary editor in chief of the magazine learned of Veronica’s affair, she invoked the moral clause in Veronica’s contract and then withdrew the offer of a job. Veronica’s affair with a prominent man led to getting blackballed from any real journalistic jobs in New York. Max Applebaum’s wife was the daughter of one of the titans of New York City publishing. She was faced with a tough decision and she chose to move to LA, along with her widowed mother. Veronica made the move without having prearranged employment. Her mother was also a beautiful blond and the daughter of German immigrants. They were not left with much of an estate from Veronica’s deceased father, so the women both needed to find employment.

With the war already starting in Europe, there was much talk about world affairs, and it was established early in the novel that there were many German agents throughout the U.S. who were looking for ways to support Germany and Hitler in the war effort. As the daughter of immigrants, both Veronica’s mother, Violet “Vi,” looked German, spoke German, and lived in a German community in New York City. It was Vi’s brother that offered them one of his houses in Santa Monica.

Despite their connection to the German community, Veronica and Vi were not friends of Hitler. Rather, they were quite upset about the anti-democratic events that they knew were happening. Some of Veronica’s undergraduate writings were specifically anti-Nazi pieces. Meanwhile, the FBI agents in LA were tracking pro-Nazi events there, and early in the book, one of their agents was murdered when his true purpose was discovered by the Nazi sympathizers. 

With that setup, this is a story about Veronica and Vi stumbling into a group of Germans in LA, some of whom were active in the pro-Nazi movement. Being desperate to find work, Veronica volunteered her typing skills to a German businessman who she only later discovered was the source of hateful anti-Jew propaganda. She needed the work but was ready to quit the job because of the content this organization was putting forward. However, Veronica and Vi were then encouraged by the FBI to continue to be infiltrators and informants. That’s what the story was about as the protagonist and their mother began to move in the Nazi circles where they gathered information to pass along to the FBI. While being fully aware of the danger they were in if discovered, they chose to continue this work. When they passed along some data that led to the interruption of planned pro-Nazi activities, the leaders became suspicious that there was a  mole in their midst and suddenly Veronica and Vi became suspects of being the moles.

I thought the novel offered a new look at terrorism at home, and considering the civil unrest that was the goal of the Nazis, much of this sounded similar to some of the anti-democratic news reports that are currently occurring in the U.S.

Based on a true story, a mother and daughter go undercover in California to gain information on a propagandist group determined to keep the United States out of World War II.

This plot was very intriguing to me and the fact that it was inspired by true events. It was well written and researched.
Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book. These are my honest thoughts.

I loved the mother/daughter spy angle. That was incredibly fun and the reason why I selected this book to read. Another thing I ended up enjoying was that each woman had to find their way in a new city with a new circle of acquaintances. New jobs, friends, opportunities… they faced them all and learned a lot.

The patriotism in the leads was superb. In an era when patriotism is scoffed at (early 2020s), it’s refreshing to see a book that shows it in a good light, where it was the main proponent to the plot, that it was not looked down upon but looked up to and aimed for. I loved to see the stand against violence-inducing propaganda. And it was fantastic to witness leading ladies who stumbled into Nazi circles—and daring to do something to combat the anti-American rhetoric!

A drawback for me was that history was adjusted to cater to the story rather than the other way around. Another one was the excessive and very unnecessary negative content (listed below).

Content: alcohol, expletives, profanity, marital affairs, tobacco, crude gestures, gambling, bars, mythology, sex, nudity, innuendo

This is historical fiction, taking place during the year before the attack on Pearl Harbor. It focuses on a mother and daughter who suddenly pick up and move from New York to California. Once there, they come across a Nazi cell and agree to work with the FBI to infiltrate their group to gain inside information. One would think this would be an action-packed story or one full of scenarios keeping you on the edge of your seat, but it’s not. It’s actually pretty slow. I was also hoping it would be a book with female empowerment, but it doesn’t really have that feel either. Yes, these woman are doing something brave that they aren’t trained for, but it doesn’t give off that vibe. Overall, it was just an OK book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for gifting me with an advanced copy to read and review. My apologies for not reading it prior to publication.

Susan Elia MacNeal is one of my favorite authors, who often introduces me to pieces of history I should be familiar with but am not and history I might be familiar with but not enough. These are not history lessons. They are better. They are stories evolving from the history that makes it personal and more meaningful. I’m a firm believer in historical fiction as one of the best ways to expand one’s knowledge of the events, both out front and behind the scenes, of how our world came to be what it is today. We all need to understand that. In MacNeal’s new stand-alone novel Mother Daughter Traitor Spy, she exposes the depth of the Nazi activity in America, especially in California, before our country entered WWII. I first became cognizant of how widespread and organized the Nazi problem was pre-WWII in this author’s previous book, Hollywood Spy, the tenth book in the Maggie Hope series. Now in the stand-alone, I discover just what a deep-seated danger the American Nazis, fueled by the leaders of Germany Nazis, was. What makes this story and information so important is its relevance to the hate problems in our country today. Philosopher George Santayana’s famous quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” has been paraphrased over the years as, “Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.” Susan Elia MacNeal has done a deep dive into research to show readers just what devastation they could face by not remembering this particular part of history. A cautionary tale indeed.

Veronica and Violet (Vi) Grace find themselves in an unplanned move across the country from Brooklyn to Los Angles, California. Veronica, a bright and rising journalism student had just graduated from college and was set to intern at Mademoiselle Magazine in NYC when her affair with a married journalist brought the wrath of his wife down on Veronica, causing the young journalist-to-be to lose her internship and leave the city. Within days of settling into Veronica’s uncle’s empty bungalow in California, Veronica finds a typing job for Educational Service Bureau in Los Angles. Vi’s pension from being a Navy widow only goes so far, and Veronica will have to put her journalism dreams on hold for a practical job.

The man who has hired Veronica works out of his home, with his wife, who is also seemingly involved in the work. Veronica finds out the first day that the “work” is spreading Nazi propaganda and building up the numbers in the American Nazi cells. She is appalled and has no plans to return to this job, where talk of overthrowing the United States government and installing a Hitler-based system is a real objective. Veronica and Vi try to report these subversive activities to the police and the F.B.I., but these institutions are more interested in catching communists than Nazis. After their warnings fall on deaf ears with law enforcement, Vi calls a friend of her husband’s in the Navy, and this high-ranking officer doesn’t dismiss their concerns. He puts them in touch with Ari Lewis, head of a spy ring uncovering and monitoring Nazi activity in California. Lewis, a Jew, knows just how dangerous the Nazis in America are and that they are targeting major installations of different cities’ infrastructures and infiltrating the armed forces. With Veronica and Vi being of German heritage and having the blond hair/blue eyes, they are the perfect infiltrators into the world of Nazi followers who call themselves the American Bund and who are getting their orders from Germany.

It’s an undertaking fraught with peril, but Veronica and Vi agree to play the parts of Nazi sympathizers. Veronica returns to work for the Nazi propaganda people, and Vi makes headway into a organization of women who are pro-Nazism, the America First Committee. The mother and daughter spy team don’t shy away from getting as close as they can to the action and the people who are propagating the Nazi way of life. Veronica starts dating one of the movers and shakers of the California Nazi organizers, and Vi becomes best friends with one the movements most powerful women. The viciousness of these Nazis is part of their modus operandi, and these women face certain death if their duplicity is discovered. With it being 1940 and 1941, readers will see the extents to which the American Nazis are prepared to go to prevent President Roosevelt being elected to a third term and to deter our country from entering WWII. The American Nazis’ vision is for a white supremacist “Christian” government based on Hitler’s in Germany.

Suspense is thick and constant in Mother Daughter Traitor Spy. It is a suspense born from the true life stories of Sylvia Comfort and her mother Grace Comfort, who were actual spies for Leon L. Lewis, the real spymaster represented by Ari Lewis in the book. The authenticity continues with other characters who are based on real-life people, both heroes and villains of the Nazi story of 1930s and 40s in California. Susan Elia MacNeal includes outstanding notes at the end of the book explaining who is who and provides an extensive bibliography for her research. This is the best of historical fiction, well-researched and the history woven into a fascinating fact-based story. The plausibility of the characters’ actions is never in question with MacNeal’s carefully plotted sequence of events.

Some books transcend a reading recommendation made for a great story or captivating characters or gripping suspense, which, of course, are all found in Mother Daughter Traitor Spy. As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, I’m a fan of historical fiction bringing important events and people to our attention. The precarious state of our world and more specifically our country, where hate crimes have risen dramatically over the last five or six years, demands that we pay attention to the mistakes and dangers of the past in order not to repeat them. As a former teacher, I realize the importance of teaching students with interesting materials. I have a list of historical fiction books I would like to see schools use in broadening students’ awareness of this country’s history and bringing it alive as to how it applies to today. Of course, I don’t want my enthusiasm for education to overshadow my recommendation that this book is at its core an amazing read. It’s a thrilling story of two brave women in an extraordinary set of circumstances they could never have imagined. A riveting tale of heroism.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam Publishers for an advanced copy of this book.

This historical fiction book is one of the best that I have ever read. Although it started a little slowly, as Veronica graduates from Hunter College in New York and soon afterwards has her dream job at Mademoiselle magazine revoked. She and her mother Vi (Violet) soon pick up roots and move into Vi's brother's house in LA. The author did a great job bringing 1940's Hollywood to the page and bringing her characters to life. The differences between NY and LA were described and realistic.
On a tip from a waitress at a diner, Veronica applies for a job as a typist for a man who runs an organization of Nazi sympathizers, who are anti-democracy, anti-Semitic who disseminate propaganda and actually plan a "Snowfall"- a blizzard of white paper propounding their beliefs that America should be Christian and should keep out of WWII and not support the Allies.
Veronica and her mother try to appeal to the FBI and police to no avail. Finally Vi calls a friend of her husband's in the Navy who connects them with an anti-Nazi spymaster and we are on an incredible journey.
The characters are realistic - evidently based on the extensive research that the author did on the real women (and men) in the book. The pace is fast once Veronica starts giving feedback to her contacts, and the situations were tense, and suspenseful. The organization suspected them of being moles and they were incarcerated briefly, but managed to carry out their duties honestly and as they were assigned to do.
I could see similarities in what we are experiencing today in the US and hope that there are similar workings taking place. I was not aware of "Hitler's bunker" in California nor of the strong Nazi sentiment throughout Hollywood (although they occurred before I was born), we never covered it in American History or International Relations.
Kudos to the author for her extensive research and for bringing this chapter in our history to light, and for focusing on these two brave women who made a difference to our country. This is a book that every citizen should read.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher-Random House- and am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a great historical fiction! This story had a feel of Man in the High Castle and showed the battle for the soul for the US during that time. I loved the multi-leveled characters and the internal conflict of Veronica. The lessons that she learned are still so important today. The over all plot was intriguing and kept my interest the whole time. It was also a great reminder that we have to stand up for the rights of all people and not just the ones that look and think like us.

This was another WWII Womens fiction about spies…but not like any other I’ve read!!! While there is an overabundance of French resistance fiction the story of Violet and Veronica- based on real life spies- in LA was fascinating!! I knew absolutely nothing about this topic and it was engaging and informative, intense and intriguing. Also a great comparison for our current climate. A real page turner and a story that needed to be told!!

I can't really put into words why I didn't quite like this book other than simply: I didn't like it. I think part of the problem was that it felt too modern. There were many things mentioned that are modern day conversations. I couldn't imagine those topics 90 years ago. I also thought the two main female characters were just a little... dumb.

I love historical fictions and was really looking forward to this one since it was a topic I hadn't explored before: Nazi support in America and their connections to higher leadership Nazis in Germany. I looked into it after reading this and learned a lot.

It took a while to read (just over a month) because I just could nottt get in to it.

*Spoilers below*

They talked nonstop about how dangerous the Nazis they were spying on were dangerous but then a couple drinks and they're breaking rules or getting too comfortable with their handlers in public (who are obvious enemies to the Nazis). I just thought they were being flippant children (even the mom) and it was annoying to read.

The author also tried to draw a clear line between a recent American president and a presidential campaign "linked" to Naziism in the book but when I looked further into the real political speeches from history the author mentioned, there is a lot of gray area in actual history with no clear links. It seemed like the author embellished in order to pigeonhole current Americans and continue the polarization plaguing America.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Randomhouse Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam in exchange for an honest review.