I liked the dual perspectives of this book and had high hopes for it but ultimately it didn't work for me.

Kingfisher feathers in a Phoenix Crown. . . .1906 San Francisco Earthquake. . .Chinatown in SF. . .Enrico Caruso. . .? Add to that two of my favorite authors, and it all adds up to a book I must read!

It was an interesting weave, these writings of two authors. I wondered if I'd be able to tell who did what, and I have to admit to not being able to pick out who did what, so for me it was a seamless weave. I enjoyed the characters who were very well seated in the lives of the people on whom they were based (Authors' notes after identified fictional v non-fictional characters), and it was fun to reconnect with my favorite San Francisco celebs. As an avid fan of all reports about the 1906 SF Earthquake since I first heard of it has brought me many books of those who were there, how they managed (or didn't), and who and what rose up and out of the ashes to resurrect that great city. This book echoed and embellished many of the stories - in a good and interesting way.

I stayed with this one, right through to the end!

*A sincere thank you to Kate Quinn; Janie Chang, William Morrow, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #ThePhoenixCrown #NetGalley

Quinn has catapulted to the top of the biographical fiction author list. Chang has carved a niche for herself by infusing her historical fiction with the mystical elements of Chinese folklore. This collaboration draws from each authors' strengths. There are historical nuggets such as the 1899 NY Windsor Hotel fire, the sponsoring of art and culture by the wealthy, the richness and cultural significance of Chinatown, and of course the San Francisco earthquake. Readers get a fast paced historical mystery with this book. The characters are complex and offer plenty of insight into each of the segments of the population that they represent. Perhaps we can look forward to a standalone highlighting Alice Eastwood one day.

This one held nostalgia for me, set in San Francisco and during the earthquake, which is so fascinating. But add in the mix of such a diverse and fascinating set of characters and it truly ups the ante. I fell in love with Gemma - so naive, but so strong. And Suling - how hard it was for her. The lead up to the earthquake was fascinating, the mystery interwoven with life for these two women. Then that early morning in 1906 when the whole of San Francisco was changed irrevocably - the description of this absolutely did it justice.

The four women in the aftermath of this, clearly struggling with what they went through before, during and after the earthquake, were so interesting and strong - seeking truth and justice in a variety of different ways and places. Lastly, I absolutely loved the epilogue. Very well done!

San Francisco, 1906. An intertwined world of privilege and poverty. An earthquake that respects none and changes the fate of all of them.

I was curious about how Quinn and Chang would fashion a story together, merging their unique story telling style. I love Quinn’s intense, fast paced, thriller-esque way of sharing a historical event and, while there were glimpses of that in the Thornton storyline, especially at the end, this was a much toned down version of her usual penmanship. Chang’s influence was obvious in the descriptions of San Francisco’s Chinatown and the beautiful story telling around the Chinese culture. Little tidbits thrown in about things like attitudes, color and food that added to the richness.

I think where readers will connect with this one is with the characters. The story weaves together the lives of four women who form a bond that will last a lifetime. Each one is unique, flawed but full of potential.

It feels like people are looking for historical fiction that isn’t world war 2. If that’s you, this one might just fit the bill. As a side, don’t skip the author note at the end. It was full of historical tidbits.

It did make me want to go to San Francisco. I haven’t been since I was in high school and I feel like this would be a different experience. Have you been? What were some of your favorite things to see and do?

Huge thanks to @uplitreads and @harpercollinsca for getting this one into my hands. I truly appreciate it.

This book was entertaining and an easy read. I found it wrapped up a little too neatly for my taste, but I was always invested enough in the plot to continue.

3.5⭐️ rounded up

I love these two authors separately- I love the idea of them using their talents together! I felt slightly disconnected from the characters and had a hard time getting into the story. The rich details slowly drew me in.

This book had a bit of a slow start for me. It felt like it took until about halfway through the book to really get to the good story and then it was a quick read.

I liked the characters and how the pace of the book picked up once the earthquake happened. Overall, it was an interesting historical fiction read based in California during the great earthquake.

THE PHOENIX CROWN is set during the 1906 San Francisco earth quake. The story follows the lives of three women. Gemma Garland is an opera singer who is to sing in the chorus of a new production. Gemma was to meet her best friend Nellie an artist. To Gemma”s dismay Nellie isn’t at the boardinghouse she was living in. Seuling is a young Asian woman and talented seamstress working for her uncle in his laundry business.
How the lives of these women’s connections is revealed as the story unfolds.
I thoroughly enjoyed THE PHOENIX CROWN. It was refreshing to read a historical fiction novel that wasn’t set during WWll. I would recommend THE PHOENIX CROWN to fans of historical fiction.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced digital edition of THE PHOENIX CROWN by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang.

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang is a novel that left me underwhelmed. With a hundred pages in, I found myself questioning whether I should continue or walk away. The appeal of Quinn’s previous works nudged me forward in the hope it would get better. Unfortunately, it did not.

The narrative introduces two women: Gemma, a soprano seeking the next step in her career, and Suling, a Chinatown embroideress desperate to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths intersect by chance and their story, involving friends, family, and foes, is the basis of the book.

It wasn’t until the last third of the book, when the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 took place, that this book took off.

I commend the research the authors put into this book, but the characters failed to grab my attention. Gemma’s voice fell flat, and Suling’s determination was lost. Their shared backstory—losing parents and being orphaned—seemed to have been a ‘heard that before’ trope. Perhaps their pasts weighed them down, but I was searching for more. The book felt like it went on for far too long. The promise of intrigue—Thornton’s disappearance, the missing Phoenix Crown—fizzled. I found the surrounding characters far more interesting than Gemma and Suling.

As a warning, Quinn and Chang stir up the era, but some terms make the reader shudder and constantly need to remind themselves of the times this book took place.

An unlikely quartet of women who unite under disastrous circumstances. Did I stay up all night finishing this book? Yes. Am I typing this and working with a quarter of brain cells from being sleep deprived? Also yes.
I loved this book, it paints the realistic picture of survival. A story of women who have been stolen from, abused, neglected and kicked at their lowest....with the power to keep standing up and fighting. Kate Quinn will always be on my auto-buy and I will be diving into more Janie Chang novels.
I want to give you an eloquent and beautifully written review, but again, no sleep.
I will say, I would want to be friends with every single woman in this novel. Sally, Reggie, Alice, Suling, I'm fully convinced with the right backing y'all could have taken over the world!
3.5 stars and thank you to NetGalley & William Morrow for the ARC!

I give this book a 3.75. The story took a while for me to connect with. The characters were going instead of carrying a story. Towards the earthquake happening, the characters gain more agency. San Francisco is a stunning setting and a character. I loved that the story was set in a famous city yet not always portrayed in novels like New York City. The ending is satisfying.

Set in San Francisco, days before the 1906 earthquake Gemma Garland heads to the city to revive her opera career. Gemma has an exceptional voice, but is plagued by migraines that affect her performance. When she meets arts patron Henry Thornton, he promises to help make her a star. Henry is a railroad magnate who is obsessed with Chinese antiques. This also leads him to help Suling Feng, a Chinese embroideress who wants to make enough money to escape an arranged marriage. But Henry’s support may come with strings attached. This historical thriller ups the suspense as it counts down to the earthquake, but something big is uncovered even before the big disaster. I love Kate Quinn and adding a co-author Janie Chang gives the Chinese point of view authenticity. If you love suspense thrillers, but are a little wary of historical fiction, give this book a chance. It embodies the power of women working together across generations and ethnicities.

This was good, but not one that will stick with me forever like Quinn’s other novels. I didn’t think it had the same depth.

Kate Quinn has proven to be one of my favorite authors; her WWII-era works "The Huntress" and "The Diamond Eye" have been two of my favorite reads of the last couple of years, and so when I saw this one was available on NetGalley, I knew I had to request it. Her partnership here with Janie Chang is a seamless read, the perfect intertwining of two authors into one beautifully-rendered and expertly-crafted story. Both protagonists - Gemma, the would-be opera star, and Suling, the Chinese-American seamstress - are compelling leading ladies, and the characters who surround them are just as engaging. The thread of impending doom that weaves through the novel, thanks to the looming of what the reader knows is one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the United States, and crippled San Francisco, accompanies the unraveling of what both Gemma and Suling have come to believe about some of the people in their lives; there is a sense of destruction coming that never quite lets up, and it provides the impetus to just. keep. reading. Overall, another notch in Quinn's success column, and I'm definitely looking forward to both Quinn's and Chang's next offerings, whether individually or together.

The Phoenix Crown is not my typical fare, and I have never read a book by authors Kate Quinn and Janie Chang, although I have heard wonderful things about Quinn from those who enjoy her style of historical fiction. So why have I picked up this novel that is so out of my usual league? The 52 Book Club chose it for a read-along, and I was excited to explore this novel along with a group.

Unfortunately, it says a lot when I find the Authors’ Note at the end of the book to be more interesting than the novel itself. I learned so much more from those few pages - including that Alice Greenwood was an actual person (would have loved to have known this while I was reading) - than I did from the entirety of The Phoenix Crown. With The Phoenix Crown, I was expecting a historical “National Treasure-esque” novel set against the backdrop of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but what I actually got was something quite different.

For being a historical fiction novel, this book could practically take place in modern times - the attitudes of the characters and their manner of speaking was not in line with what I would expect from society in the early 1900s, more than 100 years ago. The fact that this novel features a mixed race sapphic relationship that anyone barely blinks an eye at did not feel authentic to me. Furthermore, the novel is powered by the women of the story, who all move freely around the world primarily without the constraints of men. I feel like the diminished, singular role of women in society would have been felt more prominently throughout this book if the airs and attitudes of the time had been more pronounced.

The San Francisco earthquake and the titular phoenix crown itself both play minor roles in this novel, after being touted as major plot points, The book spends much of its pages discussing the careers and relationships of the main characters, without really establishing a meaningful historical setting. Furthermore, I did not care for any of the characters and found them to be wholly uninspired.

Nonetheless, I am giving this book 3 stars because although it was clearly not the book for me and failed to meet what I expected of it, there is a satisfying story here for those who can put aside what they thought this novel would be and accept it for what it is.

In this incredible multi-perspective historical fiction novel, Kate Quinn and Janie Chang bring readers to San Francisco in the weeks before the great earthquake of 1906. Following four women, their relationships with each other, and their relationship with a wealthy San Franciscan man. The four protagonists -- opera singer Gemma, seamstress Suling, botanist Alice, and artist Reggie -- are all connected to Henry Thornton, but the earthquake will reveal some dark and uncomfortable secrets for all of them. Readers will journey past the earthquake to see how the women rebuild themselves and protect themselves and others from Thornton in a dramatic tale that takes readers around the world with the four protagonists. Quinn and Chang have brought San Francisco’s business and diversity to life, including the anti-Chinese racism of the period, and their characters interact with this reality in genuine, realistic ways. They balance the different characters and alternating perspectives of Gemma and Suling very well, and their world-building and interest in historical detail is fascinating. The combination of Quinn and Chang’s prose, attention to detail and character development, and the strength of the narrative itself make this an incredible, immersive, and fascinating read for fans of both authors and the historical fiction genre.

Sadly, this was a DNF for me at 24% because I was just plain bored. Also, I recently read Janie Chang's The Porcelain Moon and I felt some similarities to parts of this story and added to my lack of investment in the story.

The Phoenix Crown, a valuable headdress worn by Chinese royalty, is locked up by wealthy and influential businessman Henry Thornton. He owns many Chinese artifacts and is a ruthless collector of many things.
This book centers around four main characters: Gemma a singer looking for her big break, her old friend from NY, Reggie, a fearless and talented painter, Alice, a knowledgeable and well known San Francisco botanist and Suling, a brave, Chinese American seamstress searching for her love.
These four lives are connected by the phoenix crown. Each character realizes how they have been manipulated by Thornton, and the action climaxes during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
After surviving this devastating earthquake, these women are able to create new lives for themselves, thinking that Thornton died in the disaster. Until the Phoenix Crown resurfaces and the search for its owner begins.
#netgalley

I love this historical fiction novel set in San Francisco around the earthquake of 1906. This duo writing team did a great job of bringing two different perspectives during this time.