Thank you to the publisher and Netgallet for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Please see my full review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1994952547
To summarize I really enjoyed this book. I appreciated the factual details and was pleasantly surprised to find out in the author's note that many of the secondary characters were real. I felt the author did a nice job in combining two themes which included the events leading up to the sinking of the ship and the budding women's movement that was happening at the time. The characters were written true to the era - and even the historical accounts of the waning nobility way of life and the effects of the First World War were accurately portrayed. Such a tragic event but well told from the eyes of one of the main characters. I would recommend to other readers.


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In London, a young woman does her part for the war effort by typing up decoded messages in Room 40. In London, a wealthy heiress seeks to further women's rights. Though they never meet, both of their lives are affected by seven days in May.
By far, Isabel has the more interesting tale, working with the men who decoded German transmissions, although she was not developed as well as she could have been. I did like that when someone tries to use her past against her, she doesn't give in.
Sydney, on the other hand, is cliched and forgettable. A love triangle where one couple is engaged, but the bride to be has an independent minded younger sister? Oh, I wonder how this will end. I did like the details of the 'Lusy' sinking told from her viewpoint, but that was the only noteworthy aspect of her tale.
There is mention of abortions, the consequences of such, in the beginning of the story, so those sensitive to that should be warned. Also, a sex scene, though not graphic, was still enough to put me off.

I was able to read this novel courtesy of netgallery
A strong 4 stars

This novel using the voyage and the eventual sinking of the ship the Lusitania as its focus was a well done historical fiction novel that not only included the Lusitania's tragedy, but it also gave the reader a love story to follow as well.

The characters of Edward, Brooke, and Sydney were fine representation of the people of their time. The sisters, Brooke and Sydney were extremely wealthy socialites. Brooke was surely one who was raised with a silver spoon in her mouth, while Sydney, portrayed as a woman's right activist, was more level headed and down to earth. Edward, a member of the British aristocracy needing money to continue his parents' estate, was a fine character as well. How they interact was the premise of the romantic element of the story.

The sinking of the Lusitania has, over the more than on hundred years since its sinking, fostered many theories and a few conspiracy theories as well. Did Churchill and the British admiralty know of the dangers to this ship? Did they hope that its sinking by a German submarine would encourage and foster America's entrance into the war? This is something the novel explores. Of course perhaps we will never know. However, what we do know is the out of the 1959 passengers who sailed on that fateful voyage, only 764 survived. Of the 33 babies on board only 6 survived. Also, in reading he author's notes it was learned that her great grandfather was on board this vessel. He had sent his family to England on another ship because he feared that the Lusitania with a cargo of guns and ammunition being forwarded to England, might make the Lusitania a floating target. He survived the journey, and is a character in this novel, thus being a motivation for Ms Izzo to write this story.

Again, as in countless other books, we learn the tragedy and consequences of war. Why we never learn and still are involved in events that produce tragedies such as the Lusitania, is a question that has never been answered and probably never will.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

New York heiresses, Sydney and Brooke Sinclair, are due to set sail for England. Brooke is engaged to marry impoverished aristocrat Edward Thorpe-Tracey, the future Lord Northbrook. Sydney is drawn to the burgeoning suffragette movement, which is a constant source of embarrassment to her proper sister. In London, Isabel Nelson is working for the British Admiralty deciphering code and learns of the German plot to sink the Lusitania.

Although I liked this book, it felt to unnecessarily drag between the different story lines. Sydney considered herself a modern woman and was involved in many things like the sufferagettes and contraception. Brooke was old fashioned and willing to marry for title and position, not love. Edward was thrown into the mix to make the triangle work. It felt like a Harlequin book simple love story with no real depth to their feelings.

The story of Isabel working code in London was more interesting and I would have liked to read more of her life and work.

3☆

I wanted to love this. It promised to be a novel with a little romance (the Brooke, Sydney and Edward storyline); a little espionage (Isabel's story) with a backdrop of the Lusitania's final voyage across the Atlantic.

What I liked:
The ending. Having read the Author's note at the end you realize that one of the characters (Walter) is based on her own great-grandfather's experience on the Lusitania. This fact explains why her descriptions of that fateful day are so well written; she really was able to describe the fear, the chaos, the absolute mayhem that occurred after the ship was hit by the torpedo. She was able to bring the catastrophe to life. I honestly wish the story had started on the fateful day and then worked its way backwards towards the beginning of the voyage. It might have made some of the characters more likeable ... but then again ... now we are getting to my issues with this book.

And that is in fact it's main characters (I will admit that the secondary characters - especially those based on real people, are excellent).

Sydney, Brooke, Edward and Isabel are never really developed more than being slightly superficial. They don't change and evolve as the days pass (since this book does take place over the course of more than seven days in May) - and so although you are meant to care for them, it was difficult for me to feel that way.

Sydney and Brooke: sisters at odds with what they want out of life; one wants freedom (the right to control her own body, to vote, to choose love); and the other wants a title, an estate and to be powerful.

Edward, a soon to be titled Englishman who must marry for money in order to save his family estate, meets his soon-to-be sister-in-law and realizes that he has feelings for her. So begins a love triangle that falls a little flat.

Isabel, a "fallen" woman who must overcome her past to work in a top secret office (Office 40), keeping secrets even when she's conflicted with the results of not doing anything. She's also not a very pleasant individual. Her side story didn’t really feel necessary to move the plot forward – and was rather simply distracting.

I read this book long after I had read Erik Larson’s “Dead Wake” - an account of the events that led to the sinking of the Lusitania – taking into account the German U-Boat’s perspective, the British Admiralty and recounting the final days and hours of over 1000 passengers on the Lusitania – and I will admit that having read that first helped fill in some of the blanks / was a good companion to this book.

This reminded me a little of “Crossing on the Paris” by Dana Gynther – another novel who’s characters let me down.

Excellent book. Great main characters and plot. I would recommend this book.

I loved this book, like the author I had a relative who was on board the Lusitania when she was torpedoed, unfortunately he did not survive.

I have learn't quite a lot about the Lusitania over the last few years and found a lot of details included in the book that were very accurate, for example, the fact that Captain Turner, although an experienced captain, did not like socialising with the passengers, and this aspect of his role was often undertaken by a staff captain. The book was obviously well researched, which added to the enjoyment of reading it for me.

There were also some details that I did not know, such as the existence of room 40, and this being the organisation which formed the basis for Bletchley Park and eventually GCHQ which we know today. I found this aspect of the book fascinating and it prompted me to do some online searching to find out further detail, all of which added to my background knowledge of the sinking.

I particularly like the way the author alternates between what is happening on board ship and behind the scenes at Whitehall and the Admiralty, and ties everything up together at the end. The scenes describing the sinking and then the immediate aftermath of time spent in the water waiting to be rescued were very well written, and made me think of how harrowing it must have been for my relative and others as well.

Over all a very good read, with an intriguing love story, historical accuracy, and good information regarding the danger of being a passenger on a transatlantic crossing during the early years of the First World War. I thoroughly recommend this book especially if you are interested in that period of history, or anything to do with the Lusitania!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Harper Collins for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued to read this novel because I'm fascinated by stories of doomed ocean liners, and hoped for a great romantic shipboard saga. Even knowing the fate of the Lusitania, I hoped to have some surprises in store with the fictional characters--but no. Although I stayed with this book through to the end to see how the author depicted the ship's disaster, praying there'd be surprises in the "romantic" storyline, it was totally predictable. There wasn't any believable chemistry or foundation for the romance between heroine and "hero", they fell in love in two seconds. None of the characters had much depth, and they weren't very likable--all of them made choices that were morally wrong (sleeping with your sister's fiance?? reading private letters addressed to Churchill??), mainly for the ease of the author to provide information and keep the story going. And although it seemed that the book was well researched, there is a HUGE glaring error near the end, when Sydney and the survivors are brought to Queenstown, Ireland to recover. The book says she traveled by train from there to Yorkshire, England. Excuse me? The entire Irish Sea stands between Ireland and England, and the area was full of German U-boats torpedoing ships, so how did she take a train from Ireland to England? Mistakes like that really take me out of a story. But, thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book! I will try another book by this author and hope it's better.

Seven Days in May by Kim Izzo appealed to me as I'm interested in reading about WW1 and the suffragette movement. I was looking forward to seeing how the author would combine the storyline on the ship and that of the codebreaker Isabel in London. I'm sad to say that the book didn't really manage to satisfy me. I wanted intensity, but what I got was a bombast story with shallow characters and extremely predictable storyline.

The storyline with Isabel was marginally better than the one with the sisters on the ship. Still, the fallen women storyline has been done so many times before and better. Although I did enjoy the part when Mildred, Isabel's nemesis got what she deserved. I always like it when a despicable person gets what she/he deserves. What really troubled me was that Isabel getting an important job and the first thing she does is reading a letter from Churchill, because the envelope wasn't sealed ... seriously? And, when I think about it, shouldn't they have done a better background check on her, now that she has such an important job?

Then we have Sydney and Brooke Sinclair. Sydney is a suffragette fighting for women's rights, at least she is supposed to be it, but it never rings true and mostly she is portrayed as a poor rich girl that pretends to be a suffragette, but I lost all respect for her when she in spite decided to change from first class to third on the ship because she was arguing with her sister. Like a child with a tantrum. Brooke isn't much better, she is rich, but she wants a title and the best way is to find a poor aristocrat and marry him.

Then we have the romance story, oh this one was so easy to see that it's almost laughable. I won't give it away, but you can see right from the start how it all will end.

So, this was not a story to my liking, I persevered until the end, but It's not a book I can recommend.

If you’re one of those who can’t stand negative reviews, quit while you’re ahead and stop reading now. I don’t mean to be rude, but I didn’t enjoy the time I spent with Kim Izzo’s Seven Days in May and I’ve no intention of mincing my words to appease everyone who thinks negative commentary a waste of both time and energy.

The sinking of the Lusitania boasts an overwhelming degree of intrigue, but Izzo’s illustration of the ship’s final voyage lacks both dimension and depth. Izzo relies on a series of information dumps to relay facts about the voyage, but fails to recreate the spirit of its passengers or the ambiance of its accommodations. The research was obviously done, but atmospherically I found the novel lifeless and flat. I don’t mean to imply that Izzo didn’t care about the historic elements of the story, she did a fair amount of research, but in terms of storytelling she exhibits a distinct preference for character drama over period detail.

Unfortunately, I found this emphasis misplaced as the entirety of the cast struck me as both cliched and predictable. I hate to be that reviewer, but stock characterizations don’t do it for me and Izzo failed to bring anything new to the table. A suffragette whose only flaw is getting into trouble for standing up for women’s rights? A self-righteous, marriage minded socialite? An inexplicably talented codebreaker with no experience who just happens to land a government job? An impoverished yet charming member of the aristocracy who is willing to trade his title for wealth? Give me a freaking break.

Finally, and I know this is petty, but I genuinely feel the story overburdened with competing plots. Sydney, Brooke, and Edward are united in that they are all passengers on the ship, but Isabel exists on the periphery of the disaster. Her position provides an avenue for Izzo to explore the military aspects of the story, but there’s virtually no cohesion between her story and that of the other leads.

Long story short, Seven Days in May didn’t work for me and I’d have a difficult time recommending it to other readers.

Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thought Seven Days in May was a great book. From the stories of the rich in New York at the turn of the century, to a secret British Admiralty office, to the horror and the aftermath of the sinking of the Lusitania. I couldn't put the book down and read it in one day.

The book tells the story of two wealthy heiresses, Sidney and Brooke Sinclair. Brooke is engaged to a British aristocrat, Edward Thorpe-Tracy, a future Lord, who needs her money to save his estate and plans to marry her before he goes off to fight in WWI. Sidney, Brooke's sister, is a feminist who is active in the suffragette movement and is disdainful of her sister's plan. Edward comes to New York to escort the sisters back to England for the wedding on the Lusitania.

At the same time, Isabel Nelson is working hard as the only female code breaker in a top secret section of the British Admiralty. As the codes are broken, Isabel and her colleagues know that a German submarine is threatening to torpedo shipping in the Atlantic. They are concerned about the Lusitania but feel her speed and maneuverability will keep her safe.

I don't want to give away the story besides the obvious sinking of the ship, but the plot was very interesting and the characters were well drawn. The descriptions of the ship and life in the different classes aboard were fascinating and seemed well researched. I also really like Isabel's parallel story of a girl who worked in a man's world breaking codes.

I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it. It's a great read!

This historical novel is set in 1915 and is based around the RMS Lusitania. The book, thankfully, avoids the tired, and clichéd, dual time line – although it does have a dual storyline. Part of the book is set around the story of two American heiresses, Sydney and Brooke Sinclair, while the other section is set in London, where the storyline centres on Isabel Nelson who volunteers for war work at the Admiralty.

Brooke Sinclair is engaged to be married to Edward Thorpe-Tracey, who arrives in New York to escort his fiancée, and her sister, back to England for their marriage. Edward is keen to marry before he goes off to war and, although he does not really love Brooke, he needs her money to save his family home. Brooke, meanwhile, is keen to gain a title and is also eager to keep Edward apart from her sister, Sydney. Sydney is something of an embarrassment, with her controversial politics and eagerness to embrace the suffragette cause. Indeed, the sisters are such opposites that Sydney decides to travel on Lusitania in third class, causing all sorts of misunderstandings between Brooke, Edward and other passengers. This plot device also, obviously, allows the author to explore parts of the ship outside of first class and introduce different characters. Interestingly, some of the characters are based upon the authors own family history and so have real authenticity about them. There are other, real life people mentioned in the book, such as Alfred Vanderbilt, who Edward feels a certain envy towards, due to the freedom his wealth awards him.

Alongside the part of the novel centred on Lusitania, we read of Isabel Nelson. She had previously worked as a housemaid for George Chambers in Oxford, who taught her some morse code. Keen to volunteer for War Work, Isabel is thrilled to be assigned to Room 40 OB, under Commander Hope and Alastair Denniston, who spend their time deciphering code. Although she is only there to type up messages, she quickly enjoys the sense of comradeship. However, when Isabel discovers a secret message, it makes her question the role of the work she is involved in. Secrets play a larger part in the story though, with the arrival of Mildred, who knows about Isabel’s past…

I must admit that I have a fondness for books set on ships – particularly Lusitania or Titanic. This is a very interesting novel, which deals with both the tragedy of the sinking of the Lusitania and also with the role of women. You have Sydney who is interesting in the political rights of women and who admires Margaret Sander, a controversial advocate for women’s reproductive rights; Isabel who is keen to put her past behind her and establish a career, in a world where women’s ambitions are limited and the interesting concept of forced marriage, where it is Edward who actually feels more under pressure to marry for money. An excellent novel for fans of historical fiction and two headstrong, and intelligent, heroines in Sydney and Isabel. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.