This might be McMillan’s finest work to date. The layers to the story are captivating, and the characters are exquisite. Her knowledge of the setting and time period are evident in the way she presents everything. This was a wonderful story to read.

The city of London was a major character in this book, especially its churches. The main character Diana is obsessed, or devoted, to the architecture of Christopher Wren, and her knowledge and intuition about the churches pulls her into secret agent work. The story is told with a dual timeline of the present post-war intrigue and Diana's reunification with her husband Brent, and the early days of the war when they met and fell in love, and Diana's codebreaking work while Brent was abroad. The style of writing is very ambiguous, especially in the beginning, and I had a difficult time connecting to the characters and story. The vibe felt hazy, with too much unknown, and the details too slowly revealed. Even though there was quite a bit of description, I never felt grounded in the setting. By the end of the book I had a better picture of things, but my experience reading the book felt fumbling, much like Diana's amateur investigative work. The thing I enjoyed the most was the friendships Diana gained during her time at Bletchley Park, and the way she and Brent eventually gained the footing back in their marriage.

Disclosure statement: A complimentary copy of this book was provided from a tour group, publisher, publicist, or author, including NetGalley, OR was borrowed from the library, including OverDrive, OR borrowed from Kindle Unlimited, OR purchased. A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are unbiased and my own.

While I normally love a dual timeline, this one did not work for me. I found the focus on rebuilding their relationship do be a bit dull for a historical fiction and would have preferred the focus be on the mystery,

The story builds up slowly, but it’s a good slow. The character development is masterful, revealing many aspects of their lives, what they think, how they feel. She is heartbroken by the wall she built between them. He pours out his heart and soul in his thoughts, how different it was between them before the war and how it is now. Very skillfully woven story,he sights, smells, and sounds of an ancient city come alive,

I loved the dynamics of a married couple whole were torn apart during war and now trying to rebuild or pick where they left off even though they were both two different people. The jumping back and forth from when they first met was interesting as was the history of church buildings. Since Diana worked as a spy I was expecting an action book or a faster pace novel. It had a slow start for my taste but the tension picked up to a great ending.

I enjoyed this book very much. Set during and just after WWII, Brent and Diana Somerville get married and are almost immediately separated, Brent to the front and Diana to Bletchley Parents to work as a code breaker. When the war is over, they are virtual strangers to one another, and are unable to discuss their wartime activities due to the Official Secrets Act. Diana has studied the churches designed by Christopher Wren, and many of them were bombed and need restoration, just as her marriage does.

The writing is beautiful and makes the book easy to read. I recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction, 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I really struggled with this book, and kept thinking that it is likely me and not the book that is causing me to struggle with the story. The story is set in a time period that I enjoy, but something about the relationship was just unsettling to me. I think this book will appeal to those that like spy fiction, missing love interests and war stories.

The London Restoration by Rachel McMillan is a tribute to the great cathedrals she loves and the things they have faced over time. This historical fiction reads like a love story to these buildings and the horrors they’ve seen. It is an interesting read and will be enjoyed by readers of historical fiction. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

You'd think at some point I'd get tired of World War II set historical fiction. I certainly won't run out of it since it seems like there's a new release (or two) every week. I have not yet reached that point. I probably won't ever reach that point, to be honest. The latest WWII set novel I read was Rachel McMillan's The London Restoration and it kept me intrigued from the first page to the last.

Here's the book's description:
London, Fall 1945. Architectural historian Diana Somerville's experience as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park and her knowledge of London's churches intersect in MI6's pursuit of a Russian agent named Eternity. Diana wants nothing more than to begin again with her husband Brent after their separation during the war, but her signing of the Official Secrets Act keeps him at a distance.

Brent Somerville, professor of theology at King's College, hopes aiding his wife with her church consultations will help him better understand why she disappeared when he needed her most. But he must find a way to reconcile his traumatic experiences as a stretcher bearer on the European front with her obvious lies about her wartime activities and whereabouts.
Technically, the majority of the novel takes place after VE Day (Victory in Europe Day when the war was declared over in Europe on May 8, 1945) but there are flashbacks so the reader knows how Diana and Brent spent their wars. The novel was a reminder that things didn't just automatically go back to normal as soon as the war was over. Rationing continued for almost another decade and it took a long time for bombed buildings to be rebuilt. Reading as Diana and Brent visited the remains of some of the churches in London was sobering. I'm not a religious person but I appreciate beautiful buildings and can't imagine how difficult it would have been for communities to lose their houses of worship (on top of their actual houses) because of German bombings.

While I think it was important to have some of the information about what Diana and Brent were going through during the war I found the flashbacks sometimes took me totally out of the story. I wanted to hear about their experiences but something about the way the scenes were written didn't quite work for me.

Brent is suffering from what we now know as PTSD and he and Diana are trying to find their way back to each other and figure out what their marriage is going to look like now. McMillan wrote the emotions they were both feeling really well and I was anxious for the pair to make it through. It was nice to read about an already established couple (even though they hadn't actually spent more than a day at a time together since they were married) as they were sorting through this new post-war world. I could tell they had a really solid foundation and I hoped that would be enough.

I hadn't known much, if anything, about traitors at Bletchley Park or the start of the Cold War until I read Kate Quinn's The Rose Code recently (review here). So, to see it also come up in this novel was quite interesting. It was another thing that indicated the war wasn't as over as it may seem or, perhaps more appropriately, it had bred another kind of war. The history and the intrigue from hunting spies were compelling and I definitely did not guess who was behind Eternity before it was revealed.

I'm really glad I finally made time to read The London Restoration. Rachel McMillan's novel was one I really wanted to get to in 2020 (it was released in August) but I just couldn't fit it into the reading schedule. It's an interesting read for historical fiction fans and I'm looking forward to The Mozart Code, which features some of the characters from this novel and is set to be published in September 2021.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

I loved this book! I am a huge fan of World War II history and England and the change to MI6 was a good change to read.

A beautiful story of human endurance and coming back together. A story about discovering who we are and understanding and accepting that life has changed us, but trusting our love to endure. Highly recommend.

Honestly, this book for me was definitely a disappointment. I love architecture and history, so this book should have been the perfect recipe for a wonderful mystery. Instead I found it quite dull. I didn't feel like the characters were developed very well. Moving from scene to scene with them, just felt like being jerked along with a chain. And the mystery throughout the book was mostly just very confusing. It felt like so much was focused on the churches and their history, and then suddenly the characters were thrown in and there was a gun, but there was no real build up as to what was actually going on. I really felt like this book was a promising idea, but for me it definitely fell short.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the eARC.

I've been wanting to read a Rachel McMillan book for a while so I was super excited to pick up The London Restoration! That cover has been slaying me for months! Isn't it gorgeous!?

Another reviewer said that The London Restoration is McMillan's "love letter to London and it's churches", and I can't think of a better way to describe it than that!

Set in 1945 the book starts with Diana Somerville being in Vienna after the war. Destruction has ravaged the once beautiful city. Diana is there doing work as a code-breaker and decoding ciphers for MI6 with fellow agent Simon Barre. The war is over but they are on the hunt for a Soviet agent named "Eternity" who is rumored to have a file that could start a new war.

Diana returns to London and to her husband Brent, who she hasn't seen since they married right before the start of the war. All of that time apart has made for an awkward reunion. She keeps her war-time job a secret from him and he doesn't share what he went through during the war. They do have a shared love of Architecture, particularly of churches. I looooved the parts where they spoke about the architecture - it was fascinating!

Now that Diana is back in London she is tasked with monitoring the churches in the city to try and find the Soviet agent "Eternity" who may be meeting with someone at one of the locations. Tired of lying to her husband she decides to bring him into the mission.

The book goes back in time to when Diana and Brent meet and what they both experienced during the war. The scenes at Bletchley Park with Simon and Sophie Villers were my favorite!
Rachel also includes some fabulous historical notes at the beginning of the novel that I greatly enjoyed.

The London Restoration is a stellar historical fiction novel that I practically inhaled! I loved Diana and Brent and hated when I got to the end! I cannot wait for her next release, The Mozart Code! Highly recommended.

thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC.

I asked for this book after seeing a zoom interview with the author and wanted to read her book. At the beginning it's very slow. I kept waiting to see where the story actually starts and the descriptions stop. I enjoy history and I loved the thorough research of the book.

In essence the book is about spies and espionage and how war changes people. What do you do when you are separated from your spouse soon after you are married, you are each sent off to perform your duty for King and Country - back then, only to come back 5 years later and restart again. Throw in the fact that your wife is a code breaker and still doing covert missions but can't tell you about it? Mix all these things together and you have worn torn London with it's bombed out churches.

I did start to enjoy the book about mid way through. I almost DNF, but I kept on and found I enjoyed it.

I didn’t finish this novel. I stopped at 22% because I couldn’t get into the story. I also found the author’s sentence construction to be confusing and overly long. Some sentences were an entire paragraph. After having to go back and read yet another sentence again in order to figure out what the author was trying to communicate, I threw in the towel.

I’m sure it’s very well-researched, but I’m not interested in architecture or churches and there are too many World War 2 novels out there to persist with one that doesn’t hold my interest. Thanks for the opportunity to read it, though.

I was really looking forward to reading this story as I had heard a lot of positive feedback about it. I have also read several books from this author and while some of them were a miss for me, there are a few that I really liked. Sadly, this was not one of them. Honestly, I struggled with this story. I just could not get into it. I felt there was too much focus on architectural detail and I wanted more story; more romance.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

A Tangled Web!

Diana did secret government work during WWII, while her husband, Brent, was at the front. The war ended, and Brent came home. But it took five more weeks before Diana came home. Brent has never understood, or accepted, why that happened, and because of the oath of secrecy she took, Diana can't tell him about her subterfuge work.

To make it worse, she is still doing secret work that involves her going out at night. Diana says she is doing a study of churches. Although Brent doesn't believe her, he tags along, and finds she is in one dangerous situation after another--and he saves her more than once.

Since reuniting, their marriage has suffered due to trust issues Brent has because of Diana's five-week absence, and her nighttime church work. Will Diana find the answer to the puzzle she has been trying to solve? Can her marriage survive her confidential work? Has the war changed Diana and Brent so much that they can never have a satisfying relationship?

The faith in this story is mostly academic. Brent is a stiff theology professor, and Diana admits she has never had much time for religion. Most of the other characters are atheists, so no one in the story has a personal relationship with God--which I found disappointing. There is a lot of esoteric, complicated information about church architects and architecture. This 4-star story would be enjoyed by those with an interest in WWII, church architecture and intrigue.

I love the cover of this book, and I thought this was well-written. However, the ebook was quite distracting to read in its unfinished form, as the word "London" kept popping up every other paragraph, plus erratic staggering of words, which unfortunately lent itself to a less than desirable reading situation. I am not trying to be ungrateful or complain, just being honest. I am super grateful and honored to be able to read and review this book! I do look forward to reading more of Rachel's books, as I thought she was a talented author who developed her characters well and creating an underlying level of suspense throughout the novel.

The London Restoration was a fabulous historical fiction! I really enjoyed the characters and events covered in this book. I was emotionally engaged and interested from page 1 to the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Restoring churches in war-torn London following WWII drew me into the story right away. The book is all about restoration; in marriage, lives and churches.

Ms. McMillan's description of London and the churches before the war was rich and very detailed. You could tell that Ms. McMillan had done her research.

Diana and Brent were multi-dimensional characters with flaws just like the rest of us. I really enjoyed them and wanted the best for them.

In a brief conversation with Rachel McMillan she told me that this book was her love letter to London and I have to say that it reads like a love letter.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it!



Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy from the publisher. I was not required to write a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.