Jennie Fields starts with Chicago 1950 and combines a female scientist, a roguish ex-lover, and a true-blue FBI agent to achieve a compelling novel with a more than a touch of noir. Highly entertaining from start to finish, Atomic Love is a suspenseful novel that I had a hard time putting down. Rosalind Porter is an intelligent woman of science, who suffered losses and was betrayed in a painful way. As the story develops, the reader gets to see her vulnerability as well as her reemerging strength and passion. I love a good story about a strong woman. Especially one with whom you can identify, but at the same time she has some extraordinary characteristics. Fields also supplies us with a good cast of supporting male characters: the suave lover who we can love to hate; the lovable best friend; and the damaged but soulful man who might save and be saved by our heroine. Atomic Love is a very rich and complete story I thoroughly enjoyed, and I’ll add it to my Book Club’s recommendations list. Sidenote: I can absolutely see this as a fantastic movie.

Atomic Love, by Jennifer Fields, was the story of Rosalind and her quest for science. Rosalind was once an important physicist assigned a top secret position on the Manhattan Project. In a world full of men and war, Roz meets Weaver, a fellow scientist, and falls in love. Weaver is her first serious relationship, but soon becomes her arch nemesis. Weaver destroyed her life and ambitions by seeing that she lost the position she held so dear.

Enter FBI agent Charlie, many years post war. Charlie is looking to trace Weaver back to the war and the possibility that he may have been supplying the Russians with US war secrets, specifically regarding the A-bomb. Charlie approaches Roz in hopes that she can get close to Weaver and seek out a confession.

Can Roz overcome her anger toward Weaver for betraying her, long enough to trap him, or do lost feelings of love linger? It isn't long before Roz and Charlie, working together closely, also become drawn to one and other. Ultimately, Roz must decide between lost love that ended in betrayal, or follow her newfound relationship and a future with Charlie. Above all else,Roz dreams to re-enter the world of science, her true passion.

Atomic Love is a historical fiction with so much more. It is a book of mystery and espionage, love and betrayal, spying and secrets. Roz is a genius, but playing a man's game when women were expected to stay at home.

My personal opinion of Roz is not that attractive. Her answer to Weaver/Charlie and leading them both along, while involved with each physically and emotionally, is not a trait of a strong female protagonist. As a matter of fact, her actions justify the very stereotype of women in the 1950's. Roz simply led too much with her heart, and other body parts, and did not use her head wisely. I am glad, however, that she did indeed seek her spot in the scientific world once again. In that I am a female chemist and chemical engineer, I feel for her position, even now in the year 2020. What I would have enjoyed is a bit more scientific detail within the writing.

I appreciated Roz's internal strife with the use of the atomic bomb. Was it a scientific wonder, or had she partaken in the devastation of a country and its 200,000 people? Something for all to ponder...

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my personal opinions and review.

#Netgalley #atomiclove

It's 1950 in Chicago, and Rosalind "Roz" Porter is trying to get over the war. She's a genius physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, and saw the development of the atomic bomb all the way through at multiple locations. Her coworker and lover, a Brit named Thomas Weaver, abruptly broke her heart when the war was over, and that shock combined with guilt over Hiroshima and Nagasaki nearly destroyed her.

When Roz picked up the pieces of her shattered life, she felt that there was no room for science. Then Weaver and the FBI get in touch, and the FBI think Weaver's a Russian spy. FBI agent Charlie Szydlo, who bears his own deep scars from the war, asks Roz to spy on Weaver, which is something she thinks she is incapable of doing. Even for her country.

I was absorbed by the twists and turns of this spy-versus-spy romantic triangle and found the strong emotions of the characters compelling. Roz's character is inspired by the existence a real woman physicist, Leona Woods, who like Rosalind, worked with Enrico Fermi to develop the atomic bomb. While I cheered for Roz to find her way back to a fulfilling life, I was not as enmeshed with any of these characters as I wanted to be. I wanted to really identify with Roz, at least, and perhaps also with Charlie, since the story often switched to Charlie's perspective. Had the author found subtle ways to communicate what a brilliant physicist Roz was without getting the reader confused with scientific terminology, I would have appreciated these details. The ending was very satisfying.

Recommended for readers who like smart historical fiction with romance and intrigue.

A couple of things tempered my enjoyment of the novel.

One, I'm really grossed out when characters bed-hop. That's just icky.

I also really didn't appreciate Charlie's actions at the end of the novel, when Rosalind tells him about her new job. "Well, I guess you don't love me if you want to take a job elsewhere. Guess I'll just die alone." I really liked his character throughout the novel, and wanted to see a happy ending for him. His actions just killed how much I liked him.

Overall the mystery wasn't too bad, but some of the choices the characters made really annoyed me. I might recommend this to the Historical Fiction fan who enjoys novels about espionage.

I was lucky enough to win a digital galley of ATOMIC LOVE through a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thank you again for the early look, any distraction is more than welcome these days!