I really enjoyed this first edition in the WWII heroine series. While the hero and heroine were fictitious, the story is based on a real FBI investigation during the war. I absolutely loved the idea of teacher turned codebreaker serving with the FBI fascinating. The author has written a fast-paced story, with a realistic hero and heroine, a little bit of romance, little bit of family secrets and a wonderful mystery to keep me turning the pages. I think this particular story could have benefited from a longer format that would tie up a few loose storylines, but I found it enjoyable and plan on reading more books by this author in the future.

I received an advanced review copy from the author via Barbour Fiction and NetGalley. I was not required to write a review and the opinions expressed here are my own.

Fans of Roseanna M. White's World War II books will love this well-written story by Johnnie Alexander. FBI Agent Phillip Clayton is frustrated that his color blindness has prevented him from joining the Air Force, and isn't satisfied to remain stateside as other young men are overseas fighting. Eloise Marshall, grieving over her brother's death at Pearl Harbor, was recruited as a cryptographer for the Navy. She was happy to serve in her brother's stead, but could not resist the challenge involved in accepting the transfer being offered by the FBI, an offer to break codes and track down a possible traitor who is feeding information to the nation's enemies. I was intrigued to find out in the author's notes that the story is based on a true FBI investigation. The author was careful to tell which aspects of the story were fictionalized. She skillfully combined the real and the imagined to create a compelling and highly entertaining tale.

I am grateful to have received a complementary copy of The Cryptographer's Dilemma from Barbour Publishing without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

2.5 stars
Honestly, the story was a disappointment to me. I've previously enjoyed Alexander's contemporary books and was very excited to read a WW2 novel from her. However, I never got to bond with either of these characters because too many things simply didn't make sense. Early on it said she lived with her mother in the city but then that apparently was in some long former life? This is an example of numerous disconnects in plot points.

The POV is limited third-person but the story isn't candid about what the characters are really thinking and feeling. She has a major emotional breakdown but we aren't even told why--just told that something in the paper has wrecked her. This sort of story-telling is my least favorite because it's like they're government agents finding things out and just leaking bits and pieces to the press but we aren't actually there with them finding things out.

The doll lady was an interesting issue but honestly it didn't come up until halfway through the book. This left the plot feeling a bit unbalanced because so much led up to the clue and then there were sudden scenes in her POV. I'd have much preferred leaving out her POV and getting more of the clues that the two leads were following. In such a short novel, too many POVs is a risky business, and in this case since the two leads were distant, the third POV was enough to push it over the edge into choppiness.

Overall, I felt like it tried to be too many things at once (including a side plot of a family drama moment) and ultimately failed in the immersive experience I look for in a novel simply because there was too much going on at once, which resulted in a lot of telling and not enough showing.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.

Brimming with suspense, mystery, romance, and exquisite detail, Johnnie Alexander’s latest WWII offering is sure to please fans of Christian historical fiction.

I absolutely loved this book! The era, the settings, the characters… it was all pitch perfect. Incorporating true events from the Second World War and combining them with the romance of two hurting souls results in a page-turning novel you won’t want to miss.

Eloise was such a fun heroine to read about. She’s incredibly smart and gifted and quite analytical. Yet she also has a fun side, making her a very balanced character. In the beginning, I wasn’t so sure about Phillip, thinking him to be a bit of a hot-head. It is to be understood, though, given his frustration from not being able to contribute to the war the way he wanted to. Yet as the story unfolds, we see another side of him, and you soon forget the chip he had on his shoulder. Reading about these two working undercover and traveling across the country together in search of the Doll Woman was such a treat. Alexander masters the art of vintage romance in this story.

It is obvious that this book was meticulously researched, creating an authentic WWII setting. It was fascinating to read about the codebreakers, as well the search for the Doll Woman. When you add in all the details of classic ‘40s movies and actors, period clothing, and the bits of everyday life from that time, you are given a top notch reading experience.

The Cryptographer’s Dilemma is a fantastic read. Those who love war-time novels with plenty of suspense and romance will definitely want to read this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Johnnie Alexander is an amazing writer, who has some wonderful original works. This is an interesting and well written novel tackling a WWII mystery and a friendship turned love story. The characters are likable and engaging. I enjoyed finding out that it is based on true events.

In 1942 Phillip Clayton, who was rejected by the military and Eloise Marshall, a cryptographer for the FBI, team up to investigate an odd series of letters. The cryptic letters contain messages that will reveal a WWII traitor. Based on historical events, travel with them across the U.S. and uncover events that will surprise and shock you as they seek out the culprit. This was my first book by Johnnie Alexander and I had never heard of Velvalee Dickinson, but he put the story together in such a way that it held my interest from beginning to end. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.

Are you willing to take a risk? After all, a coincidence is never a coincidence.

Many cryptographers were used in WWII in an effort to stay ahead of the enemy. After all, knowing what they planned before it could be put into operation would likely save thousands of lives. Even if it were only a few, it was still worth it! Eloise Marshall was one of these very talented people who could take what looked like gibberish to the average person and find the message hidden within. Because of her skill, this naval code breaker was approached for an undercover mission with the FBI.

Steganography was a way to send information that looked totally innocent to everyone except the one that had the code. But what information is being disseminated and what does this mean to national security? Agent Philip Clayton and Eloise are tasked with breaking this code, but will they survive to find the answers?

This book grabbed my attention immediately and held it all the way through. The detail and well developed characters made it a most fascinating read. An ARC of this Heroines of WWII was received through Barbour Publishing and NetGalley. The impressions and comments made are my own and were in no way solicited.

Fascinating story filled with history, intrigue, mystery, suspense and romance. Great story. I received a complimentary copy of the book. No review was required.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Eloise works as a cryptologist for the Navy, unscrambling codes and decoding encrypted messages. One day, Eloise is assigned to partner with a grumpy FBI agent named Phillip. Their mission? Unravel a series of doll-related letters that could contain codes for Navy intel that could be devastating in the wrong hands.

I wanted to like this book so much! On the surface, it has everything I would enjoy - a woman pushed out of her comfort zone, a grumpy FBI agent, coded letters, and travel. Unfortunately, this book fell short for me. The first few chapters seemed slow. In fact, the first half of the book was very slow paced, and it was only in the last quarter of the book where all the action seemed to happen. The writing was clunky and awkward at times, and it felt like the author was only “telling,” not “showing.”

I know the romance between Eloise and Phillip was supposed to be a slower burn, but it did not feel organic or realistic. At first, Eloise thinks he’s grumpy and abrasive. Suddenly, she finds him handsome and wants to reach out and touch him. Phillip clearly finds Eloise attractive, but keeps reminding himself that she is his “sister,” in an effort to resist acting on his attraction.

Phillip, upset that he is currently not serving in active duty, begrudgingly goes along with the mission, mostly because it is his boss is his Uncle Richard. What really frustrated me about Phillip was that he failed to see the importance of work simply because it was not active duty.

The thoughts that Eloise and Phillip had seemed to go on and on, and I thought that there could have been other ways for the author to show us what was going on inside their heads. The storyline about Eloise and her father eventually tied into the bigger storyline, but it felt very disjointed and unrelated when it was introduced.

The one redeeming part of this book was the storyline of The Doll Lady, and how she ended up selling Naval intelligence. She had an interesting story that could have been fleshed out more to present more tension between “good” vs “evil.” Especially considering that one of the themes of the story is about patriotism, and how far one is willing to go to fight for their own country, Velvalee was an interesting character. The intersection of her and Lorraine could have been expanded on as well - it felt like they had zero interaction, and then all of a sudden, that plot line got tied up before it barely got started.

My last gripe with this book is my own fault - I didn’t realize it was published by a Christian focused publisher, so I was not expecting the multiple references to god and “god’s plan” to be such a prominent part of the story.

Overall, the story had solid bones, but could have done with more with the character development, as well as building out all the various storylines that the author introduced.

I was provided a free electronic copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This review is also available on Goodreads:

This is the second story that I have read from this author. I love the strong female character and her courage in taking an FBI job. She's a code reader and works to figure out a code that leads to excitement and suspense. And perhaps a little romance!

I really enjoyed the author's writing style and how the book kept me turning pages. I really enjoy a good WWII story!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Eloise Marshall has a head for numbers, so when the navy recruits her as a cryptographer, she shines in her new role. So much so that the FBI enlists her to help with two potentially coded messages that appear to be innocuous letters about doll collecting. Her reluctant partner is Phillip Clayton, who was recently rejected by the Air Force due to being color blind. As the pair travel across the country trying to find the identity of a potential traitor, can they keep their relationship professional for the sake of their country?

I liked this story a lot while I was reading it, even though a lot of it is pretty unlikely. Then Eloise starts making some pretty reckless decisions for reasons that weren’t too bright, always either to avoid being left behind when she could see her part in the investigation being over or simply because she didn’t trust the FBI to help Phillip. These things aren’t necessarily against her character, but then again, her character is a bit contradictory in itself. On the one hand, she proves herself to be a risk taker (and to have quite a bit of gall in an early interaction between Phillip and his uncle, which I really liked), but at the same time quickly regrets leaving her world of numbers to enter into one of danger. This is not meant to be a complaint about the book, though, as it never left me feeling like it was bad characterization; it shows that she has some depth to her, really. But she still made me smack my head a few times.

As for Phillip…well, he’s a bit contradictory too. He’s shaken up by his part as an FBI agent in some German saboteurs being executed, while counting the minutes until he can join a military branch that won’t mind his color-blindedness, so he can go overseas and essentially execute people personally. However, even with him, I can imagine that he just hasn’t thought of it that way, because he’s too busy feeling guilty that he hasn’t joined his fellow countrymen in the fight, especially when so many people who see a healthy young man not in uniform treat him like a coward. I would fully expect the weight of what he’s joined up to do to not hit him full force until he gets over there.

Overall, the story moved at a good pace. Don’t expect much of a mystery, though, in regards to them finding the identity of the traitor. I would call it pretty light on the suspense, too. The romance isn’t too in-your-face, which I was glad for, though for some, it may be too subtle. And there was one whole element, a sort of side-villain, that wasn’t fleshed out at all and felt incredibly contrived as a way to add some danger for the main characters near the end. These are a few small gripes, though, in an overall good story, which I would recommend for fans of historical Christian romance, especially in the WWII era.

Great start to a new series that Barbour is putting out. I didn’t realize it was based on a true story until the end, I love that!

This book had a lot to hold your interest. There was a sub plot and at first I was like why is this part of the story, it seemed to take it off track but Johnnie tied it in beautifully.

I enjoyed this cast of characters very much, they all played a vital role and were well developed.


A copy of this book was given to me through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

"The Cryptographer’s Dilemma" is a Christian romance set in 1942 in America. There was a mystery, but more scenes focused on Eloise or Philip thinking about their personal troubles than on solving who the traitor was. The author often had someone think about what happened rather than show events, especially in the first half of the story. These were significant events, like apparently Eloise's and Philip's opinion of each other changed from "unpleasant person" to admiration during a briefly summarized train ride. It was a sudden change from mildly negative feelings to fighting romantic attraction, and I'm not really sure why they were attracted. For that matter, I never understood why an invaluable cryptographer was quickly trained as an FBI agent and sent to interview people when other people (with more experience) could have done that job.

Eloise's past was a secret for half of the story. There's a scene where she saw a newspaper photograph and got extremely upset for pages, and we have absolutely no idea why. It's hard to empathize when I have no idea why she's upset. Many chapters passed with no more information about why she's upset or what was in the picture. At least with Philip, we know about the event that had him upset. I didn't really understand him, though. He felt guilty that a criminal (a man made in the image of God) was facing the death sentence because of his testimony. However, he's determined to go to the war front, and it never occurred to him that he might feel guilty about personally killing the enemy.

The mystery was basically talking to a few doll collectors in an attempt to understand who could have written the coded messages. It didn't take her long to solve the code. Scenes from the traitor's point of view explained her motives and actions, so it's not a puzzle for the reader to solve. At the end, Eloise threw away common sense (though not her gun) when she charged in before the FBI to save her beloved stranger...er, Phillip. And, of course, they paused in the middle of a time sensitive, danger-filled moment to have their first kiss. So it had a lot of my pet peeves. There was no sex or bad language.

I enjoyed this read, and loved the author's notes at the end, this story is based on facts!

While our troops were fighting for our freedom during WWII, some of those at home were also at war. This book focus on the FBI, and we have a young woman added to the ranks to help find "Doll Woman"! Unusual at the time, but Eloise Marshall adds a lot to this story, we end up traveling from coast to coast, and meeting some interesting people who have been put in the middle of this case. There is also some danger, and then throw in a little sweet romance, and this one became a page turner!

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Barbour, and was not required to give a positive review

Great new historical fiction based on an actual FBI investigation of the “Doll Woman” who was passing information about American ships to Japan following Pearl Harbor. Johnnie Alexander crafted a story with a little romance, oplenty of intrigue, and lots of interesting history woven in. Stories of the ordinary women who learned to crack code readily capture my interest. They truly were heroines in the war effort. I loved the
interaction between main characters Phillip and Eloise. The story moved along quickly, was easy to read and engaging.
I look forward to more books in this series.

Thanks to Barbour and Net Galley for the chance to read and review.

This is a book you don't want to miss!! It's full of excitement and will keep you turning the pages to see what happens next. This is a *Must Read* book for all fans of Historical Fiction! I loved it!
Thank you Barbour Publishing via NetGalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Johnnie Alexander’s newest novel, the Cryptographer’s Dilemma, was a delight to read. Set during WWII, the story features Eloise and Phillip, two FBI agents intent on tracking down a potential traitor. With perfectly timed tension, the story unfolds as our characters unite not only over this mystery, but also over personal heartaches.

Alexander’s intrigue and romance held my attention as I rooted alongside our hero and heroine. As a lover of historical fiction, this story captured my attention quickly and held my imagination every step of the way. And I especially loved that it is based on a true story!

I received this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

If you enjoy a vintage story with an FBI/police procedural feel and a gentle romance, you'll enjoy this August release by Johnnie Alexander. The novel introduces an entire new series that celebrates heroines of WWII.

In The Crypographer’s Dilemma, Eloise Marshal, the grieving heroine, is an unassuming code developer, content behind her desk, who is pulled into the FBI, trained, and assigned to the task of decoding encrypted messages that may uncover saboteurs in the USA. She can’t do this inside her comfort zone but is partnered with Agent Phillip Clayton whom she first met in the home of his uncle. She considers Phillip arrogant and uncooperative. Of course, he’s dealing with his own issues that have nothing to do with her. Their relationship takes a turn, but so does the danger as they follow a trail across the country together. I think the story especially shines when the two MCs share little quips back and forth and we see them drawn out of themselves as they are pulled closer together.

The author must have done a ton of research to bring readers this aspect of the war—the code developers and those assigned to protect the country from infiltrators bent on doing us harm. I learned about actual incidents I’d not heard of before. I recommend this engaging read, a WWII novel that is not too heavy, not too light, but just right.

I appreciate Netgalley for an advanced copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

I hoped for more history in this historical fiction novel but instead got mostly fiction, and more romance than I’d anticipated. I thought that some of the fictional aspects of the plot were unbelievable and the romance between the 2 main characters felt forced and cheesy. I did enjoy learning of the doll woman and the short chapters help it or along quicker.

I was given a copy by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An intriguing WWII story from Johnnie Alexander! The Cryptographer’s Dilemma offers a glimpse into the world of FBI investigation against the backdrop of the early days of American involvement in WWII. While I found some parts to be repetitive and the ending a bit rushed, I truly enjoyed this story and Alexander’s writing. I really liked the characters, so I wish there had been a short epilogue to really wrap up their story. Fans of WWII suspense and romance won’t want to miss this first installment in Barbour’s Heroines of WWII series. 4/5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.