Historical fiction isn't typically my go-to genre; unfortunately, this book didn't change my stance. The narrative's structure, with two main characters and alternating timelines, proved challenging. I found myself needing help to maintain focus on their stories and to grasp the historical context presented fully. While the premise had potential, I don't think I am the target audience for this novel. I needed more

Another fabulous book club kit! A great resource for more info about the book and author. I also really enjoyed the what to read next and further reading sections.

Loved the author interview! It got me excited about future projects which would be good book club books. Also, the interview seems like it would prompt lots of discussion.

Yay, trigger warnings!!!

It’s so funny, because I’ve seen Amanda McCrina’s Traitor kicking around for a while now and I’ve always felt kind of ambivalent toward whether I would pick it up or not. It always seemed like an, “if it falls into my lap” kind of read to me. So I never sought it out or anything. But, after spending some time with this book club kit and especially after reading the interview, I actually think this is something I may really want to pick up!

I think this kit does more to sell the book to me than it does to provide a lot of cool things to include at a book club meeting—there’s not much by way of decoration ideas or food suggestions. But it’s perfect for a classroom. There’s so much knowledge to be gleaned from this and I just love that the kit includes a further reading list to lead readers into a world of research on such a huge piece of our history.

I love this book club kit! It's both aestetically pleasing and comprehensive. Gorgeous layout, which includes: an author interview, recommendations for upcoming reads, and discussion questions. I wish there was a kit like this for all books. I'd be more apt to pick up certain books for my book club. The work is done and looks like the making of a good time.

To be honest, I've never read this book and now I kind of want to. Thanks so much for putting this guide together. There are some really cool sections in here!

Our book group has been dying to read TRAITOR by Amanda McCrina. I know we'll find this kit extremely helpful as we prepare.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Opinions are mine.

I think this book club discussion guide does a great job at handling the sensitive material in the book to have a meaningful discussion. I also really liked the recommended books to read after reading this novel.

This book club kit contains an author interview and discussion points for book club meetings on Traitor. Whilst I did enjoy the interview with Amanda McCrina, I do wish there had been a wider range of content included in this kit. I liked the design of the kit and how it ties into the books cover.

I hadn't heard of Traitor before reading this kit but might check it out in the future!

This book club kit was very helpful for our students reading Traitor. The author interview was very interesting, and the discussion guide was helpful as well. I also really appreciated the additional reading suggestions for other books along the same lines as Traitor as well as additional reading resources for more information on the historical time period of the book.

The Book Club Kits are fabulous tools to enrich your reading experience. They provide questions that make you reflect more on what you've read and points to discuss in a book club to hear different thoughts and explore further. Even if you're not in a book club, you can use it to ponder on some aspects of the book that you may have missed or wouldn't have lingered on when you read it. If you want to get more out of a book, the book club kit will act as a wonderful learning tool. Highly recommended.

Me and my book club LOVED this kit !!!

It was really helpful with questions to discuss and topics which we wouldn’t have covered, which led us to having some lively conversations.

This book club kit was well thought out and put together. It included thoughtful questions and bookmarks. I appreciated that it included information on the author, other books by her/the publisher, and suggestions for books to read if you enjoyed this one. This would be a great kit for someone wanting to do a brief book club meeting.

Very well laid out. A great resource for book clubs!

Poland, 1944. After the Soviet liberation of Lwów from Germany, the city remains a battleground between resistance fighters and insurgent armies, its loyalties torn between Poland and Ukraine.

Seventeen-year-old Tolya Korolenko is half Ukrainian, half Polish, and he joined the Soviet Red Army to keep himself alive and fed. When he not-quite-accidentally shoots his unit's political officer in the street, he's rescued by a squad of Ukrainian freedom fighters. They might have saved him, but Tolya doesn't trust them. He especially doesn't trust Solovey, the squad's war-scarred young leader, who has plenty of secrets of his own.

Then a betrayal sends them both on the run. And in a city where loyalty comes second to self-preservation, a traitor can be an enemy or a savior—or sometimes both.

This is great. Will help me with our book club. We are a new book club and sometimes don’t know what to read next. This is great if you are looking for questions to ask to keep the conversation going and not have a ton of dead air space with no one talking or getting a lot of point of views about a book.

This is a REVIEW ONLY of The BOOK CLUB KIT for “Traitor,” a young adult WWII fiction by Amanda McCrina about the struggles in wartime Eastern Europe between two young soldiers, one Ukrainian and the other Polish. This 18-page e-book is dense with discussion questions to stimulate insightful two-way conversations among reading groups, yet it is lacking in visual appeal (other than color covers promoting other books). Although the turquoise cover art is carried throughout, the remainder of the Kit lacks other bold, eye-catching graphics or photography, except for a couple of bookmarks—also in tones and shades of turquoise. Nonetheless, these Q & As are excellent and will be useful for Book Club Leaders, Librarians, as well as readers themselves who want extra insight into the background of the book and author. ❇️ As complex and intriguing as the topics covered in the book, it would be nice to see bold, colorful graphics, art, songs, maps, recipes, clothing, research statistics, photographs and other visual effects as a virtual legend to accompany the messages McCridia presents in her book. ❇️

TheBookMaven graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Amanda McCrina, and Publisher We Are Bookish for this Advanced Reader’s Copy (ARC) for review.

Thank you NetGalley for this valuable resource. I am using these book club kits to assess possible title for my book club to read and it helps having these prepared kits.

I love these Book Club Kits and especially the ones that include an interview with the author like this one did. There are also some great discussion questions that can be used in any book club group for a deeper conversation.

3.5/5

I liked how this kit included content warnings for the book but if you are looking at the kit more then likely you are past the need for the content warning since you have already read it. But in the case that you look at the kit first thus would definitely be informative. This kit is mainly an author interview which is nice but not my thing. Along with the interview it has 2 pages of discussion questions and they did include 2 questions from the author directly. I did also like the book marks that they were included.

This book captured my attention in the first sentence and held it to the final full stop. This is the kind of book that once started is near on impossible to put down.

The historical aspect of this novel has to be commended, the author has really done her homework on this era and this comes across in the writing. It really did feel like I had been transported back in time to 1944. Likewise, there was a strong sense of realism in the characters which really helped to drive the story forward, as did the fast-paced plot.

I thought this book was brilliant from beginning to end. I will certainly be looking out for more books by this very talented author.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.