I enjoyed this book!
Fenna has not had an easy life. She becomes an assistant to an illusionist during WW 2 and through this she becomes involved in the designing of escape aids for the POW’s

Such an interesting story with such great character!

4.5 magical stars

We meet the memorable character of Fenna Vos as she is working a magic show in the 1940s. We flash back in time to read all about her upbringing in the copper country of Michigan to find out how she became fascinated with magic. Her childhood is heartbreaking in so many ways with poverty, death, a great tragedy at a Christmas party, and one great friend, Arie.

As fate would have it, she’s recruited to help MI9 (that’s British intelligence) to win the war against the Germans. It seems her skill with escapism can come in handy for downed pilots and spies sent into Germany. As she is sent to England, it was fascinating to read about all the ingenious things created, maps disguised as everyday objects and other spy gadgets.

A chance encounter overseas with Arie sends Fenna deep into enemy territory and she must put her skills to use in ways she never planned. This one had tense moments and I really fell in love with these characters. It was fascinating to read that this one was inspired by real people. I am always amazed at how many brave people made difficult choices in this war.

This is great historical fiction and I love the title; I can think of so many interpretations as Fenna is such a real character in this one.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and the author for the opportunity to read this one and provide my honest review. Set to release on 9.6.2022.

I recently read Kristina McMorris' "Sold on a Monday" for my book club and liked the story. I was excited to receive this title and thought it sounded interesting. The book drew me in quickly and I really wanted to know what was going to happen to Fenna & Arie. But somewhere around the halfway point, I got bored and lost interest. I don't know what it was, but I just did not really care anymore about the story or the characters. I ended up skimming the second half of the book. There were a couple of places where I stopped and actually paid closer attention to, but it wasn't often enough for me to stop skimming. Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a digital arc of this title.

Overall a very interesting book based on the war. The first little bit of the story did not really draw me in eithbthe magic...but I'm glad that I stuck with it.
Not as good as Sold on Monday but well worth the read.
Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book

Very different story when reading about this time in history. Really enjoyed the historical aspects and always enjoy learning more details. I liked the main character and enjoyed reading about her journey.
Thanks to the author for the writing. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

A unique look at a little known part of WWII. Fenna has been fascinated with magic since she was a child so a request from MI9 to help make devices to help downed airmen and others is a terrific opportunity for a woman from copper country in the US. She's lived a hard life but she survived a disaster with the help of her friend Arie, whose family later takes her in. Now, she's in England and then in the Netherlands taking advantage of her Dutch heritage to work undercover against the Nazis. This is both a story of WWII courage and a love story - a slow burn love story- between Fenna, Arie, and his family. If I have a quibble (and it's actually a big one), it's that this goes on a bit too long at the start with Fenna and Charlie's magic act and problems and then backs up to her childhood. There are some blips in here but Fenna's character is well developed and comes through loud and clear. I appreciated the different settings as well as the chance to learn about the origins of Q. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I’d like to thank Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Ways We Hide’ by Kristina McMorris in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Fenna Vos is a talented illusionist and is approached by Christopher Clayton Hutton who works for British Military Intelligence. He offers her a job in the Civil Service in London to use her unique abilities of escape to save allied lives during WWII. As she’s just had a disagreement with her stage partner Charles Bouchard she agrees and becomes an inventor of escape aids by using a well-known board game to thwart the enemy.

‘The Ways We Hide’ is an historical fiction inspired by true events and tells of a brave young woman who uses her skills at illusion to escape from the memories of a childhood trauma. The plot is really interesting especially as it’s based on fact and I was gripped by the first chapters of escapology and Fenna’s hero Houdini, but the further I got into the novel the more I thought it was over-long and could have been improved by losing some of the pages as I found my interest waning at times. Although well-written, I found it difficult to keep motivated but this is probably my mindset as other readers’ reviews show it to be a very popular novel.

Fenna Vos has a hard life. Her mother died and Fenna is being raised by her father, a Dutch copper miner, in Michigan. She survives a horrible accident but is left with mental scars. Her next-door neighbor, Arie Janson, is just about her only friend. Arie moves away and she is bereft. Arie has given her a book of magic tricks and this is what ultimately saves her. Following a stay in an orphanage from which she runs away, she and Arie re-connect and she is raised in the Janson household. She continues to practice her magic tricks and puts on small shows for the neighborhood. Growing up, she starts putting on bigger, more complicated shows and it is through these shows, she is discovered by someone who thinks she might have a place in the military, to aid in winning World War II. She puts her skills to work, designing gadgets to help soldiers. A lipstick might be a flashlight, or a deck of cards might hold a silk map of the countryside. Nothing was ever as it seemed on the surface.

She and Arie float in and out of each other's lives. MI9 is convinced that Arie is a double agent, spying for the Germans. Fenna is sent to work in Holland, since she looks and speaks Dutch, but her own adventure includes finding Arie and getting answers to the spying questions.

The chapters alternate between time lines. It was an interesting look at a little-known aspect of WWII. McMorris has done an amazing amount of research in order to write this book.

Ways We Hide is an interesting WWII story told from a new perspective, As a magician Fenna is able to come up with new ways to help the war effort. It took some twists I didn't expect. It is well written and the characters are well developed. If you are tired of WWII books, give this one a try because it's very different.
Thank you to NetGalley for my review copy of this book.

The initial description of the Ways We Hide, "a sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path." captured my interest. The novel starts off depicting Fenna Vos and her magic act, so much so that I was beginning to wonder if I misread the description of World War II and British intelligence. But that is the exact beauty of Kristina McMorris' writing. The initial description of the magic act was only setting the stage for the experiences of a Dutch girl who grows up with unfathomable losses. Her skill in illusion is put to use in the war effort. All of this is wrapped around her relationship with Arie, both as a child and during the war. The final chapters are especially well written. The images are vivid. You will have a hard time putting this one down!

World War II novels are popular now and I am happy that they are. There were so many ordinary citizens who rose to heroic levels during that time period. “Ways We Hide” by Kristina McMorris gives us a different type of heroine, Fenna Vos. Fenna is a magician and illusionist in the style of Houdini.

Fenna’ s story is revealed in several parts. We learn of her childhood as the daughter of Dutch immigrants in the Midwest. Fenna forms a bond with boy her age, Arie. Together they survive a local tragedy. Although it seems they are destined to be together, their relation changes as they reach young adulthood.

Fenna is performing her magic professionally when World War II starts. Her skills lead her to England to work on illusionist-type creations that will help spies and POWs, such as hidden knives, compasses, maps, and telescopes disguised as game pieces or ordinary objects. This part of the story was fascinating.

When Fenna learns of danger involving Arie, who is also in Europe with the war effort, she must put all her skills to the fore to attempt to save him. This part of the book is well-written and engaging.

Overall, this is an interesting book with a different view of heroic war-time efforts. I received an advance digital review copy from the publisher and this is my honest review.

Fenna grows up with hardships and performs with escape artist as young adult. She makes most of the equipment for the shows so is recruited by British military intelligence during WWII to design escape aids. She finds love, takes risks, and helps others. Different perspective of WWII based on true accounts

This was my first book by Kristina McMorris and I found it to be totally engrossing. Her characters are so well developed, the descriptions crisp and the research had to have been extensive. Of course, she fictionalized parts of the World War II story and plumped up the story into an educational, but totally entertaining story of a woman magician recruited to produce "gadgets" to help soldiers (secret maps, disguised telescopes and flashlights) and hiding places for them. Her personal story was a great enhancement to the story. There's also a truly touching romance thrown in and so many touching moments that made me cry.

The book is almost four hundred pages, but I found that I couldn't turn the pages fast enough and I had finished it before I knew it.

Thanks to Sourcebooks for the gifted copy. All thoughts are my own.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Ways We Hide" and all opinions expressed are my own. I enjoyed a previous book "Sold on a Monday" by this author. Unfortunately, The Ways We Hide didn't hold my attention. I don't know if it was the magic tricks, slow pace, etc. I had a hard time following the story. I did not finish.

I loved Fenna and was rooting for her the whole book. There were a few parts inspired by true events that I never heard of which was great. This book was very well researched! A must read for historical fiction fans.

DNF at 50%. I wanted to love this book, being a big fan of WWII stories, but sadly it did not work for me. I found the writing a slow place and the story a lot longer than it needed to be. Also, when I read the plot summary, I thought the magic component would be more prevalent than it was. My favorite part was the section that took place prior to the war.

Maybe I’m an outlier but this book really didn’t do it for me. My favorite part was the first section, and the rest was sort of downhill. I had hoped the magic would have been a bigger component of the story, and it just wasn’t (a missed opportunity IMO). This book was also far too long for what it was. I wish I could put my finger on what didn’t work for me, but I found myself not really wanting to pick this book up.

Oh, my goodness. Run don’t walk to get this historical fiction book that is a must read. From the beginning to the end, I could not put this down. When I was reading this book, the irony was that I was on vacation in the Keeweenaw peninsula, heart of the copper country in Michigan where an important part of this story took place. Fenna Vos was a survivor. Having lost her mother early in life and later her father, a copper miner who also lost his life early to pneumonia, Fenna had to learn to fend for herself. As one of only a few who survived the horrible Christmas Eve massacre at the Italian Hall, thanks to the help of her new friend Arie. However, this affected her the rest of her life. Fenna has an affinity for Harry Houdini, magic, illusions, and escape. As an adult, she is the mastermind of escapes but seen as the assistant to Charles, an escape artist. Fenna is recruited to help M19 in London to devise special hidden gadgets to help soldiers in the field to survive during WWII. Meanwhile, her best friend Arie, whom she hides secrets from, is missing in action, and suspected of being a traitor. Fenna she sets out to prove them wrong and to save him as she goes on a secret mission to find him in the Netherlands. I loved the suspense which kept me turning the page. The characters are strong and relatable, they made me laugh and cry. It was an interesting read about elements of behind the scenes in a war, of spies, and the contributions of brave men and women to protect others. Who knew that Monopoly was used as a weapon in espionage? This is a story of courage, friendship, loyalty, perseverance, and love. I highly recommend this book.

Many thanks to #netgalley #wayswehide #kristinamcmorris #sourcebooks for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Kristina McMorris has cemented herself as one of my favorite authors with The Ways We Hide. The pace is a little slower, but it never feels like it drags on. There was enough happening to make me want to keep reading.

I like that The Ways We Hide was not only based on WWII, but also on other lesser-known events. At least I didn't know about them which made everything more intriguing. Fenna is a strong protagonist and I felt like I was experiencing everything with her and leaving a dear friend at the end of the book.

The Ways We Hide is a beautifully written novel. It's about the unexpected strength and courage we find in ourselves when faced with challenges, and surviving losses.

I highly recommend The Ways We Hide to historical fiction fans, especially fans of The Nightingale.

This books rates 10 out of 10 in could not put downness! Once you get started on this one, don’t make another plans. Fen's plucky innate survival skills serve her well from early childhood on. There is love, intrigue and heartbreak in every stage of the story. The characters are fully animated and fun to get to know. In a tide of books either to frivolous, gut wrenching, or heavy, Ways We Hide is a welcome sight on the new books shelve.