The main character of this novel is Fenna Voss. The story begins in her childhood with a traumatic event that affects the rest of her life. As an adult, she is the creator of a magician's escape artist act based on that of her hero, Harry Houdini. She is recruited by MI6 to apply her skills to the British war effort. Later, she herself goes into the war zone as part of a dangerous plan. There are several stories in this book. Kristina McMorris shows her skill by seamlessly weaving them together.

The book started out slow for me, but once I got into it, I could not put it down. The author's note is not to be missed. It explains the heal history behind the story.

Thank you, Sourcebooks Landmark and Net Galley for the advanced reader copy of this book.

3.5 stars. Good read, but not too different from many of the other WWII books. The book moved a little slow overall until about 2/3rds through. I wish the magician angle was a little bit stronger, but played out fine throughout.

Excellent book! Five stars for The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris. I was thoroughly absorbed from the very first page. The author transported me to a turbulent time in our collective history. It is a story of love, loss, intrique, evil and triumph. This book has it all. Richly developed characters and an impressive storyline kept me turning pages. The historical events described and depicted left me wanting to find out more about that time in our history. I loved the main character, Fenna, and her courage and resourcefulness. A sweeping and emotional novel, this is one you shouldn't miss.

What an amazing book! I wasn’t keen on reading yet another WWII historical fiction but the spin on this was a story about a female illusionist. The twists and turns were non stop. I couldn’t put it down. I loved the characters and the insight into the undercover techniques used by spies and agents. It’s heartbreaking at times, emotional and thought provoking. I haven’t read her other books but I will definitely look into them now. Highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The Ways We Hide is the latest by the author of Sold on a Monday, and one more reason to keep reading this author’s great books. The story of a young woman, Fenna Vos, magician, illusionist, escape artist. After a confrontation with her performing partner after a show Fenna finds herself on her own, facing an uncertain future, and suffering from a tragic past. A unique and unknown British Intelligence department offers Fenna an escape and an opportunity to use her skills of misdirection and escape to help the Allies win the war by shipping things like maps, knives and tools hidden in unusual items.

Fenna is an inspiring yet eminently human and flawed heroine, and her story takes us to places we’ve never heard about before. Based on real stories, The Ways We Hide is one of those books you can’t put down.

The book followed the childhood to adulthood of the main character, Fenna Vos. Her early years were pretty tragic, but she found interest in performing magic. She befriended a neighbor boy named Arie, who played a significant role in her later years.
In adulthood, Fenna is recruited to work for M19, the arm of English intelligence that developed secret spy tools. This was due to her natural ability to understand and perform magic. She followed Arie to Nazi occupied Netherlands and her life took a dramatic turn. She returned to England, then the U.S. with an adoptive child as a single parent.
This book joins a long list of recent stories of remarkable heroism during WWII. Components of How We Hide are based upon recounted stories, but the overall tale is fiction. Early in the book, I skimmed long paragraphs of flowery language that didn’t seem to move the story along much. Maybe that’s because I have vague interest in magic and how tricks work. As the story moved on, it became more interesting to me. However, in a crowded market of WWII historical fiction, I found this book mediocre.
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebook Landmark who provided me with an ARC.

Right when I thought that I was done reading any more books about WWII, along came this lovely story and I enjoyed it so much! The historical aspects of this story, as well as the fictional parts, blend seamlessly to create a wonderful book of love, mystery, and intrigue that I didn't want to put down.

Fenna Vos is an expert at escape. The resiliency that she learned while living in an orphanage as a child, along with her skills as a magician's assistant that she hones when she grows up, make her the perfect candidate to work for the spy agency MI9 in England during WWII. She helps to create espionage gadgets for the British armed forces that could have come right out of a James Bond movie. Fenna experiences love, loss, hidden truths, lies and redemption as she learns that security and freedom are tenuous and cannot be taken for granted.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone and everyone that likes historical fiction, as well as readers who enjoy books by Kate Quinn, Pam Jenoff, Alan Hlad, or Kelly Rimmer.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, for giving me the opportunity to read a digital ARC of this book.

I am a total WWII junkie, so I was excited to be offered the chance to review this book and was predisposed to like it. At first, the reading was a bit slow.  I couldn’t figure out how a fake fire alarm, magic, and an orphanage, had anything to do with the war. The author spent considerable time developing the heroine and the plot didn’t move forward much.    

However, once the setting shifted to WWII London, the action really accelerated- and the author used all of the seemingly disparate aspects of the heroine’s life to create an exciting, believable story with a sympathetic heroine. Her ability to perform magic was instrumental in creating gadgets that helped British soldiers escape from German prison camps.  Her magic skills were also useful in helping her escape from a perilous predicament. The incidents with the orphanage and fire shaped her character, contributing to her resilience, resourcefulness, and relationships. 

The Ways We Hide is an engrossing book that provides a unique focus on the events of WWII.
--
Dr. Amy A. McClure
Emerita Rodefer Professor of EducationPast President, Ohio Association of Colleges of Teacher EducationPast President, Children's Literature Assembly of NCTE
Ohio Wesleyan University
Delaware, Ohio 43015
aamcclur@owu.edu

This is a historical novel set in the WWII era. This book combines magic, romance, and history for an unusual but well researched read. Kudos to Kristina McMorris for her development of the characters and storyline.

Thank you for the chance to read this work.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I would have to give this 3 stars. I personally don't think I'm the right reader for this story unfortunately. I'll break down what I liked versus what I didn't.

What I liked:
- The magic parts and escapology- this was my first book that intertwines this with history
- The historical aspects

What I didn't like:
- Very long and drawn out- a lot of descriptions and some chapters dedicated to internal monologues
- Wished there was more history added in rather than focusing solely on characters
- Felt like a character study of Fenna rather than a historical fiction book

Perfect for fans of: Taylor Jenkins Reid, young adult, character driven stories

Ways We Hide, Kristina McNorris, Sourcebook/Landmark (Publish Date: 9/6/22)

I was skeptical of a book about a magician, but I am so glad that I gave this historical fiction novel a try. Kristina McMorris is already a bestselling author from her prior work, Sold on a Monday.

Fenna Vos saw incredible tragedy as a young girl in Michigan and is a young adult performing as a magician's assistant in a traveling show when in a freak meeting, a British Military Intelligence contact invites her to join the war effort during World War II. She moves to London and joins the MI9 where she creates devices with hidden features to protect British soldiers. The story unfolds in alternating chapters across different time periods. When Fenna's childhood friend is in trouble, she goes into occupied territory to find him and bring him back to England facing unimaginable personal danger. In the process, she must confront both her past and her future.

This book is a page turner with important messages about how loss shapes our lives. I found myself unable to put the book down even as the book's suspense builds. Five stars.

McMorris has written a compelling story about the second world war and a young woman who penetrated the occupied Netherlands to get out a beloved friend. Fenna was the daughter of Dutch immigrants to the United States Midwest. She lost both her parents by the age of 9 and ended up on the social welfare system, first with a foster mother and later in an orphanage. She became angry, closed, and almost paranoid as a teen but her escape was in learning magic and illusion. She went on to start her own travelling magic show until approached by a British agent to come to London to use her skills in the MI9 office.
There she had success until she found out her dear friend, Arie, was in Amsterdam and could not be contacted by British agents - he seemed to be avoiding them. She offered to go to Amsterdam as bait to draw him out and find out what was going on. The trip was full of danger and suited her - she didn't trust anyone and that attitude assisted her in her time in Amsterdam.
McMorris' writing makes the danger of being a spy in enemy territory come alive. I did find it difficult living in Fenna's head when she was so angry and afraid all the time. It was like she was a sulky teenager and never grew up until she got back to the US and new responsibilities there. Also a bit less of Fenna's thoughts and worries would not have detracted from the book. All in all though, a well-told story.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC; the opinions are my own for which I was not compensated.

An expansive story, drawing on actual events of the 1920s and 1940s. The start introduces us to young Fenna Vos, performing the magic of Houdini, then back to her earlier years, and then back to her recruitment to intelligence work based in England, during WWII. There are many sad and suspenseful incidents that propel one through the pages, hoping for happy, or at least positive, outcomes. Unfortunately, those are sometimes experienced, but never guaranteed. Fenna is a character to admire, for her intelligence, her resourcefulness, and her bravery. Kristina McMorris hooked me with Sold on a Monday in 2019, and she continued her “magic” with this title.

I don't read alot of historical fiction but something about this book jumped out to me. It could have been the cover and that it deals with the WW II era. It was surprising a good read, a little slower paced than other stuff I read but overall really interesting. I may check out other stuff by this author to see if I feel the same.

1928: Holland, MI, Fenna and Arie are the best of friends even as children. They compliment each other with an interest in Houdini, magic tricks and caring about each other. Fenna’s parents die when she is a young girl and she realizes she’s going to count on her own talents for survival.

1943: Fenna has perfected her ability to analyze, design and construct equipment used for vanishing acts and magic tricks and is working with a traveling show. She is approached by an Englishman offering her a chance to help in the war effort designing and making gadgets for the military. Working for the MI9, she volunteers to go on a mission to help her best friend, Arie, who is currently in the Netherlands. This historical fiction novel is based on facts researched and included in the story. It has some very tense moments.

This was such an amazing, character driven, well researched book! Kristina McMorris has created characters I will long remember. The book recounts some little-known parts of the Resistance movement in World War II, as the main characters, Fenna and Arie travel from the United States to England and the Netherlands. The author weaves multiple story lines expertly together, of Fenna and Arie's childhoods, Fenna's work with and as a magician and illusionist, her recruitment by British Intelligence, and the terror and danger in the Netherlands during their occupation by the Nazis. The character of Fenna is representative of all those brave souls that worked despite great peril to use magic and illusion to create ways to get vital information to Allied troops without detection. The book is both beautifully written, though tragic at times, and thoroughly suspenseful! The ending was just masterful, bringing all the various story lines together. I just loved the book. Thank you to the publisher, the author and Netgalley for the ARC.

While reading this book, I really enjoyed the character Fenna. She had been through a lot as a child, but she came out stronger each time. She is such a strong, female lead. It was such an interesting book, the fiction interwoven facts from WWII. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from Kristina McMorris in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Source Books for the opportunity to review this book.

Historical fiction written by a talented author…this book was sent to me by Netgalley for review…although the story moves slowly, it comes to a resounding ending…some surprises…some red herrings…enjoy…

I previously read another book by this author that I enjoyed and was excited to get a chance to read this new one. Set during WWII, Ways We Hide is well-written, fast-paced and kept me turning pages. Will definitely recommend to other people who read this genre.

Absolutely beautiful story! Heart wrenching at times but in the most magnificent way. Sad to see it end.