War may be brewing in Europe, but that's the other side of the world to Ivy Olwen and her adopted brother, Philip, spend their days scavenging for food in the alleys of 1914 Washington, D.C. Ivy has never stepped foot outside of the city, and even certain parts of the nation's capitol are off limits to her. When she ventures to a new neighborhood to try peddling her newspapers for a pittance, she stumbles upon a dangerous exchange that endangers her life and Philip's.

From this point the story quickly evolves into a tale of secret societies, deadly training, and mysterious men who all answer to the names of founding fathers.

The Brilliance of Stars is far different than Ciesielski's past few books, but if you're looking for assassins, danger, European bad guys, you'll find a new favorite within these pages!

I found The Brilliance of Stars was a great start to the Jack and Ivy series by J'nell Ciesielski. I highly recommend it. Five stars.