As the book opens, the reader is introduced to Alix St. Pierre, a newly hired public Relations Master for the new couture fashion house Christian Dior in post-war 1947 France. The story unfolds in different layers with the reader learning about Alix St. Pierre's two prior lives: 1) her early years built on familial tragedy and 2) her time as a government operative during the war in which she loses her fiancée, Bobby. Even as Alix forges ahead with her new life and tries to find out who she is now, she must come to terms with her past actions. Those actions while well-intended gave rise to horrible consequences including the death of her fiancée. She must also hope her past, including a dangerous Nazi, does not find her first.

In addition, to Alix St. Pierre, this book has a wonderful chorus of supporting characters including childhood best friend, Lillie; a possible love interest; a sex worker/spy; the colorful Dior who insists on working at the top of the stairs as well as all those who work for the fashion house.

There was much to love about this book from the amazing descriptions of both the French fashion world and Nazis during WWII. Alix St. Pierre is fearless and pragmatic and is definitely a character you will want to cheer on despite her flaws.

I received this book in an exchange for a honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing!

Have you ever gone through an event that changed your life forever? For Alix St. Pierre it was WWII and her time working of a covert team trying to aid in Northern Italy.

What I liked:
- The house of Dior was a large part of the present day part of the story
- The strong female characters
- There was romance
What I didn’t:
- There were three timelines in the book; prior to WWII, during the war, and after. It honestly got confusing.
- I couldn’t connect to Alix. There was just something about her I couldn’t connect to.

Over all the book was a 3 for me. I loved the fashion and how the women’s roles during WWII and how they changed forever was central in the story but Alix was just not like-able

Chiffon, taffeta, silk, wool, swirl down the stairwell of the House of Dior. As Natasha Lester weaves a tale of love, war, trust, and so much more. Her vibrant words and details sweep you up and transports you back in time, a time when you must keep your mind razor sharp or have everything be whisked away from you. Lester breaks the book up into sections before, during, and after World War II. Focusing on the main character Alix St. Piere. Alix St. Piere is everything you want in a main character. Strong, bold, elegant, courageous, brave, and a sense a humor to get her through all that life throws at her. There is more to Alix then what meets the eye. There is a woman inside that finds it hard to trust and believe in others, after what she saw and witnessed when she worked as an OSS agent in Switzerland. Will she be able to believe in others again and wish upon a star that tomorrow will be better.

Alix St. Piere has had a life. Her parents were ripped from her at an early age during a tragic accident. Her best friend's parents took her into their home and lives. Leaving her to want for nothing but not able to pay them back. She is determined to make something of herself and to blaze her own trail. She is hired by the OSS during the war and is whisked away to Switzerland, where she is to spy and collect information from the Germans. Through her friendships and contacts, she develops so much more and is destroyed by the end of the mission. She moves to Paris at the end of the war to work for the House of Dior as head of PR. She still is looking over her shoulder knowing someone is following her. Will she be able to uncover who before they destroy the life she has created?

I loved this book and every other Natasha Lester book I have ever read. Lester takes you in and creates the perfect setting, characters, and plot to entice you. With the perfect touch of elegance and glam to light the way. I cannot recommend this book enough. Thank you to Natasha Lester and Forever Books for gifting me this sensational read.

I have read all of Natasha Lester's books, they have a strong female lead, doing something very progressive for their time, gut wrenching war story, mixed with a love story.

While some of her other books flick back and forth between now and war times with dual love stories running, this one focuses on the time of the war and the years following.

Alix, is strong, intelligent, and in stepping up to do her part in the war, is not willing to give all of that up to return to finding someone to marry, in her class system and give up on all that she is passionate about.

There is a mystery that runs through as they try to work out who an informant really is, and to make him pay for his war crimes.

The horror of war is always an emotional read, this is mixed with some very happy moments and a slow simmering love story.

I usually have my friend in Australia send me the new books as it is released in the US 6mths later, this year, I was able to read the ARC, so thank you NetGalley.

Alex St Pierre is an amazing character that I loved getting to know. From a career with Christian Dior to espionage to looking for Nazi sympathizers hers is a life filled with excitement and intrigue.

This is my first read by this author and definitely won’t be my last. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book to read and review!

The three lives of Alix St. Pierre continually took my breath away page after page. I couldn’t put it down, but there were moments I actually had to put it down to physically catch my breath because it quite literally left me breathless at times. From the Parisian glamour and romance, Dior couture shows and the Ritz in 1947 to the horrors and devastation of WWII and the ugliness of humanity at its worst, The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre takes you on the enthralling epic and emotional journey of an incredible trailblazer of a woman.

I read this on a plane after being delayed 5 hours and flying all night and when I should have been sleeping, instead I read all night and downed gin cocktails and I have to say, if you have to be stuck in an airport or tarmac with long winter travel drama, you want this book as your companion. It transported me into a whole other world. I absolutely adored this story. I had gotten through maybe chapter 3 when I had already recommended this book to 4 friends by text and 3 Alaska airlines flight attendants who were nice enough to give me extra gin cocktails after the synopsis and enthusiastic endorsement.

As far as content and setting there was never a chance I wouldn’t like this book, there was so much I could relate too. In another life, when I was 21 and going to college at the University of Washington, I got participate in a program in Paris where I studied jazz, and learned how Europe kept the genre alive after it was no longer mainstream popular in America. Part of my final project was to present something that related jazz music to the city of Paris. I was absolutely obsessed with Dior so I went to his shop, stood outside a star studded Dior fashion show and created my own Jazz inspired fashion line with silhouettes that not only mirrored the instruments but famous songs and styles popular from the 1920s-1950s. My best friend works in fashion PR and when we lived together in LA, I worked briefly as an intern, so learning that Dior/Alix St. Pierre was one of the trailblazers to start dressing celebrities for fashion press was so fascinating for me. That being said, you definitely don’t need to relate as closely to the content to be completely ensnared by this story. The WWII history was devastating and gave me so much respect for the people who lived through it. It made me completely grill my 95 year old grandma at Christmas for more stories about this time period and resulted in photos I’d never had the opportunity to see. The love stories and mystery were so captivating. I will need to give it another read because I’m sure there were nuances I didn’t pick up on as the story went back and fourth through time. I really loved that it switched to Anthony’s POV when we got to the Paris 1947 portion of the story and their love story started to unfold. Their love story had me on pins and needles praying for a happily ever after. I was completely in love with Anthony March, good God that man can make a woman melt. This book has intrigue, romance, horror, heartbreak, beauty, loss, love. Natasha Lester’s beautiful writing tells the story of a strong spectacular woman who lived an incredible life. Five stars all the way, I will be buying copies for all my friends!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Forever.
I had a hard time with this story. I put it down multiple times thinking I should just DNF it, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually do it. In the end, I am glad that I finished the story. There was so much jumping around and everything was so scattered I had a hard time following everything. The back and forth between Alix’s time in the war and her present life with Dior were confusing. There were too many different Parts because of the jumping from past to present.
It took me til I was about 2/3rds through the story to really get invested in the characters. Then I wanted to see how the story ended. I wanted to see who was truly to blame, and if Alix and Anthony could survive it.
Even though I’m hesitant, I still would like to check out other books by Natasha Lester.

Thank you NetGalley and @ReadForeverPub for a complimentary copy of this novel! I was excited when I saw I was approved to read and review it! All opinions in this review are my own.
This novel alternated between Pre-WW2, WW2, and Post-WW2. Alex St. Pierre is a PR wizard. The US government recruits her as a spy for the OSS due to her fluency in French, Italian, and German. She get sent to Bern, Switzerland where she helps the war efforts by assisting Italian partisans to secure ammunition and other weapons. But towards the war’s end, a mission she helps put together goes horribly wrong. Alix had been sending messages back and forth with other agents, including La Voce, a possible double agent. Is he the one that caused the mission to go wrong? Or someone else?
After the war, Alix moves to Paris where she works as a PR wizard for Christian Dior. She works tirelessly and creatively to bring fame to his clothing range. But she cannot put that failed mission behind her. So together, with Anthony March (another blast from her past), they work to find out who sabotaged that failed mission. Will the answers they find finally give Alix the peace she truly wants?
If you love danger, intrigue, secrets, spies, double agents, duty, sacrifice, fashion, and love and romance, then this is the book for you! Natasha Lester’s novel has it all and more!!! The first third of the book seemed to move slow for me, but then it started to pick up. I couldn’t put it down!! I wanted to know if Alix would finally be able to find La Voce, if he was the one who has sabotaged the failed mission, and if justice would be served? This novel will be available January 10, 2023.

A well crafted and written WWII novel which also encompasses what comes after. Alix was recruited into the OSS in Switzerland. A tragedy on a mountainside haunts her even after and, in 1946, when she's working for The House of Dior, she finally finds a way to make someone atone for the deaths of 9 men. This moves between the war and Alix's life running publicity for Dior, It's got all the elements of the genre- there's espionage, danger, secrets, romance, and a reckoning (this last is mild). Lester has good storytelling skills and brings Alix, along with the other characters, to life. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Ok. I will say that this book sat on my NetGalley shelf for a long time, and I'm not entirely sure why. I'm a mood reader... and maybe I got swept away by some titles that felt splashier and fresher than a WW2 spy novel?

I was dead wrong to sleep on Alix St. Pierre. This was an absolute delight. Meticulously researched (in both the fashion history and war history), the book feels light and experiential. It is never bogged down by unnecessary, long-winded history lessons. The characters and relationships are so well-drawn that I was shocked to learn just how many real people and real dialogue snippets the author wove into the narrative.

I have a few notes about the final "standoff" of the mystery thread that runs throughout, and I think it could have been a bolder, action-y scene... but that's a fairly small quibble for a story that I found so charming and immersive.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy. I love historical fiction and I knew nothing about Dior so that made this story very interesting. The story is broken into different time periods of the main characters life which at first made it hard to follow. I did like the storyline of what people were forced to deal with during WW2 and the impossible decisions they had to make. Alix was also a wonderfully developed main character, years ahead of her time.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre impeccably captures both the tumultuous and glittering aspects of the 1940s, observing a woman’s life both during World War II as a spy, and amid the glamor of postwar Paris as she takes employment for the House of Dior, ahead of its 1947 launch. While there are a lot of stories about the war, I like that this one both focuses on that, as well as the years after, charting the growth in success of a single woman at the center of it.

Alix makes for a compelling protagonist. She has been on her own for years as an orphan, and while she did have one friend, they part ways at the beginning of the book (they do keep in touch throughout through correspondence). She goes through some harrowing experiences as a spy during the war, including being haunted a by a particular failure (a plot thread which comes into play in the 1946/7 timeline). However, she also finds new purpose and strength upon getting the position with Dior, even as there are some ghosts from her past that linger.

Her relationship with Anthony was interesting, because there were ways that his presence served to reinforce her fears about her past failures. However, the romance that develops between them also grows in a believable way in the midst of that.

At first I wasn’t certain about the structure, with it being split into parts, denoting the different time periods, as I feared I’d find one more engaging than the other. However, both timelines are equally engaging, and the unresolved aspects of the 1943 arc bleed into the ‘46/47 arc well enough through the connections of past trauma and the remaining threat of danger, that the pacing remained fairly even throughout.

This is an engaging read, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys woman-centric historical fiction.

Alix St. Pierre has led three lives: before, during, and after WWII. Throughout her three lives, she has faced adversity head-on. When she is orphaned as a young woman and must figure out how to not depend on the family who has taken her in. When she is a public relations work as an adult she is recruited by the Allied forces to help in their Intelligence Division. After the war, Alix has a life that finally helps her deal with the guilt of things that occurred during the war.

Alix St. Pierre was inspired by a female spy named Mary Smith who worked in Switzerland during WWII as she imagines Alix would have. In classic Natasha Lester writing, she includes the fact that Dior's original couture house had mainly female employees and she has included Alix in that number. Lester is also sure to put St. Pierre in some of Dior's most beautiful gowns that I was compelled to look up on Google so I could envision the dress while reading. I always enjoy a book that gets me researching. This is a good solid historical fiction with many twists and turns.

****Publishing Jan 10, 2023****

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ Natasha Lester draws you in and writes a remarkable and engaging book about what it was like for women spies during WWII and the fashion industry, highlighting Dior, post WWII.

In 1943, Alix St. Pierre was recruited by the U.S. government to become a spy because of her successful PR career in NYC and the fact she could speak 3 languages. During the war, Alix is given a mission to get close to a Nazi who was thought that they might be willing to help the Allies. But is the person really a double agent? Will her mission lead her astray?

After the war, 1946, she is employed by Dior to help market his brand. When her past life of being a spy comes to haunt her in Paris and compromises her job with Dior, how will she handle it in order to save her job? Will she be able to or will it end her career?

This book highlights the risks women took during WWII especially with Alix having to set up her own courier line in order to gather the information she needed to do her job. It took making friends with a variety of key people who have connections in order to get the information she needed.

I love how Natasha Lester includes in her Author’s note her inspiration and which characters are linked to actual people in history!

An incredible story that is a must read for Historical Fiction lovers and leaves you thinking about long after it’s done. Be sure to add to your TBR! A great book club pick as well!


Thanks to Forever (Grand Central Publishing I was provided an ARC of The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre by Natasha Lester via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Trying to move on from World War II Alix is determined to make a name for up and coming designer Christian Dior in Paris. But her job unexpectedly puts her in contact with people who know her and her OSS past. Can tracking down the man who has caused her so much grief finally relieve her of her past? A female lead with a haunting past and plot with many connecting dots is both captivating and enlightening to the effects of World War II. If you are a historical fiction lover like I am I highly recommend!

Alix, orphaned, is taken in by a wealthy family who sends her to school in Switzerland where she connects with Europe before WW II. Returning to the states, she gets a job in fashion which eventually sends her back to Europe. During the war she is enlisted into the OSS to work as a spy, ending up deeply involved with Italian partisans. After the War she returns to Paris where she becomes the right hand “man” to promote the new designer Christian Dior. Her career and eventually her life are threatened, involving her once again with her past and the Nazi who was instrumental in killing her husband and others close to her. The reader travels back and forth through these three stages with Natasha Lester’s flashbacks. We become haunted like Alix with one incident in the war for which she feels responsibility. And so we are given hints throughout as to what really occurred; unfortunately the storyline drags and wanders back and forth too much for me.

A well-written and engaging book about a unique woman, the eponymous Alix St. Pierre, who gets a job with the brand-new House of Dior as head of PR in 1946. Alix is a fictional character, but the story is well-researched and compelling, filled with real historical figures and events. Alix has a tragic backstory; she was orphaned young, and then endured a terrible loss when she worked with the OSS in Switzerland during WWII. She is fiercely feminist and all too aware of her lack of wealth in the world she works in. Dior's fashion is well described, almost becoming its own character, and the intrigue, romance, and danger kept me turning the pages long after I should have gone to sleep. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for a digital review copy.

Wowza! Is there anyone else who does Historical Fiction as well as Natasha Lester these days? Another grand slam from the author! Alix St Pierre's story is told from 3 timelines, past, present and future of WWII when she's recruited by the government to work as a spy. As her work begins, her loyalties and allegiance waver and she's forced to choose which direction to go in. The story continues after WWII when she's hired by Christian Dior to help launch his new couture line and while working with the fashion house, new people bring up old wounds.

This is the story of a woman's strength, courage and heart. Ms Lester always does a wonderful job with her historical research and this book is no different!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my review and honest opinions.

After WWII Alix St. Pierre is hired to be the press agent for Dior as the fashion house is launching. She is there to assist with the first shows and getting Dior dresses into the fashion magazines and on the bodies of actresses at movie premiers. During the war Alix worked as a spy trying to get information out of a high profile Nazi who may be willing to turn to the Allies. In post-war her past as a spy is catching up to Alix when people she thought were firmly in her past resurface.

This book was not meant for me. I don’t like WWII and I don’t like spies, so I’m honestly not sure why I requested this book. The only thing that kept me going was everything Dior in post war Paris. I really enjoyed the first part of the book because it was so much about Dior and then the spy stuff came in and the book jumped back in time and I stopped caring. I did read the whole thing but I had to make myself finish it because i could have put it down about a third of the way in and been fine not knowing how it ended. These are all me problems and people with interest in the era and the plot are going to really enjoy the book. The book felt very well researched and the author’s notes at the back of the book were very informative. One thing I struggled with was that when the book jumped back in time it switched from past tense to present tense. It was very odd to have present tense be the past and past tense to be the later timeline. I struggle in general with present tense so I think this probably added to my difficulties keeping interest in the book. Like I said, most readers will like the book, but it didn’t hold my interest.

Thank you to Forever for the gifted ARC copy and Forever and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

📖 ARC REVIEW 📖

Thank you @netgalley and @readforeverpub for an early copy of The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre by @natashalesterauthor. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre is a World War II-era historical fiction about Alix, an orphan, spy, and fashion icon. She has a knack for persuasion and is a quick thinker, as implied by her publicity job to recruit women into the workforce until the US government sends her to Switzerland as a spy and gets involved with a German informant. After the war, she moves to Paris and works in publicity for the House of Dior.

Alix’s story is beautifully written between three different times of her life. She spent her early days as an orphan, with her friend Lillie’s parents sort of adopting her and making her part of the family. She became a spy for the US government (in hindsight – how cool is that?). She has worked for the up-and-coming designer Christian Dior in his marketing department, and we get a glimpse of the fashion industry in Paris (again how cool is this woman?). I loved the alternating timelines as we get tidbits of her pasts. I couldn’t help but breeze through the pages as the plot is very intriguing and engaging with a lot of unexpected twists.

Rating The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5. Releases January 10th, 2022.