A thrilling and unforgettable narrative about the intertwined lives of two wronged women, spanning from the chaos of the San Francisco earthquake to the glittering palaces of Versailles. From the beginning of this book, I had a heightened anticipation and sense of dread as the chapter's countdown to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Reading about this devasting and catastrophic historic event was riveting and horrifying but I could not stop turning the pages. The well-developed characters, the detailed research of not only the time period but the social divides between class and race combine to create one the best historical fiction books I've read in 2024.

Wonderfully written with so much going on you want more but it's perfect at the same time. Loved this book and the characters within.

An absolute disappointment. After reading Kate Quinn's The Alice Network, I was happily looking forward to reading another one of her novels, and was excited that the next one I got to read was an advanced reader. But sadly I was extremely disappointed with this novel and would not recommend it to others. There are many things throughout the story that led to my dissappointment.

To begin, I found it extremely irritating that she reused thoughts and ideas from The Alice Network. The fact that she had yet another character with a mangled hand, was cheap to me. There was a variety of different options that could have been done, yet she resorted to using something she has already written. Not only did she repeat this, but she also repeated the use of her characters being orphans, and the repeated use of the idea of characters being portrayed as whores, in her words. I found this to be very unoriginal, to use so many things from a previously written story.

Not only did Kate Quinn reuse thoughts and ideas in her new release, but she continued to use a writing style that I found to be distracting when reading The Alice Network. In her writing, Kate Quinn provided foreshadowing to where nothing that you read was a surprise. In addition, she used language and terminology throughout the novel that made the reader assume that she believes she is smarter than her reader. In addition to this, I found it distracting to include the countdown to when the earthquake occured, as well as the switch between different perspectives between and within chapters.

In regards to the storyline, I found it incredibly boring. There wasn't anything that was making me like the story or to stay interested in reading, I found that it just continued to drag and drag. Then, after reading the author's note I strongly believe that this novel should not even be characterized as historical fiction. What this showed me was that unless the storyline is given to Quinn, she is not able to write a story that can keep the interest of the reader. Not only was it a struggle to start, but I continued to find myself hoping for the end.

When the story did come to an end, similar to the Alice Network, I was not pleased with the ending and thought that the story should have ended before it was drug on even further. I feel as if rather than having an ending that was more fit and flowed better, Quinn wanted to give the reader closure. But that closure seemed forced and provided more dissappointment than necessary.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

For more reviews and discussions, listen to my podcast Thr Honest Book Reviewers with Nate and Emma.

https://open.spotify.com/show/3H3ugH4xlzvjMXuUo1Lyvh?si=ewdzfkUnSVKyDmAvHMHIPQ

Thanks to Book Club Girl, William Morrow Books, Harper Collins, and NetGalley for this copy of "The Phoenix Crown."

Set in the Gilded Age of San Francisco before the earthquake of 1906, four women cross the path of Henry Thomton, a wealthy man who collects antiquities and aspires to be a patron of the arts.

We see the juxtaposition of the very wealthy alongside the very poor, but then the earthquake shatters those boundaries and we see what they truly value and try to save.

Kudos for authors Quinn and Chang for awesome Author's Notes with character biographies!

I am a big fan of Kate Quinn's stand alone novels and so I was very happy to be given an ARC of this novel through NetGalley. I hadn't read much about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and I enjoyed reading about that time period. Like Quinn's other books, the story features strong women with interesting lives and circumstances. There's a lot to like about this story, which is a good balance of historical fiction and a mystery with a satisfying ending.

The Phoenix Crown by Janie Chang and Kate Quinn begins with a countdown to the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which plays a major role in the storyline. I enjoyed the dual POV of Suling and Gemma, one an embroidery artist from Chinatown, and one an opera singer. Their paths cross, and they become friends, united against a mutual powerful enemy. Along with two other friends, an artist and a botanist, will they have the strength and courage they need to defeat him?

Everything is turned upside down by the massive earthquake and ensuing fires that devour much of the city. The group ends up scattered, but they remain under the shadow of the one who tried to ruin and end their lives. I loved the true and enduring friendship between the four women. Also, I loved Toscanini, the singing bird, parroting back Gemma's scales and arpeggios.

The Phoenix Crown tackles so many different social issues: interracial relationships, same-sex relationships, cultural appropriation, racism, sexism, drug abuse, classism.

The authors' note at the end was really great. It was fascinating to find out what/who was real (I was surprised by how much of this book was from real life) and what was fictional. I love it when HF authors take the time to explain that. I also love the disagreement between whose recording of The Queen of the Night aria is best. 😄🎶 The passion the authors feel for the subject matter is palpable.

The Phoenix Crown was a wonderful and exciting read. I recommend it to fans of historical fiction, San Francisco, opera, botany, and strong women.

I cannot possibly give this enough praise! From the carefully constructed characters to the scenic settings, it was perfection from start to finish. The relationships were subtle, but fed the plot and character development perfectly and I felt immersed into the setting. Truly a masterpiece!

I love historical fiction and I love Kate Quinn's writing. Her heroines are often real women who are lesser known figures. Learning about their accomplishments adds depth to the typical historical fiction novel. The Phoenix Crown does follow that format by introducing us to Alice Eastwood, a noted botanist who worked at the California Academy of Sciences. But this is not her story. Instead, it's the story of Gemma, an opera singer who is going to perform with Enrico Caruso and Suling, a Chinese seamstress. The backdrop of the story is the 1906 San Francisco earthquake with each chapter counting down the time remaining before the earthquake.
This book did not grab me at first. It seemed like a cookie-cutter story. But I kept reading and I'm glad I did. The story picked up the pace, had some twists, and kept me turning the pages until the very end.
#ThePhoenixCrown #NetGalley

I started this read with high hopes after reading Kate Quinn's Alice Network. Pretty quickly I found that there was not much for an exciting storyline and I was left asking what is the goal and when are we supposed to get hooked into the book. It seems that the authors expected that the excitement of the San Francisco earthquake was going to be enough to carry the story. Spoiler: it certainly was not. Reading about half the book before it got interesting but still not holding excitement that you would expect from a book. It felt like I was reading the lives of a opera singer and a Chinese woman, not anything special necessarily to make their lives noteworthy or something to write about. I promise you know somebody who has a more interesting true life story. So I felt the story was lack luster and the characters did not have qualities that I felt were not relatable nor interesting to me. I felt that the authors released this book well before it was fully developed. So the story itself I would rate a two or maybe three on a generous day.
The writing style, which I had some issues with when I read Alice Network, I felt were more present in The Phoenix Crown. These issues were that the author often repeated herself and made sure you were aware of foreshadowing. Another issue I had with the writing is that the authors seemed to use vocabulary that was intended to show that they were smarter than the reader. I have read many classics as well as many books from different regions and I have never witnessed a book so forward with trying to show what a great vocabulary the authors have. In general I would rate the writing style a two, making my overall rating a depressing two.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book thanks to the publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

For more reviews and to hear my review and discussion of this book tune in to my podcast: The Honest Book Reviews with Nate and Emma.
https://open.spotify.com/show/3H3ugH4xlzvjMXuUo1Lyvh

This writing duo is the perfect match. The mystery and intrigue kick off in the prologue and has a grip on the reader to the last page.

Although narrated from two points of view, Gemma and Suling, it's about four strong, but flawed, women. Each of these women breathes life into the story.

Set in 1906, Gemma, an opera singer, moves across the country from New York to San Francisco only to find her best friend has taken off for parts unknown, only to learn she hasn’t left willingly. It’s up to her to find her missing friend.

Suling, a Chinatown embroideress, is newly orphaned and is now being forced to marry a much older man. She makes plans to escape, only to become in tangled in Gemma’s search for her missing friend.

In sweeps Henry Thornton, a rich man, who wants to be known for bringing San Francisco to the forefront of the art world. But is he a hero or villain?

Set in the backdrop of 1906 San Francisco, these authors do a wonderful job of weaving fiction and real world events into a plot of many twists and turns. Bravo!

Kate Quinn is a master at writing historical fiction and for this novel she teamed up with Janie Chung to write a story of the intertwining of four women’s lives before and after the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. Gemma Garland has come to San Francisco escaping a humiliating experience in New York and hoping to begin work in the chorus of a new opera. However, upon arrival, she finds her friend has vanished and so she takes over the apartment where she meets Alice Eastwood, an acclaimed botanist. Gemma’s first encounters Suling when she is impersonating a boy in able to walk the streets freely as she searches for her missing lover, Reggie Reynolds. Each of these women become involved with Henry Thornton, one of the wealthiest men in San Francisco who has a penchant for Chinese artifacts and a beautiful conservatory. As these women interact with Henry, they find he is not the person he seems to be and together they confront him as San Francisco burns to devastating consequences.
I appreciated the historical detail and the descriptions of life in San Francisco but the plot felt flat and contrived. This novel lacked the passion and energy of other works by Quinn. It was too predictable and at times too repetitive.
Recommended for fans of historical fiction.

The Phoenix Crown is a historical fiction thriller which took the genre of historical fiction to a whole new level of fun for me. Set in San Francisco in the early 1900s, this book follows four heroines uncovering the guilt of a favored beau. This book gives strong “no body no crime” vibes for me.

The setup for this book was brilliant. From the first paragraph of the prologue, I was hooked. I could not at first see how the characters lives would intersect and how the fabled Phoenix crown would play a part, when it all came together, it was so satisfying.

I did think the ending was a bit too neat to be totally believable based on the characterization of the antagonist. Every loose string was tied into a neat bow, and it all happened dizzyingly fast that it took away a little from the careful and meticulous set up of the first half of the book.

The epilogue was the coolest portion of the book by far. I’ve never seen an epilogue quite like it, and I really loved how it communicated things about each character in such an interesting way.

I’d like to thank William and Morrow and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a thrilling and engaging read, right from the start! From the prologue, I was hooked, and I felt it was such a fun mix of both mystery and historical fiction. I’m really making an effort to mix up my historical fiction reads, focusing on different places/time periods that I may not be familiar with, and this absolutely fit the bill.

Set in San Francisco in the early 1900s, focused around the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, and told through two main POVs (both of which are from very different walks of life,) I felt truly dropped into the time period while reading this.

When it comes to pacing, the first half was a little slower, but I do think it needed to be in order to set up the different storylines and lay the groundwork for the second half where the story truly begins to unfold. I loved how these storylines came together in the end, and I FLEW through the second half!

Aspects I loved most:
-The found family between not only the two main characters, but the side characters as well. There was also a very diverse set of characters!
-The chronic pain/disability and LGBTQ+ rep, and the look into how these themes impacted both of our main characters during this time period.
-The girl power in the end!! I loved how the ending came together, and the epilogue was *chefs kiss.”
-The character development from beginning to end.

I did feel that some of the action scenes felt a little rushed/anticlimactic, which is my reasoning for removing one star, but overall I would absolutely recommend this one to anyone looking for a unique, engaging, and mysterious historical fiction read!

Set in San Francisco on the eve of the 1906 earthquake this story follows the lives of four very different women. Thrown together by circumstance they become unlikely allies in a quest for justice against a powerful tycoon that leaves a trail of corruption in his wake.

Truthfully, I am a ride or die Kate Quinn fan but this one was a bit of a struggle for me. It’s a very immersive read but the story builds slowly and even after the climax of the earthquake, the pacing continued to feel a little off. I also didn’t connect with the characters like I usually do in her books and the ending played out a little too predictably.

I’m still so glad I read it. Like they say in their author’s notes, my history nerd heart loved all of the historical tidbits. You really get a feel for what San Francisco was like in the early 1900s. I found the glimpse into daily life in Chinatown and the hardships these early immigrants faced fascinating.

The epilogue was very clever and the authors notes are a must read!

The Phoenix Crown was an interesting read. The San Fransisco earthquake and subsequent fire of 1906 is not an event I have read about before. I had no idea that San Fransisco was absolutely destroyed and that so many people died. The fact that, even though the city lies next to the ocean, they couldn't use its water to douse the fire because all of the water lines were destroyed by the massive earthquake was a shock to me.

The story begins with Gemma, a budding opera singer, and Suling, a Chinese laundress, both pursuing their own dreams, when they meet and decide to help one another. Gemma wants to be a famous opera singer and Suling wants to escape Chinatown to live a better life. Influencing them both is Henry Thornton, the wealthy owner of the famous Phoenix Crown, an exquisite relic that has been looted from China.

I was immediately drawn to the plight of both characters but didn't like the romantic drama. I was taken aback when I realized Suling was a lesbian because the whole time the authors purposely led me to believe her lover was a man. I wasn't mad she was a lesbian but a bit chagrined that the authors used this as a way to disguise the plot. When things started to make sense, the story became unbelievable. A bit over the top. Then there was a sudden halt, and the story skips five years ahead. At that point I lost interest but continued reading because I wanted to know the outcome.
To me the ending felt a bit over the top as well.

I am a big Kate Quinn fan but have not read anything by Janie Chang. That may be why this felt different than Kate's previous books. I felt like all the characters had the same voice, that some of the stuff could never happen and that the ending was too perfect. But as I read the authors notes I learned that some of the things did indeed happen! I really appreciated the ending notes. They separated the fact from the fiction and explained why they added certain plot elements. Overall, it was interesting. 3.5 rounded up.

Many thanks to Kate Quinn, Jenie Chang and William Morrow for the ARC via NetGalley!

What an amazing book! The Phoenix Crown is a story of friendship, of women standing up for themselves and others, and of love. I really enjoyed the strength of all of these women - Reggie, Gemma, Suling, and Alice - and the way they pursued justice, their careers/passions, and survival. The story revolves around the actions of one slimy man - Henry Thornton - and the effects of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The setting was fabulous and very engaging. I really enjoyed learning about the city at the turn of the century, the Chinese community, and the experience of women during this era... especially women with career vocations and passions. Each of these women's stories are so well told, which is not always the case with books with multiple main characters. I liked how the stories intertwined and how the women worked together and for each other to survive. One aspect that I did not like about this book was how cleanly everything came together at the end. I'm used to historical fiction having loose and uncertain ends, and felt this ending was a bit too unrealistic... though I did like the epilogue quite a bit so I guess it can go both ways!

This story is a must read! Thank you to the authors, publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I confess I thought this book was going to be in the fantasy genre based on the title, but it was actually historical fiction which was fine by me! It's largely set in San Francisco in 1906 before their huge earthquake. It focuses on Gemma an opera singer and Suling a Chinese woman who is about to be married off despite not wanting too.

The story was interesting and engaging, but I also learned a lot about the life and poor treatment of the Chinatown community. There was also a delightful character called Alice who was quite a force and a pleasure every time she appeared.

Overall, there were great details to the storytelling, characters I was rooting for, and some plot twists along the way.

Kate Quinn is an author that has been on my instant read list since I first read The Alice Network - I find that the characters she crafts and the historical ties in all of her stories are always so rich and well-done that I become immersed in the story. I definitely felt this way with The Phoenix Crown, co-written with Janie Chang. The cast of characters was what really sold this story for me - they all had their own thoughts and wishes and characterizations but none of them lost any of that when they banded together.

However, where I think this book strayed a bit from the norm was how nicely everything wrapped up at the end - it felt like everything was wrapped up in a nice little bow, which threw me off a lot. It felt a little too neat to feel realistic, which was especially weird with the historical fiction genre of this book - surely not everything wrapped up this nicely during the actual historical event.

Overall, this was a great read that completely immersed me, but I found that the ending threw me off. Not my favorite Kate Quinn book, but I still loved it and I will be checking out Janie Chang's work as well.

Fabulous story about the friendships between four very different women who meet and endure the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. I loved the strength of these women faced with terrible odds. They all showed the same will to live and eventually thrive. There is the story of their enduring friendships and love lost and found. The characters come off the page so vividly in my mind!!! It is definitely a five star read.

Kate Quinn hits it out of the ballpark with another great historical fiction focusing on strong female characters. This one is less based on real characters than some of her others, but still an excellent read.

Multiple authors can be a challenge, but I found the flow of the book to be cohesive with no discernible transitions between writers. I’d not read anything written by co-author Janie Chang, but will now look for some of her other works. I’m especially intrigued by The Porcelain Moon which has minor characters crossing over from this book.

The various characters and their individual storylines gave insight into the era and classes of people, especially in San Francisco. I cannot imagine the chaos following such a catastrophic event. I was impressed they managed to maintain a correspondence when they had no idea where they would end up. The postal system must’ve been a little more forgiving back then!

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks for the opportunity to read and review this book prior to publication.