Spitfire

Spitfire by M.L. Huie is an excellent post-WWII historical fiction/thriller full of cloak and dagger, mystery, espionage, and double-crossing prose.
This is the first of the Livy Nash series and it is divine.
I love Olivia (Livy) Nash and her flawed character. I love how she evolves and gets her footing as the book progresses. Livy has to face her demons head on and decides to swim against the currents vs sink.
I also love the supporting cast. All of the characters are intriguing and almost no one is as they seem.
I love the story line and the twists and turns that take the reader for a wild ride. It was thrilling to the end.
The ending was satisfying, yet leaves us with somewhere to go for the next book.
I cannot wait to read the continuing installments because I feel this has the potential to be an amazing series. In a market saturated right now with WWII era books, this sets itself apart from the rest.

5/5 stars enthusiastically

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this amazing ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

Thank you

I loved this first in a new series featuring a gutsy but imperfect heroine set just after WWII in London and Paris. SPITFIRE is as thrilling as the fighter planes themselves, replete with Ian Fleming, spies, unpredictable political landscapes swirling with post-war intrigue, and a taut narrative that grips from page one. A compelling start to what could be a new fave series. 5/5

Pub Date 07 Jan 2020.

Thanks to M. L. Huie, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#Spitfire #NetGalley

Spitfire is a great historical fiction novel. It has wonderful characters and storyline. The book is well written and I would read more by this author.

I recently was bored as there was nothing that interested me on TV and I hadn't been able to find a read that clicked. I picked up a magazine but then decided to look over my Netgalley list and found a historical fiction book set right after WWII - I decided to give it a whirl.
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Well my friends this book, Spitfire, has helped me get out of my slump. Set during 1946, it follows Olivia Nash a former British OES agent who worked out of France during the last years of the war. Her life has been significantly impacted by her war experience and eventual return to civilian life. When the opportunity to work again with the OES, now under Ian Fleming, she finds she cannot resist it.
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Livy's venture into the spy world of the British, French, Russians, and Americans in post war Paris was fascinating and I quickly became wrapped up in her life and work. She is a complex woman who's backstory intertwines with her current situation making for a wild ride of figuring out how this will all go down. The twist near the end was well played and I was curious how Livy would react. She did not disappoint!
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This is the first in a new series and I am excited to see what the future holds for Livy - both from a personal and professional aspect. And may I add that I haven't seen a lot of historical fiction written during this time period and after reading Spitfire I am hopeful it will be more explored.
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Thank you Crooked Lane Books, not only for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book but for publishing a story that has helped me get out of my reading slump.

entertaining, historical, detailed

The novel is told from the main character Livy that's is mainly from her point of view, in away that made the novel a bit predictable but overall interesting to read. There were some parts I found very blunt and surprised that phrase was put in an odd location of the story. She attend's parties, royal balls, gets into gun fights, finds romance and very descriptive. I would've liked to read more about the love interest with Peter but overall this was a fun read, I've already recommended it to my friends. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle eread for an honest review.

The year is 1946 and the war has ended, for everyone except Livy Nash. With memories of the war as a former British OES agent, and now with a position as a proofreader for a second rate newspaper, what is there for her? Black market vodka has been her liquid medicine to take away the pain. But with a chance meeting at a pub, it seems that fate has intervened. Ah, but was it by chance? Who is this person? What did he want? Most of all, why was he wanting to interview her for a position as a foreign correspondent. It was none other than Ian Fleming, but the position wasn't exactly working for a newspaper, but rather as a secret agent.. As a former OES spy during the war he seems to think Livy would fit into his organization and so we are now in the realm of secret agents! I can almost hear the song "Secret Agent Man" playing in the background!!

The book was well written and as it is the first in a series, I definitely look forward to what will be coming next.
My thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a thrilling start to a new series! Livy is a courageous character that I will like to know more about. I love the intrigue and action of this series.
Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Even before you reach the end of the book, it's apparent that this is only the first installment in what is intended to be a series of Livy Nash mysteries... and I for one can't wait for the second.

We first meet Livy as a borderline alcoholic Lancashire lass working a dispiriting proof-reading job at a down-market women's magazine in immediately post-war London... shades of AJ Pearce's "Dear Mrs Bird." Slowly, however, Livy's wartime service, working for Britain's espionage network, comes into view, with the flashbacks only accelerating as she is invited to meet the mysterious Mr Fleming, an editor at a considerably more prestigious publication. And from there... no, no more spoilers.

Suffice, however, to say, if you like your spy novels flavored with excellent period detail, hardbitten agents, international intrigue, and lashings of revenge, "Spitfire"... Livy' nickname, bestowed in tribute to the fighter plane of the same name... will more than measure up. Well-realized characters occupy well-wrought situations; the action and intrigue are all but non-stop, the London and Parisian settings are delightful, and there's probably half a dozen twists that you probably won't have spotted coming from a mile off.

In fact, if one has to pinpoint one flaw in the entire book, you'll find it in chapter seven, where Livy discovers a "black canister about the width of a fifty pence." It's an interesting observation, bearing in mind that the country's first decimal coinage, the 50p included, did not make a bow until 1968. But it's also the kind of error that could as easily have been inserted by a well-meaning copy-editor as the author, so we'll skip blithely over it and hope for that little bit more care next time.

Because otherwise, "Spitfire" is a veritable hurricane of excitement.

An engrossing and entertaining historical thriller that kept me hooked till the last page.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I read an article a couple of months ago about the role of women spies during World War II, and I was intrigued. This book came up on my radar not long after that, so it seemed like a sign that I should give it a try.

Livy Nash is flawed and her life is a mess...she is very relatable. I'm looking forward to reading more of her adventures. She runs into a wide variety of characters - snooty socialites, washed-up actressed, magicians, spies, traitors and more. A few situations get bungled because of circumstances and/or bad decisions. I kept wondering if she was going to be able to turn things around. This was a light, exciting read!

Thank you to Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced copy.

This was an amazing debut for a series I definitely will be following! The character of Livy is perfectly flawed! She’s not your perfect character and that’s what I loved about her! She definitely is a Spitfire! From her alcoholism to her determination she’s fascinating. You can see her pain and hurt throughout and the way she is determined to finish her job. I was definitely surprised by some of the twist in this book and I was even more shocked on how Livy handled it. This book was a thrilling page turner that has me hungry to devour more!