Book Review: Ashley's War, The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

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Ashley's War:  The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is a non-fiction book published in April 2015.  The story follows several women and their quest to become the first women to be in combat along the Green Berets and Army Rangers. This is a book that was selected in my workplace for discussion between women and/or veterans.  The book discussion was broken into three parts much like how the story was broken up.  It garnered great conversations. Some of the things that happened in the book didn't surprise me, such as how physically demanding the tryouts were to be part of the special operations.  It's a demanding job that requires people to be not only physically strong but mentally strong.     What did shock me was that it took the military so long to allow women to fight along men on the battlefield.  Another thing that astonished me were how accepting most of the men in the Army Rangers were of the women fight

Book Review: The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade

book review the shadow sister lily meade

The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade opens with Casey, her parents, and others searching for her older sister, Sutton, who has been missing for a week.  When Sutton suddenly appears, everyone is thrilled, but there's something different about her.  Sutton has amnesia and wants to spend all her time with Casey, which is something she never wanted to do before she went missing.  What happened to Sutton during that week?  The more Casey uncovers, the more confused she becomes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the digital Advanced Readers Copy of The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade.  I was thrilled to have my request to read this book approved.  I received it for free in exchange for my honest review.

Not knowing anything about Lily Meade prior to this book, I wasn't sure what to expect.  At first, I found the story to be a little slow.  I found all the characters, with the exception of the dad, to be unlikable.  With that being said, I'm glad I stuck with it because approximately twenty percent of the way into the novel, it really started to pick up and piqued my interest.  And, I had trouble putting it down.

Throughout the book, things the reader thought were true weren't necessarily true as things are revealed.  It's hard to tell you what those things are without giving away major plot points.  However, I will say that I thought the "bad guy" was one person until I got further into the story and began to suspect another person.  The former was involved in something sketchy, but it wasn't what I thought it was going to be . . . thankfully.  The latter ended up being the culprit behind all the missing girls.

I did have an inkling of what actually happened to Sutton but wasn't entirely sure until I finished the book.  I loved the investigating that Casey did as well as how much researching of their family genealogy played into the story.  Although there were some minor talk of magical elements throughout the story like Hoodoo, it wasn't until the very end that these things made a huge appearance.  The author did a fabulous job of tying everything together.  By the time I finished the story in the wee hours of the night, I had absolutely fallen in love with the story.  The core characters of the story that I didn't like ended up redeeming themselves, and I ended up liking and caring about them.

Five out of five stars is what I give The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade.  This debut novel is a fantastic story with a fabulous cover.  I look forward to seeing what other stories Lily Meade brings us.

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