Book Review: The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

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The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray is a historical fiction novel that spans many years and tells of the friendship between former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune. I don't know if I would have picked up this book if it hadn't been the August selection for one of the book clubs I belong to in my area because I don't read a lot of historical fiction. However, I am so glad that I read it and was able to learn many things I hadn't learned about in any of my history classes.  I don't recall learning anything about Mary McLeod Bethune, and she is an important part of American history. The things she helped spearhead to provide African American people equal rights is quite impressive. One of the things I was horrified to learn about is Franklin D. Roosevelt's resistance to stop lynchings because he was afraid of losing the Southern Democrats backing for his New Deal Bill. Another thing that I fo...

Book Review: The Devil's Advocate (Eddie Flynn, #6) by Steve Cavanagh

NetGalley ARC Book Review of The Devil's Advocate (Eddie Flynn, #6) by Steve Cavanagh
The Devil's Advocate (Eddie Flynn, #6)
 by Steve Cavanagh
opens with a prisoner in Alabama is on death row and who just had his last supper. His lawyer is trying to get a stay of execution when the DA speaks with the governor and talks him into going through with the execution. Fast forward a few months, another prisoner is waiting on his trial to determine whether or not he will be put on death row when his lawyer goes missing. The federal government pings Eddie Flynn to represent the prisoner and ensure the DA isn't dirty.

This book is being re-released for whatever reason, and I received an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) from NetGalley for free in exchange for my honest review. I'm extremely thankful to NetGalley for this opportunity.

I've only read one other novel by Steve Cavanagh, and it was great, so I was excited to read The Devil's Advocate, especially because the synopsis sounded so awesome! I wasn't disappointed in the least. This book absolutely clinched it for me and made me fall in love with the author and the Eddie Flynn series, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

In the last book I read by Steve Cavanagh, I had trouble keeping up with some of the main characters, but with The Devil's Advocate (Eddie Flynn, #6) that wasn't an issue for me. I absolutely loved Eddie's crew, and I was sitting on the edge of my seat the entire story. I didn't know how it would pan out, but I ended up enjoying the ending and having everything wrapped up as I don't care for cliffhangers.

Of course, there were a lot of despicable characters along the way that I absolutely loathed. One character did try to redeem themselves, which made me like the character a little better. You'll have to read the book to see if they ended up redeeming themselves.

With that being said, the story does deal with a lot of dark issues that still happen in the world today, including police corruption, racism, and  racist groups. To be clear, I am not saying that there is police corruption everywhere, but it does still exist as well as racism and racist groups.  It definitely gives readers things to think about and can be depressing and overwhelming at times. With that being said, I applaud the author bringing these things to light in a fictional story so that it educates without being a lecture.

The story does feel like it could have been ripped from the headlines of a news story. Whether it was or not is another thing. However, it does give the book a lot of realism.

The Devil's Advocate (Eddie Flynn, #6) by Steve Cavanagh is absolutely fantastic and a must read. I gave this legal thriller five out of five stars. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

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