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All Is Fair Dee Garretson Books

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All Is Fair Dee Garretson Books

Sixteen year old Mina is a great central character who faces some grim situations with courage and grit. I found her completely believable.


Tags : Amazon.com: All Is Fair (9781250168696): Dee Garretson: Books,Dee Garretson,All Is Fair,Swoon Reads,1250168694,243505 SWOON Hardcover,England,Fiction-Historical,Historical Military & Wars,JUVENILE,Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Grades 7-9 Ages 12-14,Mysteries & Detective Stories,TEEN'S FICTION HISTORICAL,TEEN'S FICTION ROMANCE,United States,YA historical; teen historical; YA world war i; YA set in England; british YA; YA novels about war; young adult historical romance; teen historical romance; historical romance teen; young adult historical romance books; secrets; espionage; love stories; ya love stories; mystery books for teens; mysteries for young adults; teen detective stories; young adult detective stories; spies; war stories,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Historical Military & Wars,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Mysteries & Detective Stories,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Romance Historical,Young Adult FictionHistorical - Military & Wars,Young Adult FictionMysteries & Detective Stories

All Is Fair Dee Garretson Books Reviews

(Disclaimer I received this free book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

I immediately liked Mina. There's a fire, a spunk, a personality to her that instantly attracted me. Whether it be the fact that she is wildly creative, empathetic, or incredibly clever, I wish I was friends with Mina. But in this time period. She is cunning and her wit allows her to be an excellent code cracker as well as quick on her feet. So from the summary alone, it was a pretty good bet I would really love Mina. But what I didn't expect was how swept away I would get in the story.
Lady Mina Tretheway is trapped at her fancy boarding school as war rages across Europe. While she tries figuring out which fork to use when, her father and brother are working to save Britain from the Germans. Finally, she receives a telegram from her father ordering her to her family’s country home although she has no idea why because the telegram is written in a code that she has to figure out before she can know why her father needs her home. While she’s trying to figure what she’s supposed to do, she’s just happy to be away from school. On the train home, she meets a chum of her childhood friend Andrew who, according to Andrew, design airplanes, but doesn’t know how to fly one. Andrew himself is being quite mysterious.

This is a slow moving book, the author carefully lays out the lie of the land, building the tension a little bit at a time. Mina is a well-drawn young woman, who, although, not the woman she will become is already showing signs of her.

The author captures the early days of WWI quite well, from the growing number of shortages, i.e., foods and petrol, to the military taking over the large country homes of the aristocracy to be used as convalescent homes for the wounded returning from the fields of war. She was also adept at capturing the slower pace of things in the countryside and didn’t let the frenetic pace of wartime London invade her setting in the country.

This is a YA historical, but suitable for adults, too. So if you like your cozies to unfold slowly and to move inexorably toward the ending, this is a book you’ll love to read. If you like historicals, this, too, is a book you’ll want to pick up for your to-be-read pile.
Mina Tretheway receives an urgent telegram at her boarding school. She fears the worst as the War rages on. Mina discovers that the telegram from her father is in code and tells her to come home. Upon her return home to Hallington Manor, Mina finds an old friend- Lord Andrew Graham and an American- Lucas Mueller. They need Mina's help in order to complete a dangerous mission in Germany. Before Andrew and Lucas set off on their mission, an accident happens and Andrew is incapacitated. Mina is determined to help Lucas see the mission through, although Lucas believes she is too frail and spoiled. Before Lucas can convince Mina to return home, they are thrown together to complete the mission and survive.

All Is Fair is an exciting and adventurous Young Adult novel set during World War I. Mina's character was charming and invigorating as a young woman good with codes, ciphers and languages. The writing did have a slow build in the beginning, but did build up the dreadful feeling of wartime and the suspense that not all was right at Hallington Manor. About halfway through, when Mina became part of the mission with Luke, the pace picked up and I couldn't stop reading. Their spy mission was intriguing and added a dash of sweet romance. I liked that she proved her worth during the mission as a woman and because she was a woman. Through Mina's and Lucas' eyes we see bits of the harsh realities of war and also learn about the Dame Blanche Resistance movement of France and Belgium which was primarily comprised of female members. Overall, an exhilarating young adult spy thriller.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
Thomasina may be cursed with an awful name, but I like her as a character. Despite being a teenager, Mina is well equipped by her father to adapt to strange circumstances. Receiving a strange note and deciphering the code is just a regular day for this girl. Set during war time (WWI), All is Fair gives a unique aspect for readers to explore.

Whenever Mina was suspicious, I instantly became so as well. Throughout the story I was trying to figure out the truth behind everyone’s deception, whether well intended or not. Sometimes I was too suspicious and someone I viewed to be a suspect was just an innocent minor character. Margaret, Mina’s sister, was someone I didn’t really care for, and I think the author could have drawn out their relationship better. It’s a bit dry and you never get any direct emotions Mina has towards her sister, except that she’s inconsiderate and shifty. Something that kind of annoyed me was how Mina emphasized how much she wanted to learn how to fly a plane and then later when given the chance to be a passenger is far from excited at the prospect of flying. The romance had a good build up but then there was a very abrupt jump in it that I didn’t like. There were a few other unrealistic aspects to this story, but easy to get over with the reminder that it’s a fictional novel.

I was drawn to this book because of my love for history and any World War II story (fiction or not). While I’ve definitely read my share of disappointing novels, this was not one of them. It also wasn’t a great one. I’d recommend Michael Grant’s Soldier Girls series any day over this book. Something that I enjoyed about this book showed a glimpse of the progress and destruction of the British aristocracy. After WWI, things couldn’t go back to normal. Large manors had to limit their staff and they needed to find modern ways to keep their estates alive. Like I said, only a glimpse is seen as the second half of the book changes setting.

All in all, it was a cute and fun read. 3.5/5
Sixteen year old Mina is a great central character who faces some grim situations with courage and grit. I found her completely believable.