When you have doubts about your step-mother, investigate: The Huntress by Kate Quinn

This review is something I am sooo excited about!

When I'm writing this, I listened to the audiobook in I think July, or the beginning of August, and I. Loved. It.

This says something about Kate Quinn's writing style, because I am NOT someone who usually reads World War 1 or 2 books.

But at the time I had also read her other book, The Alice Network. And something I realized is that I found that The Huntress had a plot and characters that were a lot deeper and just well organized compared to The Alice Network, and I loved that most of the setting details were locations I already knew because the story is (mostly) based in Boston.

Plot

Without giving away spoilers, the story follows three characters-Nina, a pilot turned war criminal; Ian, a war crimes journalist, and Jordan: a young girl-she grows into a young woman eventually, but starts off at 17 years old.

From the back of the book:

Bold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans. When she is stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, and only Nina’s bravery and cunning will keep her alive.

Transformed by the horrors he witnessed from Omaha Beach to the Nuremberg Trials, British war correspondent Ian Graham has become a Nazi hunter. Yet one target eludes him: a vicious predator known as the Huntress. To find her, the fierce, disciplined investigator joins forces with the only witness to escape the Huntress alive: the brazen, cocksure Nina. But a shared secret could derail their mission unless Ian and Nina force themselves to confront it.

Growing up in post-war Boston, seventeen-year-old Jordan McBride is determined to become a photographer. When her long-widowed father unexpectedly comes homes with a new fiancée, Jordan is thrilled. But there is something disconcerting about the soft-spoken German widow. Certain that danger is lurking, Jordan begins to delve into her new stepmother’s past—only to discover that there are mysteries buried deep in her family . . . secrets that may threaten all Jordan holds dear.

In this immersive, heart-wrenching story, Kate Quinn illuminates the consequences of war on individual lives, and the price we pay to seek justice and truth. 

Characters & Writing style

So, their paths eventually merge, and the book is the kind in which you can kind of predict what is eventually going to happen, but the fun for me was taking in all the beautifully written descriptions and settings in and the tension that Kate Quinn built up so beautifully forced me to take my time with the book.

I don't think I've ever read a book like that, where you still feel pulled in even though the plot is predictable. I also really loved the romance, because there were, like, three types of variations of the typical relationship chart that I could enjoy, and so by the end my liking for at least one of them was solid.

What I liked:

The characters have fantastic backstories that aren't just dumped onto the page, rather they flow like a small stream into a big river, and it's fun to be reading and then get a little surprise of character backstory in the mix. Although that wasn't the way it was for Nina. I would say that the character that fit that description the most was Ian, but then again, Jordan and Nina had that method of character backstory being inserted in a variation, and it turned things up.

Something I really loved about Jordan was that I could relate to her teenage self, in the sense that there's a point in the book when she's going with her gut. She can't help it, and she's going with her gut and I found it so relatable that she spent a while being by herself, trying to solidify her feelings.

I really loved that.

What I didn't like:

The only thing I didn't like was the fact that looking at the synopsis, I could predict Jordan's storyline. I am used to getting easily annoyed with tv shows that are predictable, but for a book to be like that was a disappointing factor. That being said, the gorgeous writing style, detailed plot structure, and descriptions that had me immersed all the way till the end of the book makes up for the one con of the book.

Final rating

If I were to give it a rating out of five stars, I'd give it four, because while I loved a lot about it, the predictability of it made me feel like the ending was just 'meh'. That being said, I'd 100% recommend it if you are someone who hasn't dived into historical fiction and wants to try out the genre. That was my reason for reading it, and I didn't expect to like the genre as much as I do.

So that's it for me! I hope you found this review helpful. If you like what you see, subscribe now and you'll get notified every time I post something new! I cover a variety of topics like makeup, poetry, opinion posts, and book reviews like this one!

I'll catch you next time:)

-May