First book of the year 2018...

The idea for The First Book Of The Year comes from Sheila at Book Journey.  This is the first year I am taking part in this yearly book meme.

My first book of the year will be The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. 

I admit I didn't make my choice until yesterday because I wasn't sure whether I'd pick a book for me, or make my next arc review novel the first of the year. This one has won me over simply because it's been on my radar since it was published last Summer.  I had the opportunity to review the novel, but I was already overcommitted at the time, so I did a promo and added it to my personal book list.  When I found out the book would be on-sale for one day only last Monday on Christmas Day, I made sure to take advantage and bought a copy. Now I can't wait to dive in.

As a reader, I've decided 2018 is a year to broaden my reading horizon and check out and read more books away from my contemporary romance comfort zone. I think The Alice Network is a perfect novel to set me on my journey and I hope I love it as much as those who have already discovered it.

In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth...no matter where it leads.