{ Liar, Tempress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott }

Belle Boyd
Emma Edmonds
Rose O'Neal Greenhow
Elizabeth Van Lew

In Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, bestselling author Karen Abbott tells the spellbinding true story of four women who risked everything—their homes, their families, and their very lives—during the Civil War.

Seventeen-year-old Belle Boyd, an avowed rebel with a dangerous temper, shot a Union soldier in her home and became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her considerable charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds disguised herself as a man to enlist as a Union private named Frank Thompson, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the war and infiltrating enemy lines, all the while fearing that her past would catch up with her. The beautiful widow Rose O'Neal Greenhow engaged in affairs with powerful Northern politicians, used her young daughter to send information to Southern generals, and sailed abroad to lobby for the Confederacy, a journey that cost her more than she ever imagined. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper Southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring—even placing a former slave inside the Confederate White House—right under the noses of increasingly suspicious rebel detectives.

Abbott's pulse-quickening narrative weaves the adventures of these four forgotten daredevils into the tumultuous landscape of a broken America, evoking a secret world that will surprise even the most avid enthusiasts of Civil War–era history. With a cast of real-life characters, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, General Stonewall Jackson, Detective Allan Pinkerton, Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and Emperor Napoléon III, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy shines a dramatic new light on these daring—and, until now, unsung—heroines.

This book.....oh this book was amazing.

You all know how much I love history and research and all that shebang, right???

If I tell you that this book satisfied every single area of my history fiction genre, would you believe me???

Because it did. It absolutely did.

The story centers around 4 women who in way or another, manage to contribute or rather aid their causes during the Civil War.

I love what the author did here, she managed to tell a great story but also teach a good history lesson, I walked away knowing so much more and actually knowing things I had no idea about the war.


I usually prefer a fiction book over a non fiction, but when I came upon this one I knew that I would love it, as my fascination with the civil war era has no end. 

We have Emma, a woman who disguises herself as a man to work the front lines.....she was able to hide her true identity but what happens when she starts to have feelings for two of the men she works with????  You gotta read to find out.

Belle, Rose and Elizabeth did pretty much whatever they had to, in order to achieve their objectives, if it meant seducing, lying, cheating, jail time, it didn't matter, it was done. 

Fascinating book, told in chronological order, that left me wanting more by the time it was over.

If you love history and you love the civil war era, you have to read this one, I am sure you will enjoy just as much as I did.

Thank you to Harper Collins and Edelweiss for providing me with a copy for review.