Keep On Glowing Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage; The Belgian Girls by Kathryn Atwood; Mission: Red Scythe by C.W. James

Keep On Glowing Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage; The Belgian Girls by Kathryn Atwood; Mission: Red Scythe by C.W. James

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Keep On Glowing: Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage 

 Every woman has a fire, power source, inside that is forged by resilience, wisdom, and unstoppable feminine force. Some call this fire a glow. All women have it but not all are aware of it or use it to its fullest potential. Sometimes it fades over time or is buried under years, sometimes decades, of conditioning. It can dim and fade away into nothingness if not nurtured and cared for. Robin Emtage, beauty stylist, holistic glow expert, and founder of Silktage Tropical Inspired Beauty Products, wrote Keep On Glowing: Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow to help inspire women to discover and retain that glow throughout their lives.

Emtage’s Keep on Glowing Method consists of five pillars: Radiant Mindset, Sacred Self Care, Glow Rituals, Protective Boundaries, and Unapologetic Expression. Emtage describes this method as one that is designed to help readers return to themselves with grace, confidence, and an unstoppable glow.

Each chapter focuses on different concepts like creating a bold mindset for lasting radiance, practicing self-compassion for inner glow, gaining confidence and beauty that blossoms with age, reclaiming inner power, protecting glow in relationships, giving permission to shine, glowing forward and inspire, aging with intention and conscious glowing, using age-defying rituals, crafting a glow that lasts, building momentum through small deadly wins,practicing the art of saying no and creating boundaries, reimagining radiance and recognizing beauty beyond the mirror, building the life that you deserve, designing a life that radiates inside and out, and glowing forward. 

The book features advice and wisdom that is clearly explained with encouraging words. For example “Chapter 2: Be Your Own Best Friend: Self-Compassion for Inner Glow,” has words about “The Foundation of Self-Compassion, “The Glow Killing Inner Critic,” and “The Glow Boosting Power of Self-Talk.” “The Power of Self-Talk” section suggests ways of verbally turning negative self-criticism into positive and encouraging affirmations. For example, instead of saying, “I’m bad at this,” Emtage suggests changing the limiting sentence to “I’m learning and every step makes me better.”

Activities inspire readers to list their concerns, ways that can be improved, and identifying positive attributes. For example “Chapter 3: Embrace Your Radiance: Confidence and Beauty That Blossoms With Age”, includes various rituals, writing exercises, and actions that help guide the inner glow to shine. For example “Radiate Gratitude: Unleashing the Glow of Appreciation”, suggests that readers write down one thing that they like about themselves to remind them that they are worthy of admiration and respect especially from themselves. 

The chapters also include Glow Actions and Affirmations as final takeaways to preserve the inner glow. “Chapter 4: Reclaim Your Feminine Power: Unlocking Your True Glow” includes a Glow Action of writing a letter to oneself declaring a commitment to living fully in their power. They are encouraged to reveal what they will no longer tolerate, what they will say yes to, and to read the letter whenever they feel their light dimming. The Glow Affirmation for this chapter is “I reclaim my glow with every choice, every boundary, and every act of self-love.” 

The Belgian Girls by Kathryn J. Atwood

This is a summary of the review. The full reviews can be found on LitPick.

The Belgian Girls tells two stories. It combines the adventures of two women, a real life figure and a fictional character from the two different World Wars, to tell an intergenerational story of courage, sacrifice, freedom, heroism, and rebellion against oppression. 

The first chronological one is the true story of Gabrielle “Gaby” Petit, a barmaid in pre-WWI Belgium. Infuriated by the presence of German soldiers in her country, she organizes a spy network to pass information and defeat her country’s enemies. The second story, the fictionalized account, is that of Julienne Gobert, newly arrived in Brussels with her widowed father. She hears the story of Gaby Petit and is inspired to also become a spy and Resistance fighter against the Nazis as they devour the country around her. 

The stories perfectly merge together with characters, plot threads, and situations that link the two together. For example both protagonists were recently hit with trauma even before their involvement with the war efforts.The traumas leave these young women feeling unprotected in a changing world that is becoming more complicated but also tests their resilience, independence, and willingness to challenge their surroundings. 

The dual narration of the book shows how important it is to look to the past and learn how to live during tough times. Those tough times bring out the best in both women. Gabrielle, who lived a hard existence, learns to empathize with others and fight for her country. Julienne is pulled from her previous mousy timid nature and is moved by Gaby’s story. She becomes bolder and more courageous during times of danger. Both women are willing to fight and die if they have to.

The stories of Gabrielle Petit and Julienne Gobert remind us that one of the best ways to survive tough times of war, violence, tyranny, death, oppression, and poverty is to look to the past and how others lived during them, adapted to their surroundings, fought against them, and became heroes. Perhaps in doing so they can become heroes in the present.

Mission: Red Scythe (A James Vagus Thriller) by C.W. James

This is a summary of the review. The full review is on LitPick.

This book combines the flashy colorful adventures of a Ian Fleming James Bond novel with the duplicitous realistic tension of a John LeCarre novel.

In 1965, orphaned James Vagus is given an interesting offer. John Smith represents MIS-X the mysterious benefactor of James’ education. Smith notes James’ youth, good looks, amiable but reserved personality, and affinity for languages. MIS-X is looking for young recruits to go to places where the youth hang out like concerts, colleges, and class trips and gather information unobtrusively. In other words they are looking for teen spies. James is the perfect potential spy. He accepts the proposal, is given a partner Dakota Walker, and receives his first major assignment. He is to trail Otto Stradt, a corrupt businessman with ties to Eastern Europe. This assignment leads James and Dakota straight to a conspiracy involving scientists studying the potential of killer biology and the governments who will pay top dollar for such research. 

 James and Dakota are spies with all of the gorgeous locations, beautiful people, and cool toys and gadgets but also have an awareness that the governments that one works for can’t always be trusted, that agents can be quickly betrayed, and murder is never far away.

There is a seedy underside to this seemingly glamorous world, a seedy underside that young adults in their late teens and whose brains haven’t been fully developed are being thrown into. 

There is a constant awareness of death and betrayal that surrounds the characters. Even the characters that are on each other’s side may not be completely trustworthy as these young characters are encouraged to do everything they can lie, steal, have affairs, break laws, and murder to please their country and allies. There are moments that if the characters don’t expect betrayal from the presumed good guys, the reader might.

The only real true honest bond is that between James and Dakota. There are moments when one is captured, the other is willing to go through extremes to rescue them even if they risk blowing their cover. In this world of dishonesty, corruption, secrets, and murder the most honest moment is when the two partners acknowledge not only their friendship but also their brotherhood.

New Book Alert: L’Agent Double: Spies and Martyrs in the Great War (Women Spies Book 3) by Kit Sergeant; Suspenseful Character Driven Historical Novel About Real-Life WWI Female Spies By Julie Sara Porter Bookworm Reviews

New Book Alert: L’Agent Double: Spies and Martyrs in the Great War (Women Spies Book 3) by Kit Sergeant; Suspenseful Character Driven Historical Novel About Real-Life WWI Female Spies

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Spies are some of the most interesting colorful figures in history, literature, and popular culture. They have to be on the inside of one place, giving information to another, . By definition, they have to be charismatic and charming, so they can be trusted with secrets. They always have to carry on a duplicitous nature that is capable of deceit and subterfuge, even more so when they are a double agent and work both sides. They also have to be resourceful, sharp, and always have to watch their backs because they could be caught and their lives could end at any time.

Kit Sergeant has written a series of novels about spies in different points in history. 355: The Women of Washington's Spy Ring was about female spies in the Revolutionary War and Underground: Traitors and Spies During Lincoln's War covers the Civil War. Her latest, L’Agent Double tells an intense brilliant story about three real-life women thrust into the WWI spy game.

The three women are: Alouette Richer, a French aviator who is recruited after her husband's death, Marthe Cnockeart, a Belgian nurse who is also a courier against the occupying Germans, and Margaretha Zelle-MacLeod known by her famous stage name, Mata Hari, a Dutch dancer who uses her noted charms to seduce secrets out of her lovers.

These women are brilliantly characterized as individuals who have different stories about their recruitments, their spy processes, and their personalities. They are all three memorable protagonist who are caught up in tense situations and use everything at their disposal from wit, to charm, to loyal connections to find their way out. The stories don't intersect much except for a few scattered incidents abs hearing about the occasional news report. This approach gives the three women chances to stand out on their own as key players on the larger stage of World War I.

Mata Hari, called M’greet throughout the book, is certainly the most famous of the trio if not the most famous female spy of all time. In Sergeant's book, she is a vain cunning woman who is well aware of her um talents and attributes and uses them to get material possessions. She spies not out of any patriotism or loyalty to the countries but for the financial gain that she receives from her handlers.

 M’greet passes information from her various lovers to the governments using the code name, H-21. Since it's pointless to use a pseudonym because of her fame, she cleverly uses it as passage into the homes of various lovers. She is invited to swank parties where she observes plans and notes, or listens to gossip and conversations

and reports to superiors. Sometimes, she passes useless information to confuse them. 

However, Seargent doesn't write M’greet as a completely hard hearted woman or a stereotypical femme fatale. She is still hurting from a messy divorce and separation from her beloved daughter. Late in the book, she has a genuine romance with a younger soldier and considers renouncing her fame, notoriety, and lavish lifestyle for love. Unfortunately, the relationship ends and she is left alone once again. 

Alouette Richer is a different person from M’greet. She was happily married, while M’greet was miserably married and divorced. 

She was also brasher and feistier than the at times showy and materialistic M’greet. She becomes a spy, partly out of revenge for her husband's death but there are hints that she wants to live a life of excitement and significance. It is implied that she settled into a comfortable wealthy marriage to escape her former life as a courtesan.

 During her marriage, she flies airplanes something, rarely done by women in her day. She loves her husband, but wants to do something for herself. After his death, she actually writes a letter to the French government for her services in any way possible.

It is almost a series of errors and missteps in Alouette’s first spying assignment in Switzerland. She uses the cover story that she is looking for her fiance and drops the name of a former acquaintance without checking to see if he had married. She makes a friend with a German tourist but then learns, oops, that she is a spy and imprisons her. Luckily, Alouette's feistiness and impetuous nature which gets her in trouble also allows her to escape from her anatgonists. (Ironically, Gerda the spy, who almost captured Alouette, becomes M’greet’s spy trainer later.)

Alouette has better luck in Spain where she becomes more patient and self-assured than in her last assignment. Unlike M’greet who hopped from lover to lover, Alouette finds one specific German official to find information from, Baron Hans Von Krohn. She uses her former training as a courtesan to become Von Krohn's lover and to pass information using codes and invisible ink.

Alouette becomes an expert at concealing her real feelings. She whispers all the right romantic phrases while fully aware that she is in the home of an enemy. She plays the Spy Game so well that it's almost refreshing when she reveals her real emotions. While spying on Von Krohn, Alouette has a playful flirtation with Zozo, a fellow aviator and spy that develops into a potential real romance. When her assignment comes to an end, she calls out Von Krohn in a great moment of self-awareness. She also calls out her former handler when she learns that he was involved in betraying both her and M’greet.

Marthe Cnockeart doesn't have the seductive nature of M’greet or the forceful determination of Alouette, but she is no less dedicated to her work. She starts out as a nurse and a sweet naive girl with a family that loves but shelters her. When the German Army occupies her Belgian village, Marthe is filled with rage and despair and wants to do something. Her aunt provides her with a key to help the Belgians.

While she is treating patients, Marthe works as a courier. She listens to information from medical supervisors and wounded soldiers about upcoming battles and air raids and passes it along in notes to fellow spies. She is also monitored and advised by a secret group called “The Safety-Pin Men” (so-called because they were diagnal pins on their lapels) who tell her of important information that could affect her spying.

Of the three stories, Marthe's is probably the most emotional. She has to reconcile her spying with her medical career and the guilt she feels sending young men that she once healed to their deaths. She also has a sweet romance with a wounded soldier that does not end well.

There are plenty of suspenseful moments in this novel. Characters who the women trust prove to be traitors. Both M’greet and Alouette receive offers to become double agents further muddying their already tangled allegiances. One of Marthe's contacts is shot right in front of her and another is in a building when a bomb hits. All three women are at the point of near death, having their covers blown, and face possible arrest or execution several times. When M’greet is finally arrested and eventually executed, the shock waves of her fate are felt by Alouette and Marthe, causing both to question their loyalties and careers. 

Mata Hari 's maxim (said to be her final words) was “Life is an illusion,” meaning life is what you tell people and what you make them believe. All three women lived their lives in that way by carrying on subterfuge and revealing important information in war. They had to play specific roles in front of their enemies so others can go about their business. It was a tense and dangerous life, but never boring. It was always exciting and so is the book about them.

Kit Sergeant is writing a book about female spies in the Second World War. If it is anything like its predecessors it should be suspenseful, filled with strong leads, and completely unforgettable.