Atomic Love by Jennie Fields

 

Star rating: 3.5/5 

Jennie Fields' newest novel is a tale of espionage set during the Cold War. 

Summary:

Rosalind is a brilliant and talented physicist who helped work on the Manhattan Project. After WWII ended, women were no longer needed in the workplace. She was devastated to lose her job, and even more devastated when her lover and coworker Thomas Weaver abruptly ended their relationship. Now several years later, Weaver is attempted to restart their relationship. She adamantly refuses him, until an FBI agent named Charlie approaches her, tells her that they suspect Weaver of being a spy for the Russians, and asks her to gain information. Rosalind suddenly finds herself in a role that is much more dangerous that she could have imagined, all the while falling for Charlie and trying to fight her feelings for Weaver. 

Review:

Eh. This book was honestly just fine. There were aspects of it that I really enjoyed and aspects that fell very flat. I really loved both Rosalind and Charlie as characters. They were complex, well-developed, and forward thinking for their time. I thought their romance was very sweet, albeit rather rushed - I felt like one second she was still in love with Weaver, the next she had suddenly fallen in love with Charlie. The first third or so of the book was a little bit slow, but after we find out a twist about Weaver, the pace really picks up and the rest of the book is pretty exciting from there. 

I was on track to give it 4 stars until the ending. It all wrapped up far too quickly and easily. This civilian with no training was being tailed by RUSSIAN SPIES and basically just gets away with no help, the end. 

The story was also very erotic and sexual and it just didn't feel like it fit to me. The sex scenes were pretty lackluster and most of the time didn't feel like they really needed to be there. 

Overall, there are much better works of historical fiction out there, though I did enjoy reading a book about the Cold War as that's a pretty unfamiliar time period to me.