At a Glance

Title: Atomic Love

Author: Jennie Fields

Published: August 18, 2020 by J.P. Putnam’s Sons

Page: 368

Genre: Historical Fiction, Cold War, Romance

Goodreads Rating: 3.88 out of 5

My Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis

My Thoughts

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, and I tend to love anything set in the early to mid 1900’s. The Cold War is especially interesting to me as I feel we didn’t learn as much about it in school as we did about the World Wars. I really loved this book not only because it focus’ on the Cold War but because one of our main POCs is a brilliant female scientist. #girlpower.

Now I will say, I love all thing espionage related so I’m predisposed to liking this book already. However, even if you’re not into espionage novels, you’ll be happy to note that while that’s the central plot point of the books, it takes a backseat to the characters. The characters Fields has written are brilliant and complex. The perfect mix to really make them stand out. She didn’t just focus on the main POCs either, she fully flushed out the personalities of all the characters involved, which I loved! I will also say that this would fall under the historical romance genre, as there happens to be a love triangle which is pivotal to the plot line. But the romance isn’t over the top, which makes the book, to me feel extremely well-rounded.

Rosalind Porter, a scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project.After her contributions to the Atomic bomb, the reality of the horror she created really ate away at her. In the same period of time her dad died, and her boyfriend Tom Weaver dumps her, she’s on a downward spiral and is focus to take a break from science. Years later she can be found behind the jewelry counter of a department store, where she pines over her love of Weaver and the life she use to have. She’s content with her life, but doesn’t realize how unhappy she’s been until FBI agent Charles Szydlo enters her life unexpectedly.

When Weaver tries to reenter her life, Szydlo attempts to bring Rosalind in as a covet agent, because the Bureau and Szydlo believe that Weaver is a Russian operative. As Rosalind let’s Weaver back into her heart, her life quickly becomes endangered and complicated. Besides staying safe from the Russians, she’s also in a battle to understand who her heart truly loves, Weaver or Szydlo.

I haven’t read any of Jennie Fields other books, but after Atomic Love, I’m inclined to read more of her work. Her writing is clear with just enough embellishment. She added enough historical facts and pieces into the story to make it believable and also created such ‘Real’ characters. None of this overly dramatic love stories, instead she’s written a beautiful tale of the importance of love.

This book comes out Tuesday August 18, get your copy here!

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Atomic Love. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books. 

About the Author

When I was child, bookstores and libraries were sanctuaries, my invitation to adventure, escape, satisfaction. Wanting to be a part of the action, I wrote my first ‘novel’ when I was six. Years later, my first real book arrived in bookstores.

But it’s taken me until my fifth novel to tackle a topic that’s always called to me: women in science. My mother was trained as a biochemist at the University of Chicago during World War II, and remained at the University afterwards, researching cures for cancer. But as was typical in that era, when she married, she gave up her career to be a wife. She spent the rest of her life aching for science. As a result, science flowed into her cooking, cleaning, our healthcare. She measured, she weighed, she considered, she hypothesized.

My mother’s best friend was her cousin Jean. Walking together to campus each day, they discussed everything. But no matter how many times she asked, Jean refused to tell my mother a single detail about what was going on at the ‘Metallurgical Laboratory’ where she worked. As it turns out, Jean was a clerical worker for the Manhattan Project and stayed true to her oath of secrecy until long after the atom bomb was dropped.

That story of silence stuck with me. And my research revealed there was one female physicist involved in those early Chicago years of the Manhattan Project: Leona Woods, the youngest member of the team. Atomic Love is in no way based on Woods’ life. Still, her presence at that critical time and place in history allowed me to create my main character, Rosalind Porter, a female physicist who is asked to risk love and limb to protect her country.

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