The Lady Adventurers Club Book by Karen Frost

The Lady's Adventures Club by Karen Frost. 

Thank you Netgalley for a ARC e-book copy for an unbiased review.

Historical fiction. Check

wlw main characters. Check.

Aspects in any book I love. 

Overall I enjoyed the book and would have happily given this 4 stars. Possibly even 5 stars. It is though set at 3 stars for me. Although the reality is more 3.5. 

What did I enjoy? Overall the settings and characters were intriguing and felt pretty good for the story at hand. I felt the author did a great job at bringing each character's history to us, allowing us to understand their motivations in the present.

Needless to say, we begin with Lady Anna Baring, and instinctively you know she's going to be wiped from the history of a certain archaeological find. And sure enough, that is what occurs. From that, she does a talk, where we are introduced to the 3 other women. From there, after correspondence is sent, they join Anna in Egypt to go on a dig she is arranging for a previously undiscovered tomb. 

Suffice to say, there are shenanigans afoot, and it doesn't go to plan. I won't write more on this so as not to spoil it. 

The world-building was good. Solid in its execution and you felt that sense of the historical aspects easily. But from there it also needed some greater expansion in one of two areas, not least, the religious aspect, which seemed to be crammed in to make a plot point work, rather than brought in greater detail earlier. 

It also veered unexpectedly - for me at least - into a paranormal storyline. While in itself, this isn't usually something I'd have any kind of problem with, it seemed at odds with the synopsis and overall premise the book implied. Yes, there is a hint with 'weird, unnerving things seem to happen wherever they go,' but it doesn't encompass for me at least, what actually was coming. Do not get me wrong, perhaps if there had been more to show it was there, for example in the tags (I only see Historical fiction and LGBTQIA tagged on Netgallery) then it wouldn't have been quite such a jarring experience. 

I also felt at times Anna was manipulative, particularly when it came to the romance aspect, and that made me feel somewhat uncomfortable reading it. Which is a shame, as I felt a similar vein of difficulty in wlw relationships of the time could've been achieved without it being done that specific way. I've read other wlw historical fiction where it has indeed been tackled without a need for that aspect. 

Overall, though it is a solid book for a wlw audience. I feel nothing really stood out, but it also isn't a bad book to read. Hence a solid 3 out of 5 star rating for me. I'd certainly still recommend this as a book to read for anyone who enjoys this genre.

3/5 s🌟 🌟🌟