The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore: Review & Giveaway with #HFVBT (Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours)

The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore

Publication Date: June 28, 2022

Kensington Books

Genre: Historical Fiction

From acclaimed author and registered nurse Amanda Skenandore, The Alienist meets The Light of Luna Park in a fascinating historical novel based on the little-known story of America’s first nursing school, as a young female grifter in 1880s New York evades the police by conning her way into Bellevue Hospital’s training school for nurses…

In the slums of 1880s New York, Una Kelly has grown up to be a rough-and-tumble grifter, able to filch a pocketbook in five seconds flat. But when another con-woman pins her for a murder she didn’t commit, Una is forced to flee. Running from the police, Una lies her way into an unlikely refuge: the nursing school at Bellevue Hospital.

Based on Florence Nightingale’s nursing principles, Bellevue is the first school of its kind in the country. Where once nurses were assumed to be ignorant and unskilled, Bellevue prizes discipline, intellect, and moral character, and only young women of good breeding need apply. At first, Una balks at her prim classmates and the doctors’ endless commands. Yet life on the streets has prepared her for the horrors of injury and disease found on the wards, and she slowly gains friendship and self-respect.

Just as she finds her footing, Una’s suspicions about a patient’s death put her at risk of exposure, and will force her to choose between her instinct for self-preservation, and exposing her identity in order to save others.

Amanda Skenandore brings her medical expertise to a page-turning story that explores the evolution of modern nursing—including the grisly realities of nineteenth-century medicine—as seen through the eyes of an intriguing and dynamic heroine.

“A spellbinding story, a vividly drawn setting, and characters that leap off the pages. This is historical fiction at its finest!” – Sara Ackerman, USA Today bestselling author of The Codebreaker’s Secret

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-a-Million | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Target | Walmart

MY THOUGHTS.....

This new book is a fascinating combination of historical facts, mysterious happenings, and the efforts of one young woman to change her life. A young woman who's experienced the worst in life finds a way to better herself and help others if she doesn't go to jail first! Una Kelly excels in the con game---she can pick pockets with the best of them, and she has a knack for getting rid of her ill-gotten gains. It is when she becomes a murder suspect that she begins the greatest con of all! Uma becomes a student at Bellevue Hospitals' Nursing School to hide from the police but soon discovers that her greatest talent may be in caring for the sick.

Author Amanda Skenandore paints a vivid picture of the early beginnings of the nursing profession in our country and it isn't always pretty. Nurses were harshly judged and were given little respect from the doctors they worked with, and they worked under horrific conditions. Some of the hospital scenes are gruesome and disturbing but they demonstrate the great advancements in medicine that have occurred since the late 19th century.

The Nurse's Secret is a real page-turner! It has intriguing characters, intense suspense, a promising romance, and riveting historical facts that center around nursing during the Gilded Age. This is a book that will remain in your mind long after you've finished it!

I received a copy of The Nurse’s Secret from the author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. All opinions are my own.


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

About the Author

 

Amanda is the author of Between Earth and Sky, winner of the American Library Association's 2019 Reading List Award for Best Historical Fiction, and The Undertaker's Assistant, released from Kensington in July 2019.

She grew up in the mountains of Colorado and sang and danced her way through 68 cities on both sides of the Atlantic with the service organization Up with People before starting college. Her love of historical fiction started early with the stories of Kenneth Thomasma, Mark Twain, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

When she’s not writing, Amanda works as an infection prevention nurse. She lives in Las Vegas with her husband and their pet turtle Lenore.

Amanda Skenandore is a historical fiction writer and registered nurse. Between Earth and Sky was her first novel. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Readers can visit her website at www.amandaskenandore.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, BookBub, and Goodreads.

Blog Tour Schedule

Tuesday, June 28
Review at Books, Cooks, Looks
Interview at Books and Benches
Review at A Potpourri of Opinions

Wednesday, June 29
Review at MTM Reads

Thursday, June 30
Review at Smashley Reads
Review at A Girl Reads Bookss
Review at Library of Clean Reads

Friday, July 1
Review at Bookworlder

Monday, July 4
Review at Reader_ceygo

Tuesday, July 5
Review at Momma Doc Reads

Wednesday, July 6
Review at The Page Ladies

Thursday, July 7
Review at Dive Into a Good Book

Friday, July 8
Review at Girl Who Reads

Saturday, July 9
Review at Reading is My Remedy

Monday, July 11
Review at Book Reviews and More

Tuesday, July 12
Review at Rebecca is Reading

Wednesday, July 13
Review at Momfluenster

Thursday, July 14
Guest Post at Novels Alive
Review at Older & Smarter
Review at McCombs on Main

Friday, July 15
Review at Gwendalyn's Books

Monday, July 18
Review at Novels Alive

Tuesday, July 19
Feature at Impressions in Ink

Wednesday, July 20
Review at Passages to the Past

Friday, July 22
Review at Coffee and Ink

Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore!

The giveaway is open to the US only and ends on July 22nd. You must be 18 or older to enter.

The Second Life of Mirielle West

View all my reviews