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I knew nothing of Mata Hari except for her name – not a thing. I read the book because I like the author, but this one wasn‘t nearly as good as her others, I didn‘t think. At least now I have an idea of who she was, though I can‘t say I particularly liked her. I wonder if I would have been more sympathetic toward her if her life had been told chronologically, rather than in flashbacks?

I really enjoyed reading this biographical novel about Mata Hari. I didn‘t know anything about her, beyond the spying, before reading this book and I will be finding nonfiction books about her to learn more.

Continuing along my theme this year of strong women, this account of Mata Hari was excellent. It's a quick read and a lovely, heartbreaking story. I thought I knew who/what Mata Hari was, but I learned a whole lot more about her and her life and how she became such a legendary performer. Highly recommended.

Very interesting book. I never knew much about Mata Hari, and this gives an alluring glimpse of her rise to fame and fall from grace.

I finished TWO books today! One of the few benefits of being home sick with the flu. (I'm on the mend though!) I went back and forth between "pick" and "so-so" for this one. I knew nothing about Mata Hari going into the book so I had few expectations but I still feel like her story could have been told better than it was in this book. It was good enough to get me interested in Mata Hari so that's something.

Technically, the writing could be quite a bit better. It took a couple of chapters for me to get into the rhythm of the book. About 1/2 way in, I decided it was like a fictionalized memoir. I can see why it got mixed reviews but in the end I liked it. Mata Hari isn't particularly likable but as the story goes on you can see how the abandonment of her father when she was a child colored the rest of her life and the choices she made.

Not repeating last year's mistake of forgetting to eat blackeye peas and greens!! Happy New Year! #dinnerandabook

I haven't read a lot about this woman. Her story is a sad one. I wonder if she was truly a spy.

Great character work undone by a shoddy pacing and structure. Mata Hari is at once passive and driven, naive and cunning, and when Moran has a grasp on what makes her tick, the book comes alive. But that's relatively rare. To often, she just recounts Mata Hari's life story, and it falls apart whenever that happens.

My main issue with this book is the protagonist, Mata Hari. While I normally love Moran's books, I could not get past my dislike of her character. The fact that I enjoyed the writing and found the story to be interesting just didn't make up for the fact that I felt Mata Hari was completely unsympathetic, extremely selfish and egotistical. Oh, well. Can't win 'em all.

I definitely have a huge soft spot for Michelle Moran and I speed through this one in one day. I think it is my least favorite of all of her books, but she is still one of my 'must buy' authors and look forward to any more she may write.

So excited to finally get to read her new release!

This was a good weekend read. I enjoyed her scandalous rise and I felt like Edouard watching her fall. Michelle Moran writes historical fiction very well. I need to catch up on her backlist.

Tonight this book lover is going to bed with Mata Hari. #havemercy

It's been a long time since I've read Michelle Moran. I'm curious to read her take on Mata Hari. At just 255 pages, I might just be able to finish it before heading back to work.

This is the second Mata Hari historical fiction I haven't cared for. Maybe her story just isn't for me. The present tense narration bothered me this time around, and Mata Hari never made sense to me.

This is my TBR pile for August. I always have a couple in mind I want to read. Sometime is happens... Most of the time they get pushed. #Augustofpages #bookphotochallenge

Meh. I really wanted to like this book, but it was just okay. From some of the publisher marketing it seemed like it would concentrate more on the spy aspect, and that was such a very small part of the story. It was an okay read, but didn't bring anything new to Mata Hari's story.

I've been looking forward to this one for a while. Enough so, that it's going to be one of my rare e-reads.