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forestidylls's review
4.0
I know WWII is all the rage right now, so when I saw this was WWI instead, I wanted to give it a try - plus, CODEBREAKERS! Who doesn't want to read about breaking codes? It was exactly what it promised, with codebreaking on one side, spying on the other, and romance intertwined. It was a little hard to figure out why the main character kept thinking random numbers, but eventually made sense and was a really cool way to communicate with God. I also really appreciated that the male protagonist actually pursued Margo instead of being frustrated she wasn't interested.
theavidreaderandbibliophile's review
4.0
The Number of Love is powerful historical novel. Roseanna M. White produced a well-crafted and thoughtful novel with strong, complex characters. Margot De Wilde is a brilliant mathematician whose education was interrupted by the war. She utilizes her talents by breaking the enemy’s codes. Numbers are constantly running through her head and some of them are vitally important. She relies on facts instead of emotions and pours herself into her work. Drake Elton is a naval lieutenant whose background makes him a perfect field agent for the intelligence services. Drake has a big heart and Margot is never far from his thoughts since the moment they met. Drake has an enemy following him who performs missions, but he also has his own agenda. The author did her research for this book. I like how she incorporated the historical information from the Great War along with Room 40 with the codebreakers and the work of the field agents. Faith was an integral part of the story and our character’s lives. I appreciated that Barclay, Willa, Lukas and other characters from Shadows Over England series were included in the story. The vivid and detailed descriptions allowed me to visualize the characters and scenes. I would have liked a little more action which would have added a little more spark to the story. The Number of Love is an intriguing and captivating historical novel with suspense, romance, friendship, mystery, faith and family.
english_lady03's review against another edition
4.0
Roseanna M. White has become one of my go-to authors since her Ladies of the Manor series debuted 4 years ago. It turned out to the first of 3 series set in Edwardian England.
The Number of Love, the first novel in her new Codebreakers series has been one of my favourite yet. There’s Romance, intrigue, unlikely heroes, witty banter, a train escape scene, and espionage galore.. Yeah, it’s about people breaking German codes so there's gonna be espionage.
It’s absolutely fascinating to learn that there were people doing this for the British Admiralty in the Great War: everyone has heard of the work of the women and men at Bletchley Park in WW2, but I had no idea that kind of thing was happening over 20 years before.
That's one of the other things I RMW's work, is how she works interesting and unusual historical details into the story.
The book is meticulously researched, and the characters brilliant. Margot de Wilde first appeared in the second novel of the last series as a Mathematical child genius who deserved her own story. Margot also happened to be autistic, so whilst she can do calculations and crack codes in minutes, she has problems with emotions, feelings and interacting with others. I appreciated having a woman with learning differences as a heroine as too many protagonists in fiction are perfect and good looking.
Drake Elton was a marvellously chivalrous and heroic leading man: but he also had a strong conscience, and even during war, did not seek to kill unnecessarily. He respects Margot's intelligence and choices, but also wants to help her understand that feelings and love are not something to be feared: nor will they necessarily spoil her dreams.
It was also great to see characters from earlier novels playing a role in the novel: including Brook and her father from the first series.
My only real complaint is I felt bad guy became obvious and a little sloppy in his schemes towards the end. After all that build up, it was a bit disappointing and felt rushed.
Other than that, however, this story was an almost perfect read for me. I look forward to the next one in the series.
I requested this from the Publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.
The Number of Love, the first novel in her new Codebreakers series has been one of my favourite yet. There’s Romance, intrigue, unlikely heroes, witty banter, a train escape scene, and espionage galore.. Yeah, it’s about people breaking German codes so there's gonna be espionage.
It’s absolutely fascinating to learn that there were people doing this for the British Admiralty in the Great War: everyone has heard of the work of the women and men at Bletchley Park in WW2, but I had no idea that kind of thing was happening over 20 years before.
That's one of the other things I RMW's work, is how she works interesting and unusual historical details into the story.
The book is meticulously researched, and the characters brilliant. Margot de Wilde first appeared in the second novel of the last series as a Mathematical child genius who deserved her own story. Margot also happened to be autistic, so whilst she can do calculations and crack codes in minutes, she has problems with emotions, feelings and interacting with others. I appreciated having a woman with learning differences as a heroine as too many protagonists in fiction are perfect and good looking.
Drake Elton was a marvellously chivalrous and heroic leading man: but he also had a strong conscience, and even during war, did not seek to kill unnecessarily. He respects Margot's intelligence and choices, but also wants to help her understand that feelings and love are not something to be feared: nor will they necessarily spoil her dreams.
It was also great to see characters from earlier novels playing a role in the novel: including Brook and her father from the first series.
My only real complaint is I felt bad guy became obvious and a little sloppy in his schemes towards the end. After all that build up, it was a bit disappointing and felt rushed.
Other than that, however, this story was an almost perfect read for me. I look forward to the next one in the series.
I requested this from the Publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.
a_kira's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
the_jesus_fandom's review against another edition
2.0
This book was originally posted on homeschoolingteen.com.
When you spend the majority of a book wishing it were a different genre, I think you can safely say that genre is not entirely your thing. In that way, you could say reading The Number of Love was useful to me. I now know that romance is simply not my thing. The book itself wasn’t bad per se, so parts of this review are subjective and will probably not be applicable to people who do enjoy romance.
The book, authored by Roseanna M. White, follows young Margot de Wylde. Margot works in Room 40, Great Britain’s code-breaking department during WWI. She thinks in numbers, and actually says that God is the only person she knows for sure is smarter than she is. Oh, and she hates it when girls giggle when a boy looks at them. I don’t think she ever says it, but she’s “not like other girls”. You might even says she’s slightly better than all other girls. Margot is very convinced that she will never marry, and then she meets Drake. Drake is a secret agent for the British with Spanish ancestors, so you know how this is going to end.
The problem with romance books is that – if you read enough of them – you know pretty much what’s going to happen. The whole point of the book is that it is a romance, so you know the two main characters will get together. If that wouldn’t be the case, the whole book would be for nothing. So, while reading endless pages about the characters’ internal conflicts, there was never any doubt in my mind as to what their final decision would be. This, in turn, made all of the “will-they-won’t-they” rather boring and useless. If it’s certain something is going to happen, it’s annoying to first have to plow through all the mental gymnastics necessary to make it happen. Even exciting side plots such as the one in this book – with a German spy out of revenge – are a lot less suspenseful when the people in danger are the ones in love: if they die, they can’t end up together, and therefore they won’t die.
My second main gripe was Margot: she’s insufferable. I already mentioned above how she’s the typical “not like other girls” figure, and it always makes me wonder what audience the author is trying to attract with these characters. I’m certainly not attracted to a character who – though sharing my love for mathematics – clearly would think I was an idiot if she met me. Margot constantly reminds us that she doesn’t follow society’s standards, that she’s not girly, that she’s special. I couldn’t care less, honestly. Wanting to marry and not wanting to are both fine. Liking makeup and not caring about it are both fine. (She also made a point of not caring about her appearance, cause apparently that’s lightheaded or something, and I’m just going to say: if you don’t care what you look like, fix that attitude. God made you beautiful, the least you can do is make yourself look presentable. You don’t have to care about clothes or fashion or makeup or whatever, but not caring what you look like at all is stupid.) Also, being ugly or “plain” is not a badge of honour, stop acting like that makes you special.
Anyway, as you can see: this book was not for me at all. Part of the reason was subjective, but the other part is really something I don’t think is a good trend in books. Girls looking down on other girls for being “too girly” and giggling is very wrong. God made us this way, and if you are a bit different than the typical image of a girl, that’s fine. It doesn’t make you better than anybody else, though. And as somebody who likes mathematics: don’t worry, I don’t look down on y’all. I just acknowledge I’m the most rational person in the room and move on ;-).
When you spend the majority of a book wishing it were a different genre, I think you can safely say that genre is not entirely your thing. In that way, you could say reading The Number of Love was useful to me. I now know that romance is simply not my thing. The book itself wasn’t bad per se, so parts of this review are subjective and will probably not be applicable to people who do enjoy romance.
The book, authored by Roseanna M. White, follows young Margot de Wylde. Margot works in Room 40, Great Britain’s code-breaking department during WWI. She thinks in numbers, and actually says that God is the only person she knows for sure is smarter than she is. Oh, and she hates it when girls giggle when a boy looks at them. I don’t think she ever says it, but she’s “not like other girls”. You might even says she’s slightly better than all other girls. Margot is very convinced that she will never marry, and then she meets Drake. Drake is a secret agent for the British with Spanish ancestors, so you know how this is going to end.
The problem with romance books is that – if you read enough of them – you know pretty much what’s going to happen. The whole point of the book is that it is a romance, so you know the two main characters will get together. If that wouldn’t be the case, the whole book would be for nothing. So, while reading endless pages about the characters’ internal conflicts, there was never any doubt in my mind as to what their final decision would be. This, in turn, made all of the “will-they-won’t-they” rather boring and useless. If it’s certain something is going to happen, it’s annoying to first have to plow through all the mental gymnastics necessary to make it happen. Even exciting side plots such as the one in this book – with a German spy out of revenge – are a lot less suspenseful when the people in danger are the ones in love: if they die, they can’t end up together, and therefore they won’t die.
My second main gripe was Margot: she’s insufferable. I already mentioned above how she’s the typical “not like other girls” figure, and it always makes me wonder what audience the author is trying to attract with these characters. I’m certainly not attracted to a character who – though sharing my love for mathematics – clearly would think I was an idiot if she met me. Margot constantly reminds us that she doesn’t follow society’s standards, that she’s not girly, that she’s special. I couldn’t care less, honestly. Wanting to marry and not wanting to are both fine. Liking makeup and not caring about it are both fine. (She also made a point of not caring about her appearance, cause apparently that’s lightheaded or something, and I’m just going to say: if you don’t care what you look like, fix that attitude. God made you beautiful, the least you can do is make yourself look presentable. You don’t have to care about clothes or fashion or makeup or whatever, but not caring what you look like at all is stupid.) Also, being ugly or “plain” is not a badge of honour, stop acting like that makes you special.
Anyway, as you can see: this book was not for me at all. Part of the reason was subjective, but the other part is really something I don’t think is a good trend in books. Girls looking down on other girls for being “too girly” and giggling is very wrong. God made us this way, and if you are a bit different than the typical image of a girl, that’s fine. It doesn’t make you better than anybody else, though. And as somebody who likes mathematics: don’t worry, I don’t look down on y’all. I just acknowledge I’m the most rational person in the room and move on ;-).
flowersofquiethappiness's review
4.0
Having read a few of Ms. White's stories before this, I knew I was in for all sorts of adventures with wonderful characters before I even started chapter one. And I was right! From first page until the last, I was swept up into the crazy-awesome world of Room 40 during WWII. And wow, what an intriguing part of history that I never knew about! Ms. White certainly has a way of finding bits of history and making them come alive. It's incredibly clear that she enjoyed her research findings because so many details fairly leaped off the pages and into my imagination.
Firstly, let me just say that I did adore Margot. She is quick-witted, intelligent, and someone I'd love to call my friend. The way her brain works...she's simply unique! And I love unique and quirky characters. I really loved getting inside her brain and learning to see the world as she does... As did Drake, and oh boy did that bring a load of adorableness and fun to the story! He truly understands her and the way he pursues her while letting her have her say in how their relationship builds...ah, my heart. Those two..! Yeah. Super cuteness happens a few times and my romantic heart was gleefully happy!
From the compelling historical context, wonderful secondary characters, delightful romance, and the utterly fascinating Margot (and Drake), I was blown away by Ms. White's beautifully written story. I am definitely looking forward to book two of the series when next it comes! And unashamedly urge you to move this one to the top of your TBR, reader friends. Like now. ;)
**I received a complimentary copy via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.
Firstly, let me just say that I did adore Margot. She is quick-witted, intelligent, and someone I'd love to call my friend. The way her brain works...she's simply unique! And I love unique and quirky characters. I really loved getting inside her brain and learning to see the world as she does... As did Drake, and oh boy did that bring a load of adorableness and fun to the story! He truly understands her and the way he pursues her while letting her have her say in how their relationship builds...ah, my heart. Those two..! Yeah. Super cuteness happens a few times and my romantic heart was gleefully happy!
From the compelling historical context, wonderful secondary characters, delightful romance, and the utterly fascinating Margot (and Drake), I was blown away by Ms. White's beautifully written story. I am definitely looking forward to book two of the series when next it comes! And unashamedly urge you to move this one to the top of your TBR, reader friends. Like now. ;)
**I received a complimentary copy via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.
library_of_kindredspirits's review
5.0
MY RATING SYSTEM
* "I can't believe this got published!"
** "Mediocre."
*** "It was still missing something."
**** "Good. It satisfied."
***** "Impeccable."
Definitely 5 stars.
PROS: Margot as a character, is incredible. I admire Roseanna's ability to write such a logical-minded character, thinking in numbers instead of words as most writers do. Also, Drake is a wonderful man. I adore him. Almost as much as I ♥ Barclay from An Hour Unspent. :) Romance is clean as always and is a little different than some other books since she is such a unique character.
CONS: I can't think of any. This book was really good.
I recommend this book to adult and young adult readers.
* "I can't believe this got published!"
** "Mediocre."
*** "It was still missing something."
**** "Good. It satisfied."
***** "Impeccable."
Definitely 5 stars.
PROS: Margot as a character, is incredible. I admire Roseanna's ability to write such a logical-minded character, thinking in numbers instead of words as most writers do. Also, Drake is a wonderful man. I adore him. Almost as much as I ♥ Barclay from An Hour Unspent. :) Romance is clean as always and is a little different than some other books since she is such a unique character.
CONS: I can't think of any. This book was really good.
I recommend this book to adult and young adult readers.