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Stella Bled #6
Her London Season
London, 1940.
The Battle of Britain rages while Stella Bled sits frustrated on the sidelines. Her husband, Nicky, is unreachable as he risks his life flying in a Spitfire and she has to recover from her mission in France without her beloved Bijou or a single familiar face.
Stella isn’t exactly content to rest, but she has no choice until a mysterious set of orders arrives at Castle Caladh. Something isn’t right, but Stella’s eager to return to service and ends up at a meeting in the famous St. Ermin’s Hotel. That meeting will land in the history books, but Stella, clearly, wasn’t supposed to get through it unscathed. Someone wants her out of the SIS and they have the power to pull some very long strings.
As the Blitz begins, Stella juggles two roles. One as a secretary at the newly formed Special Operations Executive and the other as an ordinary volunteer at the Women’s Voluntary Service. The Nazi push to invade England is looming closer and the chatter in the SIS networks is getting louder. All Stella wants to do is get back to her chosen profession and fight the only way she can, but the enemy has other ideas. If it isn’t bombs from the sky, it’s betrayal on the ground. Like England, Stella has almost nothing left to give, but more will be required if she and the nation she loves is to survive some of the darkest days in history.
The Battle of Britain rages while Stella Bled sits frustrated on the sidelines. Her husband, Nicky, is unreachable as he risks his life flying in a Spitfire and she has to recover from her mission in France without her beloved Bijou or a single familiar face.
Stella isn’t exactly content to rest, but she has no choice until a mysterious set of orders arrives at Castle Caladh. Something isn’t right, but Stella’s eager to return to service and ends up at a meeting in the famous St. Ermin’s Hotel. That meeting will land in the history books, but Stella, clearly, wasn’t supposed to get through it unscathed. Someone wants her out of the SIS and they have the power to pull some very long strings.
As the Blitz begins, Stella juggles two roles. One as a secretary at the newly formed Special Operations Executive and the other as an ordinary volunteer at the Women’s Voluntary Service. The Nazi push to invade England is looming closer and the chatter in the SIS networks is getting louder. All Stella wants to do is get back to her chosen profession and fight the only way she can, but the enemy has other ideas. If it isn’t bombs from the sky, it’s betrayal on the ground. Like England, Stella has almost nothing left to give, but more will be required if she and the nation she loves is to survive some of the darkest days in history.
502 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 13, 2022
160 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
A.W. Hartoin
47 books230 followersUSA Today bestselling author A.W. Hartoin grew up in rural Missouri, but her grandmother lived in the Central West End area of St. Louis. The CWE fascinated her with its enormous houses, every one unique. She was sure there was a story behind each ornate door. Going to Grandma’s house was a treat and an adventure. As the only grandchild around for many years, A.W. spent her visits exploring the many rooms with their many secrets. That’s how Mercy Watts and the fairies of Whipplethorn came to be.
As an adult, A.W. Hartoin decided she needed a whole lot more life experience if she was going to write good characters so she joined the Air Force. It was the best education she could’ve hoped for. She met her husband and traveled the world, living in Alaska, Italy, and Germany before settling in Colorado for nearly eleven years. Now A.W. has returned to Germany and lives in picturesque Waldenbuch with her family and two spoiled cats, who absolutely believe they should be allowed to escape and roam the village freely.
As an adult, A.W. Hartoin decided she needed a whole lot more life experience if she was going to write good characters so she joined the Air Force. It was the best education she could’ve hoped for. She met her husband and traveled the world, living in Alaska, Italy, and Germany before settling in Colorado for nearly eleven years. Now A.W. has returned to Germany and lives in picturesque Waldenbuch with her family and two spoiled cats, who absolutely believe they should be allowed to escape and roam the village freely.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 20, 2022
Another fantastic installment for the Stella Bled Saga. Stella is stuck in London doing her best double agent action and trying to still be the socialite everyone believes she is. She makes new friends and enemies I this book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. You could read it as a standalone but it's best of you read the other beforehand so you can feel the emotional connection to these character. Looking forward to the next book.
October 14, 2022
Don’t let the title fool you. Her London Season is not about Bled Brewing heiress Stella Bled Lawrence living it up with the aristocrats and the rich and famous of London. What this London season is about is German bombs, bomb shelters, stolen moments with Nicky while living a double life, a secret betrayal and fear, danger and exhaustion that won’t stop.
Stella’s friend Abel is in Paris, restoring wood frames at the Withold Gallery, resisting the Nazis any way he can, and wondering and worrying about Stella. Where is she? Is she safe? Well, yes, for now she is safe. She’s back in England, supposed to be resting from her dangerous season in Paris. But by now we know Stella well enough to know resting is not her thing. She’s frustrated and bored and ready to go back in the field. However, she receives a vague message ordering her to attend a meeting in Westminster to replace a secretary named Dorothy Wood. Something about the message doesn’t seem quite right, but she dons her disguise and off she goes. And by the time it’s apparent that the message was the result of someone powerful enough pulling strings to get her sidelined, it’s too late. She’s Dorothy by day, secretary at the Special Operations Executive working on training plans, and Stella by night, working alongside her new best friend Lady Eleanor/Nora as a Women’s Voluntary Service volunteer, taking tea to the troops, driving a mobile canteen and doing whatever is necessary to support the war effort. Stella goes back and forth, switching identities, never sleeping. Exhausting doesn’t cover it.
This is just the beginning of another outstanding novel by author A. W. Hartoin, with much more excitement to come. I have been reading Hartoin’s books for so long that I almost can’t remember a time before Mercy Watts and Stella Bled. When I read Mercy, Mercy is my favorite. When I read Stella, Stella is. But really both series are so intertwined you can’t think of one without the other, and the thread that connects them is Hartoin’s solid writing, plotting and detail. Mercy in the now is somehow connected to Stella in the past. Each story works perfectly as a standalone, but when you read them all in order they become perfectly amazing. It’s like putting together a giant puzzle and being thrilled when another piece falls into place. This author is a master at making these complex people, places and events mesh, while seamlessly inserting not only accurate historical facts but authenticity that makes you feel as if you are there, experiencing the Blitz, running to the shelter and spending a terrifying night in it, looking for the betrayer, pretending to be someone you are not. You aren’t just reading about the war, you are experiencing it, through fictional characters interacting with real-life characters woven together with real-life events. You feel the brutal relentlessness of the Nazis, the almost unbelievable determination and bravery of the British people, and the little joys to be experienced by those who decide to keep on keeping on.
If you’ve read all the Mercy books you may think you have an idea of what happens to Stella and Nicky, but while you are living their story with them in Her London Season you don’t remember any of that. You are in the moment, afraid – no, terrified – of what will happen to them. Every moment they spend together feels like it might be their last. One or both of them may come to deadly harm. Nicky suggests a schedule of sending telegrams to at least let the other know when they are about to go: “At least I’ll know when to worry instead of worrying all the damn time.” How poignant. Although they are both still so young, their love is strong – true love, meant to be – and they are each doing brave, selfless things. But it’s so, so difficult being apart all the time and you almost just want them to say the heck with it, we’re Americans and not in this war (yet) and just go back to their idyllic rich life together, the one that barely got started on their honeymoon. But they are who they are and they must do what they must do, even though the dread is like a blanket over you the entire time you are reading.
Stella is doing a great job posing as merely a secretary while actually identifying operative and developing training with her boss. Stella always does a great job, but she’s on the sidelines and even though Nicky would prefer that, she wants to be in the field. She’s good at it and knows she makes a difference. Nicky is flying mission after mission after mission, losing friends and fellow pilots and becoming increasingly despondent. Is this all their life is to be: separation, exhaustion and worry, wondering if this goodbye will be final one?
Her London Season is fast paced, smoothly hooking you until you can’t stop turning pages while at the same time fearing what the next chapter may bring. The characters are deep and intriguing, the villains making you hate them and the heroes making you anxious about their safety, and the real-life characters like Winston Churchill and Kim Philby accurately drawn. References to events in previous books reinforce the continuity but the story is fully and completely satisfying without ever reading a previous book; you will be totally immersed either way. The suspense built and built and I didn’t know how the story would end until it ended. And as soon as it ended I turned to look for the next book in the story, because I can’t wait to see what happens to Stella and everyone else for the rest of this war.
Thanks to author A. W. Hartoin for providing an advance copy of Her London Season for my reading pleasure and honest review. Pleasure is an understatement. This is a fantastic story, a fantastic series; everything A. W. Hartoin writes is fantastic. I loved it and you will, too. All opinions are my own.
Stella’s friend Abel is in Paris, restoring wood frames at the Withold Gallery, resisting the Nazis any way he can, and wondering and worrying about Stella. Where is she? Is she safe? Well, yes, for now she is safe. She’s back in England, supposed to be resting from her dangerous season in Paris. But by now we know Stella well enough to know resting is not her thing. She’s frustrated and bored and ready to go back in the field. However, she receives a vague message ordering her to attend a meeting in Westminster to replace a secretary named Dorothy Wood. Something about the message doesn’t seem quite right, but she dons her disguise and off she goes. And by the time it’s apparent that the message was the result of someone powerful enough pulling strings to get her sidelined, it’s too late. She’s Dorothy by day, secretary at the Special Operations Executive working on training plans, and Stella by night, working alongside her new best friend Lady Eleanor/Nora as a Women’s Voluntary Service volunteer, taking tea to the troops, driving a mobile canteen and doing whatever is necessary to support the war effort. Stella goes back and forth, switching identities, never sleeping. Exhausting doesn’t cover it.
This is just the beginning of another outstanding novel by author A. W. Hartoin, with much more excitement to come. I have been reading Hartoin’s books for so long that I almost can’t remember a time before Mercy Watts and Stella Bled. When I read Mercy, Mercy is my favorite. When I read Stella, Stella is. But really both series are so intertwined you can’t think of one without the other, and the thread that connects them is Hartoin’s solid writing, plotting and detail. Mercy in the now is somehow connected to Stella in the past. Each story works perfectly as a standalone, but when you read them all in order they become perfectly amazing. It’s like putting together a giant puzzle and being thrilled when another piece falls into place. This author is a master at making these complex people, places and events mesh, while seamlessly inserting not only accurate historical facts but authenticity that makes you feel as if you are there, experiencing the Blitz, running to the shelter and spending a terrifying night in it, looking for the betrayer, pretending to be someone you are not. You aren’t just reading about the war, you are experiencing it, through fictional characters interacting with real-life characters woven together with real-life events. You feel the brutal relentlessness of the Nazis, the almost unbelievable determination and bravery of the British people, and the little joys to be experienced by those who decide to keep on keeping on.
If you’ve read all the Mercy books you may think you have an idea of what happens to Stella and Nicky, but while you are living their story with them in Her London Season you don’t remember any of that. You are in the moment, afraid – no, terrified – of what will happen to them. Every moment they spend together feels like it might be their last. One or both of them may come to deadly harm. Nicky suggests a schedule of sending telegrams to at least let the other know when they are about to go: “At least I’ll know when to worry instead of worrying all the damn time.” How poignant. Although they are both still so young, their love is strong – true love, meant to be – and they are each doing brave, selfless things. But it’s so, so difficult being apart all the time and you almost just want them to say the heck with it, we’re Americans and not in this war (yet) and just go back to their idyllic rich life together, the one that barely got started on their honeymoon. But they are who they are and they must do what they must do, even though the dread is like a blanket over you the entire time you are reading.
Stella is doing a great job posing as merely a secretary while actually identifying operative and developing training with her boss. Stella always does a great job, but she’s on the sidelines and even though Nicky would prefer that, she wants to be in the field. She’s good at it and knows she makes a difference. Nicky is flying mission after mission after mission, losing friends and fellow pilots and becoming increasingly despondent. Is this all their life is to be: separation, exhaustion and worry, wondering if this goodbye will be final one?
Her London Season is fast paced, smoothly hooking you until you can’t stop turning pages while at the same time fearing what the next chapter may bring. The characters are deep and intriguing, the villains making you hate them and the heroes making you anxious about their safety, and the real-life characters like Winston Churchill and Kim Philby accurately drawn. References to events in previous books reinforce the continuity but the story is fully and completely satisfying without ever reading a previous book; you will be totally immersed either way. The suspense built and built and I didn’t know how the story would end until it ended. And as soon as it ended I turned to look for the next book in the story, because I can’t wait to see what happens to Stella and everyone else for the rest of this war.
Thanks to author A. W. Hartoin for providing an advance copy of Her London Season for my reading pleasure and honest review. Pleasure is an understatement. This is a fantastic story, a fantastic series; everything A. W. Hartoin writes is fantastic. I loved it and you will, too. All opinions are my own.
October 13, 2022
Oh boy! With so many talented authors and good books out there, you know you have discovered a good one when you are still thinking about it days after finishing it. This was the case with this book and I loved it, despite it not normally being my sort of book. I love cozy mysteries but when an author you like comes up with a new series you just have to give it a go and at book 6 I am still along for the adventure. I think this one is my favourite so far but as they just get better and better who knows for how long. So much happens and all of it paints a very vivid picture of what it might have been like during the London bombings. I wouldn't want to be her but I love reading about everything that gets thrown at Stella, as she is just a wonderful and very capable character. It's not all doom and gloom while giving you a glimpse of living through a war, as there is some romance, strong friendships built and even some humour. As well as spy craft, danger and hope. Just love this series and can't wait to see what the author has in store for Stella next.
Recovering in Scotland from her ordeal in France and going mad Stella is surprised by her latest orders but if it gets her out of joining a knitting group she is ready for her next mission. Unfortunately she isn't alone and the lady of the house's sister sneaks away to join her in London. Unsure of her reason for being there Stella turns up at the meeting place in disguise. In doing so she ends up with two jobs. One is to be herself and be seen by everybody as she helps the Women’s Voluntary Service with there war efforts and help her roommate find her purpose in the war. The second job she needs to do undercover as a secretary to help set up a new net work of female recruits. Doing two jobs is bad enough with out bombs landing on the city every night. Unsure who sent her to London and for what purpose Stella will have to use all the tricks of the trade to stay alive, especially as somebody knows her secret and wants it to come out. Can she survive? And keep her friends safe from both the bombings and a mole in the organisation?
I was given this free review copy book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Recovering in Scotland from her ordeal in France and going mad Stella is surprised by her latest orders but if it gets her out of joining a knitting group she is ready for her next mission. Unfortunately she isn't alone and the lady of the house's sister sneaks away to join her in London. Unsure of her reason for being there Stella turns up at the meeting place in disguise. In doing so she ends up with two jobs. One is to be herself and be seen by everybody as she helps the Women’s Voluntary Service with there war efforts and help her roommate find her purpose in the war. The second job she needs to do undercover as a secretary to help set up a new net work of female recruits. Doing two jobs is bad enough with out bombs landing on the city every night. Unsure who sent her to London and for what purpose Stella will have to use all the tricks of the trade to stay alive, especially as somebody knows her secret and wants it to come out. Can she survive? And keep her friends safe from both the bombings and a mole in the organisation?
I was given this free review copy book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
August 20, 2023
Thrilling series
So many shocking surprises. Well developed characters, perfect believable story for the time period. Definitely the perfect escape, spies, mystery, intrigue its all there but be warned once you open the first chapter - you'll be in for the duration of the series.
Thank you, A. W. Hartoin
So many shocking surprises. Well developed characters, perfect believable story for the time period. Definitely the perfect escape, spies, mystery, intrigue its all there but be warned once you open the first chapter - you'll be in for the duration of the series.
Thank you, A. W. Hartoin
January 2, 2023
The Optimal Sequel
Really exceptional, especially for the final summation. Glad I followed through with the series. Excellent story telling and realistic characters and circumstances.
Really exceptional, especially for the final summation. Glad I followed through with the series. Excellent story telling and realistic characters and circumstances.
May 23, 2023
Gripping series
Stella Bled Lawrence is a wonderful character. This series is almost impossible to put down. I fell in love with Stella and the wonderful people who cross her path. She is courageous and compassionate.
Stella Bled Lawrence is a wonderful character. This series is almost impossible to put down. I fell in love with Stella and the wonderful people who cross her path. She is courageous and compassionate.
July 26, 2023
Her London Season
A fast moving story of life and individuals in England at the beginning of the Second World war. The beginning of recruiting female agents of the British intelligence and the role the Women Volunteers played on the home front.
A fast moving story of life and individuals in England at the beginning of the Second World war. The beginning of recruiting female agents of the British intelligence and the role the Women Volunteers played on the home front.
September 2, 2023
Stella Bled book6
Excellant, as always. Between Mercy Watts and Stella Bled Lawrence I'm enthralled completely. Thank you, A. W. The stories are wonderful, the history and detail beyond words.
Excellant, as always. Between Mercy Watts and Stella Bled Lawrence I'm enthralled completely. Thank you, A. W. The stories are wonderful, the history and detail beyond words.
October 21, 2022
only one problem…
When is the next book available?? I enjoy Stella’s story so much that I can’t put the book down!! Looking forward to the next installment…
When is the next book available?? I enjoy Stella’s story so much that I can’t put the book down!! Looking forward to the next installment…
October 26, 2022
Another wonderful story in the Stella Bled series. Highly recommended.
November 6, 2022
Another great book in this fantastic series!
I love this entire series of Stella Bled books! As soon as I finish each new book, I start looking forward to the next one!
I love this entire series of Stella Bled books! As soon as I finish each new book, I start looking forward to the next one!
January 24, 2023
Not quite as good as others in this series. But I enjoyed it and enjoyed learning more about life and WVS during the London Blitz.
May 12, 2025
Stella does not disappoint! So glad I looked to see if there were anymore to this series!!
October 26, 2025
I just got tired. I like Stella, but I kept feeling like this series was meant for women, which I am not.
March 1, 2024
Love Stella!!!
No matter how many times I read her books, I love them more every time! Come on for Book 7! Love them!
No matter how many times I read her books, I love them more every time! Come on for Book 7! Love them!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews