One for All by Lillie Lainoff

e-Audio, 12:23:52
Narrated by: Mara Wilson
Release Date: March 11, 2022
Published by: Recorded Books, Inc.
Read from: March 23-29, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: 
For Readers Interested In: Historical Fiction, Feminist, Chronic Illness Rep, Retellings, YA

   An OwnVoices, gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, in which a girl with a chronic illness trains as a Musketeer and uncovers secrets, sisterhood, and self-love.

     Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand. Everyone in town thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl”; even her mother is desperate to marry her off for security. But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father—a former Musketeer and her greatest champion.

     Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school. It’s a secret training ground for a new kind of Musketeer: women who are socialites on the surface, but strap daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a swordfight.

     With her newfound sisters at her side, Tania feels for the first time like she has a purpose, like she belongs. But then she meets Étienne, her first target in uncovering a potential assassination plot. He’s kind, charming, and breathlessly attractive—and he might have information about what really happened to her father. Torn between duty and dizzying emotion, Tania will have to lean on her friends, listen to her own body, and decide where her loyalties lie…or risk losing everything she’s ever wanted.

     This debut novel is a fierce, whirlwind adventure about the depth of found family, the strength that goes beyond the body, and the determination it takes to fight for what you love.

*MY THOUGHTS*

When I first heard about this last year I remember being so shocked at just the synopsis alone. I remember saying “just take my money.” I was hoping it was good, but I was still so scared to see if it would live up to my expectations. And I can say it did.

When Tania’s papa is murdered, she vows to do everything she can to try to avenge him. But that proves rather difficult because she’s a woman, and she has a chronic illness that makes the dizziness creep in during stressful times. But her mother doesn’t feel the same. So when a letter from her late father shows up and says she’s to send Tania to a finishing school, she is too happy to oblige. But Tania quickly realizes this isn’t a finishing school like she thought. And the girls here are like sisters…. sisters in arms. Very different than what she thought she would see….

I loved the writing style in this. There’s a mystery, there’s a love story, there’s some action, it has a little of everything. Normally that would make me feel like it had too much going on, but it wasn’t an issue with this. It never felt like too much. Maybe because it was introduced little by little and nothing was overlapping anything. If that makes any sense. It wasn’t hard to follow and it made for an engaging read.

I also liked the representation. I don’t have tachycardia, but I actually do have someone in my life that does. My mom’s best friend has lived her entire life with it. She said hers is also the stressful situation one, and she thought it was cool that I had read about someone like her in a book. And when I told her it was ownvoices, she said she was going to go buy it. However, as we know, this disease is not a monolith, and although her experience was the same, not everyone’s is. But between her and my mom’s friend, it definitely hit home for her.

And then there was the fencing aspect. Seeing her overcome her illness and be bad ass like she was? Yeah, that was a boss move. She was so cool. I loved seeing her learn new things and be the bad ass she was. Now I don’t know anything about fencing, but the way she wrote those scenes was pretty cool. I learned a bit of the terms and the language and that’s the sign of a good book to me. If I’m entertained and I can learn something, then it’s good.

Lastly, the mystery aspect of this was pretty good. Although I guessed who it was, I still enjoyed it. That’s another way to know I liked something. If there’s a mystery involved and I’m not completely annoyed that I guessed whodunit, then that’s the sign of another good book to me. And oh man, the person who it was and how she handled it?! I loved it. I didn’t care for how she handled it. I would have done something else lol

This was a pretty cool book to read. I was a little worried because The Three Musketeers? Really? It seemed weird. But it really worked. This retelling was super creative and one that I was glad I got around to reading.

Overall, I give this