Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and author Julia Bryan Thomas for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

For one reason or another, most historical fiction seems to center on World War II. Maybe it’s an easy topic, where the lines between good and bad were easily defined, and we could all cheer pretty easily when the war ended and the protagonists lived happily ever after. There’s no questioning whether one side could have been right and the other wrong. The era of the Cold War could be thought of the same way in some circles, but there were many people who fell on what we would consider the “wrong” side of the dispute for a variety of reasons.

The Kennedy Girl is a novel set during the era of the Cold War, particularly the early 1960s as only a small number of nations had the capability of creating a nuclear weapon. It was also a time when there were spies all around the world trying to help their nation gain the upper hand, while people also tried to do what they thought would stop nuclear proliferation.

Mia Walker lives in New York City and works at a bakery. Her mother died when she was young, and her father recently passed when she is approached by Theo Gillette, who recruits her to be a model for the House of Rousseau, a couture house in Paris. He gives her a plane ticket, and she hesitates, even going all the way out to the airport to cash in the ticket. In the end, she decides why not and travels to Paris.

There, they spend time training her to see if she has what it takes. Mia has never thought of herself as beautiful, but she has a look that gets people’s attention even if she doesn’t see it. She lives in an apartment with two other models for House Rousseau, Maeve and Elisabeth, and is driven around by a handsome Italian chauffeur, Luca. It would seem that she is living a charmed life. However, there is more going on at House of Rousseau than meets the eye.

I enjoyed the book, even if I felt like I had to suspend my disbelief quite a bit at times. Mia is not only a runway model, she is sent out to be seen in society in House of Rousseau garments, and is often given messages by Theo to pass on to someone at the event. The messages don’t make sense to Mia, and they make her a little uncomfortable, but there’s no smoking gun that she can pin down as something wrong. Meanwhile, she’s enjoying her life, saving her money, and experiencing Paris.

That all changes eventually when someone who states he works for the United States government makes contact with Mia. Philip tells her she is helping an Alliance of Eastern European nations on their own quest for nuclear technology. Mia does not know who to believe. She has her suspicions about House of Rousseau, but Philip’s actions aren’t on the level, either.

The Kennedy Girl was a good read. It was hard to believe that Mia could be this naive to think she was just discovered on the streets of New York and given a ticket to Paris and an apartment to live in. She was sheltered quite a bit in her life, but it still was hard to believe. Of course, the thing is they need someone who’s a bit naive and who will just follow orders, and who is disposable. With no living relatives, if Mia has to be “disappeared” at some point, there isn’t anyone who will come looking for her.

The intrigue was exciting as I was submerged in a world of espionage during the Cold War. There wasn’t much in the way of violence, but there is a constant threat. Mia isn’t certain who is the good guy and who is the bad guy as she’s navigating her time in Paris, which culminates in her meeting her idol, Jackie Kennedy. It all comes together at the end, and Mia gets an education in life.

The characters are well written with depth and I came to care for them. I found myself rooting for some people not to be on the wrong side as they seemed to care about Mia a great deal. Mia also evolves a lot from a naive girl to someone who develops confidence, poise, and a worldliness she most definitely did not have when she arrived in Paris. It was a joy to follow this, and it felt genuine.

The political history of the time is interesting. The Cold War was always painted to me as the United States versus the Soviet Union, but there were many other nations who wanted to remain strong with their own weaponry and were willing to betray whomever they had to just to get their hands on it.

The Kennedy Girl is a solid piece of historical fiction that drew me in easily. The topic was a bit different than what I usually read, and I think if you’re interested in this time in history, you’ll like it. It was also interesting to read what it is like to be a part of a Paris fashion house. It’s not as simple as people think to be a model, and I found that part enlightening. All around, this was a good read.