One for All by Lillie Lainoff: A Review

I'm back to talk about this wonderful book 'One For All' by Lillie Lainoff. I needed a break from all of my fantasy and romance books so this time I decided to dip into an adventurous and exciting retelling of The Three Musketeers. 

One of the things I really love about this book is that it features a chronically ill female protagonist which is something that I don't see a lot in a lot of novels. The main character Tanya suffers from postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome or POTs, and we get to see how she navigates the world with her disability.

After Tania's father, a former musketeer, is brutally murdered his last wish is to send her to a finishing school called L’Académie des Mariées; but she soon realises that this is no normal finishing school it's a secret training ground for new Musketeers. (One of my favourite tropes that I don't read a lot of, but I really enjoy, is a training academy under the guise of a finishing school.)

The best bit… it’s a sisterhood. Women who are socialites on the surface, but seduce men into revealing secrets, strap daggers under their gowns and protect France from downfall. 

I absolutely loved this book so so so much. It was so fun to read and I loved seeing how Tania and her sisterhood went around France, using these men and finding new ways to accomplish their goals despite their individual flaws and weaknesses. Really enjoyed the representation of a chronically ill female main character and the way that she has adapted to her own unique circumstance.

I really love the characters of all of the girls and their unique dynamics amongst each other. I like Aria being a genuinely wary person not just because she has bad intentions, but because she has been brought up in a very different way to Théa and Portia. I also particularly like the way that romance with purely a subplot and the majority of the novel was about the girls… and how they were finding themselves and supporting each other no matter what.

It was an absolutely amazing read and I would recommend it in a heartbeat to anybody looking for an adventure or historical fiction book. It had me captured from start to finish and it really does tell the story of the unique female hero, who is not defined by her disability and an formidable heroine to celebrate

Happy reading,

Mei x