While the City Sleeps by Elizabeth Camden

While the City Sleeps
by Elizabeth Camden

ISBN-13: 9780764241710
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Bethany House
Released: February 13, 2024

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Katherine Schneider's workaday life as a dentist in 1913 New York is upended when a patient reveals details of a deadly plot while under the influence of laughing gas. As she is plunged into danger, she seeks help from the dashing Lieutenant Jonathan Birch, a police officer she has long admired.

Jonathan has harbored feelings toward Katherine for years but never acted on them, knowing his dark history is something she could never abide. Now, with her safety on the line, he works long nights to unravel the criminal conspiracy that threatens her. And throughout it all, Jonathan fears what will happen should Katherine ever learn his deepest secrets.


My Review:
While the City Sleeps is set in 1913 in New York City. The author wove historical details into the story to create a distinct sense of the time and place. The Bomb Squad and their attempts to stop bombings added some suspense. Katherine and Jonathan were flawed, realistic people who matured due to the events. Yet the 'romance' just didn't work for me. Jonathan faithfully escorted her to her subway each night for two years. She knew little about him, yet she still decided that he's this perfect, wonderful guy. So she started showing more skin and wearing her most flattering dresses to entice him into a relationship. He thinks she's so pure and untouched by the dirty, criminal world he grew up in and is thus desirable and above what he could hope for. But she's clear that she won't forgive lies (even by omission), and he's hiding the fact that he was born into a notorious criminal family.

The two didn't share any interests, though she was happy to eat the sweets he made and he was happy to do whatever she wanted to spend time with her. Both fell in love with an illusion they'd created about the other rather than the real person. Even by the end, some of that illusion remained. Jonathan thought that she brought out the best in him, but it's the opposite. She actually got him to break rules. She was more concerned with her desires than with his. She didn't support his dangerous police work, yet she kept ignoring his warnings of danger because she wanted to do something and not just wait. It just didn't seem like a healthy relationship.

Katherine suddenly decided in the epilogue that she could trust God with the future (especially regarding Jonathan's dangerous job). There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this more as a historical than a romance.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.