I’ve been looking forward to reading A Million to One ever since it was announced, what feels like years ago. So, I had some high expectations when I finally got the opportunity to read it. This is a high-stakes heist on the seas and was a lot of fun to read. I have to say it didn’t live up to all of my expectations but I did enjoy it.

Whilst Josefa, Emilie, Hinnah and Violet seemingly have nothing in common, they are united in one goal. They want to steal the Rubaiyat, a jewel-encrusted book aboard the RMS Titanic that may be the ticket to solve all their problems. But careless mistakes, old grudges and a new romance threaten to jeopardise everything that they’ve worked for and put them in incredible danger when tragedy strikes. While the odds of pulling off the heist are slim, the odds of survival are even slimmer.

Throughout the course of the book we get POVs from all of the main characters. Josefa, who is a pick pocket from Spain and felt like the most prominent character in the book for me. She certainly brought some interesting things to the story. There is also Emilie, a Haitian-French painter who I felt was the most sensible of the group. Violet, who is an actress from Croatia whose backstory broke my heart and Hinnah an acrobat from India who I adored.

All of the characters are unique and bring something different to the story. I found it very easy to distinguish between the characters which was one of my worries with it being a story with multiple POVs. I wish we had seen the girls relationships building up a little more. I felt as though the romance went from 0-100 very quickly which ruined it a little for me.

I enjoyed the heist part of the story but it did fall a little bit flat for me. At points it felt like it was doable and other times it did not which took away from my enjoyment of it. It just felt as though it all fell apart very quickly but manage to still be fast-paced and enjoyable.

I was a fan of the setting of this book. You are instantly hooked into the atmosphere of the Titanic and who is on that ship. But, you are often reminded of the fact that it is the Titanic with the chapter headers counting down to what we all know is going to happen. That is what kept me hooked along with the twists and turns throughout.

I’m still a huge fan of Adiba Jaigirdar’s writing and cannot wait to see what happens next. I really appreciated her author’s note at the end which discusses the Titanic’s history with Ireland and the BIPOC characters who would have been on board the Titanic. I cannot wait to see what Adiba writes next.

Overall, I would definitely recommend giving this one a read! If you are looking for a historical heist with twists and turns, while also including timely discussing of gender, race and a lot more, then this is one fo you.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Hachette Children's Group, Hodder Children's Books, and the author, for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4 women, a thrilling heist and all aboard the Titanic, there was absolutely no way I was not reading this book. I have always heard son praise for Adiba Jagirdar's books and having waiting pick up one for a long time now. I am glad this was the first. The book follows the story of 4 women, Josefa, Violet. Emilie and Hinnah each of who fled their own country to seek refuge in Dublin gearing up to make the heist of their lifetime. Having struggled to make ends meets and with a personal agenda in mind Josefa is planning the heist of the priceless edition of Rubaiyat - a book inlaid with priceless jewels from the first class cabins of the Titanic. She gathers her friends and acquaintances from the boarding house in Dublin, each with their own special gifts: Emilie - the artist, Violet - the charming actor with an sharp brain, and Hinnah - an acrobat. They board the Titanic only to realize maybe the their well thought out plan wasn't that flawless after all. With small and big mistakes on the way and entire cruises guards on the look out, will they succeed in stealing the book and making out of there alive?

The pace was slow to begin with , as we moved through all 4 POVs, their motivations and the plans coming together. But once aboard the Titanic, it became fast and tense and had me on edge. The only flaw in the story was that we do know what happens to the unsinkable ship, yet with each chapter title being a countdown of hours, the author succeeds in using that to her advantage in cresting a tension unlike anything else. The romance was beautiful and subtle, just the way I like it. The detail in the book is crazy, and every part of it makes it clear how much research went behind it.

Overall, slow to take off yet, very enjoyable.

TW: Death by drowning, betrayal, parental neglect, abandonment and abuse

This book was almost there for me. It had a great premise, lovable, diverse characters and a thrilling storyline. The only problem I had with it was that it was just too predictable. Obviously you can't get away from the fact that all the readers know the titanic is going to sink. But there's so much that could have been done with the story despite that. I felt really disappointed when I got to the end and found it had gone down almost exactly as I thought it would.

The build of tension was really good though. Every chapter has the countdown to the titanic sinking at the start, so you're constantly aware of what the characters are going to have to deal with and questioning whether they'll survive or who will die. I really enjoyed the build up a lot more than the execution.

The characters were great too. Four different characters from four different walks of life. My favourite was Hinnah, an acrobat who was kicked out from her family, but I also had a fondness for the others too.

I just wish I hadn't been able to guess the ending so easily.

Josefa has been getting by on the spoils of her scams, and her latest plan is going to bring rich rewards. It’s a heist like no other, and for it to succeed she needs the help of some acquaintances with unique skills. But all the gang have secrets that threaten to spill out, creating ripples in the plan.

The setting of the heist on the Titanic was a curious idea, and having 4 strong female characters as the ensemble cast of characters was a major draw for me. I liked how they were all from different backgrounds and cultures. But overall, I found the story to be a slow burner, it took me longer than I hoped to really get caught up in the story and my enthusiasm keep waning. When it picked up the pace on the ship in the later third of the book with the various backstories coming to the light, the tensions of the heist increased its drama and it’s hold on me.

Adiba Jaigirdar does it again with another amazing book 🥲 This story was so detailed and well researched and thought through, definitely read the authors note to find how many real names and plot points were used. There were so many high stakes throughout and the found family trope is always the best, made special with these four girls. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This was so good! I love Adiba’s previous works so I was thrilled to be able to read this one.

I loved the girls’ antics throughout the book, it was so easy to fall in love with their characters which made the ending that much more heartbreaking. Even though you kind of know what will happen, it hurts :(

The setting was so richly described and left nothing to the imagination, I was totally immersed.

I did feel like the romance was a bit quick to develop and not as key to the story as I might have liked, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

I will read anything Adiba writes!

4 stars

Thank you so much to Hodder & NetGalley for my gifted e-ARC! Xxx

I received an ARC through Netgalley all opinions are my own.

DNF at 37%

I requested this book on Netgalley because I saw the author on tiktok and she was promoting her book. I thought it sounded interesting, but I was left bored reading this book.

I didn't care for the plot or the characters at all, which just meant that I didn't ever feel like picking this book up at all.

I usually do love heist stories. Some of my favourite movies are actually Now You See Me, but I guess that's more magic than heist?
Anyways I didn't care for this story at all, and I just realised that I'm not even curious as to how they're going to pull it of. I plainly did not care enough about the plot or the characters to want to find out what was going to happen. And since I don't have all the time in the world I'm choosing to DNF. I might give this book a chance in the future, if I ever become curious as to what happened.

Sapphic Titanic heist. Need I say more?

- found family
- wlw and woc rep
- Tense and endearing
- Climbing vents (a personal favourite)
- Heist!

Thank you Hachette Children’s Group/team BKMRK and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

‘4 girls, a priceless treasure, and an unsinkable ship. But what happens when secrets, old grudges, and new desires complicate things? All aboard the RMS Titanic’.

Somehow I went into this thinking I wouldn’t get hurt. I was wrong. I did this to myself.

As someone who had far too much of an interest in the Titanic as a child, I had to read this. Throw in a heist and sapphic characters I was sold!

Without giving anything away, the found family in this is heartwarming and heartbreaking, I will protect Hinnah with my life, to the Titanic film fans, there are references, and I have a need to hit August hard in the head with his book of poetry.

This is quite a slow paced book and more historical fiction first, heist book second, so keep that in mind, but I loved it even if the sword of Damocles was hanging over my head the whole time. We need more historical fiction centring marginalised groups.

Four friends have stolen aboard the Titanic. They're after the Rubaiyat - a book inlaid with priceless jewels. Josefa is a charismatic thief, Hinnah a daring acrobat, Violet an outstanding actress and Emilie a talented artist.

It is Josefa's plan, but she needs all of their skills. Despite their very different backgrounds, in a world of first-class passengers and suspicious crew members, the girls must work together to pull off the heist of their lives.

This book was everything I wanted and more! I loved everything about it. I did not anticipate it to be so good! I loved the characters, the plot, the setting. Everything was so well thought out! I immediately want more from these characters and this world.

2.5*

The best words I can really use to describe this book are simple - rushed and underdeveloped.

The four protagonists are the heart and soul of the book, and I love a main cast of female characters. The relationships between them are complicated, and while I appreciate that they don't always get on and have conflicts, they're either so silly I failed to see their justification, or when they are serious, we're blown over and resolved incredibly quickly. At times I had to remind myself these girls were trying to pull of an intricate and dangerous heist, and weren't just squabbling teenagers letting their emotions get the better of them. One thing I did find particularly silly and which set me on the wrong foot with Violet for the entire book, leaving me lacking sympathy for her, was her instistance on disliking Emilie for the "privilege" she had grown up with - Violet is a white-passing Croatian whilst Emilie is a Haitian-French black woman, and it's 1912. What privilege is that supposed to be exactly?

As for the actual plot, the pacing is off as the first half of the book is quite slow, before the actual sinking of the Titanic takes place in the span of a few chapters. Things just keep happening, and either go perfectly or disastrously wrong, and at times it feels like the main characters have little agency - the biggest thing that goes wrong for them happens on a ridiculous technicality.

Despite this, I did still enjoy aspects of the book. The sapphic relationship was quite sweet and I really liked Hinnah. I have one of the authors other books and I still look forward to reading it as I enjoyed the writing style, just unfortunately this book didn't feel developed enough.

I quickly grew frustrated with this story, because it has so much unused potential. I nearly stopped reading this half way though, because I was struggling to remember which character was which (despite their names on each chapter title), but I convinced myself that the story would pick up when the disaster happened. I should have just quit.

There's a lot you're expected to just go along with in this story, like how they can suddenly be accused of stealing their own missing hair piece by the woman who stole it from them (this is never explained, did she find it? steal it?), how Violet is I assume the actress who I never remember talking about acting, but most of all how the Titanic can be sailing through drifting icebergs without any of the group feeling cold.

The heist itself was an utter mess that was clearly never going to come to fruition had the ship not sank, and to fill the time the story focused a little too heavily on Josefa and Emilie's budding relationship, a romance that seemed incredibly forced and inorganic. I quite liked Hinnah, the circus performer, but Violet's hatred of Emilie was never really explained and made her difficult to like.

The disaster actually only took a few chapters out of maybe 60, and I was disappointed that it was so rushed, and not as impactful as I was hoping it would be. I never felt much grief and loss from the group, after surviving such a massive event with devastating losses for them personally, and I left the story feeling like there was something missing.

A fun, interesting tale set on the seven seas, with strong characters and important friendships. I enjoyed this author's other works, namely The Henna Wars, so this was a great foray into the historical setting. I loved the writing, and the plot was great, as it rounded off the story well. The pacing felt a little slow at times, but overall I had a cool time with this!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this e-arc!

The year is 1912, and four girls from Dublin, Ireland are presented with the opportunity of a lifetime - to travel on the RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage to New York, and change their lives forever. Josefa gathers Violet. Emilie and Hinnah on a mission to take a rare book encrusted with gemstones during the voyage on a heist like no other she's planned but things get complicated when old faces appear on board and well, we all know the history of the Titanic.

I was so excited to read this from the moment I first heard Adiba was coming out with it. I mean, a sapphic heist story set on the Titanic, it has to be brilliant. And yet, unfortunately I feel a bit disappointed. This wasn't a bad book by any means, it was just lacking a lot of excitement and action I wanted from a heist or even any Oceans 8/ Six of Crows type of intelligence. I think this book had an amazing premise but the execution left a lot to be desired and fell flat for me.

The heist story was a little bit of a mess to be honest - it never really felt like something that was even doable - the plans were not very good and predictably it all fell apart almost as soon as they boarded the ship. I would have liked more time with each character as they all had important stories to be told and it felt like they were all rushed (other than Josefa who appeared to just be a spoiled brat running away from a life of privilege), and more time building all the girls relationships with one another as Josefa and Emilie go from 0-100 quite quickly.

The setting was also such a let down - it's the Titanic and yet for most of the book you could easily forget what ship you were on and at times, that they were on a ship at all. I would have loved more about what they were seeing, who they were seeing - the atmosphere of being on the ship of a lifetime, the views from the deck, the cold feeling of the Arctic air on their skin as they sailed into iceberg territory, the blanket of stars in the sky. Yes, there was a little nod to Jack and Rose in Titanic with a chase through the boiler room followed by a romantic moment but it wasn't enough for me.

The sinking of the ship was also very quick and I don't know how I really felt about these scenes. I'm also convinced Josefa wouldn't have survived having been in the water before she found the overturned lifeboat - surely her clothes would have frozen and she would have got hypothermia.

Despite my complaints, this wasn't a bad book and I think many readers will enjoy the friendship, the fast pacing and the historical setting - it just wasn't quite the book I had in mind when I began to read it. I also really appreciated Adiba's author notes at the end talking about some of the historical liberties she took, and discussing the Titanic's history with Ireland and the BIPOC passengers that would have been on board Titanic.

4.5 stars

"It doesn’t matter where we go or what we do, as long as we’re together,”

What would you do if you found a way to give yourself a better life? Get away from the horrors of the past and look to a brighter future where you didn't have to worry about anything.

For Josefa, it's anything.

This book follows Josefa, Violet, Emilie, and Hinnah and a heist unlike any other.

Making it onto the Titanic was only the first step to Josefa's plan, and now, they have until the ship lands on the New York docks to complete the rest of their plan... or do they?

When new obstacles and people get in the way of achieving their goals at a new life, can these three friends keep to their plans and finally escape from their old lives and into something new?

A Million to One is a perfect read for lovers of history and the Titanic with a queer twist. If you're looking for a book with four unique and badass girls then look no further because this book has it all!

I adored this book and the characters that the author wrote. Each character had their own brilliance about them. The clash in the relationship for some of the girls at the start really made the book more impactful as their trust in each other grew and the stakes got that much higher.

I genuinely cannot recommend this book enough. Thank you so much to the publishers for providing me with an eArc in exchange for my honest review.

Four girls in Dublin come together to plan their greatest con yet - sneaking aboard the titanic and stealing one of the rarest, most prized books of all time, adorned with jewels that will have them set for life. But as we know, the story of the titanic doesn’t end well for most…

I loved this book so much. Firstly, the titanic is one of my fascinations and so I was hooked at that from the start. I love stories where you kind of know how it ends in general, but you don’t know how it will specifically end for the characters.

All four main characters were amazing. I loved each of their individual storylines and how the friendships and romances grew gradually over time.

Set over only a few days, this is fast paced and thrilling book which was a joy to read. After loving Adiba’s first two novels, which were both contemporary, it was great to see her have the same flair and excitement when writing historical fiction too.

Happy Thursday and a very happy Book Birthday to A Million To One by Adiba Jaigirdar! I received an e-arc of A Million To One for free on NetGalley by Team BKMRK in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much for my advanced copy!

I have been so excited about this book ever since I saw the author announce it on Twitter!! I mean a sapphic heist on the titanic?! Sign me up immediately! I was that kid who was obsessed with learning about the titanic! We had to do a project on it in primary school and I was the only six year old with a binder full of facts that was bigger than me 😂 And I love heists so this book was a dream for me!

In A Million To One we follow four characters Josefa, Emilie, Hinnah & Violet as they plan to steal a very highly coveted artefact from the Titanic. I LOVED these characters so much! I felt so connected to each of them and that can be hard to achieve with a multi-POV story but the author done a fantastic job with each of them. I really enjoyed getting to know each character and their backstories, talents, vulnerabilities and their hopes for a better future. Paired with hidden tensions within the group and secret motives - these characters were so much fun to read!

I really liked the hijinks throughout the story as well. It was fun to see the group in their element doing the smaller heists in Ireland before they got to the big one! I must admit I loved the rush of adrenaline I felt during the heart racing obstacles that they had to face. I was so swept up in their heist that I almost forgot what the titanic is famous for!

A Million to One is a fast paced, fun heist story that will make you fall in love with the characters! Another great book to begin the year with!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This was an enjoyable romp of a book, playing with our known history of the sinking of the Titanic to create tension in a traditional heist narrative. The characters were engaging and diverse, and the found family aspect in particular was well-done. For some reason, it just didn't connect with me as much as Jaigirdar's other novels have, but I'm sure it'll be a success in its key demographic.

Titanic 1912, a group of friends plot a heist to steal the Rubaiyat - a priceless book embossed with jewels from a world-famous author.

This book was a really enjoyable read. The characters were likeable and interesting and the plot was full of potential. In my opinion, some of the heist parts of the story seemed unrealistic - this could be due to the lack of depth in the story. There didn't seem to be enough evidence that the characters would act in the way they did. The story could have been fleshed out a little more, it seemed to lack details about the ship and other people the main characters interacted with which was disappointing as I feel it would have been really interesting to have more of an in-depth look into what the Titanic was like. Overall the main plot line was solid and with fleshing out I do think this could have been a 5-star read.

I received an ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I’ll read anything by Adiba Jaigirdar, so I knew I was gonna love this. I’m a sucker for heists aswell, it is one of my favourite tropes. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time and can’t wait to read Adiba’s next release.