Review of Ambitions

[Emily Pace]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Ambitions" by Frank Baillargeon.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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In my opinion, "Ambitions" by Frank Baillargeon scored 3.0/5 stars. Starting with what I did not like about the book, there were over 10 grammatical errors in the first half of the book. For this reason, I took off 1 star from the overall rating. While I felt in most parts that this did not take away from the overall feel and plot of the book, there were some instances where it was jarring and made me lose my train of thought in the book. The other part that I did not like was how I felt like the plot got lost in the middle of the book, which I took 0.5 stars from the overall score. There were a lot of “side quests” that happened that really did not attribute to the end of the book, but I did see that there was going to be a second book in the series, so those side quests could be important later on. Finally, the last portion that I did not like about the book is there are a lot of time jumps. The plot will go from 1833 to 1843 in one chapter, and then other chapters take it day by day. So I do recommend staying conscious of any years that the author tells you about.

Now I will go to what I loved about this book. This book has a very strong male lead who came from nothing and had to work his way up to the top. While there is a small subplot of romance, this book is not what I would consider a “romance”. I would categorize it under historical fiction. I am not a huge historical bluff, so I am unsure of how accurate the historical parts in the book are. That being said, I really enjoyed seeing a little bit of “West Side Story” in the way the main love interests came to be. Unlike “West Side Story”, it takes years of a slow burn between the two love interests before anything happens. I quite enjoyed that part of the book, considering the main plot was about an Irish gang fighter. I am really looking forward to the second book in the series to see what the main hero does with what is given to him.


When reading this book, keep in mind it is not suitable for children. There are adult themes throughout the whole book. There is mention of non-graphic sex, intense fighting scenes, gang activities, mentions of prostitution, and adult language.

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Ambitions
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