I have not written a review with this tone in a while. It should come out as mild as my reactions were. I did not enjoy the book but have no animosity towards it. It had all the ingredients that usually appeal to me, but put together, I was not as invested as I wanted to be.
It is highly rated on Goodreads, which obviously means a lot more people out there read and enjoyed it. I am an outlier but must admit that the people by themselves( in the story) were engaging.
There are several parts to this narrative. We have one leading lady who has a two-fold issue. One is the pet project she has invested all her money in, and the other is the personal secret that her grandmother refused to talk about regarding her year in Paris before she married Lexie’s ( the lead protagonist) grandfather. Then there is the male protagonist and the baggage that he brings into the tale. Finally, we have a falling out between siblings, which has festered for years without anyone actually voicing the complete issue! Although the resolution of this last part was what I enjoyed the most, I was unable to buy the entire premise. There have been misunderstandings in books before, but something of this ilk seems a little far fetched for the tone of the rest of the narrative.
Overall, this is a book with a strong central character with almost nothing going right for her, and her mind is also under a lot of stress. She has people rallying around her in varying degrees. The city and the Palace are discussed in detail, which for any history enthusiast would be an added bonus. The imagery comes through in the writing. The plot was just not for me.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my reading experience(s).
Superfluous Reading 