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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
3.5/4 stars. Not my favorite Lauren Willig stand-alone, at least for the first 75% of the book, but the ending is somewhat satisfying. I love Lauren, she is a good writer and a great storyteller, but there was something not quite fleshed out enough about this book... I can't put my finger on it. All that being said, it did hold my interest.
Audio book was excellent.
Audio book was excellent.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's!
I did enjoy this book and at the end, I wanted to find out what happened to Simon and Rachel when they went to New York. I wanted to hear more of Simon's Mother's story - what an intriguing background character! All good stories leave me wanting more. I enjoyed the references to the gilded age. I also like a book that makes me feel the need to do some non-fiction research so that I can get more of a background story. I
Unfortunately, I did not like this as well as the last two Willig books I read: That Summer (my favorite so far) and The Ashford Affair. I think it is because I did not feel much for Rachel. I felt far more sympathy for Olivia, and I would have loved to see her break free from her apathetic father and overbearing mother and run off with Simon! Simon called Rachel brave, but I see her merely going along with circumstances and opportunities. instead of actually breaking with convention and going after what she wanted. Even going off with Simon at the end seemed like simply a better opportunity for her rather than something she felt passionately about. And maybe that is the key for me - I didn't feel that Rachel had much passion at all.
I cared more about Simon and Olivia's characters. Even the peripheral characters of Simon and Rachel's mothers seemed to have more passion than did Rachel/Vera.
Still, the beautiful description of the Gilded Age and the story kept me reading till the end. If you like this time period and this author, I recommend you read this book.
I did enjoy this book and at the end, I wanted to find out what happened to Simon and Rachel when they went to New York. I wanted to hear more of Simon's Mother's story - what an intriguing background character! All good stories leave me wanting more. I enjoyed the references to the gilded age. I also like a book that makes me feel the need to do some non-fiction research so that I can get more of a background story. I
Unfortunately, I did not like this as well as the last two Willig books I read: That Summer (my favorite so far) and The Ashford Affair. I think it is because I did not feel much for Rachel. I felt far more sympathy for Olivia, and I would have loved to see her break free from her apathetic father and overbearing mother and run off with Simon! Simon called Rachel brave, but I see her merely going along with circumstances and opportunities. instead of actually breaking with convention and going after what she wanted. Even going off with Simon at the end seemed like simply a better opportunity for her rather than something she felt passionately about. And maybe that is the key for me - I didn't feel that Rachel had much passion at all.
I cared more about Simon and Olivia's characters. Even the peripheral characters of Simon and Rachel's mothers seemed to have more passion than did Rachel/Vera.
Still, the beautiful description of the Gilded Age and the story kept me reading till the end. If you like this time period and this author, I recommend you read this book.
the romance seemed kinda forced. I think it would have been a much better book if it was written from the mother's point of view
Audible audiobook.
This story is unremarkable in that nothing about it stands out. It's not intriguing & is very predictable. The audio performance is good, though.
This story is unremarkable in that nothing about it stands out. It's not intriguing & is very predictable. The audio performance is good, though.
My first Willig book, and I was happy with it. Will look for more of her work when I need some lighter reading. I received an advance of this book, so my judgement is off that, while I enjoyed the story, and her writing is solid, I felt the characters could have been more developed, and the story line was a bit too unsurprising. In general the book could have used more depth.
I enjoyed this book more as it went on. The protagonist was allowed to go through realistic moments of understanding that set it apart from similar historical fiction.
I really enjoyed this book far more than I expected to. It was not as predictable as I thought at first, & I really appreciated that.