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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I’ve had a lot going on this month so this shouldn’t have taken me two weeks to finish. The Magnolia Palace is actually a fast read. So fast that I missed some details along the way but was still able to connect the dots.
Rounding up to 4.5 stars! Another stunning historical fiction novel by Fiona Davis! She is an Incredible storyteller. I love a dual time line story, that ends up meeting up together at the end. This had a mystery woven throughout the story, which added another level of enjoyment! Loved it!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Not quite as emotionally engaging as the books I like to give this high a rating, but I really loved this book. There were some characters that I certainly did not care for. But I thought the two storylines/time periods were artfully woven together in order to tell one story. There were a lot of intense moments that left me wanting more/wanting to read more/wanting to stay engaged and find out what was going to happen next. I thought it was just a very interesting story set into very interesting time periods.
A slightly clumsy but entertaining story with a beautiful ending, where even if the reader walks away untouched by the two woven tales, they will certainly have learned something worthwhile about art.
3.5⭐️. Helen Frick was well-written and frequently hard to like (and Henry Frick was a ghastly human!); but I didn’t love how she wrote Lillian (too passive).
Good, but not great — felt a lot like a “contract book”.
Good, but not great — felt a lot like a “contract book”.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was good, an entertaining story if you like the alternate timelines/POVs at different points in history, slowly revealing a mystery.
*
This is tough to describe the premise because the actual mystery takes a long time to be revealed, but it involves a sculpture model Lillian in 1919 hiding from scandal by pretending to be a private secretary for a very well-known family, and a fashion model Veronica in the 1960s who gets accidentally locked in the building where Lillian worked.
*
There were several elements to the mystery that slowly came out over the course of the book, and I enjoyed that there ended up being a lot more to it than first appeared. I thought the ending was a bit too perfect, how it all came together, which made it a bit cheesy, but it was certainly satisfying.
*
And the author's note at the end was also fascinating, seeing more about the true people in history who inspired the characters here.
*
This is tough to describe the premise because the actual mystery takes a long time to be revealed, but it involves a sculpture model Lillian in 1919 hiding from scandal by pretending to be a private secretary for a very well-known family, and a fashion model Veronica in the 1960s who gets accidentally locked in the building where Lillian worked.
*
There were several elements to the mystery that slowly came out over the course of the book, and I enjoyed that there ended up being a lot more to it than first appeared. I thought the ending was a bit too perfect, how it all came together, which made it a bit cheesy, but it was certainly satisfying.
*
And the author's note at the end was also fascinating, seeing more about the true people in history who inspired the characters here.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story was very slow at times. Reading knows no age boundaries really, but I am a teen, so that may or may not explain my impatience and boredom with this book. When I thought about continuing the read, it almost felt like menial labor. I try my best not to DNF books because I find that my opinion does fluctuate as I read. There were definitely some portions that kept my intrigue, especially toward the conclusion, when the loose ends finally tie nicely together.
Interestingly, this book happens to remind me a lot of Addie LaRue, and I didn't particularly enjoy that book either (shocking, you'd think, despite its great popularity). I'm also not sure if I'm beginning to realize that stories like these just aren't my taste. This is the second instance in which I read a story with split timelines in New York about women who have made an impact on history through art. In both instances, I was let down.
Final verdict: I don't believe the time I spent reading this book was worth it. However, if you enjoy slower reads about inexperienced women fumbling through life and doing their best to make it out unscathed, maybe you'll enjoy this more than I did.
Interestingly, this book happens to remind me a lot of Addie LaRue, and I didn't particularly enjoy that book either (shocking, you'd think, despite its great popularity). I'm also not sure if I'm beginning to realize that stories like these just aren't my taste. This is the second instance in which I read a story with split timelines in New York about women who have made an impact on history through art. In both instances, I was let down.
Final verdict: I don't believe the time I spent reading this book was worth it. However, if you enjoy slower reads about inexperienced women fumbling through life and doing their best to make it out unscathed, maybe you'll enjoy this more than I did.
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes