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A review by crystalisreading
Passion Blue by Victoria Strauss
3.0
I read this book because it was one of Gail Carriger's selections for her online book club. When I first started reading it, I was enchanted. The setting was so different from anything I'd read, and I was fascinated by the descriptions of the time period and the various settings in which the heroine finds herself--aristocratic household, convent, painter's studios, sorcerer's home, etc. Watching her transition into the convent and finding her vocation was interesting and enjoyable.
However, at some point, I got distracted from the story, and after that I had a really difficult time picking it back up. I didn't care so much about her budding romance with the painter. I was never really sold on their chemistry, and I thought she was throwing away a sure thing on a risky venture. I also didn't enjoy the magical element of the story as much. Astrology and sorcery as concepts are very interesting, but to have them play out in the story threw me off. It took the threat of not being able to renew the book anymore from the library for me to finish it. Once I finally picked it back up again, I managed to forge through to the end in a few days. It's not difficult reading, and I wanted to see how it ended. I liked the final resolution, although the romantic drama still annoyed me.
Overall, I'd say this book was just OK for me. I'd love to read something that was less manufactured drama and more life in this time and place. I liked that the heroine's attitudes didn't feel jarringly out of place in her time period, however. she wasn't an anachronistically saucy teen; her focus on marriage was indeed a reflection of the time. I really don't think that this was a bad book. It just couldn't sustain my interest the whole way through, and because of that, I can't say it was a great one, either.
However, at some point, I got distracted from the story, and after that I had a really difficult time picking it back up. I didn't care so much about her budding romance with the painter. I was never really sold on their chemistry, and I thought she was throwing away a sure thing on a risky venture. I also didn't enjoy the magical element of the story as much. Astrology and sorcery as concepts are very interesting, but to have them play out in the story threw me off. It took the threat of not being able to renew the book anymore from the library for me to finish it. Once I finally picked it back up again, I managed to forge through to the end in a few days. It's not difficult reading, and I wanted to see how it ended. I liked the final resolution, although the romantic drama still annoyed me.
Overall, I'd say this book was just OK for me. I'd love to read something that was less manufactured drama and more life in this time and place. I liked that the heroine's attitudes didn't feel jarringly out of place in her time period, however. she wasn't an anachronistically saucy teen; her focus on marriage was indeed a reflection of the time. I really don't think that this was a bad book. It just couldn't sustain my interest the whole way through, and because of that, I can't say it was a great one, either.