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junethebookworm 's review for:
The Forgotten Room
by Lauren Willig, Karen White, Beatriz Williams
Oh no. I guess I was expecting much more of a mystery and much less of a romance novel. My library has this filed under Fiction, but it's very heavy on the "love story" aspects; the so-called "mystery" is not much of a mystery at all -- I put most of the pieces together from very early on.
But speaking of the "mystery,"
The love interests are all hunky and described in classic romance-novel fashion: a man's eyes can't just be green, they are "marsh green depths"! But wait, there's more; the heroes are also conveniently shirtless a lot, so we can get in some mentions of their hot bods, too.
Kate is a doctor at a hospital that's so packed, they have to use the dreamily romantic, secret upper room for, conveniently, the hunkiest patient (and only him). Kate is never shown tending to any other patients, despite the fact that she is a doctor and this place is stuffed to the gills, and she seems to have an abundance of free time
Then there are sentences like this: "Matron looked at Lucy sternly over the rims of her spectacles, spectacles that appeared to be there for no purpose other than overlooking potentially problematic young female persons." The use of the word "overlooking" is awkward here, as I read it in the "failing to notice something" sense and not the "view from above" sense. Different wording would easily fix this.
"Lucy had left her German name behind in Brooklyn with her grandmother's disapproval, with sauerkraut and sausages and the squish of dough between her fingers."
Did her grandmother disapprove of Lucy leaving her German name behind? Or did she leave behind her German name and also her grandmother's disapproval, sauerkraut, etc.?
"'He sounds a bit like Huck Finn. Mark Twain,' he added. [. . .] 'I seem to remember something about whitewashing fences.'"
That's Tom Sawyer, though, not Huck Finn. I can't determine if this is a deliberate error or not.
"...demanded Gus, in his voice that sounded like cigar smoke passed over gravel."
Huh? Smoke doesn't make sound, which makes this a nonsense sentence. Context clues tell us that the author intends to convey that Gus has a gravelly smoker's voice. So just say that he has a gravelly smoker's voice, and don't give us this forced "poetical" garbage.
"...drawling out the words so that the sound was as thick as the scent of wisteria from the flowers twining around the trellis on the walls."
Just... ugh.
Ah, yes. The classic "ambiguous deathbed message." A staple of melodrama.
"...her eyes appeared to mist, becoming twin pools of shallow blue water."
Describing anyone's eyes as "twin pools" is the fastest possible way to get me to roll mine.
Okay, I'll stop, and wrap up by saying that I never felt invested in any of the "love stories." All three women know their love interests for only a matter of weeks or months, and their main tie seems to be physical attraction.
It's all just silly, overwrought nonsense. Pass.
Read this one for the "book with multiple authors" prompt of the 2017 PopSugar Reading Challenge.
But speaking of the "mystery,"
Spoiler
Kate figures out her grandmother's connection to the Pratt mansion by spotting her in a photograph from a 1893 newspaper clipping. (For the record, Kate's story takes place in 1944, so said clipping is 50 years old at this point.) Really? For one, photography in newspapers was rare during this time period, even for major news events. A candid picture from an engagement party in the society section? Unlikely at best. A candid picture that is clear enough for someone to identify a person in the background? From a 50-years-old newspaper clipping of that picture? And she can also recognize the necklace that person-in-the-background is wearing? That is patently absurd.The love interests are all hunky and described in classic romance-novel fashion: a man's eyes can't just be green, they are "marsh green depths"! But wait, there's more; the heroes are also conveniently shirtless a lot, so we can get in some mentions of their hot bods, too.
Kate is a doctor at a hospital that's so packed, they have to use the dreamily romantic, secret upper room for, conveniently, the hunkiest patient (and only him). Kate is never shown tending to any other patients, despite the fact that she is a doctor and this place is stuffed to the gills, and she seems to have an abundance of free time
Spoiler
to spend spooning with Cooper. Cooper has nightmares, by the way, but instead of the other nurses just, you know, waking him up, they have to run and get Kate, because she's the only one who can comfort him! Right. Oh, and that whole "I've been sketching you my whole life" thing comes off as a lot more "creep-o" than "romantic," in my book.Then there are sentences like this: "Matron looked at Lucy sternly over the rims of her spectacles, spectacles that appeared to be there for no purpose other than overlooking potentially problematic young female persons." The use of the word "overlooking" is awkward here, as I read it in the "failing to notice something" sense and not the "view from above" sense. Different wording would easily fix this.
"Lucy had left her German name behind in Brooklyn with her grandmother's disapproval, with sauerkraut and sausages and the squish of dough between her fingers."
Did her grandmother disapprove of Lucy leaving her German name behind? Or did she leave behind her German name and also her grandmother's disapproval, sauerkraut, etc.?
"'He sounds a bit like Huck Finn. Mark Twain,' he added. [. . .] 'I seem to remember something about whitewashing fences.'"
That's Tom Sawyer, though, not Huck Finn. I can't determine if this is a deliberate error or not.
"...demanded Gus, in his voice that sounded like cigar smoke passed over gravel."
Huh? Smoke doesn't make sound, which makes this a nonsense sentence. Context clues tell us that the author intends to convey that Gus has a gravelly smoker's voice. So just say that he has a gravelly smoker's voice, and don't give us this forced "poetical" garbage.
"...drawling out the words so that the sound was as thick as the scent of wisteria from the flowers twining around the trellis on the walls."
Just... ugh.
Spoiler
"Father...Her mother had managed to gasp out. With the last of her feeble strength she pushed the pendant toward Lucy. Legacy."Ah, yes. The classic "ambiguous deathbed message." A staple of melodrama.
"...her eyes appeared to mist, becoming twin pools of shallow blue water."
Describing anyone's eyes as "twin pools" is the fastest possible way to get me to roll mine.
Okay, I'll stop, and wrap up by saying that I never felt invested in any of the "love stories." All three women know their love interests for only a matter of weeks or months, and their main tie seems to be physical attraction.
Spoiler
Then Olive and Lucy spend the rest of their lives miserably pining over those short-lived flings instead of learning to truly love the men they marry, who apparently adore them for some reason. Olive's reasons for leaving Harry don't hold water for me, nor is it at all apparent why Harry felt the need to change his name and never tell his children his real identity.It's all just silly, overwrought nonsense. Pass.
Read this one for the "book with multiple authors" prompt of the 2017 PopSugar Reading Challenge.