A review by cakt1991
The Riviera House by Natasha Lester

emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own. 

I’ve never read anything from Natasha Lester before, but I’ve heard good things about her work, so I decided to take a chance on The Riviera House. The Nazis’ art theft is a topic I had heard a bit about, but hadn’t looked into very much, so I was excited to learn more.

I found the historical timeline incredibly well-researched and engrossing. I liked the seamless mix of real and fictional characters working on the art cataloging project. One of the major historical characters is Rose Valland, and I liked learning a bit about her. 

I also felt Éliane’s story was well-written, working with the Resistance and taking advantage of the fact that Nazis underestimate her. 

The present narrative is interwoven through a shared setting of the French Riviera, and the fact that Remy uncovers the actions of Éliane and the Resistance in her chapters. Remy is also dealing with her own personal familial losses, and while I wasn’t as invested in her chapters and did feel like some of her initial chapters dragged, I did like seeing her find healing. And structurally, I feel like Lester’s approach was more balanced, allowing us to spend more time in each time period in mostly-multi-chapter bursts, instead of pulling us back and forth from chapter to chapter, at least initially; she does start to do the chapter-to-chapter switch towards the end, but by then, I feel like it’s more effective. 

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, and look forward to catching up on Natasha Lester’s backlist, and any future books she’ll release in the future. If you like historical fiction about World War II, you won’t want to miss this!