A review by downsophialane
Light at Lavelle by Paullina Simons

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I don't know who else would benefit from hearing this, but Paullina Simons has massively improved in the past decade. I read and loved The Bronze Horseman over a decade ago, and quickly worked my way through her backlist, with increasing disillusionment that eventually turned into full avoidance, despite the interesting premises of her more recent releases. My interest was piqued by the lovely cover of this new release, and the Ukraine setting. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the first 95% of this book. Any narration that can keep me engrossed in the minutiae of the 1929 crash while deep cleaning my entire apartment deserves recognition. The slow burn romance between Finn and Isabelle was realistic and satisfying, but I don't think it's a spoiler to say this hero is emotionally
and eventually physically
cheating on his wife. Isabelle's escape from the Ukraine is, of course, very violent but the family's time on the farm was a lovely place to be narratively. 

Another massive caveat, from someone who reads almost exclusively romance: this is women's fiction. (See the above point about the hero being a cheater... their marriage sucks but romance heroes seldom actively cheat with the heroine). The half star I've knocked off is for the last three or so chapters. There are so many decisions I despise in those last few chapters.
I despise this long-suffering refugee narrative for Isabelle... I don't want a storyworld where the heroine must self-sacrifice her own happiness. That marriage was bad for Vanessa too... Give the women an actual happy ending, Women's Fiction, please God. I am reminded of something else about Paullina Simons that always frustrated me: the false equivlancy: Isabelle's lie, and keeping their pregnancy from him for a decade, is not the same as the "untrue" decision to stay with his wife, which was based on a deliberate lie?


In my mind, I choose to believe in an alternate ending wherein...
her children come back and they all live happily on their lovely farm. The vibes were so good during their time on the farm, it felt so unfair to send that family back to the office. Keep those submarine shares to help out with farm expenses and let this extended family love their crops for the rest of their days. The more I think about it, the more putting Finn back in a suit feels like it undermines the impact and relevance of Isabelle's life skills from the old country in America, and I don't like that. Also, I'm sorry, it's almost never going to be a good narrative choice to have your heroine keep the existance of the hero's child from him.
 
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