Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by bringmybooks
The Secret of the Chateau: Gripping and heartbreaking historical fiction with a mystery at its heart by Kathleen McGurl
4.0
Look.
Kathleen McGurl just gets it. The dual timeline plot narrative can be tricky if not done right, but it can be BRILLIANT when done well. Enter Kathleen.
I honestly don't really know how else to explain it other than this author writes books that you WANT TO READ. That you HAVE TO FINISH. Ones that you CANNOT PUT DOWN. I don't tend to wander too far from my favorite historical genres, WWI and WWII, but I figured for McGurl (author of a favorite from last year, The Forgotten Secret) I would do it.
Venturing into revolutionary era France was not exactly new to me, but it's not something I would even remotely consider myself learned in. However, that really didn't matter. McGurl does a great job with show & tell without ever making the reader feel inadequate or that they're being told something, which is not something that I think comes easy to every historical fiction writer.
I really liked both the past and present day stories (um, hi, hello, where are my four friends that want to go in on buying a chateau in France? Give me a ring, yeah?), and it's fair to say that this book HOOKED me right from the start. (Brilliant prologue. Just. Brilliant.)
Also, if you need any more incentive to give her a try? After finishing this book, I went to my ereader and bought up basically all of her backlist. Kathleen McGurl is the real deal, y'all.
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.
Kathleen McGurl just gets it. The dual timeline plot narrative can be tricky if not done right, but it can be BRILLIANT when done well. Enter Kathleen.
I honestly don't really know how else to explain it other than this author writes books that you WANT TO READ. That you HAVE TO FINISH. Ones that you CANNOT PUT DOWN. I don't tend to wander too far from my favorite historical genres, WWI and WWII, but I figured for McGurl (author of a favorite from last year, The Forgotten Secret) I would do it.
Venturing into revolutionary era France was not exactly new to me, but it's not something I would even remotely consider myself learned in. However, that really didn't matter. McGurl does a great job with show & tell without ever making the reader feel inadequate or that they're being told something, which is not something that I think comes easy to every historical fiction writer.
I really liked both the past and present day stories (um, hi, hello, where are my four friends that want to go in on buying a chateau in France? Give me a ring, yeah?), and it's fair to say that this book HOOKED me right from the start. (Brilliant prologue. Just. Brilliant.)
Also, if you need any more incentive to give her a try? After finishing this book, I went to my ereader and bought up basically all of her backlist. Kathleen McGurl is the real deal, y'all.
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.