rosemaryandrue 's review for:

The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre by Natasha Lester

3.0

dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Ex-OSS agent Alix St. Pierre seeks a fresh start in Paris as the PR agent for the freshly established House of Dior, but her actions and enemies from during the war continue to dog her steps.

This was the oldest NetGalley ARC on my shelf, so it's with a real sense of satisfaction that I'm crossing it off the list. And it was fun to see yet another fresh perspective on World War Two, that of a female OSS agent, and better yet to see Paris in the days right after the war.

Lester does a great job of developing the character of Alix, a tough, clever woman who over the course of the novel comes to terms with her actions during the war. You really understand the cataclysmic impact of the war on the characters and the world in a way that most WW2 novels I've read seem to miss. And the amount of research the author did really shows - Alix's world in both timelines comes seamlessly to life straight from the start.

However, I did feel the book had pacing issues - it seemed to drag on in places, and yet it also skipped past months of development in the post-WW2 timeline. I would have liked to see more of Alix's PR genius past the original launch of Dior's collection. I also was not very invested in the romance - I didn't always like Anthony, and I didn't understand why it was they were so suited to each other beyond the fact that he was progressive enough to be happy with a working wife. That it became such a big part of the story toward the end definitely made me feel less interested overall.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.