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ellieb_reads 's review for:
The Mayor of Maxwell Street
by Avery Cunningham
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
The premise for this sounded so intriguing, I couldn’t wait to read it. But I felt like the book couldn’t decide whether it was a mystery or a love story, and because of that it ended up falling short of both - despite clocking in at over 500 pages. It was waaaay too long, and the first 150 pages were very slow. I kept pivoting to other books because it just wasn’t hooking me. The ending also felt confusing and overwrought, like it was trying too hard to be poetic, and instead ended up leaving me unsure of what actually happened. I loved the 1920s Chicago setting, and I thought the main characters were well-developed. I especially loved Sequoia, and Nelly’s arc was great. Cunningham’s writing is really beautiful, and I look forward to giving her next book a try! I think The Mayor of Maxwell Street had a ton of potential, but it just didn’t land for me.