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lenoirleon 's review for:
Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know
by Samira Ahmed
I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Khayyam is on her yearly trip to Paris with her parents and is frustrated with life. She was denied a prestigious Art award (and belittled while being turned down) and a guy, who never said he was her boyfriend, is not contacting her. So, while she's out, hoping to prove the Art award committee wrong, she happens to bump into a descendant of Alexandre Dumas-his great, great...grandson. The two of them pair up, finding clues that will lead them on a hunt that delves into the history of Dumas, Lord Byron, and a Muslim young woman, named Leila. Mixed in with the hunt for Khayyam's answers are letters between Byron and Leila, as well as some of Leila's history and how she impacted the men.
I enjoyed the story line, but felt that the overall storytelling was a bit weak. Perhaps it was a little bit too much of the exposition that could have been shown, or the fact that Khayyam, who is very focused on her award, did some stereotypical waffling between two boys. It also reminded me a bit of one of my favorites, Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution, as it also moves between time periods-however, again, not quite as strong.
Khayyam is on her yearly trip to Paris with her parents and is frustrated with life. She was denied a prestigious Art award (and belittled while being turned down) and a guy, who never said he was her boyfriend, is not contacting her. So, while she's out, hoping to prove the Art award committee wrong, she happens to bump into a descendant of Alexandre Dumas-his great, great...grandson. The two of them pair up, finding clues that will lead them on a hunt that delves into the history of Dumas, Lord Byron, and a Muslim young woman, named Leila. Mixed in with the hunt for Khayyam's answers are letters between Byron and Leila, as well as some of Leila's history and how she impacted the men.
I enjoyed the story line, but felt that the overall storytelling was a bit weak. Perhaps it was a little bit too much of the exposition that could have been shown, or the fact that Khayyam, who is very focused on her award, did some stereotypical waffling between two boys. It also reminded me a bit of one of my favorites, Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution, as it also moves between time periods-however, again, not quite as strong.