I have read two or three of Ms. Cleeton's books and have enjoyed all of them. This novel is no exception. The author is an excellent writer whose words smoothly propel the story. I really like two or more timelines in books and especially when skillfully written so as not to confuse the reader. The main characters are Anna and Carmen. Anna's is the true story and mystery and Carmen is the character following twenty years later trying to figure out and understand Anna's time while living in Mariposa, the "house on Biscayne Bay". As other reviewers have said the mystery is intriguing and the ending both a surprise and fitting. I liked and recommend this book.

B.A, Shapiro writes a good book, and this is no exception. The Castle refers to a storage warehouse named Metropolis, nicknamed as such by the architecture of the structure with turrets etc embellishing the building. The book begins with a fire and then turns backwards to tell the story of disparate, and desperate, characters who inhabit the building.
The owner, Zach, his manager, Rose, and several inhabitants who use Metropolis for more than storage, including an attorney, a heartbroken mother and abused wife, a young woman fleeing the immigration authorities, and Serge, a photographer who suffers from extreme psychological problems. The author interweaves their stories skillfully into a whole.
I was particularly impressed with the research the author provided regarding the truly horrific immigration process facing those who try to become citizens of our country.
I recommend this book for it's skillful story telling and interesting characters.

The Personal Librarian is a very good account of the life of Bella da Costa Greene, the librarian at the John Pierpont Morgan library in NYC. She had a background of art history, but no formal education in this field. She was innately talented in recognizing and purchasing the art, manuscripts etc that so interested Mr. Morgan. The book is rich with factual information about this singular person in history. She want on to direct the library when it was converted to a public institution now known as the Morgan Library and Museum in 1924. The overwhelming secret of Belle's life what that she was a colored woman passing as white. Her entire career rested on this fact being hidden. Her racial identity was not uncovered until 1999, when a JP Morgan biographer found her birth certificate which recorded her father as Richard Theodore Greener, the first black man to graduate from Harvard, and a prominent scholar.

The problem I had with this book was the divergent writing styles within it. Perhaps this was because it is written by two authors, though I have no way of knowing how they divided their participation. The parts of the book dealing with Bella's life verged on the melodrama at times, describing her long affair with Bernard Berenson and a couple of liaisons during her life. It was almost unseemly to me to relegate her personal life to this level, though, of course, she was a human being.

The parts of the book which dealt with her struggle with her race and the political scene during that time like suffragism is written in a lecturing, dry style. According to all accounts, Ms. da Costa Greene seldom mentioned race, and in her attempts to stay "under the radar", probably stayed away from any controversial social issues of the day. I recognize this part of the book as an attempt to make it relevant to its time in history, but I felt it it detracted from Belle's story, which needed no help to make her interesting and fascinating.

I am a big fan of Phaedra Patrick, so was thrilled to receive a pre-pub of her latest.
Ms. Patrick's main character is a befuddled man. She often uses main characters who are befuddled because of events outside their control or understanding, and are endearing, though stalled in their life. The main character of this book, Mitchell, is just such a man. He has a daughter who he is single parenting and she is the target for all his energy, leaving him an excuse to not expend any on his himself. Poppy indulges him while encouraging him to move on from Poppy's mother's, and Mitchell's partner's, death.
Mitchell has a mind numbing job removing the love padlocks from the bridges of Upchester in England. The "love padlocks" are padlocks attached to the bridges by couples in love, or heartbroken, or remembering a past love.One day, while on the job, a singular incident propels Mitchell's life into a new surprising direction.
I enjoyed this book for it's quirky characters and ultimately sweet and satisfying story.

...I enjoyed this book very much. I am a big fan of M.J. Rose's books, and was thrilled to get an advance copy of "Cartier's Hope".
This book differs somewhat from her previous books which usually featured magical/mystical themes like witches/uber-sensitive perfumers, and the like - all of which I liked very much.
This novel features a more prosaic central character of Vera Garland, a member of New York's high society, and Vera's alter ego, Vee Swann, a newspaper reporter in the early 1900's, Vee reports on the underbelly of New York, in the footsteps of Nellie Bly. Vee becomes interested in the alleged curses associated with the infamous Hope diamond recently acquired by the jeweler Pierre Cartier which she has been lucky enough to view as Vera, and is intrigued by the stories told by Mr. Cartier.
This book is well written, as are all M.J. Rose's books, and includes interesting historical facts to add gravitas to the story. To add even more texture, there is a romance factor which complicates Vera/Vee's task in uncovering the truth about the Hope.
About that lurid cover...better suited to a "bodice ripper" than this competent historical novel.

...A Novel of Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel"

I really enjoyed reading this historical novel, starring real fashion icons of the 1930s and beyond. The narrator, Lily, is the fictional character that pulls together the verifiable stories of Elsa and Coco. The writing is excellent with vivid imagery and the thematic recurring palette of colors reflecting nature, moods and most of all fashion.

The two disparate fashion designers histories, who for better or worse, are more similar than they liked to admit, reflect the world they live in and design up to and including the Second World War. Because of the refusal of designers to move their salons to Berlin from Paris, it was a blow to Hitler and a point of pride for the fallen Paris.

I found both ladies to be fascinating as well as Lily's story and her interaction with Elsa and Coco. I think this is a book for those who like history, especially around the pivotal WWII and find fashion fascinating.

...the titled main character of this light mystery set in Sicily, is not nearly as interesting as she thinks she is. The story told sometimes through her nephew as a Greek chorus, is about a German widow who moves to Sicily to drink herself to death. Poldi is a sassy and fairly foul-mouthed 60 year old, who in spite of wanting to end it all, remains too interested in life and handsome Siciian policemen to really go through with her plan. Her interest is caught by the death of her handyman and she proceeds to get in the way by trying to solve the homicide herself, in the process falling in love with Sicily, it's food and most especially with the aforesaid policeman.
I really wanted to like this book, but I did not. I had a hard time just staying with it as it was just not that interesting in spite of the unique locale and the also unique main character. Maybe it was the translation challenges from German to English.
I am somewhat confused about this book as my library has it as published in 2016, but this reader copy is scheduled to be published in 2018. Is the publisher giving it another go?

[Editor's Note: This first Aunti Poldi adventure was published in the UK in 2016 with limited distribution in the USA. This is the first time it is being published by a USA-based publisher so it is considered a debut in the USA.]

Overall I enjoyed the story in this book, but found the writing a little flat (hence 3 stars). I received the book and started it, then found it hard to pick up again.
The fine thing about this book is the interesting place in history in which it takes place. World War I and the Spanish Flu plague of 1918. My guess is that few people realize the significance of the flu, which actually killed more people world wide than the war. So with that the book is a history lesson.

I also enjoyed the four narrations into which the book was segmented. The wife and mother, Pauline, and her three daughters, Willa, Evie, and Maggie. The setting of the novel is in a funeral home, which was interesting, as, I imagine most of us are curious as to exactly what goes on in a funeral home.

I would have loved to give this book another star, but I feel 3 stars reflect my feelings about the book.

...for a good story. "The Necklace" provides just that - a well written entertaining book that tells it's story from present day back to the 1920's. The necklace refers to an Indian piece of valuable jewelry given as an inheritance to present day estranged member of the Quincy family, Nell. Nell happens to be an attorney, who is well able to defend her gift from her great aunt Lou. And defend it, she must, from other family members as it becomes clear how valuable and unique the necklace is as a past possession of an Indian Maharani. How the necklace came to be a part of the Quincy family's wealth is a good part of the story set in the 1920's. What it means to Nell and her eventual acceptance of the gift is the present day story. Both parts enthrall equally. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it unequivocally.

The oak tree's roots are the strong imagery used extensively in "The Fifth Petal." The story told in this book covers many time periods and several different characters. Do not be discouraged by this as the book carries you along and quickly picks you up and drops you where you need to be to follow the narrative. "The Fifth Petal" is a history lesson of Salem and the generations of witches thought to be present, a love story, and compelling mysteries through the years. I attempted the "Lace Reader" several years ago, and for some reason I let it go, but now I cannot wait to pick it up again. Barry is a masterful story teller and historian. She says it took her five years to complete this book, and after reading it, I can't believe it didn't take her much longer, so filled with backstory and interesting folklore in Salem. So along with reading Barry's other books, I'm putting Salem, MA on my bucket list.

I read a great deal of Daphne Du Maurier's books as a young woman and enjoyed them very much. I thought of her as a "gothic" writer at the time, which I now find out from this book was an appellation she hated.
At the start of this book, I was a bit put off by the present tense and third person limited (?) point of view of the book, as it seemed to me to make it appear more a work of fiction than a biography. As I read on though, I realized that this presented the reader with a richer, more complicated world than a recitation of facts as in a strict biographical form and I ended up quite enjoying this book.

There have been a few books about Ms. DuMaurier, that have been quite controversial because of the purported "facts" about her sexuality and her identity duality as Eric Avon. Ms. De Rosnay has embraced the supposed lesbian relationships formerly written about, which her children have strongly denied as true. This reader falls on the side of discrediting actual relationships in favor of DuMaurier's dramatics and "crushes" half living in a world of fiction as she did, though De Rosnay's sources are convincing as to her version of DuMaurier's private life.

I recommend this book as an interesting story and a very interesting and comprehensive description of a famous writer's life.

I enjoy Beatiz William's books very much, though since I only recently discovered her, I have not read them all. The three I have read so far are quite different from one another, so I look forward to reading the next one. This book was again a treat from Williams.

"A Certain Age" is delightfully written as it is in the style and vernacular of the rat-a-tat-tat dialogue of 40s movies. The characters are well-written and what I liked especially is that all the characters present a point of view individually. Even that character, snobby society woman, who one would expect to dislike or even hate, is redeemed by her version of events unfolding. The only character underwritten is that Sophie's older sister, who is living in a mysterious present, which we never really get to know about, though her story is resolved somewhat by the end of the book.

I definitely recommend this book as a delightful read.

I would have given this book five stars as I enjoyed it that much, but a book of this genre requires a suspension of belief, that perhaps all readers would not like to engage in.
Definitely, in order to enjoy and understand this book to the fullest, the reader should first read "The Witches Daughter", as to not do that, this book will be somewhat opaque without the back story.
I found the book readable and very well written as is true of Paula Brackston's books in general. I particularly liked the character of the time stepper, Erasmus. This particular conceit enabled the plot to move backwards and forwards in time, and added considerable complexity. I like this type of book in terms of it's fantasy, but yet not a fantasy (does this make sense?), and recommend it unconditionally.

I really love Paula Brackston's books and was eager to get this one, but it failed to capture my imagination the way the rest of her books have. The plot was adequate, if uninspired. I did like the main characters of Megan and Laura, but mostly Megan. Rhys was a splendid "red herring", and propelled the plot. I would say that this latest book of Brackston's did not transport me to another time and place as definitively as her other books have. On the plus side, this was a very readable book that I did enjoy. I think I would have been disappointed if I had bought it, but would have liked it just fine from the library. The book is not deep enough for a book group discussion, but just fine for a comfy read.

I enjoyed the writing in this book. That is my first prerequisite to even finishing a book. It was well written, describing the world in which the main character, Evelyn Beegen, strives to belong. She has been very influenced by her mother, who infected her with the idea that their family doesn't quite "make it", even though Evelyn's family in Baltimore is upper class and Evelyn attended all the right schools and their economic status leaves nothing to be desired. Once Evelyn moves to NYC after college, this becomes not nearly enough for her. Her quest to get up to the right strata (albeit shallow) fuel her life, using her money, self esteem and honesty in the process. This is a sad portrait of a young woman who sells her soul and the reader suffers with her as she reaches and sometimes succeeds. Ultimately, her life is a thin veneer, and must crack. This book definitely reminds the reader of Curtis Sittenfield, Edith Wharton and Tom Wolfe's novels with the same themes but is is original in it's own right.
I felt the ending was exactly what it should have been, offering hope for Evelyn to finally achieve her peace in the world without a trite "happy ever after". I recommend this book for readers who like a contemporary novel.

I very much enjoyed this book. It was easy to get into and be involved in the story. I have a special interest in China and was engrossed in the modern China and what that means in terms of the the underbelly of a society that has emerged from the Cultural Revolution. It is easy to romanticize China thinking of the emperors, dynasties, art and ancient cultures. In fact, by reading this book, one learns about the struggles of a society trying to find their way.

Beyond this, the story is a mystery which involves an American family doing business with a very powerful Chinese titan. The protagonists are a police officer and his very close friend, an American, who has dropped out of life after the death of his young son. The story describes how these two men get involved in the case of the death of the son of the American family. The under story is the police detective recalling his life during the Cultural Revolution and how his life intersects with the powerful Chinese businessman deeply involved in the murder investigation.

The novel is engrossing on many levels, and I would recommend it highly for those who enjoy history with their mysteries.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. I was challenged by the three concurrent stories within the book, but did not have any trouble following the story lines which consisted of a retelling of a fairy tale, the life of the chronicler of the fairy tale and the antagonist (if you will) of the three characters. I was impressed by the writing style of Kate Forsyth, especially her descriptive powers in bringing to life the cities, scenery, clothing and surroundings in each city. I was transported while reading, which is what I look for in a book. The reason this is not "very good" in my estimation, are the passages which descend to "romance novel" sex. Not that I am prudish, but this denigrates the really fine stories and writing into a genre which does not interest me at all, and takes it out of consideration for young adult reading. That said, this is an excellent read and very very impressive and skilled writing.

Ever since reading "Nicholas and Alexandria" published in the 1970's, I have been fascinated by the Romanov family and their tragic deaths. It is amazing that Helen Rappaport has been able to write two sagas about this family. This book is well-written and eminently readable, describing a family, lovely and loved young women and the world that surrounded their tragic ends. With the relatively new information that, indeed, all perished at the same time, it is poignant to read of their living and the details that formed their too brief time on this earth. The book excels in informing the reader of the world events, which led to this family's death and the all too momentous events which followed the end of the Romanov's and Russia's history.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.