I liked the main character, but there seemed to be a lot of minor characters dropping in and out, some of whom didn't serve a purpose. The story was intriguing but the execution just dragged on with a lot of people lurking and threatening and chasing the main character for reasons that were sometimes never revealed. I wanted to know the secret, and it was definitely a surprise. But the events leading up to the big reveal just didn't hold my interest. It was a pleasant enough read but not a book I would recommend.

I found myself immediately drawn into the lives of the characters and ended up reading it in two days! She did a wonderful job creating characters and situations that rang true but were not ordinary. I did think the ending was very slightly predictable, but as a friend pointed out recently, when you read a lot, that is just often the case.

This book engaged me immediately, partly because of the style and partly because the subject matter struck home. Each of these characters was genuine and each viewpoint was thought-provoking without being a serious read. I have already passed my copy of this book along to friends and recommended it to my book club.

I loved the characters and found myself rooting for them--sometimes in spite of their best efforts to make me not do so. I have to say that I felt as if I knew these people, and that's a good thing. All of that said, the writing was too complicated at times, sometimes to the point where I had to re-read passages to make sure I knew what was going on. I think she could have managed the multiple voices with a bit more clarity.

I especially enjoy historical fiction, so I was all set to love this book. For me there was just not enough detail about life in San Francisco during the era to create that sense of traveling in time that I so enjoy. Part of my issue may have been the multiple narrative voices. I just had a hard time with the use of present tense and with the narrator addressing the reader as "you," with the identity of the "you" constantly shifting. The story was compelling and well-crafted, but I just didn't feel that I had a stake in the outcome.