I'm torn on how I felt about this book. It has, at different times, both bored and excited me. The boredom caused me to give up on the book at least three times before I finally managed to finish it. Only about half way through did the story finally click with me, and then the excitement kicked in.
This is my very favorite of historical fiction tropes: a dual story with both modern and historical timelines. Its what made me love Lauren Willig's Flower series so much and I when I read the summary of The Rossetti Letter, I expected the same. I liked the book but I wouldn't say I loved it, or would necessarily recommend it to anyone that doesn't love Italian history.
I had two major complaints with the book. The first is a personal pet peeve of mine: endless dialogue with no identifying words or background phrases. If a conversation goes two pages without a "she said" or "he replied," I get lost as to who is speaking and it pulls me out of the story. If Phillips didn't like using these, then she could have at least used some background phrases that flesh out the story a bit more. For example, there is one page in the book that is entirely dialogue back and forth between Claire and Andrew. Why not throw in a, "Claire tucked her hair behind her ear," or something that would make the conversation seem more alive than two talking heads with no background context?
The second major complaint of the book, and what caused me to put it down so many times, is that I didn't connect with any of the characters. Even after finishing the book, I don't see the point to Gwen (as a means to getting Claire to Venice, I get, but what does her story contribute?) or Giancarlo (ditto - really, he's just not necessary.) Claire comes off as whiny and immature and Andrew as stuffy and awkward. Alessandra is a particularly flat character, but Phillips explains why that is.
Eh, I don't know. I liked it, but didn't like it at the same time. Maybe someone more interested in Italian history would enjoy this more, but... *shrugs* It just wasn't for me.
This is my very favorite of historical fiction tropes: a dual story with both modern and historical timelines. Its what made me love Lauren Willig's Flower series so much and I when I read the summary of The Rossetti Letter, I expected the same. I liked the book but I wouldn't say I loved it, or would necessarily recommend it to anyone that doesn't love Italian history.
I had two major complaints with the book. The first is a personal pet peeve of mine: endless dialogue with no identifying words or background phrases. If a conversation goes two pages without a "she said" or "he replied," I get lost as to who is speaking and it pulls me out of the story. If Phillips didn't like using these, then she could have at least used some background phrases that flesh out the story a bit more. For example, there is one page in the book that is entirely dialogue back and forth between Claire and Andrew. Why not throw in a, "Claire tucked her hair behind her ear," or something that would make the conversation seem more alive than two talking heads with no background context?
The second major complaint of the book, and what caused me to put it down so many times, is that I didn't connect with any of the characters. Even after finishing the book, I don't see the point to Gwen (as a means to getting Claire to Venice, I get, but what does her story contribute?) or Giancarlo (ditto - really, he's just not necessary.) Claire comes off as whiny and immature and Andrew as stuffy and awkward. Alessandra is a particularly flat character, but Phillips explains why that is.
Eh, I don't know. I liked it, but didn't like it at the same time. Maybe someone more interested in Italian history would enjoy this more, but... *shrugs* It just wasn't for me.
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