Julie's Review: The English Wife

Author: Lauren Willig
Series: None
Publication Date: January 9, 2018
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 384
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Historical Fiction, Mystery
Rating: 3.5/5
Bottom Line: Seemed a bit scattered to me
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Library

Summary: Annabelle and Bayard Van Duyvil live a charmed life in New York: he's the scion of an old Knickerbocker family, she grew up in a Tudor manor in England, they had a whirlwind romance in London, they have three year old twins on whom they dote, and he's recreated her family home on the banks of the Hudson and renamed it Illyria. Yes, there are rumors that she's having an affair with the architect, but rumors are rumors and people will gossip. But then Bayard is found dead with a knife in his chest on the night of their Twelfth Night Ball, Annabelle goes missing, presumed drowned, and the papers go mad. Bay's sister, Janie, forms an unlikely alliance with a reporter to uncover the truth, convinced that Bay would never have killed his wife, that it must be a third party, but the more she learns about her brother and his wife, the more everything she thought she knew about them starts to unravel. Who were her brother and his wife, really? And why did her brother die with the name George on his lips? ~amazon.com

Review: English Wife starts off with a ball to open up the house that Annabelle (aka Georgie) and Bay Van Duyvilll have built on the outskirts of New York City to show to society. It is quickly diverted by the murders of the host and hostess who are found in the garden by Bay's sister, Janie and cousin, Anne. Everyone is quick to judge that either Annabelle is a murderess or that Bay is a murderer but Janie is convinced that it was a 3rd party. She decides to team up with a reporter, Mr. Burke, to figure out what the truth is, no matter what the outcome.

The story is told by going back into time when Bay first met Annabelle and then the aftermath of the murders. While I found the background of Bay and Annabelle's somewhat interesting, it was the piecing of all the players that could be involved in the murders that was perhaps the most intriguing. With Annabelle's background it opened the net a bit for suspects.

Ms. Willig definitely knows how to tell a story and this one is no different. There are a few different subplots but they eventually weave there way into the full story.

P.S. I love the colors in this cover it really captures the tone of the novel.

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Julie's Review: The Forgotten Room

Author: Karen White, Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig
Series: None
Publication Date: January 19, 2016
Publisher: NAL
Pages: 384
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Loved how the stories ended up linking in the end
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary: 1945: When the critically wounded Captain Cooper Ravenal is brought to a private hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, young Dr. Kate Schuyler is drawn into a complex mystery that connects three generations of women in her family to a single extraordinary room in a Gilded Age mansion. Who is the woman in Captain Ravenel's portrait miniature who looks so much like Kate? And why is she wearing the ruby pendant handed down to Kate by her mother? In their pursuit of answers, they find themselves drawn into the turbulent stories of Gilded Age Olive Van Alen, driven from riches to rags, who hired out as a servant in the very house her father designed, and Jazz Age Lucy Young, who came from Brooklyn to Manhattan in pursuit of the father she had never known. But are Kate and Cooper ready for the secrets that will be revealed in the Forgotten Room? The Forgotten Room, set in alternating time periods, is a sumptuous feast of a novel brought to vivid life by three brilliant storytellers. ~amazon.com

Review:  The Forgotten Room is a sweeping family saga that spans decades and is woven together by one room in a former Manhattan mansion. These stories are also linked by love stories that span lives and decades, love lost and love found. There is tragedy and misunderstandings; love and loss; passion and dedication.

I'm actually not sure which story line I loved the most because I think I loved all 3 equally. I loved the moxie that Olive, Lucy and Kate had. I loved that they were forging their way before their time. Each went against their family in their own way. For Olive it was putting herself in a house where she was seeking revenge; Lucy was the first woman to go to work outside the family business and Kate was forging her own path as a female doctor.

Each has their own story to tell and each woman has a distinctive voice but there is a thread that ties them. Is it the men they love, is it the room or something else?

I loved that 3 authors wrote this book but I couldn't tell where one's voice started and another ended. I loved each of the time periods that the book ventured into and explored.

If you are a fan of historical fiction then you won't to miss The Forgotten Room.

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Julie's Review: That Summer

Author: Lauren Willig
Series: None
Publication Date: June 3, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 352
Obtained: publisher
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.75/5
Bottom Line: Modern story more interesting than historical story
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Library

Summary: 2009: When Julia Conley hears that she has inherited a house outside London from an unknown great-aunt, she assumes it’s a joke. She hasn't been back to England since the car crash that killed her mother when she was six, an event she remembers only in her nightmares. But when she arrives at Herne Hill to sort through the house—with the help of her cousin Natasha and sexy antiques dealer Nicholas—bits of memory start coming back. And then she discovers a pre-Raphaelite painting, hidden behind the false back of an old wardrobe, and a window onto the house's shrouded history begins to open... 1849: Imogen Grantham has spent nearly a decade trapped in a loveless marriage to a much older man, Arthur. The one bright spot in her life is her step-daughter, Evie, a high-spirited sixteen year old who is the closest thing to a child Imogen hopes to have. But everything changes when three young painters come to see Arthur's collection of medieval artifacts, including Gavin Thorne, a quiet man with the unsettling ability to read Imogen better than anyone ever has. When Arthur hires Gavin to paint her portrait, none of them can guess what the hands of fate have set in motion. From modern-day England to the early days of the Preraphaelite movement, Lauren Willig's That Summer takes readers on an un-put-downable journey through a mysterious old house, a hidden love affair, and one woman’s search for the truth about her past—and herself. ~amazon.com  

Review: That Summer is a novel of two love stories: one forbidden and one with complications. It's pretty evident from the onset of Imogen's introduction to one of the artists where her story is going to go. She's in a love-less marriage and has been raising her step-daughter, Evie, as her own. Her husband, Arthur, is wrapped up in his business affairs and treats his wife in the same manner. Basically, Imogen is bored. What a better way to cure boredom than to have an illicit affair with an artist.

Julia grew up not knowing much about her mother or her mother's side of the family, so when she inherits the old family house, she decides to go to England to clean it out.  As she discovers a painting that is tucked away in an old wardrobe, the mystery of who painted it. The house is also starting to bring back memories of her childhood before she moved to New York with her father.

This is only my second Lauren Willig book and I have to say I enjoyed The Ashford Affair much more. It wasn't too hard to figure out the mystery of the novel. What interested me more was what Julia started to uncover about her mother and the accident that killed her. I also liked how falling for Nicholas made her reflect on her inablity to stay in long term relationships.

While it might not be my pick for book of the year, I still enjoyed reading it.

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Julie's Reviews: The Ashford Affair

Summary: As a lawyer in a large Manhattan firm, just shy of making partner, Clementine Evans has finally achieved almost everything shes been working towards but now shes not sure its enough. Her long hours have led to a broken engagement and, suddenly single at thirty-four, she feels her messy life crumbling around her. But when the family gathers for her grandmother Addies ninety-ninth birthday, a relative lets slip hints about a long-buried family secret, leading Clemmie on a journey into the past that could change everything. . . .Growing up at Ashford Park in the early twentieth century, Addie has never quite belonged. When her parents passed away, she was taken into the grand English house by her aristocratic aunt and uncle, and raised side-by-side with her beautiful and outgoing cousin, Bea. Though they are as different as night and day, Addie and Bea are closer than sisters, through relationships and challenges, and a war that changes the face of Europe irrevocably. But what happens when something finally comes along that cant be shared? When the love of sisterhood is tested by a bond thats even stronger? From the inner circles of British society to the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the red-dirt hills of Kenya, the never-told secrets of a woman and a family unfurl. ~powells.com  


Review:  The Ashford Affair is my first Lauren Willig but it most certainly won't be my last. Anyone who loves a good mystery, a stunning setting and wonderful characters will want to read this novel. Ms. Willig has a way of making even the despicable seem enticing. We are taken from London in the days of World War II to modern day New York, back to Kenya during the 1920s. It is a family drama with romance and intrigue.

Addie is the character that the novels stems around but Bea is always there lurking in the background. Addie was the orphan but she was also the strong and independent one. Bea is the debutante who relies on her looks and charm. Addie is the one who has to use her brain to get ahead in life. It is true that they were close like sisters until Bea needed a way out of her life, then she kicked Addie aside.

Clemmie is Addie's granddaughter who works too much and doesn't take the time to enjoy life. She's recovering from a broken engagement when she learns a little bit more about the way her grandmother grew up. As things start to work their way to the surface about her grandmother's life, Clemmie's carefully constructed life falls apart.

Ms. Willig does a very good job of taking you on a wonderful ride. Yes, there are a few twists and turns but not completely unlikely. This story has emotion and I found myself near tears a few different times. Sure there was one thing that I knew for certain that was going to happen but in the end, I was fine with it. It won't take a reader too long to figure it out.

I loved taking a trip to Kenya and visiting a coffee farm. This is one setting and time period I wish we would have spent more time in. It almost felt like a quick pass through. I wanted more. I wanted to know how they lived and survived there, why they left.

The Ashford Affair is a sweeping novel that you will read through quickly because you want to know what happened. You want the characters to find peace, have closure, be happy. This is a novel that historical fiction fans won't want to miss.

Final Take:  4.5/5


This is our Hashtag Book Club pick of July. You can follow the conversation with #AshfordAffair. 


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