Review by kburden1 -- The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio
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kburden1
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Review by kburden1 -- The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio" by Belle Ami.]
The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio by Belle Ami is the second installation in Ami's Out of Time Series. Although I did not read the first book in the series, I believe that this novel is a standalone masterpiece. The writing was vivid and intriguing and had me hooked within the first few pages. The piece is written as historical fiction, which is one of my favorite genres, but is easy to follow and interestingly vivid. I loved the concept and loved the story.
The story begins in Italy in the 1600's where the artist Caravaggio is dueling Ranuccio. As the two fight, Caravaggio murders Rannucio and escapes into exile to avoid his own death. As someone who had not read the first installment in the series, I wondered if the novel would continue as a story set in the 1600's and that Angela and Alex would discover a secret that would help them piece together bits of the past. I never thought that the main characters would be involved in a slew of time traveling dreams that helped them see the past.
What is seemingly a gift of time travel comes to fruition as a reminiscence of a past life that the main characters experienced together. Apparently all of the past lives involve famous artists and their love affairs. This ability to remember these past lives allows Angela and Alex the ability to become well known in the art community for their ability to find missing pieces of artwork and the history associated with those missing pieces.
Given their expertise in remembering their past lives and as a great resource for the art community, the pair are contacted to help locate a missing Caravaggio painting. As the two begin the task of locating the painting, we delve into the romance between the two, Angela's obsession with food and Alex discovering secrets in Anglea's family.
The book has a great cadence and keeps the story interesting. Transitions between present day and Italy in the 1600's is seamless yet very obvious. Often novels that have flashbacks or fast forward scenes are difficult o navigate, but the narrative in this book does an excellent job distinguishing between time periods.
There were no blatant grammatical or typographical errors. There are a few instances where the choice of sentence structure appeared strange, however I believe that this book has already been fully edited.
As not having read the first book in the series, I did not have a comparison to see how the character's stories fully develop. With that being said, I feel like this is the first time that Alex is experiencing his past life so vividly. I also feel like this story of Caravaggio is not as straightforward and simple as the story in the first novel. We see the two individuals develop their relationship and perceptions of one another based on these "past life experiences".
I would highly recommend this book! It is often hard for sequels to be an independent work, but this novel accomplishes this well. This novel has convinced me to actually go back and read the first novel in the series. I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. This book is recommended for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, art history and romance.
This book does use strong language and sexual content beginning at the start of the story, but it is not overtly explicit. I would cautiously recommend it to younger or sensitive audiences. t does have strong language and sexual content, though nothing too explicit, so I would not recommend it to younger or sensitive audiences.
******
The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio by Belle Ami is the second installation in Ami's Out of Time Series. Although I did not read the first book in the series, I believe that this novel is a standalone masterpiece. The writing was vivid and intriguing and had me hooked within the first few pages. The piece is written as historical fiction, which is one of my favorite genres, but is easy to follow and interestingly vivid. I loved the concept and loved the story.
The story begins in Italy in the 1600's where the artist Caravaggio is dueling Ranuccio. As the two fight, Caravaggio murders Rannucio and escapes into exile to avoid his own death. As someone who had not read the first installment in the series, I wondered if the novel would continue as a story set in the 1600's and that Angela and Alex would discover a secret that would help them piece together bits of the past. I never thought that the main characters would be involved in a slew of time traveling dreams that helped them see the past.
What is seemingly a gift of time travel comes to fruition as a reminiscence of a past life that the main characters experienced together. Apparently all of the past lives involve famous artists and their love affairs. This ability to remember these past lives allows Angela and Alex the ability to become well known in the art community for their ability to find missing pieces of artwork and the history associated with those missing pieces.
Given their expertise in remembering their past lives and as a great resource for the art community, the pair are contacted to help locate a missing Caravaggio painting. As the two begin the task of locating the painting, we delve into the romance between the two, Angela's obsession with food and Alex discovering secrets in Anglea's family.
The book has a great cadence and keeps the story interesting. Transitions between present day and Italy in the 1600's is seamless yet very obvious. Often novels that have flashbacks or fast forward scenes are difficult o navigate, but the narrative in this book does an excellent job distinguishing between time periods.
There were no blatant grammatical or typographical errors. There are a few instances where the choice of sentence structure appeared strange, however I believe that this book has already been fully edited.
As not having read the first book in the series, I did not have a comparison to see how the character's stories fully develop. With that being said, I feel like this is the first time that Alex is experiencing his past life so vividly. I also feel like this story of Caravaggio is not as straightforward and simple as the story in the first novel. We see the two individuals develop their relationship and perceptions of one another based on these "past life experiences".
I would highly recommend this book! It is often hard for sequels to be an independent work, but this novel accomplishes this well. This novel has convinced me to actually go back and read the first novel in the series. I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. This book is recommended for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, art history and romance.
This book does use strong language and sexual content beginning at the start of the story, but it is not overtly explicit. I would cautiously recommend it to younger or sensitive audiences. t does have strong language and sexual content, though nothing too explicit, so I would not recommend it to younger or sensitive audiences.
******
The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Sandra Eden's War by Michael Low
