A review by kamrynharned
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Interesting story about a fascinating woman! I enjoyed reading about and learning about art and ancient manuscripts… but the book was SO overt for a novel when it came to discussing systemic racism.  It seemed as though the authors were worried their point wouldn’t make an impact on their reader unless they spelled it out exactly…. Several several times.  I prefer a book that draws attention to injustices, as this injustice absolutely deserves, by simply telling the story and developing believable, lovable characters that you can connect and resonate with. I think if the book wasn’t written in first person I would have liked it much more. It came off as so cheesy. The romance was cringeworthy as well, in my opinion.  The only character I really liked was Junius.  They made it seem like he was going to be an important character in the book, and then he just disappears from the novel entirely.  There were several threads to the story that just weren’t tied off well at all, so I basically had to force myself to finish the book.  
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