A review by tobyyy
The Forgotten Room by Lauren Willig, Karen White, Beatriz Williams
4.0
Many thanks to Penguin Group Berkley, NAL/Signet Romance, DAW, via Netgalley, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
3.5
I was super excited to have been approved to read The Forgotten Room because I've read books by Lauren Willig and Karen White before, and they were fantastic.
However, although I did enjoy reading The Forgotten Room, it did fall a little flat for me. I loved the idea of three storylines from three very different time periods in history... but I got confused all too easily about which of the women was whom (grandmother, mom, daughter). The relationships were also rather confusing to me, as was the continuation of the same family names throughout the 3 alternating storylines.
I don't really know why I got so confused reading this book in particular - I think in part it's due to the fact that the three protagonists are very similar in many ways. Additionally, it was not made clear to the reader what the relationships were between the women until about 75 or 80% through the book (I'm estimating since I did read this awhile ago and don't exactly remember).
I would recommend it, but hesitantly - not because of shoddy writing or anything like that, but because I simply had difficulty keeping the story straight as well as the point of the book (which still somewhat eludes me, to be honest - it seemed like an awful lot of work to go to, in order to reach the ending that was reached). I would be much more comfortable recommending that people read books by each individual author, especially if you've not read books by them before. I am going to be looking up Beatriz Williams, since she's the only one of the three whom I have not heard of prior to this book.
3.5
I was super excited to have been approved to read The Forgotten Room because I've read books by Lauren Willig and Karen White before, and they were fantastic.
However, although I did enjoy reading The Forgotten Room, it did fall a little flat for me. I loved the idea of three storylines from three very different time periods in history... but I got confused all too easily about which of the women was whom (grandmother, mom, daughter). The relationships were also rather confusing to me, as was the continuation of the same family names throughout the 3 alternating storylines.
I don't really know why I got so confused reading this book in particular - I think in part it's due to the fact that the three protagonists are very similar in many ways. Additionally, it was not made clear to the reader what the relationships were between the women until about 75 or 80% through the book (I'm estimating since I did read this awhile ago and don't exactly remember).
I would recommend it, but hesitantly - not because of shoddy writing or anything like that, but because I simply had difficulty keeping the story straight as well as the point of the book (which still somewhat eludes me, to be honest - it seemed like an awful lot of work to go to, in order to reach the ending that was reached). I would be much more comfortable recommending that people read books by each individual author, especially if you've not read books by them before. I am going to be looking up Beatriz Williams, since she's the only one of the three whom I have not heard of prior to this book.