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A review by doritobabe
City of Lies by Victoria Thompson
3.0
3/5 - but a different 3/5 than I gave [b:The Water Cure|39335566|The Water Cure|Sophie Mackintosh|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1521604165s/39335566.jpg|56832986], which I read right before this. I actually liked TWC better than City of Lies , but I am trying to avoid rating books *against* one another.
City of Lies is slotted in the "Historical Romance" section of my library, but I think would do well being in the general fiction, or "Historical" section. What I am trying to say is this book is light on the romance, heavy on the history. Thompson has covered a real historical event associated with the Suffrage movement (The Night of Terror), and this takes up probably a good 1/3 of the text.
City of Lies follows Elizabeth Miles as she flees from a murderous money-maker Mr. Thornton (forever ruining Mr. Thornton for me from [b:North and South|156538|North and South|Elizabeth Gaskell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1349633381s/156538.jpg|1016482] :(. ) She has it coming though; Elizabeth and her half-brother are con people who scam the wealthy out of thousands and thousands of dollars. During the con-gone-wrong, Elizabeth flees from Thornton and his thugs and hides in a group of petitioning suffragists, where she is eventually taken to jail in Virginia where she meets Anna and Mrs. Bates. Once freed, Elizabeth is taken in by her new friends and continues to live a life of lies, even lying to her beau, Gideon.
The writing was decent, the historical pieces interesting, but I really felt that the characters were inconsistent and the depiction of them completely flawed with who the author wanted them to be. For instance, Elizabeth is supposed to be a masterful con-woman, but her face gives EVERYTHING away, and she is VERY emotional --despite what the author is telling the reader-- and she ends up in many blunders. Additionally, Gideon's description is a bit HOT at first, really making him overly lustful and unattractive in my mind. He cools down a bit later, but...
Overall,I don't feel like the characters were as fleshed out as the third person omniscient perspective could have done.
My second issue (loss of second star) is that the cons that were played in this novel were underwhelming and Mr. Thornton was a bit too much of a caricature of a bad-guy.
Fun read. Definitely a beach read. Maybe if I want something light I will read the second in the series, but I doubt it.
City of Lies is slotted in the "Historical Romance" section of my library, but I think would do well being in the general fiction, or "Historical" section. What I am trying to say is this book is light on the romance, heavy on the history. Thompson has covered a real historical event associated with the Suffrage movement (The Night of Terror), and this takes up probably a good 1/3 of the text.
City of Lies follows Elizabeth Miles as she flees from a murderous money-maker Mr. Thornton (forever ruining Mr. Thornton for me from [b:North and South|156538|North and South|Elizabeth Gaskell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1349633381s/156538.jpg|1016482] :(. ) She has it coming though; Elizabeth and her half-brother are con people who scam the wealthy out of thousands and thousands of dollars. During the con-gone-wrong, Elizabeth flees from Thornton and his thugs and hides in a group of petitioning suffragists, where she is eventually taken to jail in Virginia where she meets Anna and Mrs. Bates. Once freed, Elizabeth is taken in by her new friends and continues to live a life of lies, even lying to her beau, Gideon.
The writing was decent, the historical pieces interesting, but I really felt that the characters were inconsistent and the depiction of them completely flawed with who the author wanted them to be. For instance, Elizabeth is supposed to be a masterful con-woman, but her face gives EVERYTHING away, and she is VERY emotional --despite what the author is telling the reader-- and she ends up in many blunders. Additionally, Gideon's description is a bit HOT at first, really making him overly lustful and unattractive in my mind. He cools down a bit later, but...
Overall,I don't feel like the characters were as fleshed out as the third person omniscient perspective could have done.
My second issue (loss of second star) is that the cons that were played in this novel were underwhelming and Mr. Thornton was a bit too much of a caricature of a bad-guy.
Fun read. Definitely a beach read. Maybe if I want something light I will read the second in the series, but I doubt it.