Author: Tina Michele
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Rating: WARTY!
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review. The chance to read a new book is often reward aplenty!
There was a prologue for this novel, which I skipped as I always do. I've never regretted not reading a prologue! If the author doesn’t deem it important enough to put right there in chapter one, it’s not important enough for me to expend time in reading it.
This novel is about Ainsley ("Lee") Rae Dencourt and Morgan Blake, and their "romance". Frankly I wasn't impressed by Lee right from the first page. At least she wasn't telling us this story in first person, for which I thank the author whole-heartedly, but the way that Lee comes off towards the bottom of the first page (which is actually page 16, not page one) of chapter one, she seems to me like she's irritatingly weak and needy.
Lee's father died eighteen months previously, so there's an understandable raw-ness to her feelings, but the way the narrative goes on about how he was always there for her, even when she rudely interrupted his meetings, and she was always seeking his advice, made her look like a really spineless, inconsiderate, and whiny brat! As I turned the page and saw that she then became angry at her father for his making her feel dependent, I sincerely I hoped she wasn't going to continue in this vain vein…! Unfortunately, she did.
When we meet her, Lee is heading to her favorite place in the world, which is the Louvre in Paris. In college, she met a girl whose name she never knew, and whom she simply thought of as Venus. This person is Morgan, and the two of them of course meet up later, but the meetings and interactions are so artificial and stilted that they were not even remotely natural and they were not entertaining, either. There's also a massive chasm between what we're told that the characters are feeling in this novel, and how they behave, and we’re offered nothing to explain why there's such a huge discrepancy.
It so happens that Lee's fantasy girl is employed at the Louvre, but instead of Lee seizing the moment and immediately going over to her to re-introduce herself as soon as she spots her, Lee hides behind a statue! It's nonsensical. Shortly after this, Lee once again proves how selfish and self-centered she is by using her privileged status as a gallery big-wig to talk a senior staff member at the museum into forcing Morgan to give her a tour.
Morgan is temporarily employed at the Louvre and is working on setting up an art exhibition, so Lee's selfishness and stupidity here drags Morgan away from something which is very important to her. That's the message I kept on getting - that it's all about Lee and her manipulative behavior, and the hell with Morgan's needs. By this point I really did not like Lee in the slightest. Morgan deserves better than someone who thinks that money can buy anyone and privilege can get you anything.
In contrast with that cynical perspective, we're also treated to the stupid perspective whereby, and despite the fact that both of them (we're repeatedly told, not shown) have flutter,s and weak knees, and throbbing hearts, they fail to pursue the relationship with any of the passion they purportedly feel! that night! We keep on having it drilled into us what passion they have for each other, but they never pursue it! Instead, they go to dinner together the next evening and though they kiss, they still take it no further.
The next night is the opening of the exhibition, and the two are supposed to attend together, but Lee finds a way to screw even that up for Morgan. Lee's mom becomes ill, and even though her mom is nowhere near at death's door, Lee immediately charters a private jet and goes home. Never once does she make any effort whatsoever to contact poor Morgan and tell her what’s happened, or to leave her a message. The two of them are also apparently phone-shy in the extreme, because they evidently don't trade phone numbers. Morgan never even got Lee's last name. This was way too artificial for me.
Once back in the US, Lee discovers that her mom has decided to retire from running the Dencourt gallery, so Lee is put in charge, and she cooks up a scheme to get Morgan working there - again manipulating her without even trying to talk to her. Their whole interaction is completely brain-dead.
This wasn't even the worst part, believe it or not. Never once during their entire interaction during the portion which I read, was there any indication of any real feeling here or the remotest hint of developing respect and consideration for one another. The entire relationship was nothing but pure, unadulterated adolescent lust. That's all we got. If the novel had been about domination, then it would have fit the bill a lot better, because nothing here spoke of love at all. It wasn't a friendship. Friends do not treat people like Lee treated Morgan. It wasn't even erotic - it was just trivial, artificial, and ultimately boring.
So after some seventy pages of this novel I couldn't help but conclude that it was thoroughly ridiculous, with patently phony scenarios set-up to create fake excuses in place of naturally developed tension. It was entirely unrealistic, and what we got wasn't at all well done. Most of the writing was conversation or long expository paragraphs. There was no real attempt to create any kind of atmosphere or warmth, or chemistry between the characters.
Neither was there any attempt to create any sense of place and life. This began in Paris, and it was centered around art, but there was no feeling of atmosphere, of an exotic locale, or of scents, or sounds or joie de vivre. Despite the art premise for the story, even the art was given short shrift. It felt far more like stage props, literally littered around the place to fake a background than ever it did real live art.
I honestly cannot recommend this novel. Morgan deserved better and so did the readers.
