3 out of 4 stars
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In The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci by Belle Ami, Angela Renatus is a young woman and art historian who is more or less haunted by a lost painting that was supposedly created by the great Leonardo da Vinci. The painting depicts tragic lovers Giuliano Medici and Fioretta Gorini, who have a strange connection to Angela in a way that even she does not understand. While working as an intern at The Getty, Angela begins to have visions and other unexplainable events occur that are tied to da Vinci's piece of art. Around the same time, she meets art detective Alex Caine, who is looking for the very painting that draws Angela.
Together, Angela and Alex set out to find the painting and uncover the mysterious connections between themselves and two sets of unlucky romantic partners from the past, including the subjects of da Vinci’s work of art. As their feelings for each other grow, the two unravel a mystery surrounded in Angela’s mystical connection to times gone by while attempting to stay one step ahead of her greedy, vicious and ruthless former boss, who has his own nefarious desire to find the painting.
I would give The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci 3 out of 4 stars. I found this suspense novel to be entertaining and thoughtful, and I did enjoy the art history and Italian history lessons provided in a captivating way throughout. While I was surprised to find out that this was more of a romance novel than a true suspense novel as advertised, I did not mind that the book leaned toward romance, so long as there were still page-turning mysteries to be uncovered. I also found the more metaphysical aspects of the story to be unique for this type of novel and found them thought-provoking.
There were two aspects of the novel that made it somewhat hard to read at times, which is why it did not receive a full 4 stars from me. The first issue that I noticed was some very uncomfortable comma usage, which had me re-reading sentences throughout the book to fully understand their meaning. The other issue was the robotic way that many of the characters spoke to one another at times, especially Angela. I am a 25-year-old woman from the Midwest with a college degree and a father who worked in the steel industry; Angela is a 27-year-old college-educated woman from the Midwest with a father who was a welder. You would think that we would speak in a similar manner, but Angela speaks more like a chatbot than a human, and at her best she sounds highly pretentious. I understand that she is an art historian, but I have had pompous college professors who spoke more naturally. Similarly, Scordato, Angela’s former boss and the villain of the novel, speaks in such an unbelievably theatrical manner that he resembles a cartoonish villain in a children’s movie at times. If it was not for these flaws in Ami’s writing, the book would have a perfect 4 stars from me because it is such an exciting and unique novel.
I do recommend this book, as it is a very quick read considering the heavy themes involved and keeps you on the edge of your seat. I think women would enjoy it more than men, as the romance is quite heavy and even corny at times, although anyone with a love for mystery, suspense or historical themes will find something to appreciate here. If you are able to read past the flaws that I mentioned, as I tried to do, you will definitely find something you enjoy about Belle Ami’s novel. I’ve been left with enough interest to read more from this author.
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The Girl Who Knew da Vinci
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