3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci begins with a WWII couple escaping bombs and smuggling a specific da Vinci painting out of a museum. We then jettison forward to the modern-day to meet an art history intern, Angela, and witness her boss, Scordato, sexually harassing her. That night, Angela dreams about a couple who personally knew da Vinci. Art recovery detective, Alex, experiences an otherworldly interaction with Angela. When Alex meets Angela outside the museum, Angela doesn’t recognize him. He quickly realizes that she wasn’t lucid during his previous encounter with her. Alex is interested in hiring Angela. They work together to find the connection between Angela’s trances and a missing da Vinci painting Alex is trying to track down. If it exists, they need to find the painting before Scordato beats them to it and becomes even more powerful.
The storyline is unbelievable (Is truth serum even a real thing?) and filled with romance between all three couples. The da Vinci couple is secretly married, and the WWII couple can’t resist expressing their mutual affection. Inexplicably, Angela and Alex are immediately drawn to each other. There is plenty of romantic anticipation because Angela and Alex want to keep their relationship professional while working together and looking for answers, especially since Angela quit her job to work for Alex. They are terrible at staying platonic.
Alex and Angela are beginning to suspect Angela’s trances are real memories of a former life, but can that be true? Will they find the connections between the WWII couple, the da Vinci couple, and themselves? Will they beat Scordato by solving the painting mystery? Will the former boss exact revenge because Angela spurned his advances?
I like the storyline and believe the book focuses on the romance, borderline erotica, more than the thriller aspect. All three couples have an overwhelming and passionate love for each other. The flirting is constant and while I found it cheesy at times, it gave me some fun ideas like using suggestive innuendo with my husband. Alex’s constant joking about domination, “I plan on keeping you barefoot and pregnant”, wasn’t attractive. Also, I didn’t like that Alex reveled in shocking Angela. At one point, Alex thinks, “[Angela's] embarrassment is priceless.” which seems to contradict his deep admiration. Also, I didn’t like that the author, Belle Ami, used many cliché expressions such as “bone of contention” and “every fiber of her being”. This seems like sloppy writing, but I notice a lot of romance novelists use them.
Because the book was so fun to read and creative with the storyline, I really want to give the book a full 4 stars. The parts that bothered me may be my own personal preferences rather than objective criticisms. There are just a few too many elements that are holding me back, including the ending resolution, and so I am giving it 3 out of 4 stars.
******
The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Yssimnar's review? Post a comment saying so!
thank you!
