Overall rating and opinion of "The Girl Who Knew da Vinci" by Belle Ami

[kfwilson6]

The least that I like about the book is twist that Scordato made to the mystery making it more complicated and how he tried to manipulate Angela


My actual rating for "The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci" is a three out of four Stars. I found only a few grammatical errors but the book is still fascinating to read.

I find it fascinating how 200 people can give a rating and review of a book and all say something completely different about it. You are the first one I have seen to comment that you didn't like the inclusion of Scordato. Given his minimal involvement until the very end, I think Ami felt like there wouldn't be enough suspense without a bad guy thrown in. I think it would have been a little less complicated had Scordato been a more integral part of the book.

[kfwilson6]

I would really like to read this book. Is there a free copy out there somewhere? It sells for $4.99 on Amazon Kindle. Thanks in advance.

It's on Kindle Unlimited if you haven't used your free trial for that, now might be the time. Or if you decide to trial KU later on, you might want to add this to your shelves to remind yourself. I highly recommend KU as many of the BOTD are on there.

[kfwilson6]

This book has provoking an extremely lively discussion! In my in-person book club, the moderator has everyone give their rating before and then after the discussion. People sometimes change their opinion of the book, for better or worse, after listening to everyone's views.

Has anyone changed their opinion of this book after reading everyone's comments...and why?

I think all of the discussion drew out the things I loved and hated about this book. For a while I saw a lot of negative comments about the romance aspect of it and I was like "yea, I didn't like that either!" And then I started to see a lot of comments about how much people enjoyed the glimpse into two different time periods. Overall, my rating would remain the same, but I would say I am more aware of the areas for improvement and the parts of the story I really enjoyed. I would still be willing to read a sequel to this book. I am curious as to how Ami will develop Angela's ability.

[kfwilson6]

Oh also I noticed that the discussions seemed to generate a lot of interest with people who had not yet read this book, especially anwidmer. She read it quickly enough to really jump into the discussions and is definitely an advocate for this story. Since the authors participate in OBC in order to increase knowledge of their book, I think these discussions have been very beneficial for Ami as, overall, I think the OBC community is giving it a thumbs up.

[Amy+++]

The book seems like it moves flawlessly between two different time periods. I can't wait to read it.

[bookowlie]

This book has provoking an extremely lively discussion! In my in-person book club, the moderator has everyone give their rating before and then after the discussion. People sometimes change their opinion of the book, for better or worse, after listening to everyone's views.

Has anyone changed their opinion of this book after reading everyone's comments...and why?

I think all of the discussion drew out the things I loved and hated about this book. For a while I saw a lot of negative comments about the romance aspect of it and I was like "yea, I didn't like that either!" And then I started to see a lot of comments about how much people enjoyed the glimpse into two different time periods. Overall, my rating would remain the same, but I would say I am more aware of the areas for improvement and the parts of the story I really enjoyed. I would still be willing to read a sequel to this book. I am curious as to how Ami will develop Angela's ability.

I initially rated the book 3 out of 4. I did that because of the errors (which have since been corrected by the author), the cluttered plot, and the central plot moving forward too slowly and going off track. After having such a lively discussion, I can't say I have changed my rating, although I do appreciate the author's historical research more. When I first read the book, I didn't realize parts of Fioretta and Giuliano's story was true, that the Uffizi Gallery actually exists, etc.

[Spath]

I felt the same way. The book was a solid 3 out of 4 stars for me, regardless of the errors. That being said, a book that is published should be free of errors. If the reader is noticing the errors, then the author and/or their editor should have picked them up. I think Indie writers often don't want to spend money on a professional editor; instead, they will have a relative or friend proofread the book. Of course, I'm not saying this was the case here.

I completely agree with you, one or two errors in a whole book I can understand to a degree, but when there are 8-10 errors I think they should be called out.

[kfwilson6]

It makes sense why the guidelines state you cannot give a four-star rating to a book with 10+ errors. Even if all of the errors are considered minor, there really isn't any excuse for them. Even if you just give the book to a few friends or family members, minor errors are still noticeable, especially if the point of the read-through is to find the errors! I hate having to drop a whole star for small mistakes, but one must be a thorough editor to earn 4 stars (or find a thorough editor).

What surprises me is that bookowlie states that the errors she found in this book were corrected after her review was published, but I still found enough errors that I couldn't give this book a 4-star rating had I wanted to. If one reviewer points out ten errors, it's unlikely that reviewer even caught all of the errors there are. Sad....

[bookowlie]

Just to be clear, I don't know exactly when the author corrected the errors and if she actually updated the e-book version already sent to OBC for review purposes. I was told the corrections had been made for the soon-to-be published book that would be for sale on Amazon. It's very possible the download the members here received is still the uncorrected version or some of the members downloaded the file before an updated file was sent to OBC. Also, sometimes an author will send the wrong file to OBC. In the past, I have received a few uncorrected proofs for review, and books that had cross-outs and new words/phrases/sentences highlighted in red.

[Manang Muyang]

I think a really talented editor would be pricey. I recently reviewed a book that had the author thanking her editor profusely. Yet, I still found numerous grammatical flaws.

Perhaps Belle Ami only corrected the ten reported errors. It's really a pity when grammar becomes the issue that keeps a book from the perfect rating.

[bookowlie]

I think a really talented editor would be pricey. I recently reviewed a book that had the author thanking her editor profusely. Yet, I still found numerous grammatical flaws.

Perhaps Belle Ami only corrected the ten reported errors. It's really a pity when grammar becomes the issue that keeps a book from the perfect rating.

When an author thanks their editor profusely, it still doesn't mean they actually paid for editor services (even a more affordable one). For all we know, an editor of a book is the writer's brother. Regarding the errors in this book, that's probably what happened. Otherwise, the author may not have sent the updated file to Amazon in a timely manner. With some OBC review books I've read that are in Kindle gift format, I've received a download that has draft written on it or something else that indicates it's not in final form.

[kfwilson6]

I kind of wonder about the different formats when I read a sample and people are posting that it was error-free or had only one or two errors. And just in the sample I see more than 5 errors. If a book is provided to me in PDF format but is also on Kindle Unlimited, I will download the KU copy because it's more accessible on my devices than a PDF. I never really thought that the versions might be different so if I"m pointing out errors found in my kindle versions, those errors may not exist or be the same in the PDF.

If an author isn't careful enough to ensure he sends the right copy, I think he deserves to be dinged for the mistakes we see in old versions. You would think authors would be very careful of that. I like that on the reviews a note can be added that errors the reviewer noted were corrected. Especially if the reviewer indicates the errors impacted the score. Readers might be more apt to read the book if they know the errors no longer exist.

[bookowlie]

That's interesting that you noticed so many errors in the sample. It gives even more credence to the possibility of different versions floating around. It makes me a little annoyed since I was able to update my review with a note that the errors were corrected. This was done as a courtesy to the author since the book was going to be the Book of the Month.

[Charlaigne]

Books that polarise readers I think make the best books to discuss Just more interesting.

I also think that if grammar is the only thing that keeps a book from a perfect rating, that is overkill (and I'm usually the grammar nazi in the room!)

[va2016]

I really liked the mystery part of it. The art background
is also something I liked to read about, to learn about
various works. Romance is not something that mattered
to me, but I am okay with it being in the story. I found
that Belle Ami's writing style has improved from their
previous work. Kudos to the author!