Angela's Character

Use this forum to discuss the June 2018 Book of the Month"The Girl Who Knew da Vinci" by Belle Ami
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klwoodford
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Re: Angela's Character

Post by klwoodford »

I have mixed feelings regarding Angela's character. I think the regressions changed her, which I think is understandable. Going through something like that would change me too. I also think falling in love made her softer. I wish she would have maintained her strength an refrained from rushing into a relationship with Alex. That being said, I still like her character.
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Post by strawberrysab »

I guess there are two sides of Angela. Her strength shows in her academic career but when it comes to feelings and relationships she gets weaker. I don’t find it uncommon or particularly annoying. It’s part of the human nature.
Berry :wine:
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Post by Nena_Morena »

cristinaro wrote: 04 Jun 2018, 07:02 Yeah, you're right. On the whole, she seemed so helpless although she is first introduced as a strong woman with a doctorate in progress and the internship of her dreams. She gradually relies completely on Alex who apparently becomes her boss in both her professional and private life. :) I wish the romance had not overtaken the plot to the detriment of a more complex puzzle and potential search for clues leading to the recovery of the missing painting.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Your comment expresses my thoughts completely :)
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Post by Natalie_Taylor »

All of the characterization in this novel was really thin. There was minimal development and there was nothing interesting about any of them.
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Post by kfwilson6 »

ViziVoir wrote: 17 Jun 2018, 20:03 In all honesty, I get the impression that this book would be better if it wasn't a romance (or perhaps if it was solely a romance). Splitting the focus between the mystery and Angela's relationship with Alex did no favors to her character arc.
To me it would have been an obvious fix to have the same events cover a longer time period where Alex and Angela could have realistically gotten to know each other and actually fall in love without assuming they would be in love simply because in past lives that's what happened.

I wouldn't want the mystery/suspense aspect cut down on at all to shift this more toward being a romance. I think the hunt for the painting was the most enjoyable aspect of the story. I wish Ami would have focused more on that and building intelligent characters.
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Post by Sdejardine »

I agree that Angela's character was strong in the beginning, but then my opinion changed a bit. I think I find that with lots of characters when you get to know them. Your opinion changes because you get to know them more intimately. She did become more of a victim as the story went on. However, this may be what made Alex more of a hero and what endures us to his character.
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Post by AWANDO OGUTU »

Change is one thing that is inevitable. I think that Agnes is just undergoing through a period of change in her life.
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Post by bookowlie »

I think Angela's behavior toward Alex made her seem less professional. Considering she was a young woman, I would have rather had a character who was strong and assertive. It would have made her a role model for young women starting out in their career, instead of a "damsel in distress" overtaken by past lives.
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Post by Jkhorner »

I felt like the author wanted to tell us all these cool things about Angela, yet failed to show them in any tangible way. She did start off promising, but yes, by the end she was entirely broken and reliant on Alex and his levelheadedness, so that you grew closer to him rather than her. I found that the women in her past lives were far more colorfully portrayed; strong and opinionated and skilled, leaving you wondering just how Angela fit into the mix.
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Post by bookowlie »

Jkhorner wrote: 26 Jun 2018, 10:23 I felt like the author wanted to tell us all these cool things about Angela, yet failed to show them in any tangible way. She did start off promising, but yes, by the end she was entirely broken and reliant on Alex and his levelheadedness, so that you grew closer to him rather than her. I found that the women in her past lives were far more colorfully portrayed; strong and opinionated and skilled, leaving you wondering just how Angela fit into the mix.
Good point! I agree that we are told about all of Angela's admirable attributes - for example, how brilliant she is, that her mentor/professor recommended her as an expert in Renaissance art, etc. I felt like she was presented as a whiz kid in her field. However, she didn't come across that way in the story. It would have been better to include scenes to show off her wonderful skills rather than have her seen as someone swept along by past lives presenting the clues.
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Post by bookowlie »

With so many readers wanting Angela to be a more "independent," assertive character, I wonder if the author will use the feedback to alter the character a bit in future books. It will be interesting to see if Angela is not as controlled by her past lives in the next installment.
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Post by greenstripedgiraffe »

you know, this may be part of what bothered me :D We need more consistently strong female characters, rather than helpless romantics. Angela's character had much more potential than was actually attained throughout the book. I thought the plot was going to be much deeper, but oh well.
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Post by bookowlie »

greenstripedgiraffe wrote: 27 Jun 2018, 12:13 you know, this may be part of what bothered me :D We need more consistently strong female characters, rather than helpless romantics. Angela's character had much more potential than was actually attained throughout the book. I thought the plot was going to be much deeper, but oh well.
I agree. I think the author's previous books have been suspense mixed with hot romance. In erotic romance novels, the women tend to be submissive. Part of the problem is this novel was that the mix of so many genres was such an ambitious undertaken that I think there was less attention paid to making Angela a strong role model.
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Post by Mouricia Allen »

She seemed so frail and naive and helpless, and while I could understand for the most part, I wish she was a little bit more badass.
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Post by Samy Lax »

Oh you are so right. I had high hopes from her character, but eventually, she seems to become more of a passive crybaby. The relationship she had with Alex wasn't helping matters much either!
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