ARA Review by Clare Blando of The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci

[Clare Blando]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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What a fabulous, fun read. Angela Renatus is a college student working her dream job as an intern at the famed Getty Museum. Unfortunately, her boss is an extreme jerk who begins to harass and surveil her. After Angela experiences dreams and hallucinations about a lost DaVinci painting, she meets Alex Caine, a private investigator, who happens to be searching for the same DaVinci, which could be worth millions. Angela quits her job and teams up with Alex to search for the artwork in Italy. It isn’t long before the evil, greedy and vindictive boss follows the pair to Italy and thus begins an intense and terrifying race to find the valuable painting. I rated The Girl Who Knew DaVinci four out of five stars.


This fast-paced and engaging novel captured, and kept, my attention. The characters are likable and believable even with their quirks and flaws to which everyone can relate. The villains are also relatable even if a bit cliché.


The book is heavy on dialog which moves the story along while adding valuable glimpses into the characters’ traits and personalities, especially the relaxed banter between Alex and Angela. It was easy to adore this young couple who were caught in the kind of intrigue one would find by combining The DaVinci Code and Quantum Leap.


Particularly enjoyable were the descriptions of Italy’s countryside and Alex’s Italian cook and housekeeper. Author Belle Ami clearly understands Italian sensibilities and culture. Even someone who has never visited Italy will come to appreciate the country, the people, and its values which were deftly portrayed throughout the book.


Nevertheless, I gave The Girl Who Knew DaVinci four stars out of five, because the scenes of intimacy between Alex and Angela, although well-written and sufficiently erotic, began to occur too frequently which, in my opinion, took away from the storyline. Though the many intimate scenes became distracting and superfluous, they did support the fact that the Italian people are passionate and loyal. I simply didn’t need to be reminded of it so many times.

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