Review by Rain18 -- The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci by Belle Ami

[Rain18]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci" by Belle Ami.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Art Historian, Angela Renatus, has a special connection to Leonardo da Vinci, the great Renaissance genius himself. Through vivid dreams, she has been experiencing the lives of Fioretta Gorini and Giuliano Medici, friends of the Maestro. But are these dreams simply the fanciful imaginings of a restless mind; that of a stressed-out intern who’s dream job is turning out to be a nightmare? Could Angela’s stressful internship at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles also be a factor in the weird behavior she has been witnessed exhibiting in front of the Botticelli painting of Giuliano Medici on display in the museum’s red gallery?

As Angela grapples with the knowledge that her golden opportunity into the art world is not all that she’d envisioned it to be, she is approached by private art recovery investigator, Alexander Caine. Alex expresses an interest in hiring Angela to help him locate a missing Leonardo da Vinci painting. Alex’s client, Max Jaeger, is a wealthy German financier who is intent on finding the lost painting and clearing his family name of the Nazi taint. The offer from Alex could not have come at a better time, as Angela becomes aware that her boss and museum director, Alberto Scordato, is both sleazy and unscrupulous and that she can not survive another day working for him. Scordato, it appears, has his own plans for both the painting and for his young intern, and he’s willing to go to great lengths to get exactly what he is after.

Angela’s new job working with Alex takes her to Florence, Italy. Florence, not only home to Alex, but also birthplace of the Renaissance, unlocks a slew of new memories for Angela. As Angela and Alex attempt to make sense of Angela’s visions and solve the mystery of the missing painting, someone else is also hoping to use Angela to score the valuable piece of art. Alex is finding the call of duty to protect Angela and recover the treasured painting a little more challenging then he had imagined.

In “The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci,” the author Belle Ami does a great job at melding the past and present storylines. She succeeded in bringing the past to life and establishing such a perfectly woven portrayal of love that transcends the confines of time. It was easy to get lost in the romance, the scenery and the mystery and I had a hard time putting the book down.

I rated this book 3 out of 4 stars. One of the areas where I felt that the book fell astray for me was in the intimacy arena. I thought the taste and tone of some of the sex scenes were over-the-top for a romance novel and I had to check the cover of the book to ensure that I was not reading some steamy erotica. On the whole though, I found this book to be a great read and would definitely recommend it to others.

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The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci
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Like Rain18's review? Post a comment saying so!

[rar1951]

You have captured the essence of the book. And I concur with your opinion of the, "over the top," intimacy scenes. There were so many, and in such great detail that it detracted from the overall story line. It became a 'coming of age' of Angela book, rather than a so-called "thriller."

[Rain18]

You have captured the essence of the book. And I concur with your opinion of the, "over the top," intimacy scenes. There were so many, and in such great detail that it detracted from the overall story line. It became a 'coming of age' of Angela book, rather than a so-called "thriller."

Thank you for the feedback. How right you are on the 'coming of age of Angela' comment. The author did make her appear young and inexperienced in both love and life, and also played up that damsel in distress piece.

[Paulette A]

After reading Rain18’s comment about the book, I definitely felt inspired to either purchase this book from amazon or check out my local library for it’s availability for further reading. As a historian and an artist, I found the story leading up to trip to Florence, Italy intriguing in itself and wanted to read the rest of the book’s detailed story as well as mentally visualize its steamy love scenes. Rain18, you did your thing with this review. Great job!

[Rain18]

Thank you, Paulette, for reading my review and for the wonderful feedback. I think you would love this book for the brilliantly done historical accuracy, the picturesque details of Florence and for the passionate love stories. It was wonderfully written and kept me engaged throughout the entire book.