4 out of 4 stars
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The Girl Who Knew da Vinci is a complex love story centered on a missing Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of a wedding couple (Fioretta and Giuliano). Angela is an art intern at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. She dreams and experiences the lives of the wedding couple in the portrait. She also has dreams and visions of Sophia and Gerhard (later named Giorgio), a couple in Italy during WWII.
The plot develops when Max Jaeger hires Alex to find a missing da Vinci painting that his uncle, Gerhard took from the Uffizi Gallery. Alex wants Angela to help him find the treasure. They work together to find the art piece and attempt to understand how Angela’s dreams of the two couples can lead them to its hiding place. The plot thickens as the art director of the Getty Museum Dr. Scordato is after the same prize. What would he be willing to do to have the missing da Vinci painting in his own hands?
As Alex and Angela are looking for the painting, they have a very strong attraction to each other. When they travel to Italy, to follow the leads to the da Vinci, their love for each other deepens. They also have many obstacles to overcome. Scordato tracks them to Italy and makes the hunt more dangerous for the couple. Read the book to find out just how dangerous it becomes. How are these three couples related to each other? Will the art piece ever be found?
I liked how the story went from the past to the present because it kept the story suspenseful and moving. I best liked the relationship between Alex and Angela in the beginning, before they became physical. Both of them thought to themselves that just knowing and being with the other one without doing anything was the most fulfilling experience that they have had with anyone thus far. They truly loved one another. I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. The story was well-written and included love, suspense, danger, and a bit of mystery all of which makes for a good story.
Though I liked most of the book and had a good feeling about reading it, I did not like the parts where the men wanted to rape Angela. I think it wasn’t necessary to add that to the story to keep a sense of danger.
The first half of the book is very clean and most people would probably like it. However, the last half of the book gets very steamy between Alex and Angela. I least liked the very graphic and descriptive word use of their bed scenes. I think the book would be even better to leave some of that to the reader’s own imagination. For this reason, if I could, I would rate this book 3.5 out of 4 stars. I would not rate this book 3 out of 4 stars, however, because the romance was a central part of the whole story and it was all related to each of the other parts.
People who do not like to read romance novels and do not like to read about detailed descriptions of lovemaking would like this book the least.
Women who like romance novels will like reading this book the best. It has some unique twists in the story, making it less predictable. It also has some Italian scenes, phrases, and history making it even more romantic.
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The Girl Who Knew da Vinci
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