Oh Dear..

I could begin with the positives, however few there are...but that would just put off the inevitable, that is, I really didn't like this book.

Good, glad I got that out of the way. The premise was wonderful, everything was ticking my biblio boxes - the gorgeous cover, the Renaissance setting, a strong female character in a man's world, comparisons with Sarah Dunant and Tracy Chevalier - so where did it all go wrong? Well, the main problem for me was the extremely stilted prose (juxtaposed at times with modern slang??) which ended up stultifying what could have been a vibrant, gripping story. The characters were extremely nebulous - all I really recall about the leading lady was that she thought ill of someone with barely any teeth when she only had four teeth herself.

I admire anyone who has the courage to put pen to paper and put their heart and soul into their writing but this really didn't move me. The whole reading experience was like watching one of those awful talent shows where you're just cringing waiting for the next bum note. It's not the worst novel I've ever read but it was extremely disappointing particularly when the blurb places the writing on a par with Dunant and Chevalier, two of my favourite authors. As the review title says - oh dear...