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The Adventures of Miss Vulpe: A Coming of Age Story for Adults
Ana Petrescu (a.k.a. Miss Vulpe) is a troubled teenager determined to solve the mystery of her parents' double suicide. Escaping the scrutiny of her legal guardian and the unwanted interference of several therapists, she starts looking up people from her mother's past. Her sleuthing requires her to lie about her identity, her age, and her lack of experience with men. While impersonating Miss Vulpe is more fun than going to school, there's bound to be trouble and heartache when her web of lies unravels.
- GenresFictionContemporary
156 pages, Paperback
Published April 8, 2016
53 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Maria Elena Sandovici
17 books113 followersMaria Elena Sandovici has been loitering around Galveston Island for twenty years now. In this time, she's befriended some very interesting people, learned many Island stories, and made up many more. Have you heard about the horses, for example? If you visit the historic Leage Kempner House, the Broadway mansion that inspired Storms of Malhado, you might just hear their hoofbeats going up the stairs. Or not. Island lore, fiction, and history blend seemslessly in a universe scented with sea salt, jasmine, and perhaps the faintest whiff of manure.
Recently, the author has acquired a tiny Island cottage that survived the Great Storm of 1900 and resolves to spend more time on Galveston Island, giving historic walking tours, doing book signings, and soaking up inspiration. We'll let you know how that goes.
Recently, the author has acquired a tiny Island cottage that survived the Great Storm of 1900 and resolves to spend more time on Galveston Island, giving historic walking tours, doing book signings, and soaking up inspiration. We'll let you know how that goes.
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May 19, 2019🎁 FREE on Amazon today (5/19/2019)! 🎁
May 27, 2017
Loved this! Watch for my review blog in a couple of days. Definitely a take to the beach or Saturday chill read.
May 20, 2017
“Idiocy is more damning to one’s appearance than rotten teeth or missing an eye.”
Oh, the gems sprinkled throughout The Adventures of Miss Vulpe. Main character Ana Petrescu has many keen observations and often seems wise beyond her sixteen years – and why wouldn’t she be? Hers has not been a life of being spoiled and sheltered from the cold, ugly world. Instead, her parents are dead, her guardian, Rogers, is physically and emotionally distant, her multiple therapists are ineffective, and she pretends to be a twenty-six-year-old sexpot set on getting answers from a clueless man, Richard. Ana has everyone’s number. Or does she?
This book is so many things wrapped into one delicious story; I read it through in one sitting. For the first two thirds of the book, the stories – there are several – are mostly told through Ana’s present day narration and Richard’s flashbacks. And through the dialogue, readers also get acquainted with Rogers and Louise, Ana’s mother, around whom the mysteries revolve. From there, a good twenty pages is dedicated to a massive info dump that contains the big reveals. Yes, reveals – plural. I was completely surprised by one of them, though in hindsight, if I had read more carefully instead of rapidly flipping pages, I might have caught a hint of what was to come. This section of the book read like the synopsis of a full season of a soap opera. DE-LI-CIOUS! A bonus to the story is the rich, detailed descriptions of the places where the action unfolds. Be it the swamps of Louisiana, the Texas gulf, Bucharest, or Madrid, readers will feel the setting.
As readers are coming down from the DRAMA, author Maria Elena Sandovici pulls the attention back to the present and poor Ana, who’s life has been blown apart by realities, old and new, and a series of adults who utterly failed her. Sandovici has written some seriously flawed and complicated characters, which makes reading The Adventures of Miss Vulpe at times feel voyeuristic. Ana makes one bad decision after another and doesn’t have the maturity (or will) to extricate herself from situations gone awry. She’s an inexperienced teenager, but anyone who ever walked on the wild side in her younger days will understand Ana’s choices that made her feel powerful, important, and desired. Richard evokes so many different reactions from the reader. He is so damaged, but as soon as I began to feel one way, like a puppet master, Sandovici yanked me in a different direction. Ditto with Rogers. And sad, sad Louise.
The grammar policewoman in me would have liked a more cleanly edited copy and better formatting – it drove me crazy there were no page numbers! However, this story. . .THIS STORY! That perfect ending! Reading The Adventures of Miss Vulpe completely transported me in to Ana’s world, and I had trouble disengaging and letting her go. She’s a survivor, so I know she’s okay without me.
Thank you to Lone Star Book Blog Tours and the author for providing me a print copy in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give. Full review and more features on Hall Ways Blog http://kristinehallways.blogspot.com/...
Oh, the gems sprinkled throughout The Adventures of Miss Vulpe. Main character Ana Petrescu has many keen observations and often seems wise beyond her sixteen years – and why wouldn’t she be? Hers has not been a life of being spoiled and sheltered from the cold, ugly world. Instead, her parents are dead, her guardian, Rogers, is physically and emotionally distant, her multiple therapists are ineffective, and she pretends to be a twenty-six-year-old sexpot set on getting answers from a clueless man, Richard. Ana has everyone’s number. Or does she?
This book is so many things wrapped into one delicious story; I read it through in one sitting. For the first two thirds of the book, the stories – there are several – are mostly told through Ana’s present day narration and Richard’s flashbacks. And through the dialogue, readers also get acquainted with Rogers and Louise, Ana’s mother, around whom the mysteries revolve. From there, a good twenty pages is dedicated to a massive info dump that contains the big reveals. Yes, reveals – plural. I was completely surprised by one of them, though in hindsight, if I had read more carefully instead of rapidly flipping pages, I might have caught a hint of what was to come. This section of the book read like the synopsis of a full season of a soap opera. DE-LI-CIOUS! A bonus to the story is the rich, detailed descriptions of the places where the action unfolds. Be it the swamps of Louisiana, the Texas gulf, Bucharest, or Madrid, readers will feel the setting.
As readers are coming down from the DRAMA, author Maria Elena Sandovici pulls the attention back to the present and poor Ana, who’s life has been blown apart by realities, old and new, and a series of adults who utterly failed her. Sandovici has written some seriously flawed and complicated characters, which makes reading The Adventures of Miss Vulpe at times feel voyeuristic. Ana makes one bad decision after another and doesn’t have the maturity (or will) to extricate herself from situations gone awry. She’s an inexperienced teenager, but anyone who ever walked on the wild side in her younger days will understand Ana’s choices that made her feel powerful, important, and desired. Richard evokes so many different reactions from the reader. He is so damaged, but as soon as I began to feel one way, like a puppet master, Sandovici yanked me in a different direction. Ditto with Rogers. And sad, sad Louise.
The grammar policewoman in me would have liked a more cleanly edited copy and better formatting – it drove me crazy there were no page numbers! However, this story. . .THIS STORY! That perfect ending! Reading The Adventures of Miss Vulpe completely transported me in to Ana’s world, and I had trouble disengaging and letting her go. She’s a survivor, so I know she’s okay without me.
Thank you to Lone Star Book Blog Tours and the author for providing me a print copy in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give. Full review and more features on Hall Ways Blog http://kristinehallways.blogspot.com/...
April 17, 2024
Absorbing tale of a teenage girl trying to come to terms with her mother's death.
When Ana Petruscu was eleven years old, she lost her mother and father in a double suicide, or at least that is what her maternal grandmother claimed. Yet three years later, at only sixteen years of age, she knew there was much more to the story than the tragically bare facts. Shuffled from one boarding school to another by her guardian/stepfather, Rogers, Ana repeatedly acts out and is expelled until finally she gets what she secretly wanted all along: to return to her childhood home in Bucharest – the house where her mother took her own life – where Ana can search for the answers she so desperately craves.
The Adventures of Miss Vulpe: A Coming of Age Story for Adults is the first book in a series by author Maria Elena Sandovici, and it is mesmerizing. Ana is such an interesting character: sixteen-going-on-thirty-five, still a child but deceptively clever and manipulative beyond her years. She needs to understand why her mother died the way she did to get on with her own life and have a chance to heal and grow and leave behind her path of self-destruction. The actions she chooses to gain those answers, under the guise of Miss Vulpe, are doomed to failure and heartbreak, and I couldn't look away. I was gripped by her story and the desire to learn her ultimate fate.This is the tale of a love triangle with long-lasting consequences for the participants and their children. The story unfolds from two points of view and timelines: Ana's present and Richard's past, the past setting the stage for how the present day has been impacted. The adults of the piece are conflicted but weak in character, unable to remove themselves from their situation. Though they make some good efforts, they ultimately return to become embroiled again and again in this no-win drama.
Kicking off the decades-long chain of events is Ana's grandmother, a product of a different, tougher time with traditional parenting skills and harsh interpersonal skills, especially with her daughter, Louise. Then there is Louise, the rebellious daughter who fails to meet her parents' expectations and leaves home without the protective skills imbued by a healthy layer of self-worth and self-esteem. She falls in love with Richard, trapped in an unwanted marriage, but refusing to divorce his wife, a young woman equally doomed to marital limbo, with an absentee husband and a surprise baby to rear on her own. And then there's Rogers, Richard's boyhood best friend, whose first name we never learn and whom Louise turns to in an ill-fated ploy to galvanize Richard into taking the steps he must take for them to be together finally. To find peace, Louise turns to drugs and winds up firmly in the grasp of addiction.The triangles continue to form throughout the book. Even well after Louisa's death, one-on-one relationships seem always to be impacted by the presence of a third party, whether it's an individual physically present at the time (i.e., the sisters' relationship with each other as children and their mother) or only their memory (i.e., the sisters' relationship with each other as young adults and their mother).
In addition to Ana's desire for answers, which she eventually gets, she has a deep, aching longing to return to her childhood home in Bucharest. The characters travel, the settings move all over the globe, and the author makes you see and feel the essence of every destination. Besides an unforgettable family drama, this book will certainly promote wanderlust in its readers.I recommend THE ADVENTURES OF MISS VULPE to fiction readers who enjoy young adult stories, family dramas, and immersive international settings.
February 15, 2020
Rolled to 4.5 Stars
Maria Elena Sandovici's newest book is fast-paced and takes you along the story of Ana, a 15-year-old girl who is searching for answers about her mother’s and father’s deaths. Secrets abound in this story that comes to be revealed to her in one fell swoop. What Ana discovers along the way is that her father is not who she thought it was and her mother was not who she appeared to be.
Adding depth to the story is who becomes her first lover and how he connects to her mother and real father.
Through flashbacks, you get more involved in the story of what brought Ana to the point she is. The story transitions between locations in Texas, Louisiana, Spain, and Bucharest.
While there are some formatting problems, no page numbers and minor writing errors, The Adventures of Miss Vulpe is still a good Sunday read to transport you into a story of Ana discovering herself and her family’s secrets.
Maria Elena Sandovici's newest book is fast-paced and takes you along the story of Ana, a 15-year-old girl who is searching for answers about her mother’s and father’s deaths. Secrets abound in this story that comes to be revealed to her in one fell swoop. What Ana discovers along the way is that her father is not who she thought it was and her mother was not who she appeared to be.
Adding depth to the story is who becomes her first lover and how he connects to her mother and real father.
Through flashbacks, you get more involved in the story of what brought Ana to the point she is. The story transitions between locations in Texas, Louisiana, Spain, and Bucharest.
While there are some formatting problems, no page numbers and minor writing errors, The Adventures of Miss Vulpe is still a good Sunday read to transport you into a story of Ana discovering herself and her family’s secrets.
June 1, 2017
I’ve never liked the word “unputdownable.” Aside from its general awkwardness, I always see it as a challenge: if someone describes a book this way, I feel that my job is to see just how quickly I can put it down. Imagine my chagrin, then, to have to admit that once I began reading Maria Elena Sandovici’s engaging novel The Adventures of Miss Vulpe, I literally could not put it down until I’d read it straight through.
In this “coming of age story for adults,” Sandovici has given us a snarky, smart, somewhat precocious young protagonist who is as broken as she is spunky. I instantly connected with her theatricality (Ana uses goth makeup and sophisticated clothing; I wore a lorgnette to school for a week after seeing The Scarlet Pimpernel for the first time). I also completely “got” her use of humor as a defense mechanism. I, too, have always used snark as a weapon. Sandovici’s writing ability shines in those moments when Ana is disarming people with dark humor.
But Ana isn’t just a prickly teenager. She’s also a broken one, suffering from the death (apparently a double suicide) of both her parents, bristling at the guardian with a connection to her that she doesn’t understand, and never quite belonging anywhere she is sent. (A boarding school in Switzerland is “too clean,” and has mountain views that she hates, while her mother’s house is inhabited by memories and two hired caretakers who dwell in superstition.)
When Ana acts out – by stealing small items that bring her joy – or by tracking down a man her mother knew and starting a completely inappropriate relationship with him in her bid to learn the real story of her mother’s life – that’s when we see her at her most resourceful, yes, but also at her most shattered.
But Ana isn’t the only character in this novel, though she is the main one. In flashbacks, we learn the story of Richard Devereaux, an American southerner to whom Ana’s mother Louise was writing, shortly before her death, and through his story we also learn about Rogers, the guardian who may have more than just a passing interest in Ana’s well-being.
This novel is richly crafted, with details about Ana’s life in Bucharest and it’s surroundings. I was particularly entranced by descriptions of an old hotel on the Black Sea, a place which was once toney and now oozes “faded luxury,” but I felt like I was experiencing Bucharest, and later (to a lesser degree) Madrid, through Ana’s eyes.
Part coming-of-age story, part mystery, The Adventures of Miss Vulpe is an entertaining read, yes, but it’s also deeper than a first glance would imply, and ultimately the story is quite satisfying.
Goes well with espresso and petits fours.
In this “coming of age story for adults,” Sandovici has given us a snarky, smart, somewhat precocious young protagonist who is as broken as she is spunky. I instantly connected with her theatricality (Ana uses goth makeup and sophisticated clothing; I wore a lorgnette to school for a week after seeing The Scarlet Pimpernel for the first time). I also completely “got” her use of humor as a defense mechanism. I, too, have always used snark as a weapon. Sandovici’s writing ability shines in those moments when Ana is disarming people with dark humor.
But Ana isn’t just a prickly teenager. She’s also a broken one, suffering from the death (apparently a double suicide) of both her parents, bristling at the guardian with a connection to her that she doesn’t understand, and never quite belonging anywhere she is sent. (A boarding school in Switzerland is “too clean,” and has mountain views that she hates, while her mother’s house is inhabited by memories and two hired caretakers who dwell in superstition.)
When Ana acts out – by stealing small items that bring her joy – or by tracking down a man her mother knew and starting a completely inappropriate relationship with him in her bid to learn the real story of her mother’s life – that’s when we see her at her most resourceful, yes, but also at her most shattered.
But Ana isn’t the only character in this novel, though she is the main one. In flashbacks, we learn the story of Richard Devereaux, an American southerner to whom Ana’s mother Louise was writing, shortly before her death, and through his story we also learn about Rogers, the guardian who may have more than just a passing interest in Ana’s well-being.
This novel is richly crafted, with details about Ana’s life in Bucharest and it’s surroundings. I was particularly entranced by descriptions of an old hotel on the Black Sea, a place which was once toney and now oozes “faded luxury,” but I felt like I was experiencing Bucharest, and later (to a lesser degree) Madrid, through Ana’s eyes.
Part coming-of-age story, part mystery, The Adventures of Miss Vulpe is an entertaining read, yes, but it’s also deeper than a first glance would imply, and ultimately the story is quite satisfying.
Goes well with espresso and petits fours.
May 22, 2017
Who hasn’t, at age 16, wanted more control over his/her everyday life? Ana in The Adventures of Miss Vulpe is no exception. What she can control his her behavior, and that’s where the adventures of Miss Vulpe begin. Ana acts out by lying, stealing, selling fake drugs, rebelling against her guardian, and getting kicked out of Swiss boarding schools. But what Ana really wants is answers about her mother’s life and her alleged suicide.
When Ana finds some clues in her childhood home, she embarks on a journey that provides answers but also propels her into the adult world for which no amount of makeup and attitude can prepare her. As Ana is slowly handed the answers to her questions, she is beset by uncertainty, confusion, and a hefty dose of puppy love for an older man (who, by the way, is one of my favorite characters).
As the story unfolds, some things become clear, and some don’t. Maria Elena Sandovici does a good job of hiding truths from both Ana and the reader, parceling out information and barraging everyone with a big reveal toward the end.
A compelling feature, for me at least, is that the story as a whole has an old world feel, maybe because most of the modern parts take place in Romania, and the flashbacks involving Rogers (Ana’s guardian) and Richard (well, you’ll find out who Richard is in due time) take place in the bayous of Louisiana. The flashbacks start in the 1980s and speed toward the present, clashing and crashing and culminating in more twists and turns than a train wreck. After all the drama settles, the author gently closes the loops and ties the loose ends, leaving Ana with a sense of reconciliation, answers, and hope.
When Ana finds some clues in her childhood home, she embarks on a journey that provides answers but also propels her into the adult world for which no amount of makeup and attitude can prepare her. As Ana is slowly handed the answers to her questions, she is beset by uncertainty, confusion, and a hefty dose of puppy love for an older man (who, by the way, is one of my favorite characters).
As the story unfolds, some things become clear, and some don’t. Maria Elena Sandovici does a good job of hiding truths from both Ana and the reader, parceling out information and barraging everyone with a big reveal toward the end.
A compelling feature, for me at least, is that the story as a whole has an old world feel, maybe because most of the modern parts take place in Romania, and the flashbacks involving Rogers (Ana’s guardian) and Richard (well, you’ll find out who Richard is in due time) take place in the bayous of Louisiana. The flashbacks start in the 1980s and speed toward the present, clashing and crashing and culminating in more twists and turns than a train wreck. After all the drama settles, the author gently closes the loops and ties the loose ends, leaving Ana with a sense of reconciliation, answers, and hope.
June 20, 2020
Here, we are immediately introduced to Ana, a 16 year old girl trying to find herself amidst her teenage struggles. Not only is she without her mother, who has died and her father who enrolls her in different schools to tame her personality, she is trying to explore who her mother really was and why she died. But this story is not about Ana, she is a part of it. This story is about the love triangle between Richard, Rogers and Louise. Going back and forth in time, learning where everyone stands in this history of love and loss and finding who you really are, lies the most engrossing kind of story one can read. When everything connects and Ana discovers the mystery that encompasses her mom, she then discovers herself and by the end of the book, she is no longer the mischievous, immature girl she was at the beginning. She grows in ways she didn't expect and maybe didn't want to. "...her perfume now engulfing me, a different one than the sweet stuff she used to wear in Spain, but still heavy, still musky, still too much yet not enough, just like Louise herself." I felt the author's purpose for every character with this particular line. Ms. Sandovici did so well with this story, especially including Texas as one of the locations. I give it 4 stars because I couldn't stop thinking about it each time I had to stop reading. True to its genre and compelling from beginning to end, this one is a gem of a read.
June 20, 2020
Here, we are immediately introduced to Ana, a 16 year old girl trying to find herself amidst her teenage struggles. Not only is she without her mother, who has died and her father who enrolls her in different schools to tame her personality, she is trying to explore who her mother really was and why she died. But this story is not about Ana, she is a part of it. This story is about the love triangle between Richard, Rogers and Louise. Going back and forth in time, learning where everyone stands in this history of love and loss and finding who you really are, lies the most engrossing kind of story one can read. When everything connects and Ana discovers the mystery that encompasses her mom, she then discovers herself and by the end of the book, she is no longer the mischievous, immature girl she was at the beginning. She grows in ways she didn't expect and maybe didn't want to. "...her perfume now engulfing me, a different one than the sweet stuff she used to wear in Spain, but still heavy, still musky, still too much yet not enough, just like Louise herself." I felt the author's purpose for every character with this particular line. Ms. Sandovici did so well with this story, especially including Texas as one of the locations. I give it 4 stars because I couldn't stop thinking about it each time I had to stop reading. True to its genre and compelling from beginning to end, this one is a gem of a read.
Review team member, The Ambitious Reader
Review team member, The Ambitious Reader
July 15, 2020
I like the way the author tells this story. While Ana is doing outrageous things, she is likeable and made me laugh at times. She wants to know what really happened to her parents and why she has been abandoned (in her mind). She does the only thing that seems logical to her in a last ditch effort... go to the source. She seeks out Richard, the man her mother was writing a letter to when she died. She only has a couple of days before Rogers, her guardian, comes to take her off to yet another boarding school. We also get the back story of two men who grow up together but come from very different backgrounds and see how their childhood and teen years, form them. While some of the characters are at times, downright despicable, they do redeem themselves. I thought the ending was good, bringing everything full circle and giving hope to Ana.
This book would be for adults as the title says.
I received a free copy and voluntarily provided this review.
This book would be for adults as the title says.
I received a free copy and voluntarily provided this review.
July 22, 2021
I read the first manuscript of the book in high school. Elena and I were classmates and I remember she wrote the book in the 10th grade. At that time I wanted her to write faster so that I could see what was going to happen in the end.
Although she re-wrote the book I read so many years ago, I enjoyed a lot reading it now with the same excitement. It's definitely a page turner. Once I started it, I could not put it down. And... I liked both Anna and Richard a lot. <3
I hope Elena writes a sequel to it.
Well done, girl!
Although she re-wrote the book I read so many years ago, I enjoyed a lot reading it now with the same excitement. It's definitely a page turner. Once I started it, I could not put it down. And... I liked both Anna and Richard a lot. <3
I hope Elena writes a sequel to it.
Well done, girl!
July 20, 2021
Wow!
Great read! What a surprise! I really had no idea what this book would be about. I loved the main character, Anna, and the unfolding of her personality and story; So many great characters and interesting the storyline. Talk about complicated...! But in the end, a very redeeming and hopeful new beginning.
Great read! What a surprise! I really had no idea what this book would be about. I loved the main character, Anna, and the unfolding of her personality and story; So many great characters and interesting the storyline. Talk about complicated...! But in the end, a very redeeming and hopeful new beginning.
November 12, 2023
This book is full of sex, mystery, international travel, heartbreak, and humor. What’s not to like? It has something for everyone.
Definitely a five star read! I love the author’s style.
Definitely a five star read! I love the author’s style.
November 11, 2017
Good book!
As I began reading this book I had some doubts about it. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it. However, it was very good! Mainstream it intensifying!
As I began reading this book I had some doubts about it. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it. However, it was very good! Mainstream it intensifying!
December 17, 2021
Good read. While it was sometimes uncomfortable, the story was good and kept me interested to learn what happened to her mother.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews