Under the Spanish Stars in Aussie Readers

Feb 26, 2019 Brenda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, 2016-release, own-read, aussie-authors, read-on-kindle

Charlotte Kavanagh’s Abuela, her grandmother, Katarina Sanchez was desperately ill after a heart attack. Safely tucked away in a hospital in Melbourne, with her brother Steve, and parents keeping an eye on her, Charlotte had travelled to Granada, Spain in search of answers for Abuela. Katarina had been a flamenco dancer in Spain, one of the very best in the 1940s. She had been given a painting by her father before he died, and Abuela was finally in need of answers to all she’d held inside over t ...more

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Feb 12, 2021 Tien rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-author, kindle, romance, spain

I was having a very cranky day so I decided to turn to a much loved author. A romantic historical fiction featuring dance?! YES, please! Soon as hubby got the kids up for their bedtime routine, I sat & read and didn't stop 'til way past midnight. I feel so much better...

The protagonist, Charlotte Kavanagh, was charged by her abuela (grandmother) to uncover the mystery of a painting she had inherited from her father. Despite all Charlotte's misgivings, she left her abuela recovering at the hospit ...more

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Jan 30, 2016 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, arc, australian, aww2016

Under The Spanish Stars is the second full length novel from Alli Sinclair and main character Charlotte is tasked with traveling to Spain to uncover the truth about a painting that her grandmother has kept in her possession her whole life. Although Charlotte knew her grandmother had been born in Spain and lived there until her 20s, her grandmother rarely ever spoke of her life there and discouraged questions. Charlotte is intrigued by what she could find out on her mission, although time of not Under The Spanish Stars is the second full length novel from Alli Sinclair and main character Charlotte is tasked with traveling to Spain to uncover the truth about a painting that her grandmother has kept in her possession her whole life. Although Charlotte knew her grandmother had been born in Spain and lived there until her 20s, her grandmother rarely ever spoke of her life there and discouraged questions. Charlotte is intrigued by what she could find out on her mission, although time of not something she has a lot of as her grandmother is ill in hospital and Charlotte wants to be able to deliver her the answers she seeks quickly.

And so Charlotte, who has spent the past few years being responsible, working her responsible job in the family insurance company, takes some leave and departs for Spain. There she meets with a professor about the painting who tells who she believes may have painted the painting that Charlotte seeks information on. In order to try and learn more, she is directed to seek out Mateo Vives, a flamenco guitarist who might not only be able to help Charlotte on her quest….but help her rediscover parts of herself that she has been keeping hidden.

I really enjoyed Charlotte’s journey both to find the information her grandmother needs as well as her journey in discovering her real self. Charlotte has an artist’s soul but her practical father has kind of insisted that she tamper it down because it rarely pays the bills. It’s an eternal struggle for Charlotte, who she wants to be versus who others want her to be. Before going to Spain she doesn’t have the confidence or the self-belief to give things another to, to take that step and say ok, I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do next but it doesn’t matter.

As well as Charlotte’s story, Under The Spanish Stars also takes us back in time to explore more of Charlotte’s grandmother Katarina’s past. I know next to nothing about Spanish history, so I found a lot of the snippets of life during that time somewhat fascinating and kept making little notes for myself on things to read up on further when I’d finished the novel. I actually found Katarina’s story really engaging and wished it made up a larger portion of the novel. Although I enjoyed Charlotte and her journey, I think the mystery and intrigue surrounding Katarina and her past had much more potential and could’ve been a larger part of the story.

I do have admit that both elements of romance in the book didn’t really work for me. I didn’t find much interesting about Mateo at all and I found his and Charlotte’s chemistry quite lacklustre. I think I actually enjoyed the parts of the book he wasn’t in more than the ones he was and his particular way of speaking got a bit grating after a while ie “you are doing the joking again?” and “you have done the driving in Spain?” etc. This very well may be the way Spanish people speak English, I don’t know. The only person I’ve known who spoke Spanish was an El Salvadorean married to my cousin and his English was probably better than mine. Likewise the romance wasn’t the most interesting part of Katarina’s story either, instead I found her personality and determination as well as the mystery surrounding the painting and her heritage to be the most interesting aspects of the story surrounding her. I also liked learning about the gitana families, the Spanish gypsies who have their own very particular culture and customs. Fortunately for me, the romance wasn’t a huge aspect of the book and I was able to focus on the other parts that did work for me. ...more

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Jan 18, 2016 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out marked it as to-read

Shelves: arc-are, provided-by-publisher, aussie-author

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