Hey y’all! I get to be part of another book release blog tour today. How much fun is that? So, without further ado, here we go:
A Beauty Refined
By Tracie Peterson
Find it on:
Third-Person
4 Points of view (I think)
Fiction
320 Pages
About the Book (Backcover Blurb):
Phoebe Von Bergen is excited to accompany her father when he travels from Germany to purchase sapphires in Montana. Little does she know that her father’s plans–for the gemstones and his daughter–are not what they seem.
Ian Harper, a lapidary working in Helena, finds the young woman staying at the Broadwater Hotel more than a little intriguing. Yet the more he gets to know her, the more he realizes that her family story is based on a lie–a lie she has no knowledge of. And Ian believes he knows the only path that will lead her to freedom.
Meeting Ian has changed everything. Phoebe is determined to stay in America, regardless of her father’s plans. But she may not be prepared for the unexpected danger as the deception begins to unravel.
Why I Choose this Book:
I’ve read a couple of other Historical Fiction books by Tracie Peterson that I enjoyed a lot. Historical Fiction is one of my favorite genres to read, as long as they aren’t too romantic. Note: After I read this book and didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, I looked back and saw I only gave two stars to the last Tracie Peterson (co-authored) book I read…
What I Thought About this Book:
Hum… This book. It had so much promise. And then it fell rather flat for me. It still (barely) squeaked 3 out of 5 stars for me though (4 out of 10), and so I figured the best thing I could do was write a pros and cons list for you.
Reasons I liked the book:
* The plot was intriguing
* I liked the main character (at least to begin with)
* The writing style felt unique to me. For a while I couldn’t tell if the writing was actually a pro or con, but it drew me in and kept my interest, so I decided it was a pro
* Although I wouldn’t say the main characters were unique as far as characters go, they were easy to distinguish from each other and I never got them confused
* I liked Kenny and felt as if he was well-written
* Hearing about the jewels was interesting
* I liked where it was set and reading about the lifestyle the FMC (female main character) was used to
* As someone who cooks a lot, it was pretty cool to hear all the meal descriptions
Reasons I didn’t like the book:
* It felt like the author took a great story and massacred it. I’m pretty sure I would have enjoyed the story far more if it had just been told from one point of view. As it was, we saw something happen, then heard about it as the next character found out about it, and then again with a third character. It was tedious and made the book feel really slow
* The Romance. Oh help us all… It wasn’t that anything necessarily inappropriate happened between the FMC and MMC (male main character), but wow. I have a huge, huge, huge problem with the romance in most books because it’s like “Oh, look! A good-looking human. I’ve never fallen in love before even though I’m twenty-two years old, but I think I’ll do so at this very moment after seeing him twice in my life.” Please, no. I would consider what they had to be infatuation, or a crush. Not love.
I don’t think the book would have lost anything if it would have taken out the “romance” and it probably would have garnered at least half a star more from me. (I don’t recall the romance being a huge part of the story, it was just glaring.)
* A lot of the story ended up feeling trite and cliché and made me want to shake my head
* I wish we wouldn’t have had so much of the MMC’s backstory… I found the FMC much more interesting
Conclusion:
There was a little bit of violence near the end, but not too much detail. There were certainly good points in the book, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, mostly because I didn’t enjoy it.
Rating:
I’m giving A Beauty Refined 3 stars out of 5, and 4 stars out of 10.
*I received this book free from Litfuse in exchange for an honest review*
Oh! And yay, happiness! There’s a giveaway. (Remember, just cause I don’t like a book doesn’t mean you won’t!) Enter the giveaway here.
Oh! And yay, happiness! There’s a giveaway. (Remember, just cause I don’t like a book doesn’t mean you won’t!) Enter the giveaway here.
Noveltea 