I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was quite happy to receive this thriller from NetGalley because its premise seemed so interesting. I don’t know much about the art world, but I always like to learn something new so I was looking forward to that. I also found the description of the main character to be spunky, which is always a good thing, in my opinion. So I jumped right into the story and here is my review:
Stella Da Silvera works as an art restorer at Claiborne’s Auction House. Late into the night, you can find her hard at work, restoring priceless works of art to their former duty. One night, while working on a seventeenth-century painting by Diego Velázquez, Stella hears screams from the curator’s office. At first, she considers investigating, but when the noise fades, she heads back to her studio. And that’s when she discovers a dead body along with another man with a tattooed face. After managing to escape from this man, Stella goes to the police. But upon returning to the studio, they find that the corpse has disappeared – and so has the Velázquez. Now, she is the suspect of a robbery. And the only way for Stella to save her reputation is to find the painting. Turns out, someone else is looking for her.
I could not even finish this novel. There was literally nothing I liked about this story. I thought I would find it refreshing to read about a character like Stella, who seems funny and spunky. But instead she seems remarkably stupid, and extremely lucky. The story is jumpy, there are too many random characters, and I really did not need to know more about the technical features of art. Overall, not one of my favorites, and I’m going to have to pass on this novel.
Happy reading ~