The Other Daughter: A Novel by Lauren Willig

Final Rating: 2.7/5

   I honestly applaud anyone able and brave to complete a novel from beginning to end but I won't lie- this book disappointed me. Albeit a welcoming and bubbly event that I'm sure other readers will appreciate and absolutely love, for me The Other Daughter flitted above the year 1927 and sadly danced away from so many waiting opportunities and possibilities to become more than a superficial read with historical accents tossed throughout the pages. The muted romance this novel dipped into never seemed likely and supplied only cloying and lackluster scenes that had me wishing I asked for my hat and bag at coatcheck long before that. I hate to sound harsh but I was really hoping this time, that an author would push this familiar and promising premise to the edge and explore or advance past the predictable and go for the throat instead of patting the reader on the head and then shrugging.

   I will say I did enjoy the brief pages of complicated relationships, glimpses of the psychological aftermath of the Great War and the beginning chapters. Those parts really shined brightly in this lite read and if only those parts were further explored then I may have been able to ignore some of the above negatives. I must also note sadly in addition to the above mentioned, I could guess exactly how a character would be introduced or described in physical characteristics and speech patterns pages before the main character even met them. Finally the dialogue at times completely ventured out of the setting, era and into silly with Bright Young Things discussing politics, advanced philosophy and bitter social commentary in the middle of corks popping, the shimmy, and saxophones blaring in the background. I blame myself for my disappointment being that I can never decline an invitation to visit this time period even for a few hours and I should have figured what to expect with this novel’s coverart but I was hoping to find a lot more. I suppose I could recommend this book to those readers who are looking for a quick read that touches on an fascinating time period and has muted undertones of romance with loosely bound secrets and lovely moral lessons but if you are expecting more- you may just want to hold your hat and bag in your lap.

* I would like to thank St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read The Other Daughter: A Novel 

Release Date: July 21 2015