Nothing about the book was worth the $2 I spent on the book. Characters were insipid, dull and disjointed lay written. Never bothered to finish the last 2/3rd’s of the book.

This book was a good mix of romance, mystery and sorrow. It started out pretty slow in the beginning but once you get about 60% in, you really start to put all the pieces together. I did end up having to use an online family tree charting tool because I couldn’t keep track of all the different characters and how they were connected. The different accents on the audiobook definitely helped me keep track of who was who though.

Very good book, highly recommend.

I liked the concept but it quickly became just another mediocre romance story. The story is predictable. It’s supposed to feature a series of strong women but they are only strong when supported by handsome , broad shouldered men. Ugh

3.5 is more accurate to my rating. Definitely short of four. I admit when I first saw this book -- written by three bestselling authors --two of whom I have read many times and admire -- I was put off. It smacked of gimmickry. (Was this just an easy way for successful authors to make an extra buck?) But as the book progressed, I mostly got passed that. Mostly. It's an historical novel that spans half of the 20th century, made up of three distinct narratives, with parts of each story taking place at the prestigious Ritz Hotel in Paris. (I assume each of the three authors penned one of the three stories, but that's pure conjecture.) The Stories (no spoilers): 1914 - During World War I, a centuries-old noble French family (de Courcelles) with a castle in the countryside find their daughter (Aurelie) caught between her loyalty to family and country and her attraction to an occupying German solider. 1942 - While French housewife (Daisy) and her two young children benefit from her husband's collaboration with the occupying Nazis, Daisy increasingly finds her loyalty to her husband at odds with her desire to help her country. 1964 - a dowdy and recently widowed Brit, with three nearly-grown children, heads to France to try to discover the truth behind a woman her late husband loved during World War II. Naturally, the three stories turn out to be linked, though it takes a bit to figure out how. In each there is budding romance (of course), a few family secrets, women coming into their own, and children working out issues with parents. Unfortunately, I found I was able to accurately predict where each story would lead and how the secrets, once exposed, would impact each storyline. So there were very few surprises for me. This is another one of those novels where chapters jump around from story to story, from time period to time period -- a structure so many contemporary authors use, which I often find annoying and unnecessary. These story threads could just as easily have been three sequential stories, which would have been much easier to follow. Instead I had to track three separate plots with three distinct sets of characters. And instead of building suspense (I assume that is what authors using this technique are trying to do), all that jumping around just makes it harder for me to immerse myself into each. Overall, it's a quick read with plenty of drama. But I don't expect I'll pick up another book collaboration by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White. (There are two others.)

I really like these three authors, but they really need to pop a little more “lightness and hope” in their stories.