Chanell

I don't understand the hype about this book. The plot meanders, the character development of the protagonist (and really every other character, too) is about as deep as a kiddie pool, and the writing is beyond purple. It took me weeks to drag myself through this book because the story was just so boring.

You cannot convince me that after living 300 years, the only notable stories to tell involve the reaping of Beethoven's soul and dining with the devil a few times. Yawn. What a missed opportunity to go full “Forrest Gump” and insert a character into some fascinating historical events. I also can't be convinced that Addie encounters only one person of color, Bea, who is repeatedly (and basically) only described as “beautiful.” That's it. Nothing more.

There's also a decent amount of repetition in the story - descriptive phrases, the plot/scenes in France, etc. - for no apparent reason. Why do we have to hear about Addie's freckles (yes, I know they distinguish her forgettable face, but c'mon...) or Luc's curls and eyes on every page?!

And the ending leaves the story open to a sequel, which boggles the mind. I couldn't imagine reading 400 more pages of this and would avoid it like the plague.

I was so confused by this book. All of the characters are complete caricatures to the point where I thought the author was trying to make a statement about stereotyping. And then I realized that the joke was on me - she's being totally serious in her representations. Oh. My. Gosh. There are so many infuriatingly unbelievable parts of this book that I don't even want to relive them long enough in my head to write them down here.

Two huge things irked me to no end: The “relationship” between Kelley and Emira was laughable. She's immature with nothing to offer an almost middle-aged man, so where's the draw? How am I to believe this is a real relationship? It was so unbelievable that I was sure that he had been stalking Alex/Alix and trying to involve himself in her life by dating her sitter. How disappointing to know the author was actually trying to portray a legitimate relationship. Yikes!

The scenes with both sets of friends made me want to cringe. None of the friends had any depth and they were all cookie-cutter stereotypes. And the slang used within Emira's group was so overdone. We get it, they're young Black women, but the author seems to insinuate that their ethnicities cancel out the fact that they're also college-educated professionals.

Ugh, I'm getting angry all over again about these stupid characters. Save yourself the trouble and skip this book.