Where treasure hides
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15
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"Artist Alison Schuyler spends her time working in her family?s renowned art gallery, determined to avoid the curse that has followed the Schuyler clan from the Netherlands to America and back again. She?s certain that true love will only lead to tragedy?that is, until a chance meeting at Waterloo station brings Ian Devlin into her life. Drawn to the bold and compassionate British Army captain, Alison begins to question her fear of love as World War II breaks out, separating the two and drawing each into their own battles. While Ian fights for freedom on the battlefield, Alison works with the Dutch Underground to find a safe haven for Jewish children and priceless pieces of art alike. But safety is a luxury war does not allow. As time, war, and human will struggle to keep them apart, will Alison and Ian have the faith to fight for their love, or is it their fate to be separated forever?"--Amazon.com.
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This book had a lot of potential and some good aspects. But overall, I didn't enjoy it that much, and had quite a few problems with it.
It follows two main characters, Alison and Ian, throughout their individual and joined stories. Alison is an artist, assisting her family at their art gallery, and she helps hide valuable artworks from thieving Nazis. Ian is a lieutenant in the British army, sent to fight as World War 2 breaks out.
I didn't connect with the characters or the plot, maybe because the story jumped around a LOT. We'd regularly skip over months of time passing, and occasionally seemed to skip important events and just describe them later. There were also a lot of random short POV changes that got a little jarring. It was hard to stay invested in anything.
Also, this was the most extreme case of “insta-love” I have ever seen. Slight spoiler- they fall in love on page 4. And Alison keeps holding on to this ridiculous superstition of a “family curse,” longer than was believable.
This book was brutal. I know that's true to the historical time period, but it was shown so graphically that I found myself skimming large sections, horrified at the violence and cruelty. They seemed to be thrown in just for shock value.
The overall theme was an exploration of the “Mona Lisa Question”- if you were in a fire and only had time to save either the Mona Lisa or a person, what would you do? That premise is interesting- discussing the value of art verses human beings- but only if done well. And only if it ends with the conclusion that humans are more valuable than even priceless artwork. I didn't think this book handled the question as well as it should've, especially for Christian fiction.
It's hard for me to write such a negative review. It was a well written book, and there were some sweet and meaningful moments. Maybe for the right audience it would work well. But it definitely was not the book for me.
