I don't read historical fiction all that often, you guys know I stick to my thrillers with a rom com or some women's fiction thrown in for some variety, but every time I do switch to a historical novel I wonder why I don't read more of them?! The Way of Beauty was such a gorgeous book in every single way, it was so amazing that I'm going to be reading DiMaio's other books ASAP.
The first half is set in the 1900's and told from Vera's perspective beginning when she's just five years old and it follows her up until her early twenties. Much of her story revolves around the suffrage movement and while I had a basic grasp of what went on, this book definitely taught me more and it was fascinating. These women were warriors in lipstick, such strong and inspiring people, it was fantastic to read about this movement in detail. The second half follows Vera's daughter, Alice beginning in the 1940's so you still get to check in with Vera which was cool. I absolutely adored both of these women and DiMaio created such beautiful and heartbreaking stories for both of them. They were both incredibly well drawn, I felt like I knew both of their hopes, dreams and fears and I wanted what was best for them in the end.
The setting of NYC was so vividly imagined, I'm telling you guys DiMaio is an amazingly detailed writer and the style was part romantic, a dreamy type of wonder and part crisp, cool containment, it worked so well for me. There is some epic romance as well, swoon worthy stuff, but not the cheesy type, the kind that makes you sigh in contentment. This one broke my heart in it's beauty one minute and made me ecstatically happy the next, if you're a fan of HF this is a must read!
The Way of Beauty in three words: Moving, Tender and Compassionate.
This is the third book in a series that's set in an idyllic small town I Colorado, I read the second book last year and was excited to catch up with the characters again. You could easily jump in at any point, these books read fine as a standalone, although it was nice to see some familiar characters as secondary characters this time around. Last book it was Sierra's story and this one focused on her brother, Dakota.
Carr writes the type of romance novels that I can handle, they're not over the top gushy or unrealistic with insta love and other overdone tropes. She creates genuine, true to life characters and scenarios that are just so easy to get lost in. Dakota isn't necessarily looking for love, but he's not adverse to casual flings and though he has plenty of offers when he moves to town, he has eyes for only one lady, Sid. I like the whole play hard to get storyline but this was deeper than that, it wasn't two flat characters playing games, it was two damaged grown adults who went into a relationship in a mature fashion, I love that!
This is just a really smooth read, it wasn't all about the romance there was family issues and several serious complications, lots going on to keep you engaged. Carr is an excellent storyteller, she reels you in and makes you become invested in her characters, I'm totally in love with this little town and it's residents and can't wait to catch up with them again!
The Family Gathering in three words: Authentic, Charming and Heartwarming.
I'm assuming anyone who has Bachelor Nation on their TBR is either a fan of the show or they "hate" watch it like I do. If you've never watched the show then this book won't appeal to you at all, but if you haven't HOW have you escaped it?! It's such a pop culture phenomenon that I'm genuinely curious.
example of my frustration was that the bachelor was like twelve years older than one of the front runners. She was over eighteen, who cares, right? It only annoyed me because it was guarded like some sort of state secret, she was the only contestant without a name attached to her bio. I had to Google to find out how old she was and I was just annoyed by the whole thing, it felt like a cheap way to create drama when really, putting her age like all of the other women would've been the right thing to do, she was clearly very young, but again NO ONE cared until it became this very noticeable difference. So as you can see by my ranting, I truly do hate watch, but I really couldn't pass up an opportunity to read a book that promised juicy details and behind the scenes information about a totally addictive show. Did it deliver? Mostly.
Kaufman is clearly well versed in all things The Bachelor related, she knows her stuff and while she did have a few juicy stories, most of what she discussed was stuff I already knew or assumed. Let me clarify, there's a show called Unreal, it's a scripted series about the producers of a bachelor style show co created by a woman who used to be a producer on The Bachelor. Still with me? This show opened up my eyes about how much producers actually manipulate contestants into doing things on these type of reality shows. Sure, it's a TV show so obviously there's some exaggeration, but my point is that some of Kaufman's reveals were less than shocking to me. Now that's not to say that they weren't interesting and entertaining, but never before revealed? Eh, not exactly.
So what kept me turning pages? Kaufman's writing style for one, I felt like I was chatting with a friend about this train wreck of a show, albeit a friend that's met most of the former cast mates, but her style really read like a laid back, gossipy conversation you would have with a buddy. She is snarky and funny and this was a fast paced read, she snagged some pretty big names as far as past contestants go and her overall knowledge was impressive. Read this if you're a fan of the show and don't know some of the inner workings.