I have some mixed feelings about this one. My grandmother recommended it to me in a sort of weird way where she insisted that she knew it looked like chick lit (which I didn't doubt with its cover and with an author with a name like "Belinda Alexandra") but assured me that it was and wasn't at the same time, so intrigued I decided to give it a go. As a page turner, Tuscan Rose wasn't bad at all. It was very readable and the action moved along at a good pace most of the time which I appreciated, (especially after the cripplingly boring inaction of Never Let Me Go which I read before it). Set in Florence from the years preceding WWII up until its end, the conditions of the time and place were very well researched and Alexandra creates an evocative and rich setting for the reader. One you get past the pre-war build up years (which admittedly takes far too long) and into the thick of the war, the story picks up and things get more interesting and I found that I got through the second half of the book a lot quicker. However, as always, when it comes to reviewing things I find it much easier to point out its faults rather than its merits. My biggest problem with the book starts with its characters.First off, Rosa, the heroine of the novel is an undeniable "Mary Sue". For those unfamiliar with the term, this is when an author becomes too invested in her heroine, making her too perfect, with little flaws who always does the "right" thing. This results in poorly developed characters that are too lacking in realistic qualities to be interesting. Rosa is far too perfect. From the outset of the novel is too damn perfect, to the point that it gets irritating. She's beautiful, dutiful, pious, humble, unassuming, obedient, modest, intelligent, selfless, musically gifted, linguistically gifted, a great mother, a great soldier, kind, charitable etc. etc. *WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD* Here are some points where her perfectness annoyed me:-At the Villa Scarfiotti she knows that there is some sort of conspiracy is going on from very early on and that it concerns her in some way but because she's so against gossip and she feels that she must be loyal to her employers at all times she doesn't really bother looking into anything until it's too late.-When she gets out of prison, she makes ZERO attempts to find out what the key means which is just ridiculous, we know she can't go back to the Villa Scafiotti but she knows that Ada knows what's up and she can't be bothered even attempting to get around this hurdle to find out who she is. (Could she not meet her in the village for instance?) -She basically never lets her more reckless or more passionate impulses take over and always makes the sensible choice. Other things that annoyed me about the book:- What was the point of adding a supernatural element if it was to go nowhere other than fuel some diatribe advocating the benefits of vegetarianism and the supposed barbarism or eating meat? I just found it insulting how Rosa keeps making links between people killing animals for meat which she views as cruel and unnecessary to these same people starting wars. It was just ridiculous, making Rosa "see the origin of things" just to make the reader feel guilty for participating in the circle of life. If you want your characters to not like eating meat Belinda, just don't have them eat meat. There's no need to shove your ideology down our throats with your 'visions'. The reader keeps thinking throughout the novel that Rosa's powers are going to have some sort of effect to the storyline, especially at the beginning where the spirits of the Villa are linked to her and her power, but noooopppee. Just stupid, usueless veggie propaganda. -The two romantic leads were totally flat and you never really believe that Rosa truly loves or feels any passion for either one of them. It feels like she is only attracted to Luciano and Antonio at different points in the novel because they represent good anchors on which to depend. Rosa feels drawn to Luciano initially because he offers her a job and a home and looks like a good dad for Sibilla. She keeps Antonio as a hanger on and when Luciano proves too risky she settles down with Antonio. Both relationships seemed forced and the characters just seemed like devices rather than people. She seems to give a bigger crap for literally all of the other big characters in her life rather than her two love interests (Clementina, her children, Orietta, Suor Maddelena etc.)-The whole revelation of who Nerezza is and Rosa's background was pretty disappointing. Starting with the revelation of what the key opened. They make a huge deal about the key for most of the book and when she finally finds what it opens it's totally boring. (That might be the supernatural element coming in again because she was told that the key "would protect her". How??) Even the final execution of Nerezza was unsatisfying. She didn't care that she was being killed and though Rosa at least has the balls to go through with it (I would have been super pissed if she had been too "good" to give the order just because Nerezza was her mother) it was still fairly anticlimactic. Aside from these points of irritation, Tuscan Rose wasn't a bad way to pass some time. Bought this book on the bases of the reviews I read of it and the short excerpt I heard on Audible.com. Unfortunately, my tastes seem to differ greatly from other readers of this book or I'm seriously missing something. I struggled through the first few chapters waiting to get pulled in by the story and its characters. Never happened. No kind of pull whatsoever for me. It all was a bit too far fetched for my tast and slow to boot. I finally gave up and returned the book to Audible.
What do You think about Tuscan Rose (2010)?
I thought it was an easy read, hard to put, loved it.It was a fun book
—alanc
