On her very first morning on the stunning island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and instantly dislikes him. So she feels particularly affronted when he kisses her in the darkened ruins of a Roman Villa.
Five years later, when Lucie is weekending in East Hampton with her fiancé, George makes an unexpected appearance. Even more unexpected is the way Lucie feels drawn to him.
Before long Lucie finds herself spinning a web of deceit involving her family, her fiancé and above all, herself.
Can she deny George entry into her world – and ultimately, her heart?
I requested this title from NetGalley on a bit of a whim. Even though I have heard rave reviews for the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, it wasn’t something I was inclined to pick up. However, it was these high recommendations that made me pause whilst scrolling and decide to give this one a go, and I have to say I’m really glad I did.
This book is split into two parts plus an epilogue; the first part being set on Capri where Lucie first meets George. I have to say whilst I was reading this section, this book was getting a solid 5 stars from me. Having visited the island twice myself, the descriptions were spot on and instantly transported me there. I did feel, perhaps, that Lucie was a little naive for her age, but I was willing to believe she had led somewhat of a sheltered life up until this point. George seemed sweet, if a little odd, from the very beginning and I could only put Lucie’s hatred of him down to her own confusion and inability to deal with her emotions.
However, as the storytelling moved into Part 2, and ahead 5 years, it kind of lost its spark for me. Here we find Lucie engaged to be married and yet she is still as blindingly ingenuous and incapable of dealing with her feelings. This is not helped by the constant ‘pecking’ from her entitled and overindulged family members, who consistently make her feel like the poor relation due to her half-Chinese heritage. The only shining lights in this portion were Marion, Freddie and Mrs Zao, who considering were also extremely wealthy, acted like normal people. Although, I did catch myself laughing out loud at Cecil frequently, his stupidity did lend a certain comedic value.
That aside, I can see why Kwan has been such a hit. I enjoyed his writing style immensely and felt the slightly satirical prose flowed well making my actual reading of the story effortless. I have since ordered the CRA Trilogy and can’t wait to immerse myself in those, as I have seen many reviewers claim they are laugh out loud hilarious. Negative points notwithstanding, I would still highly recommend reading this book.
** Thanks to Random House UK Cornerstone, via NetGalley, for this ARC **
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