The Botticelli Secret

This story was set in a different place and time than I've read about and some of the content bit more crude and bloody in places than I'm used to. The writing style at first through the character of Luciana made me cringe and I actually considered not going further than chapter 5 because it seemed a poor match, but I persevered and it turned out to be an incredible read for me (one of my favourites of this year which seems like a big u-turn!) The characters definitely grew on me but I'm not sure if it's because I got used to the narration style or if it did tone down.

There was a sweet romance was running throughout the story in a slow burn manner, yet there was more drama and danger to the story to keep me engrossed too in the meantime. I was eager to continue with the adventure which is a sign of a great read for me.

I am very much inspired to explore more about 15th century Italy and try some more stories from the author in 2024.

This was sort of like historical fiction meets Dan brown. The story centers around Sandro Botticelli's masterpiece Primavera, the hidden clues within etc. It kept me interested for the most part, but could have probably lost about 50 pages in the middle as it seemed to drag a bit. Overall a good read though.