The Mayor of Maxwell Street

I'm feeling indifferent to this book. It wasn't bad, but I didn't find it particularly good, either. The premise is solid and promises a lot. Sadly, so much of it falls flat.    Nelly is an heiress living in Chicago who is writing anonymous articles about the lives and perspectives of Black Americans. While she's content with her dreams of being a journalist, her family expects her to marry and produce children. She soon finds herself involved in a high-risk investigation.    I found this book to be far too long for the plot. So many scenes dragged on. There are some nice quotes that I saved, however, I noticed more cliched phrases than I could count. I'm not usually too bothered by those in moderation but they became distracting here. Aside from this, the writing was good.    Had I realized this was being marketed as a romance, I probably would have passed on it. Glancing at the Book of the Month summary, I assumed it would be a mystery. While there are some mysterious elements, I would use the term loosely. I really wanted to love the story. It's ultimately on me for not doing my research. 

I'm a bit torn on this one. I think the author's prose is lovely, and she did a good job of bringing us into 1920s Chicago. However, the plot got a little convoluted at times and the ending fell flat. I feel like not enough was done to convince us that the Mayor of Maxwell story was worth pursuing, and the mystery wasn't built up or fleshed out as well as it could have been. I think there are some great details and insights in this book, but they unfortunately are not enough on their own, and as a whole the book is not as effective as I was hoping it would be.