Book Review · Books

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley [BOOK REVIEW]

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley [BOOK REVIEW]

The Seven Sisters is one of those books that whilst you read it, you know you’re reading something special. And once you’re finished, you wish you could read it again for the very first time.

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 622

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis:

Maia D’Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantis”—a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings.

Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision. Izabela—passionate and longing to see the world—convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski’s studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meets ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again.

Thoughts:

“Well, as a true artist knows, every rule is there to be broken, every barrier to be pulled down. We have one life, mademoiselle, and we must live it as we choose.”

The book holds so many stories, each of them beautiful and intriguing in their own way. First, we dive into Atlantis, in Pa Salt’s world – and meet his six adoptive daughters. Pa’s death gathers all sisters together and we get the glimpse of their personalities.

But this book’s focus is on Maya, the oldest sister. From Switzerland, her destiny brings her to sunny Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and through the streets of Paris, France. Through Maya, we go a few decades back and witness another love story, also shared between Brazil and France, with the connection of how the Cristol got built and the many secrets that structure holds. Every page kept me glued to the book and I couldn’t put it down in the evenings.

Between three different timelines and two love stories, I thought I’ll have a hard time remembering everything. But the story is so well written that not once did I have an issue. Firstly, I loved getting to know all the sisters. The family dynamic reminded me a bit of the Umbrella Academy. I also loved getting to know Maya and through her -Bel. Bel’s story was heart-wrenching. Her sacrificing her own happiness just to please her family was truly heartbreaking. I loved watching her blossom in Paris and I also enjoyed that the statue of Cristo was part of the love story and the book.

Lucinda combined history and fiction and created a masterpiece. I will cherish this book so much and cannot wait until I get my hands on the next one. Five amazing stars from me.

“I think we often don’t deserve what we get. But then, maybe in the future we get what we deserve.”

About The Author:

The Seven Sisters (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley [BOOK REVIEW]

AKA: Lucinda Edmonds
Lucinda Riley was born in Northern Ireland. After an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four. Her books are translated into thirty-seven languages and sold thirty million copies worldwide. She is a No.1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.

Lucinda’s The Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of adopted sisters. It is inspired by the mythology of the famous star cluster, has become a global phenomenon. The series is a No.1 bestseller across the world with total sales of over fifteen million copies.

Lucinda and her family divided their time between the UK and a farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, where she wrote her books.

Social Media:
| WishlistKo-fi | FacebookTwitterGoodreadsInstagramPinterest |

Book Review · Books

The Love Letter by Lucinda Riley [BOOK REVIEW]

The Love Letter by Lucinda Riley [BOOK REVIEW]

★★★

The Love Letter was my first book by Lucinda Riley, and I can’t believe I haven’t read a book by this author before. This is a magnificent book, full of secrets, forbidden romances and unsolved mysteries of the past.

Synopsis:

Set in London in 1995, this book starts off when Sir James Harrison passes away. He was one of the greatest actors of his generation. During his funeral, a lot of people gather, considering how impactful he was. Among them, one old woman, that sits alone in the crowd…

Joanna Haslam is a young journalist, and she is assigned to cover the actor’s funeral. Many famous celebrities will be there, and she can’t miss this moment. But something else captures her attention. An old woman, that shares a secret letter Harrison left behind, which needs to keep a secret forever.

The closer she gets to tracking down the source, the more she realises how dangerous this secret is. Many people are interested to keep this letter a secret, and they’ll stop at nothing.

My Thoughts:

The Love Letter is a book my mum chose for me, when “Mama Pick” came up on my TBR game. It’s a book she really enjoyed and I am so glad I was able to share this with her. I am very excited to see what she’ll pick next when the next prompt comes up for her.

I find it very intriguing that there seems to be a certain mysteriousness of the censure this book received. It was mentioned in the acknowledgments that some obstacles occured with the ability to get it published, due to the fact that there is a royal family involved, even though a fictional one.

The Love Letter is mysterious from the very beginning, when Joanna meets the old lady. Little does she know that she will be involved with keeping a very dangerous secret that happened many moons ago. Things start to get very interesting when the reporter gets close to the actor’s family. Each of these individuals keeps their own little secrets too, and everyone keeps playing games to their own liking.

The storytelling, the characters and the many plot twists were incredible.

I was turning the pages so fast, desperate to see what happens next. Desperate for more. I was eager to discover all their secrets and found myself hoping for their wellbeing. The plot twists would happen in places I would least expect and I loved the ending.

The Love Letter takes you to a very different set of culture, and reading this in 2020, I could easily notice it is set in 1995. There are many small things in the book that happen, which reminded me that time has passed since, and I really enjoyed that. It has been a while since I have read something over two decades ago.

A wonderful fiction, full with secrets, drama, suspense and a bit of romance. I loved every single moment of it. Lucinda Riley is definitely an author I will read more books from in the future.

Purchase Links:
Amazon UK | Amazon US

Social Media:
| WishlistKo-fi | FacebookTwitterGoodreadsInstagramPinterest |