Firstly thank you so much to Readers First for my free copy in turn for an honest review. I was really intrigued from reading the first impression and was delighted to have the opportunity to read this book.
The Favour overall was quite a thought provoking read and proved to be a book that I quite enjoyed reading. It had me questioning ideas about being true to yourself and how far someone would go just to fit in.
The book follows Ada, who at the age of thirteen lost her father to cancer and with it her family and childhood home. This resulted in Ada feeling that she had lost a part of herself and the life she was expected and was entitled to have and live. This was a very intriguing angle which developed throughout the book.
At the age of eighteen Ada was given the opportunity to travel to Italy to visit the artistic wonders of Venice, Florence and Rome and become a Dilettanti student on a prestigious and elitist art history course. And, with this, gave Ada the opportunity to try and find her roots and get back to the elitists life she so desperately craved, desired and felt entitled to.
On the whole, I found the story a really interesting one and really enjoyed the first few chapters, although I did find the book a little slow to begin with. In particular the descriptions brought the scenes Ada was seeing in Venice to life and reminded me of times I personally spent in Italy.
The second part of the book, I felt lost the story a little bit, however the third part picked up the pace and towards the end had a lot of unexpected twists, turns and a hint of mystery thrown in. I was definitely not expecting the final twist in the Epilogue.
Additionally, I found the unfolding of the story to be a little different to what I initially expected. I thought the whole book was going to be set in Venice and during the art history course. However, the story was split between the course, their lives back home and finally a reunion back in Venice ten years later.
I quire enjoyed the way the story was presented and the sequence of events as it it gave you a glimpse of Ada's experience in Venice and how she dealt with life and the consequences afterwards.
Although, I enjoyed the book for the most part, I did feel the ending could of had more of an explanation to it and left me feeling a little confused. I'm also still wondering who the mystery person is at the very start of the book. Might have to re-read and see how many of the red-herrings and clues I can pick up on.
Furthermore, throughout the book, I found Ada a very hard character to like and at times felt very frustrated by her thoughts and her actions. At the same time though, this added a depth of intrigue to her. None of the characters in the book are particularly likeable, apart from Mallory, who I would of liked to know more about.
Overall, I feel this book has a lesson about being true to yourself and a warning that sometimes when you are trying to be someone you are not or trying to impress someone or trying to belong to something and someone things can go wrong or may not appear as they first seem, providing room for misunderstandings and misinterpretations. And in some case, as in The Favour, there can be fatal consequences with serious repercussions.
This book in some ways has left me with more questions than answers and a sense that the story in some ways felt unfinished, that there could be another chapter. I would recommend this book and will look out for more books by Laura Vaughan in the future.
The Favour overall was quite a thought provoking read and proved to be a book that I quite enjoyed reading. It had me questioning ideas about being true to yourself and how far someone would go just to fit in.
The book follows Ada, who at the age of thirteen lost her father to cancer and with it her family and childhood home. This resulted in Ada feeling that she had lost a part of herself and the life she was expected and was entitled to have and live. This was a very intriguing angle which developed throughout the book.
At the age of eighteen Ada was given the opportunity to travel to Italy to visit the artistic wonders of Venice, Florence and Rome and become a Dilettanti student on a prestigious and elitist art history course. And, with this, gave Ada the opportunity to try and find her roots and get back to the elitists life she so desperately craved, desired and felt entitled to.
On the whole, I found the story a really interesting one and really enjoyed the first few chapters, although I did find the book a little slow to begin with. In particular the descriptions brought the scenes Ada was seeing in Venice to life and reminded me of times I personally spent in Italy.
The second part of the book, I felt lost the story a little bit, however the third part picked up the pace and towards the end had a lot of unexpected twists, turns and a hint of mystery thrown in. I was definitely not expecting the final twist in the Epilogue.
Additionally, I found the unfolding of the story to be a little different to what I initially expected. I thought the whole book was going to be set in Venice and during the art history course. However, the story was split between the course, their lives back home and finally a reunion back in Venice ten years later.
I quire enjoyed the way the story was presented and the sequence of events as it it gave you a glimpse of Ada's experience in Venice and how she dealt with life and the consequences afterwards.
Although, I enjoyed the book for the most part, I did feel the ending could of had more of an explanation to it and left me feeling a little confused. I'm also still wondering who the mystery person is at the very start of the book. Might have to re-read and see how many of the red-herrings and clues I can pick up on.
Furthermore, throughout the book, I found Ada a very hard character to like and at times felt very frustrated by her thoughts and her actions. At the same time though, this added a depth of intrigue to her. None of the characters in the book are particularly likeable, apart from Mallory, who I would of liked to know more about.
Overall, I feel this book has a lesson about being true to yourself and a warning that sometimes when you are trying to be someone you are not or trying to impress someone or trying to belong to something and someone things can go wrong or may not appear as they first seem, providing room for misunderstandings and misinterpretations. And in some case, as in The Favour, there can be fatal consequences with serious repercussions.
This book in some ways has left me with more questions than answers and a sense that the story in some ways felt unfinished, that there could be another chapter. I would recommend this book and will look out for more books by Laura Vaughan in the future.