Gwenn Wright

Fantastic read! I was all in with Katherine & Viktor from the beginning. I was annoyed at how often Katherine's physical frailty was referenced, especially by pain-in-the-tush sister, Henrietta because it was so clear that her spirit far exceeded any limitations her physical being held her to. I worried when Katherine worried that she'd never see Viktor again & I worried when it was evident that Viktor's father was a terrible sort & not good to his son at all. I have to admit that almost immediately took to our modern day girl Rocky. She had a wit & voice that came through quite clearly & I enjoyed the journey with her. I was glad when she escaped harrier moments & hoped for things to work out well. William was enigma enough that I was pulling for him & even felt sympathy for him being on the receiving end of the, not always deserved, sharper edge of Rocky's tongue.

Both heroines initially suffer a bit from some sort of ego malady that brings out their mean/snarky to guys they like & then they are more offended when the guy either takes it or doesn't. I think it's supposed to be endearing in its irrationality but I find it annoying IRL & in literature. At least with Rocky, she does, at times, acknowledge the idiocy of that particular trait. I also found Peter squickworthy from jump & was glad that Rocky had reservations but I was annoyed that even with her reservations she always kept leaving the door open for him, especially when it was usually because she didn't have William to do whatever it was that she wanted or it served her ego in some shallow way. But if she hadn't, there'd be less tension & this story gives that to spare. Anyway, the mystery of the families, what became of the daughters Demure, what's happened these six generations up to Rocky & how the odd Drexlers are connected (because we know it isn't just a legal thing) are what also lock you in to this story until the very last.

I gave 4 stars because the Kindle edition does need some cleaning up what with typos & errors here & there but that does not tarnish the plot & that's what keeps you tapping your Kindle for the next page. And now I must dash, I need to get on to the next book in the series. ;)… (més)

If it weren't for William Drexler III (who for some reason, is not called Will or Tripp by anyone) & his family's backstory, I would not have made it through. I quite liked William in the first installment & was glad to find he would be taking us forward this time. Learning about what ails his psyche was a good time. The courtship of his parents & what became of his mother were all bits that added to figuring out who William is. And we got to see more of Abbie. I was glad of that because from the brief intro to her character in Filter, I'd hoped (& thought) that there was a story there. She's more a peer of William even though he's drawn to Rocky. And after Rocky-the-Wishy-Washy in Filter, I was happy to see William stick to what he said & extricate himself from the "complication" that their relationship was turning into. That's not a total slam to Rocky, she's had a lot going on & needs time to sort herself out. She can seek out William after she's a little more settled. Anyway, I was still left with wanting to know more about what makes William, The Second, tick. I imagine there's more to come on that front & the whole Drexler situation as we proceed through the saga & given how this book ended, there had better be!

Now for what I didn't like. Maria Smythe! Not since Bella Swan have I so wanted to tell a girl to shut up! I did not like her. I tried & then I decided that she wasn't doing enough for me to try so hard. Her voice was irritating & her constant derision & condescension for anyone who wasn't what she thought was exactly worthy wore on me fairly early. She never seemed interested in helping anyone to see her point of view, she'd already decided they weren't worth the energy. Self-involved much, Maria? She spent the vast majority of the book making the point that Henrietta & Katie are basically twits & have never been on her side (hence the reinforcement of she & Viktor against the world) & then when things go sideways, she's all "two more of the five people I've cherished most in life are now gone from my life too". She never sounded like she cherished them one bit so I didn't believe it & didn't empathize. I also didn't believe the one time Maria mentions that she & Katie though different, had always been the best of allies. It does not coalesce with anything else she tells us about her sister & their relationship throughout the entire book & didn't ring true. Honestly, I feel badly that Maria is Katherine's legacy. Katherine deserved better.

And then there's Viktor. I so loved him in Filter & this time around I found that I didn't like him very much. I wanted to give Viktor the benefit of the doubt but honestly, so much of what happened to he & Katherine in Filter was due to secrets being kept & his desire to "shelter & protect". We all know how badly that ended the first time so, that he was once again in that wheelhouse put me off. I understand it's a complex situation but it's been eighteen or so years & he's had plenty of time for reflection & introspection to have identified where things went wrong & what could have been a better course. Why he didn't display any growth in this way is beyond me. He had sense enough to be cautious & give Maria the chance to be a modern woman who is able to make her own way in the world but no clarity on giving her information that he knows may make the difference in her safety & possible survival from the horror that is Klaus von Strassenberg. WHAT?!!

Then there's Viktor's obvious disdain for Henrietta, (who I will freely admit was a pill in Filter) & his own daughter. Apparently Henrietta didn't grow one iota in the eighteen years that have elapsed either. Not after having been on the run with Viktor & baby Maria in the initial days of their escape in Filter or ever after. By all accounts, she is still only concerned with balls, money & marrying well & is living vicariously through her daughter Katie now. None of the tragedy of Katherine's life has made any lasting impression on her though she's been in necessary but self-imposed exile from the Demure family, lo these many years & is on board with Viktor's escape plan should they ever need to employ it. Again... WHAT?! Maybe this is to justify Viktor's dismissive tone with her & their daughter but I didn't like it. It felt like he scorned his own daughter for not being Katherine's & lavished all his attention & effort on Maria. When the guy is dying & all his thoughts revolve solely around Maria & none on how his own progeny will fare after his demise, I don't have a lot of sympathy to dole out. Sorry.

The little of Henrietta & Katie we actually get to witness is at the very end & I didn't think either of them was so terrible. It is possible to like clothes, shoes & parties & still be a capable woman. Maybe it's written so black & white because the characters are on the cusp of changing society but it gets tedious to have such myopically deep sides drawn by narrative characters. As to Katie, I found lots of empathy for this fourteen year old girl in the brief time we see her near the end. She didn't need a lot of time to make me care & honestly, I was relieved that we finally get the answer to the Drexler association. I hope to see her again in future installments.

All in all, I gave this 4 out of 5 stars because I still very much like the story & have grown attached to some of the characters. There were fewer typos & errors in this Kindle version than in the first, so that was welcome. It could still do with a bit of clean up but it's a lot better. I look forward to the next installment & hope to see the characters grow & evolve. I would like less mention of eye color & physical size with the characters we already know. If it's mentioned once for new characters, readers should pick up on the significance at this point in the saga & it just becomes repetitive annoyance, especially when the character is going on about their own physical traits (see: Maria). The mysteries are still unfolding & we're at quite a cliffhanger so I'm very interested in how it all works out.… (més)

**originally posted on www.bunnycates.com **Loved. It.How’s that for a professional review? haha. Seriously! OMGosh you guys. When I finished reading this book, it was like 3am. I ran upstairs where my Mr. was in his office and tossed the book in his lap, then I just started telling him about it. When I get excited I talk REALLY fast and I forget to breath. So, when I was finished, I leaned against the door and fake smoked a fake cigarette with a HUGE intake of air. He just looked up at me and said “So… you liked it then?” UGH!!! I could’ve punched him in the face! haha!!!How to review this story without giving away too much of the plot, hmmm…Filter is book one of a series, and thus the beginning of the story. In this installment we are following two timelines of events: the late 1800s and present day St. Louis. Told through alternating P.O.V. we meet the 1800’s young Katherine, and we also meet present day Rocky. Normally, I am not a fan of the alternating point of views in a book. It usually ends up distracting from the story instead of enhancing. However, in Filter, the author has written the p,o.v. transitions with such skill that the story just flows through the changes. I can’t imagine it being written any other way.I have to admit, I loved the Katherine/Viktor storyline (picture me saying “Veek-tor”, lol). There, I admitted it. I can no longer deny that I enjoy romance. *sigh* What has happened to me?! Katherine, a prominent St Louis attorney’s sickly headstrong daughter. Viktor a foreign Dr/Scientists sickly and handsome son. Meet. Sparks. Parents forbid them to be together. Ahh, young love.Rocky’s storyline: I headstrong orphaned teen, who flees to St. Louis on the hopes of finding her own path (and a promise of wealth through an unlikely bloodline). She is strong, independent, and smart. Usually. And “the Third”. OMG, *swoon*… yes, “the Third” makes my toes curl and my face to girl giggle…haha.How they are connected is a mystery, and the story is basically page after page of adventure as we try to fit together the pieces of the puzzle. The story is dark, gothic, romantic, and tragic. Yep, Ole Miss Bunny Cates cried her face off toward the end. When you finish a book, and you have to smoke a fake cigarette…that’s when you know you’ve read something amazing. I totally recommend this one for anyone who enjoys: historical fiction, romance, suspense, mystery, yaREAD IT. You’ll thank me for it, promise.… (més)