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Feb 01, 2017
This story is about a girl named Magdalena and she can read things on people's skin. Then she meets Neil who has her name on her cheek and is swept into family drama. That started when Neil's father was abandoned by his mother at birth. What I like about this book: The 3 different narrators so we can understand the story better. What I disliked: the type of writing confused me multiple times!!! I recommend this book for people who like stories multiple narrators Overall recommended From Abi ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Overall, this book was not one of my favourites. I expected something along the fantasy genre when I picked it out, not a real-world/mystery type book. The story follows a young woman, Magdalena, who can read important names and events on people’s skin. She ends up meeting Neil, the grandson of a famous writer Inga Beart because their parents knew each other and wanted to exchange Christmas gifts. The plot jumps back and forth through time, but essentially long ago Neil’s father was abandoned by Inga, and now Neil’s father is investigating records of his mother’s time in Paris. At the same time, Magdalena is recovering from her friend’s death and going on a pilgrimage to Spain. Neil is working on a school project in Paris and also going back and forth making discoveries about Inga and trying to search for Magdalena. What I liked: I personally enjoy piecing things together to add another element to the story, and this book provided that. What I didn’t like: the characters were very odd and had a lot of issues, sometimes I found that I didn’t understand them and I couldn’t really connect with them. As you can imagine, the timeline was very confusing, which took away some enjoyment of the book. The book quality is high in certain ways, the author clearly put a lot of time into the details, enough that it nearly takes away from the flow of the story and you find yourself reading description after description. The characters, as I mentioned before, are a bit confusing. They are definitely dynamic and round, but I struggled to understand their perspective. I think it takes a certain type of person to enjoy this book, certainly if you enjoy a piecing together a puzzle. I would recommend it, but not to everybody. -C.W.