I didn't love this book. The characters and the story were often frustrating, but I guess that was the point of Livia. ( )

I liked this (audio) book with its well defined characters: Alinor (an herbalist); her son Rob; her daughter Alys and Alys' children, Sarah and Johnnie; and Alinor' brother, Ned. At the beginning of the book, you learn that Rob has drowned and his grieving widow and baby son arrive in London and immerse themselves into their lives. But the widow is not what she seems as she falsifies information and puts them in debt. Arriving in London from her former home in Venice, she convinces her new relatives that she has wealth in marble goods back in Venice and promises to share in her profits if they help transport her goods from Venice, store them in their London warehouse, and sell them. While assuring her new family that she now belongs with them, she secretly seeks the company and fortune of a rich English nobleman, Sir James. While I truly enjoyed this book, I found the chapters about Ned and his pioneer life in America disconnected and of little value as part of the larger story.
( )

DNF at 33%. I loved Tidelands, but this was just slow and full of unlikable people doing improbable things. Thank goodness other brave readers came before me and left full spoilers so I could DNF this one in peace, knowing it was never going to get better. ( )

This, the second book in the Fairmile Series, chronicles an English tradespeople family in the late 1600s as various branches spread out to Venice and the new colonies in America. There are affairs, trysts, a suspicious death, forgeries, desires, all in an historical context.

The book is an excellent portrayal of Restoration London among the trades class, paralleling that with the rise of New England in the colonies.
The characters are well developed; the story engrossing
It would be a five star read except for some implausibilities in the Venetian storyline.

A shout out to my husband, a fan of historical fiction, who read this!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atriabooks. ( )

I was not exactly pleased with the cliffhanger ending of Tidelands, but I hoped the sequel, Dark Tides, would explain more and resolve everything. The first book ends on such an unsatisfying cliffhanger, when both Alinor and Alys were both secretly preggers (Alinor was pregnant for ages!) and then revealed to be pregnant, Alys's wedding was cancelled, and they were run out of their depressing marshy town as slutty witches. The second book opens with them living in London, with two young adult "twins" who are either Alinor's, Alys' or one of each, kept very vague for maximum drama. Actually, that sums up the whole book, full of intriguing hints, but kept quiet for maximum drama, for ages and ages, until the resolution held no interest.

Alinor's ex reappears, offering a pile of money, marriage, and adoption of whichever child is his heir. Then Rob's widow appears, a Venetian noblewomen with a baby and tragic tale of Rob's drowning death, and starts telling obvious lies and spending all their money. I found myself skimming because there were just so many scenes of Livia being shady and Alinor silently, skeptically handing over money to her. This is interspersed with a second, equally slow-moving storyline of brother Ned in New England. Again, we have hints of coming tension, dragged on and on.

I read all the way to the end, because I kept thinking I must be missing something, or that something would pull it all together. By the end, when all the drama exploded in about an hour of book-time, I realized I no longer cared to see justice done. I was on Team Nobody by the end. ( )