Cartier's Hope by M.J. Rose

 The arrival of a cursed gem causes a stir among New York's upper elite and Vera Garland wants to get to the bottom of it.  Add in a blackmailing media tycoon, a slew of secrets surrounding her father's death, and an unexpected romance and it should be a recipe for an interesting read.

I was sorely disappointed.  The secrets and mysteries that the book promises are all obvious, the characters are rather boring and one dimension.  Even Vera, the supposed enlightened, bohemian free bird of a woman comes across as vapid, condescending, entitled and just annoying.  I think that the book is written in first person really doesn't help the situation as Rose tries doubly hard to make the book seem authentic to the time, but it just comes across as pretentious.

The plot has several threads that are abandoned and picked up again only when convenient.  I found this frustrating and felt that it presented a narrative that was not cohesive and not engaging.

I am surprised that I even continued past page 20 of this book, but then again I was reading it as part of the ATY 2020 Challenge and I am so close and yet so far from finishing!  I could see the appeal in this book for some readers, I am just not one of them.