Review for Cartier's Hope by M.J. Rose

 

Cartier's Hope by  M.J. Rose 

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published January 28th 2020 by Atria Books

New York, 1910: A city of magnificent skyscrapers and winding subways, where poor immigrants are crammed into tenements while millionaires thrive in Fifth Avenue mansions. Vera Garland is a thirty-two-year-old journalist, fighting alongside hundreds of women for a place in society, only to meet hurdles around every turn. Most female journalists are delegated to the fashion and lifestyle pages but like her hero, Nellie Bly, Vera is a fighter.

When news of the Hope Diamond—a jewel whose infamous legends and curses have captured the world’s attention—arrives in the city, Vera is fast on its trail. She’s certain the fabulous jewel will help jumpstart her career but she’s determined to seek revenge against her current employer, a magazine owner whose greed and blackmailing schemes led to the death of her beloved father.

Set against the backdrop of New York’s glitter and grit, this enchanting historical novel explores the very human desire for truth, equality, and retribution.

 

My Thoughts…

I am loving all the wonderful historical fiction that is available in 2020. Cartier’s Hope is definitely one of my top reads of 2020.    MJ Rose is a favorite author of mine and picked up this book knowing that I would love it.  

The Hope Diamond is a subject I had heard of but I did not know much about but I was excited to see what I could learn.    The story of The Hope Diamond took a back seat to the story of Vera Bradley and her fight to become a respected newspaper reporter until part way through the story.   Then the history of the diamond was told, the amazing people in history that had owned it, touched it, or just wanted it had me in awe of what this beautiful diamond was capable of.   Do I believe in bad luck?  Maybe.  Would I have touched the diamond?  Absolutely.  

The romance in the story was perfect.    It was classy, it was sexy, and it was written perfectly for the era the book was set in.   I liked seeing Vera thrown for a loop when she started to have feelings.   I liked that Vera found clues from her father that turned her world upside down but in the long run had her examining her own life.   The strength, determination, and heart of Vera had me cheering her on and praying that the story she was following would bring her the results she wanted, both in her writing and her personal life.  

 

**Thank you Meriah Murphy at Atria Books for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.  

 

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About M.J. Rose

M.J. Rose grew up in New York City mostly in the labyrinthine galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, the dark tunnels and lush gardens of Central Park and reading her mother's favorite books before she was allowed. She believes mystery and magic are all around us but we are too often too busy to notice...  Books that exaggerate mystery and magic draw attention to it and remind us to look for it and revel in it.

Rose is a New York Times, Wall St. Journal and USAToday bestseller as well as an international best seller. She has published more than nineteen novels and 3 books on marketing. She has been published in more than 30 countries and sold over 1.5 million books. The Fox TV show, Past Lives, was based on Rose’s novel, The Reincarnationist.

Rose is a founding member of International Thriller Writers, founder of the first marketing company for authors, AuthorBuzz, and the co-founder, with Liz Berry of 1001DarkNights.com.

In 1998, her first novel Lip Service was the first e-book and the first self-published novel chosen by the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club as well as the first e-book to go on to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house.

Rose has been profiled in Time magazine, Forbes, The New York Times, Business 2.0, Working Woman, Newsweek, and New York Magazine. She has appeared on The Today Show, Fox News, The Jim Lehrer NewsHour, and features on her have appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, including USAToday, Stern, L'Official, Poets and Writers, and Publishers Weekly.

Rose graduated from Syracuse University and spent the '80s in advertising. She was the Creative Director of Rosenfeld Sirowitz and Lawson and she has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.