Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my gifted audiobook copy of The Ingenue by Rachel Kapelke-Dale.

I requested this book because of the cover and went in not knowing what this book was really about. I enjoy going into books "blind" and being surprised by the journey the story takes me on.

But, this one was not for me at all. I could not wait for this one to be over. I kept going back and forth with the idea of not finishing this one but wanted to see where the story went. This book was a complete struggle for me and I think because I was not connected to the story or the characters this one just dragged and by the time the ending came, I did not even really care anymore how it ended.

I previously read "The Ballerina"s by the same author, which I very much enjoyed. I was excited to read this newest release, however, it wasn't a light/easy read. It covers a topic/topics that aren't being discussed enough in our society today. I do recommend.

I enjoyed this audiobook and thought the narrator did a great job. It's a troubling story and difficult to read, but it's important that people see the devastation that happens in circumstances such as these. Being a sensitive topic I would suggest reading the trigger warnings and be ready for a thought-provoking ride.

The Ingenue focuses on Saskia, a piano prodigy who must return home after the death of her mother. The book has a dark and compelling plot in which the reader unfolds details of why the relationship with Saskia and her mother became strained as well as an inappropriate relationship a young Saskia had with a much older man.

Pros:
- Enjoyable narration
- I really enjoyed the The Fairy Tales for Little Feminists component of the story and how that weaved into the complex relationship between mother and daughter
- The journey figuring out the relationship of Saskia and her mom
- Alternating timelines

Cons:
- There are some points in which the story does seem to drag

Warnings:
- "Relationship" between a teen and adult that could be very upsetting to some readers

I enjoyed this one enough but it wasn’t my favorite. I always enjoy alternating POVs and/or timelines in my reads as well as unique formatting, which this has. It’s a very slow burn, which isn’t really my jam. The narrator was alright. I did like that it touched on important societal topics of sexual abuse and feminism.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC!

I loved this book !! I loved the alternating timelines between the present and Saskia growing up!! I also loved the feminist version of all the fairytales tied in to teach a lesson to her within the story. Such a good one.. highly recommend!

The Ingenue is dark, compelling and disturbing. Saskia is forced to investigate her troubled past while trying to grapple with the present. This is a story of the shattered childhood of a prodigy and the path she takes to vengeance. One of the most powerful and gut wrenching lines was “He didn’t like me in spite of my age; he liked me because of my age.” Heartbreaking. The narrator expertly brings Sakai’s character to life adding a complex layer of emotion from her past when she was a young teenager and her present scarred state as an adult. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my audiobook.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an audio-ARC of The Ingenue by Rachel Kapelke-Dale.
The summary of this book is written to create questions and suspense; however, I feel it sells short the complex relationships and feelings the story contains. Told in alternate timelines, I found it hard to really connect with either until the two merged. I did like the fairy tale snippets that showed alternate endings because of powerful female characters.

I was given a NetGalley widget for this one a year ago and I just got around to reading it and dangit it was so good. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have consumed this wildly relevant fictional tale, which felt not at all fictional, more like historical fiction, due to the times. The cover initially was what drew me in, but I'm so thankful to have stuck with it because the outcome was magical. I always love listening to audiobooks and when they sweep me off my feet, I'm just utterly captivated! I always really enjoy multi-cultural thrillers, for I embark on a journey through a land unknown to me, while still getting spooked.

The Elf House didn’t always have the elves, but for as long as Saskia can remember the elves have been there. Saskia hadn’t planned on ever really saying goodbye to those elves, but after her mother’s death, and the reading of her will, Saskia is faced with a tough reality; she will not inherit the house, it will no longer remain in her family, and the new owner of the house–Patrick–is the last person she wants to have it. Attempting to find a way in which to keep the house from Patrick, Saskis must face her past and her relationship with Patrick while unburying her memories of a damaged childhood.

This is a novel centered around an intense topic and it approaches it, in my opinion, with a survivor, not victim, mentality. I enjoyed the style and setup of The Ingenue. Each chapter starts with an excerpt from one of the Fairy Tales for Little Feminists stories (written by Saskia’s mother), followed by a flashback (which themselves are in chronological order), ending with the present day events. This was very effective at laying out the events in a war that revealed truths at just the right time. While it is a good story, it didn’t exactly grab me however. 

The audiobook was okay. The pace was rather slow for my tastes. It made the story almost drag when I didn’t have the story sped up. Willis did bring emotion to the characters with her inflection and tone. I also liked how she didn’t overly masculinize the male speakers.

Wow, delightfully dark! Way darker than I expected. You'd better believe I'm going to read The Ballerinas as soon as possible.

Rachel Kapelke-Dale's The Ingenue was completely unexpected. Totally unique, I had absolutely no idea what would happen next, and that was a complete delight. Surprise after surprise, it was tough to put this one down.

I listened to the audio version of The Ingenue and the audio was nicely performed by Stephanie Willis.

Probably not something I would have picked up based on the plot, but I loved The Ballerinas and thus decided to give this a whirl, and I’m glad I did.

The part of the story that was the most intriguing (and also the one plot element that caught my attention before reading) was Saskia’s life as a piano prodigy. Though the focus of the novel is more about inheritance and her reckoning with her history of abuse, I found the way she spoke about her talent and work fascinating, particularly the realization as one ages that being an wunderkind in one place and at one point in time doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll always receive that designation.

Her relationship with an adult while in her midteens is a tough read at times and not a topic I’m particularly fond of in literature, but this one has a revenge element that helped pique my interest and the ending is pretty satisfying if, like me, you need a sense of justice when reading about these things.

The Fairy Tales for Little Feminists which appear at the beginning of each chapter provide an interesting minor plot component. As little riffs on fairy tales, they’re a mixed bag. Some are cute and clever, others kind of cringe.

The audiobook is mostly a good way to go with this one, though the narrator seems to struggle with male characters. The “voice” comes out fine, but she seems to need to soften her own tone and volume so much to do it that it’s hard to make out what the male characters are saying without repeatedly adjusting volume, which was frustrating.

I’m still not sure about Milwaukee as a setting for this, though I don’t think it interferes with the story. Milwaukee is probably one of the toughest cities to create much sense of place in general, and that’s true in this book as well. There are better places to set something like this (especially because the family house and the concept of home as a space was so central to the narrative), but again, I don’t believe it did much damage to the story.

In both concept and execution i much preferred The Ballerinas to this book, but both are well worth a read, and Rachel Kapelke-Dale is now on my must-read list.

This was such a propulsive and provocative tale! The premise was dark and chilling but so intriguing!

Centering around a complicated mother daughter dynamic and a piano prodigy, I really enjoyed the revenge, vengeance and redemption narrative. While certainly unsettling at times when reading anything about sexual abuse and inappropriate relationships, I applaud how well done it was.

My only downfall was that I feel like it was a bit slow at times and dragged a bit but between this story and The Ballerinas, Kapelke-Dale has a knack for writing about the art world and does so so poetically!

3.5 rounded to 4 for goodreads

I really enjoyed The Ballerinas and was absolutely thrilled to get a copy of this book from @stmartinspress. I find this author’s work/writing very unique and I really can appreciate it. I saw this one described in good reads as “My Dark Vanessa meets Queen’s Gambit” and I completely agree. I was very invested in this story and especially the main character, Saskia. I really loved the interdispersed chapters with the feminist fairy tales.

Quick synopsis: Saskia is a former piano prodigy who returns home following the death of her mother. She is expecting to inherit the family estate which has a long rich history. I stated she finds it’s been left to a man she has a long, complicated history with. She wants to figure out why this happened but in order to do so is faced with the troubles and secrets of her past.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞
𝐁𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥 𝐊𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐤𝐞-𝐃𝐚𝐥𝐞
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐒𝐭. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧’𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟏𝟐.𝟔.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐

After reading 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐬 by Rachel Kapelke-Dale, I knew she’d probably become a go-to author for me. Now, I can say that with certainty.

In 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞, I was taken back to my hometown of Milwaukee, as Saskia returned to her home after the sudden death of her mother. She is shocked to find that her mother has bequeathed their beloved 19th-century, lakeshore mansion to Patrick, a fellow professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

As Saskia digs into why her mother would leave the family home to Patrick, the story jumps back to when Saskia was a youth - a piano prodigy. Slowly details tumble out of how Patrick and Saskia began an inappropriate relationship.

But there is so much more here, something far more sinister and dark. Saskia, now years later, discovers the truth. She has to ask herself, what is justice when someone steals away your innocence?

I love the writing here, with this air of foreboding throughout. The eerie house and Saskia's mother’s fairytale writings play such a central role, giving it a gothic feel. Yet the themes of grooming, sexual abuse, and child pornography are the true focus, which was done with sensitivity. Of course, she throws me for a loop at the end, adding to the suspense and satisfaction.


Thank you @stmartinspress for a gifted copy and @macmillanaudio for a complementary audiobook.

Rachel Kapelke Dale does it again with her newest novel, The Ingenue, featuring a musical prodigy who has fallen from grace.
Back home to deal with the recent death of her mother, Saskia is expecting to inherit the famed Elf House that she grew up in. But when her mother’s will stipulates Saskia's former lover is the recipient, Saskia goes in search of answers - unlocking the trauma of her past in the process.
Sprinkled throughout with vignettes of feminist retellings of fairytales, this searing story explores the mother-daughter relationship and examines the dark truth behind sexual predators. I was transfixed by her writing and rooting for Saskia to slay her demons like a true fairytale heroine. This heart-thumping novel about music was a best book of 2022 pick for me.

Trigger warnings are need.

The book was good. But there need to be warnings about the relationship between Saskia and Patrick, her music teacher.

The Ingenue by Rachel Kapelke-Dale was alright. I think I was expecting a more straight up thriller. This is a suspenseful-ish novel about Saskia, a former piano prodigy, who returns home to the Elf House after her mother’s death. Saskia recounts her relationship with an older man that at times was very hard to read about. I liked how the story is told in a unique way as each chapter begins with a reimagined feminist fairytale. The audiobook narrator Stephanie Willis was quite good. I would listen to more books narrated by her. And I’m curious to read this author’s other book The Ballerinas to see how it compares.

This might be the case of "it's me, not you", but I just don't think that THE INGENUE was a right fit for me.

The story centers around former piano prodigy Saskia Kreis as she returns home to Milwaukee after the unexpected death of her mother. She expects to inherit the family estate, the Elf House, but discovers that her mother has bequeathed the house to a man that Saskia shares a complicated history with.

I've read quite a few books with the dark theme of grooming involved. and while I initially enjoyed the topic of the #metoo movement brought to books, and seeing the victims of abuse taking a stand, and getting the justice they deserved, I'm starting to feel like this subject is getting stale, and I just found myself losing interest with the rest of the story. There just wasn't enough going on otherwise to really draw me in. I love a story of women empowerment, but this just fell flat for me.

I had both the physical and audiobook, and enjoyed the narration by Stephanie Willis

*many thanks to St Martins Press and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy for review

We follow a woman who heads back home b/c of her mother’s passing. It’s mostly a story of grooming and manipulation. She doesn’t realize what she went thru a very young teen was wrong until she’s back in town. A tragic story on how this relationship shaped her into who she is today. The character development in this was interesting. Listening to Saskia make a tragic discovery about herself and try to pull herself out of the shadow of the word ‘victim’ can be seen as empowering. While I enjoyed the ending, the book as a whole fell flat.

There are so many questions unanswered, particularly about the mom and the stories she wrote. I really enjoyed the little snippets of “fairytales for little feminist” at the beginning of each chapter. I want those books.

Thank you to NetGalley for an audiobook ARC.