1910 New York City, a feisty female reporter and a very famous, mysterious gem stone. Just a few of the many themes you will find in the historical fiction thriller Cartier's Hope.

Vera Garland is the daughter of a successful New York City merchant. She lives a life of privilege and is expected to embrace the traditional role of the Gilded Age wealthy woman, marriage, family and charity work. Vera has other ideas about how she wants to live her life. She secretly works as Vee Swann a newspaper reporter with many social injustices on her radar; women’s rights, treatment of the poor, homosexuality and abortion. The author does a great job communicating Vera's passion for each of these.

We are also steeped in the atmosphere of 1910 New York City. You can see the lights, hear the sounds and most definitely smell the smells.

Families are complicated and Veras' is no exception. Everyone has secrets that cause judgement. The author does a good job showing us the consequences as each one comes to light. Vera and her mother especially have a lot to overcome.

So many aspects of this book are really good. Unfortunately for me they were peripheral. I was excited to read a book about Cartier and the Hope Diamond. Cartier is a very minor character and we get no feel for the man himself and the mysterious diamond will remain mysterious. There is some actual history that I found interesting but I thought the gem and it’s mysteries would play a more pivotal role in the story than it did. There is a lot of sex, some of it I wondered about the appropriateness for the time period. Perhaps if Vera didn’t have quite so many interests we would get a better feel for her as a character. It took me a really long time to figure out which one was going to be the main plot. There is a lot of dabbling here and there.

I cannot explain the bridge Vera and her mother build at the end without a spoiler. I had a one word reaction to it......Really?

This is my first book by M. J. Rose. She has a large backlist I am interested in looking into.

Thank you very much to Netgalley for providing the opportunity to read this book.

Even those of us who don’t know much about gemology will certainly light up when the Hope Diamond is mentioned. With a rare color and amazing size and owned at one time by Louis XIV- it truly is “Le Bijou du Roi”. According to legend, a curse befell the large, blue diamond when it was stolen from an idol in India — a curse that foretold bad luck and death not only for the owner of the diamond but for all who touched it. The Hope Diamond (named Hope after one of its owners) now resides in the Smithsonian. IN the early 1900’s it was owned by the house of Cartier.

In her previous book, Tiffany Blues, author M. J. Rose gave us a luscious historical and romantic look at the Tiffany family during the Jazz Age. In Cartier’s Hope, we are introduced to the Cartier family and the Hope Diamond, as well as life in the early 1900’s. This book features romance and mystery along with many characters and a detailed look at the changing times in New York City.

The main character is Vera Garland, the daughter of a wealthy department store owner. Her mother wants her to follow the upper-class role set out for young woman but Vera, who has graduated from college, wants to do something meaningful with her life. She is sensitive to privilege, fairness, and social needs and she wants to establish herself as an intrepid reporter like Nellie Bly. Her path makes life hard for her. When she learns of some serious family secrets, she becomes even more combative. How can she choose happiness- when life seems so unfair to her?

A gem cutter can see the beauty hidden in a rough stone and cut the stone so as to reveal the true beauty of the gem. When applied to life, we see that Vera can’t see the hidden beauty in her own life, in the life of her family and friends, or in the world. She interacts with some fascinating people, including her mother, the highly respected businessman and gentleman Pierre Cartier, and jeweler Jacob Asher. The ending of this story of trickery and deceit may surprise you.
Vera tackles quite a bit in the story- poverty, tenement life, women’s rights and suffrage, all while searching for her own place in the world. As a diamond gives off so much brilliance, this books shoots light at many different topics.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for a digital advanced review cop. This is my honest review.

This book was bland in my opinion. Too much time spent on Vera talking about her father as if he was some kind of saint. A mystery that really wasn't all that much of a mystery. Her father's relationship with her Uncle Percy and her abortion was spoken of more than the Hope Diamond. I did like the descriptions of the Gilded Age NYC. I was born here and still live here so I certainly enjoy the history of my city. But that was not enough to keep my interest though. I didn't like when Vera went through Jacob's thing and still asked him those impertinent questions like she did nothing wrong. Yet, she herself was still keeping secrets from everyone else. With the exception of being her mother, who was just too much and did way too much. I voluntarily read this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Cartier's Hope was a fun historical mystery. In the Gilded Age, the rich are super rich and the story of Vera Garland is one of privilege. The second story is Vera as Vee Swan, an ambitious journalist. Vee has done assignments on abortion, the sweat shops of the clothing trade, and life in a tenement.

In 1910, women did not have the right to vote and men did not want them to vote. Vera was expected to do society events, charity, and raise a family so for Vera/Vee to have a job was unusual. Women were expected to be married and stay home with the children. Women of this time were barely tolerated in the work-force. They were not paid fairly and were given assignments that were considered women's areas such as the society pages or fashion pages. No hard hitting news or politics for women reporters.

The way the story is intertwined with society and the mysteries surrounding the Hope Diamond is intriguing. The historical background and the way different people were treated in this time was very interesting. Everyone had to be live to the standards that society thought was correct for your station in life. However, society has its secrets and they were mingled within this story. If you are at all familiar with NYC, it was easy to imagine Fifth Avenue of 1910. The author makes you vividly see the apartment above the department store. Cartier fourth floor showroom would be a special treat to visit and enjoy a glass of Champaign while looking at the Hope Diamond.

This is a fun read so I hope you enjoy it as well. I was given an ARC book for an honest review by #NetGalley.

Excellent and very enjoyable book!

The protagonist is working through her emotions (as well as a mystery) following the death of her father. The author weaves in many facts about the Hope Diamond's history throughout the novel. The setting of New York before women had the right to vote, and some of the social issues of the time (some we are still facing), are also pulled in to the themes of the book. The author does a great job in this historical fiction of putting both the real and fictional characters together. The writing is also very good.

I reserve 5 stars for books I think are ones that you must read. This one, while not quite on that list, was definitely worth a read, especially if the themes or setting are interesting to you. I received a free pre-copy of this novel as a member of NetGalley's book reviewing service.

This book was very enjoyable. I learned a lot about gemstones and the Hope Diamond. It also gave me insight to being a female new reported in the early 1900s. The story kept my attention until the very end. Some areas of the book were a little tedious to get through.

There are many things I like about the new book, Cartier's Hope by M.J. Rose. First, is the heroine of the story and our main character, Vera Garland. I love Vera's other identity to Vee Swann who lives much in much more humble accommodations and works as a news reporter. Second is the setting: New York City and set in 1910. I also liked reading about the contrasts between the lower class and upper class through Vera/Vee's eyes.

Cartier's Hope tells the story of the Garland Family, their secrets and a rare diamond. In her quest for revenge, Vera falls for the assistant at the jeweler's and gets wrapped up in a world of deception and intrigue. Historical fiction intertwined with a romance novel. Very interesting plot lines!

The novel itself was slow but with perseverance I stuck it out. The writing was good, but there was just too much going on. About a third of the way into the book, the pace does start to pick up as there is more action...

Thank you to NetGalley, M.J. Rose, and Atria Books for this advanced reader copy of Cartier's Hope for me to read. As always, my opinions are my own.

I would like to thank Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.
I have voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is not my favorite book. I found it difficult to read and to stay with the story. I thought I would be fascinated with it because the Hope Diamond has long been something in which I had an interest.

The time frame is the Gilded Age and we get a glimpse of wealth as the heiress leaves her fabulous home to live in a tenement as she does writing for the newspaper under another name so she is not recognized.

The plot, though interesting, was slow in developing and the characters lacked something. I think too much was included in the story and it was fragmented. It included revenge, homosexuality, women’s rights, abortion, family stress, murder, the history of the diamond, diamond cutting and on and on which I feel detracted from what could have been a great story. Sorry. This is not one I would recommend.

#CartiersHope#NetGalley#Goodreads

The story takes place in New York City in 1910. Vera Garland is the daughter of a wealthy merchant but her alter ego is Vee Swann, investigative reporter, fighting for equal rights for women. After her father passes away she discovers a secret he kept all her life and she decides to go undercover again to right a wrong. Cartier's has the Hope Diamond for sale and Vera feels that he is exploiting the stories of bad luck associated with the diamond to inflate the price.

I thought the book was going to be more about the Hope Diamond but really it could just have been any jewelry. There was some history mentioned in the beginning of the story but the diamond never becomes a major part of the story until Chapter 13.

Garland's Emporium sounded like a wonderful place to shop and I especially liked the restaurants that were designed to reflect the tastes of Vera, her mother and sister. We learn a bit about Vera's father through remembered conversations but I never got a sense of who Vera really was. She was fighting for women's rights but I never felt her passion. She might have lived undercover in a tenement but she could always go home to her penthouse when things got tough. I didn't quite understand what her plan was even as it was happening and felt that she was hurting innocent people. None of the other characters were really explained much and the ending felt kind of flat.

I received this from Netgalley for an honest review.

Absolutely fabulous from start to finish, I enjoyed every minute of this story. It is exciting, intriguing, romantic and very satisfying. I love that the main character is someone who wants answers about the injustice in the world and also doesn't want to comply with societies standards and is willing to do what she can to change it. I love that Vera is fighting for the same problems as we are today and the romance between Vera and Jacob is yummy.
if you like the finest of Beatriz William and intriguing plot of Amanda Quick. you will absolutely love this story as much as I did.
I would love to see a sequel to this novel with Vee Swann going undercover while still being in a relationship with Jacob.

I LOVED this book!!!!! I've never read anything by MJ Rose before but that will definitely change. I started reading and couldn't put it down. I was fascinated by the historical details and really felt transported back in time to Gilded Age nyc. Vera was just a fantastic heroine, so smart and ambitious at a time when women just weren't. The love story was delicious and the subplots with her mother, sister, and journalist/women's suffrage made this book a 5 star. Truly impressed & highly recommend.

If you love historical novels you need to get your hands on M.J. Rose's latest novel Cartier's Hope. I will admit that it can be a tad long winded at times, but the story is solid and paints a beautiful- jewel themed picture that will not disappoint. Vera and her delightful secret pen name Vee Swann will make you proud of being a woman. She does not stand down from a fight and does anything to bring justice into the world.
I would like to thank the Publishers, the author and NETGALLEY for this book. It was given to me in exchange of an unbiased review.
Favorite Quote:"My father told me to hold on to love even when the world around me tried to snatch it away."

This one didn't quite live up to its potential. The idea for the story was a strong one, and I loved Vera, but overall it feels a little lacking. I think its because I expected more of a BANG when it came to her article and Oxly, but it was really anti-climactic considering it was supposed to be what was driving her for the entire book. For me the reveal of her romantic and professional past was almost more interesting than the main plot. I appreciate the way that the author wove in the history and lore of the Hope diamond while educating us about gemstones and how they used Vera and her ambition to give us a view into both the upper echelon of New York society and the social injustices of the time. I think that perhaps the author had a few too many things that they wanted this book to cover and instead of developing one or two ideas really well they just threw everything into the pot and hoped for the best which ended it in it becoming a bit lackluster.

A little revenge story, part of a series offering free publicity for various high-end jewelers. Protagonist Vera is a society lady with some sad love affairs in her past. She works in disguise as Vee, a working-class reporter who chronicles New York's tenements, unsafe factories, and other social issues. When Vera discovers that her father and her mother's brother were lovers being blackmailed by a publisher, she comes up with a plan to expose the publisher for his nefarious deeds without exposing her family to scandal. Along the way she has a romance with a jeweler who works at Cartier's, learns about paste gems, and gets beaten to revenge by her mother. The romance elements are either cringe-worth (the narrator recounts having her cellist lover play her like his cello) or without chemistry (her relationship with the jeweler seems added just so there can be an element of sex). The family relationships are messy and come and go in importance to the rest of the plot elements. The plot overall is convoluted and silly. For such smart and potentially interesting characters, I expected more intelligent thinking.

Magnificent descriptive writing especially the historical fiction. An exciting read that is hard to put down. In the age of New York City during a fabulous time in history.

This novel surpassed all of my expectations. Cartier’s Hope is of beautiful imagery and set in the fascinating world of New York’s city high society in 1910, shortly Cartier’s acquirement of the Hope Diamond. I remember seeing the diamond in Washington DC during my middle school field trip there, but I don’t think I knew much about the legends and mystery surrounding it until reading this novel. The diamond, while essential for the plot, is only a small facet of this story. What I didn’t expect from this book, was such an intriguing main character, Vera Garland. She is a not only an active member of New York’s high society, but also an heiress. From her first person point of view, we see also the Woman’s Suffrage moment as she cleverly uses her privilege to create an alter ego, investigative journalist “Vee Swann.”

“And I didn’t think I’d ever been kissed quite like that before. It would have been brutal if it wasn’t shared. It would have been harsh if it wasn’t so passionate. It would have been foreign if we both hadn’t been through the same war.”

What I also didn’t expect from this book was Rose’s skill at romance. It is woven into the plot without being overdone or cheesy. I think I will have to look into M. J. Rose’s other books.

I found Cartier’s Hope o be quite engrossing. Set in the 1900’s Vera Garland, member of the elite 400 wants more out of life than being a socialite. Vera becomes a reporter using a disguise to gather information. When she discovers a secret about her fate she finds mystery and possibly love as she investigates. Loved it!

I found this book to be full of mystic and mystery! This author knows how to capture your attention and develop characters that are authentic, interesting and unique!
I truly enjoyed the setting and era of the book, I found it to be educational concerning the Hope Diamond, jewelry making and lush surroundings. The mystery the author creates kept me wondering throughout the day what would happen next! Beautifully described and I wanted to be part of the plot! A must read!

Vera is a women making a name in the mens world of journalism. She is stepping outside of the norm of fashion and society. She is interested in discovering the secrets and rumors that the Hope Diamond value is being manipulated by Cartier. As she digs deeper she is trying to find her answers in a world that doesn't support women in mens careers.

Lush and lively, Cartier's Hope is a richly paced and enticing read, bearing all of MJ Rose's hallmark signatures of strong characterization and a compelling premise.