I loved Tiffany Blues by MJ Rose so I was really excited to read an early copy of Cartier's Hope. I did like this book...but not as much as I hoped. This is an historical novel set in the Gilded Age in New York City. Vera Garland is a society lady and an investigative reporter during times when women reporters struggled for recognition so she invents an alter ego...Vee Swann. Vera reports on the darker side of New York...child labor, the horrible condition of the tenements, the lack of rights for women at home and on the job....touching on today's MeToo movement. The first half of the book seemed to concentrate history and facts...information and facts on precious stones. Some of what Vee/Vera went through was heartbreaking and scary but not what I was expecting
The second half of the book is when the mystery of the Hope Diamond finally takes center stage. After Vera is injured during an incident related to a story she is working on she takes leave from her paper and in the course of exploring her late father's library discovers a secret of his and decides on a course of action to avenge him, And along the way she discovers the possibility of having a personal life.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I believe many historical fiction fans will enjoy this story surrounding socialite Vera Garland who becomes a passionate investigative writer/reporter, changing her name so she can anonymously chase a story about the Hope Diamond while also snooping on the rich and famous. I enjoyed being reminded of historical events going on in the world during that time and appreciated the author’s approach to weaving together history with fiction.

Vera Garland is caught between two classes of women during the Gilded age. Raised as an high society young woman and moonlighting as a reporter. Dealing with a mother who thinks she should get married and settle down. Working in a male dominated field were women are not treated as equals. Vera most figure out how to fit two different worlds into her life. Found parts of the story rather on the slow side.

"From M.J. Rose, New York Times bestselling author of Tiffany Blues, “a lush, romantic historical mystery” (Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale), comes a gorgeously wrought novel of ambition and betrayal set in the Gilded Age.

New York, 1910: A city of extravagant balls in Fifth Avenue mansions and poor immigrants crammed into crumbling Lower East Side tenements. A city where the suffrage movement is growing stronger every day, but most women reporters are still delegated to the fashion and lifestyle pages. But Vera Garland is set on making her mark in a man’s world of serious journalism.

Shortly after the world-famous Hope Diamond is acquired for a record sum, Vera begins investigating rumors about schemes by its new owner, jeweler Pierre Cartier, to manipulate its value. Vera is determined to find the truth behind the notorious diamond and its legendary curses - even better when the expose puts her in the same orbit as a magazine publisher whose blackmailing schemes led to the death of her beloved father.

Appealing to a young Russian jeweler for help, Vera is unprepared when she begins falling in love with him…and even more unprepared when she gets caught up in his deceptions and finds herself at risk of losing all she has worked so hard to achieve.

Set against the backdrop of New York’s glitter and grit, of ruthless men and the atrocities they commit in the pursuit of power, this enthralling historical novel explores our very human needs for love, retribution - and to pursue one’s destiny, regardless of the cost."

I love me some Gilded Age New York!

Set in the Gilded Age in New York City, Vera Garland is a wealthy socialite and daughter of the recently deceased owner of a prominent retailer. Her alter-ego is a middle-class reporter, Vee Swann, who reports on society gossip but is also known for her courageous journalism on social issues, participation in the women's fight for equal pay and the right to vote. But when she discovers a dark family secret, she decides to set a trap to expose all involved. But at what cost

I was attracted to the book because of the Cartier name, the mysteries surrounding the Hope Diamond and gemstones and my interest in this time period of historical fiction. I wish the story had focused more on the Diamond itself, with some new angle to it. The information provided was already in the public domain. I empathized with the idea of Vera's character and her confusion regarding what she has learned about certain family members, but had trouble connecting with her. Her relative ease going between her "day" job juxtaposed with her expensive dinners and nights at the opera was too unrealistic. My indifference to her turned to strong dislike when I saw how her revenge plot is was so self-centered, without consideration to short or long-term consequences.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. My review is voluntary.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and it was great! Now I want to read her other books. Excellent story, great character development and very well written.

Rating: 3.5 stars rounded down to 3 stars

After setting down this book today, I reflected on my total reading experience. I am giving this book 3.5 stars, but since I can’t give half stars on Goodreads, I’m rounding this down to 3 stars. This was a perfectly serviceable tale about life in New York City just past the Gilded Age (1870-1900). The main character, Vera Garland narrates her story. It is 1910, in New York City and she is from one of the rich ‘400 Families’. However, she is also working incognito as a newspaper reporter. Her alter ego, Vee Swann, goes undercover to ferret out the stories of the injustices that the poor face.

Early in the book, her beloved father dies. His death propels her on a mission to destroy the man whom she thinks caused her father’s demise. She comes up with a plan to use a story about the Hope Diamond to catch the publisher who caused her father’s death. Pierre Cartier recently brought the Hope Diamond to New York. Cartier plans to use the many tragic stories about the diamond to bring more customers to the shop, and ratchet up the price of the diamond. Is the diamond cursed? Will that bring in more potential buyers? When Vera visits the Cartier establishment with her sister Letty, she meets Jacob Asher. Mr. Asher is one of the jewelers that Cartier has on staff.

The story bounces back and forth between Vera’s squabbles with her cold society matron mother; stints and excursions as Vee Swann including a march for equal rights for female reporters; episodes as Vera Garland where she and Jacob Asher fall into a relationship where both are holding secrets; and her ongoing machinations to expose the corrupt publisher. This was a book about the extremes between the haves and the have-nots during this era. Vera/Vee tries to straddle the gap between the two extremes. She tried to use her pen to help those in abject poverty. She helped organize efforts to level the playing field for women reporters. Mostly though, she used a convoluted scheme that included the Hope Diamond to try to wreak havoc on the man who caused the death of her father.

This work of historical fiction wasn’t as engaging as other books in the genre that I’ve read recently. The plot took too long to develop for my taste. After reading approximately 70 percent of the book, I was still wondering when the story would move along. I felt like the book spent a lot of time setting up the backgrounds, and then just meandered along. There were scenes all over New York, and quite a bit of talk about the newspaper reporting/publishing business, the department store business, and gemology. The story was a varied as New York City, and maybe that was part of the problem. I had a hard time swallowing the premise that a society woman could so easily pass as a hardscrabble reporter.

‘Thank-You’ to NetGalley; the publisher, Atria Books; and the author, M. J. Rose for providing a free e-ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I kind of struggled with this book. I really wanted to love it. The idea of the mystery of the Hope Diamond and women's rights in the Gilded Age is such a good one. That being said, there was just so much going on that could have been cleaned up. The revenge was good. The romance was good. But added in with family drama, mysterious jewels, cultural and social issues and women's rights, it was just too much for me.

This was a tale of two agendas and two cities, all contained within the 1910 confines of New York. With insets of social mores, family obligation, the glitz and glamour of the “high life” and the sordid underbelly full of back-room deals, exclusion, treachery and secrets. Into this arena we have the story of Vera Garland, thirty-two, single, wealthy and undervalued as a woman in society. But Vera has big dreams and goals, and a driving need to see equality and opportunity offered to all, not just men. To that end, she takes on a pseudonym, Vee Swann, and obtains a job as an investigative journalist, in the vein of her idol Nelly Bly. Understand that in 1910 – Vera should have been married with children, with no other real ‘interests’ than making a good home and raising said children. Women do not yet have the vote, conditions for the poorest in the city are dangerously unhealthy, and the road to self-sufficiency, particularly for women, is non-existent. But when her story (despite all the odds against it) is picked up and gains attention on the front page – opportunities open up in the most simple of ways – and she’s not willing to backstep.

Still part of the “favored few” in the city, she’s got an idea for a new story that centers on the famed jeweler, Cartier and his ‘over the top’ sales techniques. She knows that not everything there is on the up and up, and has the damage to her family to both prove it and avenge. So we enter the luxe rooms of Cartier, meets one of his assistants, Jacob, and discovers that there is more to his story and the story she was coming to write than she initially expected. There is insets about jewels and the Hope Diamond in particular, little tidbits that help to build background for the reader and Vera, and as people’s secrets and motivations are uncovered, the story takes on a whole other dimension in intrigues and ‘what happens next’ that I never expected.

From complete and complex characters with emotions and motivations that are easy to access to the solid grounding in the sights, smells and era of the story, M.J. Rose manages to transport and engage, keeping a complex series of sociological and personal elements running throughout the story, keeping readers feeling as if Vera was sharing her life in real time. With answers that she never expected, and opportunities taken, Vera is solidly juggling the elements until she finds her own version of an ending. The writing is stellar, the story intriguing and the sense of New York at the turn of the century is solid and easy to visualize. Another solid historic fiction from Rose – and I look forward to more.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aBd /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

Cartier's Hope by M.J. Rose takes place primarily in 1910, New York, set to the enthralling backdrop of journalists, jewelers and upper class society. There is a lot going on within the pages of this book - all of it is enticing and worth the read! It is obvious that M.J. Rose did extensive research for this book as there are areas of very detailed information, which I appreciate immensely when reading historical fiction.

The information about the world of luxury jewelry was completely new to me and I found it thrilling to learn about the scandals. I always love a good story about a woman who goes against the restrictions of society to follow her passion and make her way in a “man’s world.”

My review will also be posted on Instagram @rosetree_bookreviewer.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and M.J. Rose for the ARC of Cartier’s Hope in exchange for my honest opinion.

Cartier's Hope by M.J. Rose is a novel of Historical Fiction that manages to capture the reader’s attention immediately. The bulk of the story takes place in New York City during 1910.
From the very first page, Cartier’s Hope pulls the reader into the fascinating world of New York jewelers, journalists, and high society. With the author’s signature attention to detail, M.J. Rose weaves a fabulous tale of greed, revenge, and altered identities that put love and lives at risk.
This story takes place in the Gilded Age. This was a time when women could not vote and were treated as second class citizens in the journalistic world. To make a name for herself the main character Vera Garland intends to expose the story of the Curse of the Hope Diamond.

I felt the story line was really unique. I did enjoy the history that was present in this story. History of the jewelry industry like how paste jewelry came about and how it became as good as the real thing. The historical portions of the story show how women journalists tried desperately to write stories that would be front page news instead of news in the society column. The story also covers women’s rights, the suffrage movement, abortion and homosexuality. This is all centered around a story involving the famous Hope Diamond which was in possession at that time by the famous jeweler, Pierre Cartier, of the House of Cartier.

This story is absolutely incredible. I seriously had great difficulty putting it down for more than a minute or two. For me it was a totally captivating novel that involved redemption, hope, loyalty, family and desire that one can be redeemed. Overall, I found it fascinating, engaging, and beyond entertaining. There is also mention of a book by Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone which I plan to read. I can’t wait to see what M.J. Rose has in store for us next! Well Done!

Tiny Synopsis: It is the Gilded Age - Vera Garland aka Vee Swann is a 32 year old investigative journalist in New York (a spinster age in those days) and is in search of the stories of the illusive Hope Diamond where it is being sold at Cartier. It is a tough time for female journalists as they are fighting to earn equal pay and respect in the workplace. There she meets the mysterious jeweler who she hopes can help her discover more secrets about the gem. It is a tough time for female journalists as they are fighting to earn equal pay and respect in the male-dominated publication industry but she will do whatever it takes… despite her families wishes.


Thank you to @netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy for my honest review! The book is out Jan 28, 2020!

My Review:⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 stars

First I would like to disclose that I used to work in the fine jewelry business for many years and have been to the beautiful Cartier boutiques many times in the course of my career including other high-end jewelers as a former journalist. I love the history of the stones/gems and I think M.J. Rose did a great job including subtle details with how the jewelry was handled including with gloves, the guards, silk-laden walls, velvet trays, etc. Some parts did seem too textbook history from the gemology books but personally I liked reading more about them. Vera/Vee is a very strong character, head-strong and stubborn. However as much as I loved the historical aspects of the novel, I felt there were social issues of the time that made it a bit too much. The homosexual undertones did not really add to the story but made it more distracting. It felt the character was dealing with womens rights, equal pay, gender equality, sexism, exposing the corruption in tenement housing, etc all at the same time. Most of this is happening now in modern times - but unfortunately in the 1910s - I felt it didn’t fit correctly with the tone then. It was just a lot going on and almost like I was reading a couple different books at once. This is a great read for the fellow jewelry lover.

This story is friction but it does give a sense of woman's roles in the early nineteen hundreds. It also makes you realize that in some areas woman still face many of the same problems.
I loved how M.J Rose describes the smells, the looks of jewels, buildings and other items.
If you are a reader that doesn't like this kind of detail then this book is not for you, me on the other hand enjoyed it tremendously.

This is the first book that I have read by NO Rose but it won't be the last! What I loved the most was the two differing perspectives and experiences that Vera and Vee give throughout the story! Rose not only opens the art and jewelry world of the Gilded age but also the struggles that many face in a time of inequality.

This book was an interesting look at the life of a socialite who became an investigative reporter in the early 20th century.

Blue Diamonds are a Readers best friend! It's a reading frenzy when you can't put a book down...
M.J. Rose is on fire with this soon to be on the shelves Historical Read.
The Hope Diamond is only one of the brilliant stars in this delicious story set in 1910 New York City...where glamorous women, suffragettes, and rule breakers fight for their piece of the big apple, despite what the men say. This story sparkles!

The Hope Diamond arrives at the Cartier Jewelry Store in New York City. Newspapers and the public can't seem to get enough of the illustrious and cursed jewel. The rich and famous are flocking to get a glimpse, but never a touch, of the great blue diamond. Amidst the controversy surrounding the stone the talented and rich Miss Vera Garland is dealing with a controversy of her own.

Set in the gilded era of old New York, the big apple comes alive with numerous characters from many walks of life...Old money, new money, poor working girls, immigrants and rampant misogyny play a key role in this outstanding Historical Fiction story

I had high hopes for this novel. The cover was gorgeous, the description beguiling, the opening pages intriguing. It seemed like I was fated to like this novel. Unfortunately, I didn't really care for it. 

The main issue was Vera, the first person point of view narrator. I really didn't care for her. While I can handle an unsympathetic protagonist, Rose intends Vera to be sympathetic. Yet I found her self-absorbed, with an over-regard for her own ideas and importance in others' lives. 

She can be manipulative and judgmental toward others, including her own family. Especially her own family. She uses her position as an anonymous society columnist to "embarrass" her mother and sister into leading charities. Cringe. 

While I understand her desire to get revenge, I think blaming the blackmailer for her father's death is a stretch. I feel similarly about how she blames her mother for a certain incident later in the book. She blames her mother for choices she, Vera, a thirty-year-old woman, makes independently and willingly. Without sharing spoilers, I can't say more. Yes, her mother played a role in the choice she had to make. Yet Vera made multiple decisions of her own free will, too. Saying her mother put her "life in danger" is a bit much.  

However, there were enjoyable characters. Jacob Asher, for example, the jeweler Mr. Cartier's assistant. His motivations made sense. As a Russian-born Jew, prejudice and violence dog his steps. I also liked Stephen, her lawyer cousin, and Pierre Cartier, the jeweler. Jack, her brother-in-law, is also interesting. 

The stories surrounding the Hope diamond are fascinating, as are the details about jewels, their history, and jewelry making. Rose has done her research into this. She also researched the historical period. Most of what she shares is interesting and informative. But after a while, the sharing became oversharing. At points, the story slowed to a crawl while I read yet more facts and anecdotes that have little to do with the main narrative.

It also tended to make the story feel scattered. Was this novel about early feminism? Abortion rights? Homosexuality? Females in journalism? At various points, all became a focus. The blurb promises a story about the Hope Diamond. But other stories compete for attention; I struggled to remember which story was the main one. If there was a mystery, it was lost, too. 

Rose does have a lovely way with words; she often chose to describe things by their scent. Smell is such a powerful sense and many novelists don't use it effectively. Honestly, Rose does a great job describing things in this unusual way that I don't think we need nearly as many of the facts to bring the time period to life. 

Overall, this book disappointed me. I wanted the story to be more focused and the protagonist more sympathetic. Obviously, it wasn't my cup of tea.

Yet there are plenty of rave reviews from people who loved Cartier's Hope. So if the blurb intrigues you, go ahead and give it a try. Sometimes it's me and not the book that's the issue! 

Given that the author has a lovely way with words, I will try reading another of her novels. (This is my first one by M.J. Rose.) It could be simply a mismatch between reader and book. That happens!
3.5 stars

Thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for an advanced reading copy of Cartier's Hope in exchange for an honest review.
This will be posted on my personal blog on January 27, 2020.

*I was provided this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All words, ideas, and opinions in this review are my own.

There are many things I don’t like about the book. First being the happy ending the main character got even though she is one of the most awful people I’ve had the displeasure of reading about. She claims to have an open mind but the entire book is spent getting revenge at any cost. She hurts people in her path, including her lover, and her only two friends who don’t even know who she really is. In the end, she gets everything she wanted; the lover, her friendships, her relationship with her mother. It just bothers me that someone like her still gets what she thinks she deserves. The other things I don’t care for are the sex scenes, the way this book wasn’t at all about the Hope Diamond, and the way the main character used blackmail to get what she wanted even though blackmail was the reason for the entire book in the first place. Another thing that bothered me greatly was the way she talked about and treated men who didn’t like her. There were men in this book who did indeed harm women, but there were also men who were kind to women and respected them. Maybe it wasn’t just because she was a woman that they didn’t like her, it could have been that her personality was terrible and she was just being a bitch.

Character:
Vera Garland spends the entire book blaming others for her circumstances and then getting her "revenge" on those who have done her/her family wrong. She is probably the least likable main character I've ever read about.

World:
I was hoping to see life in the gilded age but there was not much background other than the author using fancy descriptions for things that I didn’t understand. While reading I forgot most of the time that it is a period novel. The only hints were mentions of tenement housing and child labor and the suffragette movement. Other than that it felt like reading a contemporary, which I abhor. The dialogue did not sound different from the way we speak now. Usually when I read a historical novel I’m pulled in by how different the world in the book is to the world I live in. This one covered all of the topics that are talked about today. It was like reading a contemporary staged in 1910 but then the author forgot that the book was set in 1910. You could have slapped a smartphone in the main character's hand and nothing about the story would have needed to change.

Plot:
The plot of this book was seriously lacking. I thought that the book would have more to do with the Hope Diamond and how it tied into the tragedy that the Garland family endures before the book even starts. Unfortunately, this book has almost nothing to do with the Hope Diamond and has a lot to do with the main character twisting the truth and blackmailing people to get what she thinks she deserves.

Writing Style:
There are too many terms I don’t understand. Mostly architectural terms that would have been common in the 1900s but mean absolutely nothing to me in 2020. These terms are probably the only thing about the actual words used that would have been commonplace in 1910. I also had the unpleasant experience of reading the word "spinster" about 5 times more than necessary. The main character is 32 years old. That is not a spinster. A spinster is like 50. Past childbearing age. 32 is not a spinster.

Enjoyment:
I absolutely did not enjoy this book. There was not one thing in this book that I enjoyed and I don't recommend this book for anyone to read.

Rating: I gave Cartier's Hope 1.4/5 stars based on my personal rating system.

Again, thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book. This is a well written historical novel about a diamond but really shows the life in a city divided by very wealthy citizens and poor people who hardly survive having enough to eat. Not repeating the story you should read and enjoy the book as much as I did.

I felt like we were right in 1910. So many things have changed and yet so much has remained the same. Vera Garland born into society. She never felt like she belong but was determined to make a difference. She took on a persona of Vee Swann so that she could be a reporter. Only women were not accepted as serious reporters. They were never paid equal to their male counterparts. Not only that, women didn't have the right to vote. Mr. Cartier was all about salesmanship. His prize was the Hope Diamond. He stirred up all the stories about the Hope Diamond being bad luck if you touched it. The more the stories, the more people wanted it. Jacob Archer, jeweler, and the man behind the scenes. From the moment they meet, sparks fly. They are two of a kind, both working in the shadows. What is all boils down to, was Vera able to reach for love? It seems her father, who was always her biggest supporter, was giving her a push from the grave.