*** UNPOPULAR OPINION****

Yes, I can see how Saiska's story relates in similarity to My Dark Vanessa but i did not like this. It was a predictable read for me, Other people may like this but it was not for me. Usually I like fiction books similar to this but it was a miss.

Cannot recommend because it was predictable.

Thanks to Rachel Kapelke-Dale, Net Galley and St Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for honest review.

Already available.

This boo was sooooooo slow. I wanted to quit halfway through and felt like it took forever to actually get to the point which wasn't the house, but Saskia's illicit relationship. And also how the two other victims were introduced and then just.. gone? Could have been done better.

Lolita meets the Dutch House. Dark Academia with intense family drama. Every girl has a story that could have gone like this. I loved this book.

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.

Saskia arrives home after her mothers death and is surprised to learn what her mothers will states. In fact she’s shocked. Growing up Saskia was a child prodigy at piano and didn’t fit in with people the same age as her. Most of the kids thought she acted like an adult instead of a teenager. Saskia’s secrets start to unwind while she is there, but Saskia is trying to keep her secrets buried.

I really enjoyed read. At first it was a bit slow, but it picked up the pace.

Thank you #Netgalley for the advance copy

i thought the ballerinas was a surprisingly unpleasant book, but this one was better. a bit too movie-ish to be a book but it was ok

This was a very fun thriller. It kept me entertained. I liked that I didn't really know what was going on. It wasn't predictable.

Thank you so much for the ARC!
I really liked this book! It started out a little slow and I felt like the set up dragged a little, but when the plot thickened, I could not look away. The way everything weaved together was impressive. 4 stars!

Thank you for the advanced readers copy Netgalley, but this one ultimately was not a book worth finishing for me.

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. I did like that it touched on important societal topics of sexual abuse and feminism.

Thank you to SMP, the author, and NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have read it! What a wonderful book!

I really enjoyed The Ingenue. It was incredibly written, so wonderful that I had to wonder if the author had experience as a piano prodigy.

Because of Dale's writing style, there is a learning curve to understanding and following her stories. It's very mature, detailed and almost poetic, so it just takes some time to follow and appreciate what she is telling you.

Once you get past that, it becomes enthralling and you're entered into her world.

Being inside Saskia's brain is unique; you see her battling with herself, her father, and her mother's wishes. She is trying her best to please everyone but has lost herself in the process. She is trying to find her way after her mother's death and this huge bombshell that has landed in her lap. It's interesting, touching and at times, hard to read because of the sexual assault language.

The novel alternates timelines, which is always a fun way to read, between young and adult Saskia; you're able to see how she became who she is and how she's actively rebelling against it. You see the relationship she has with her parents, her friends, her teacher, and the house she grew up in. It's eye opening and adds a lot of value to the story.

The ending of this book is something I didn't see coming and almost makes me want to classify this as a thriller, though I know it is definitely not one. It was a twisted, wicked and deliciously justified way to close out Saskia's story.

The Ingenue was beautiful, well written and very interesting. If you like fiction that deals with tough topics with a bit of flair, you will really like The Ingenue.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

A really good novel for the #MeToo landscape! Dark, haunting and unflinching look at how an older man's dalliance with a minor has impacted her life for the decades since! Luckily readers will get to relish in Saskia's vengeful desires and find themselves hoping for some devilish revenge!

Description
My Dark Vanessa meets The Queen's Gambit in this new novel of suspense about the bonds of family, the limits of talent, the risks of ambition, and the rewards of revenge.

When former piano prodigy Saskia Kreis returns home to Milwaukee after her mother's unexpected death, she expects to inherit the family estate, the Elf House. But with the discovery that her mother's will bequeathed the Elf House to a man that Saskia shares a complicated history with, she is forced to reexamine her own past––and the romantic relationship that changed the course of her life––for answers. Can she find a way to claim her heritage while keeping her secrets buried, or will the fallout from digging too deep destroy her?

Set against a post #MeToo landscape, Rachel Kapelke-Dale's The Ingenue delves into mother-daughter relationships, the expectations of talent, the stories we tell ourselves, and what happens when the things that once made you special are taken from you. Moving between Saskia's childhood and the present day, this dark, contemporary fairy tale pulses with desire, longing, and uncertainty, as it builds to its spectacular, shocking climax.

The Ingenue by Rachel Kapelke-Dale reads kind of on the slow side and was tedious for me to get through. It feels like this story has been written many times before. Not the best for me.

I thought this book had a surprising edge—I enjoyed the MC’s interpretations of her reality. She’s a different take on a poor little rich girl, since her family’s wealth is tied into an ancestral home, and her identity along with it. I enjoyed the writing and the characters, and raged along with the MC against the villain attempting to take her home. I hated that (semi-spoiler) that her and her mother couldn’t just talk about what happened with the teacher, it seemed like an obvious way to deal with the problem but that’s what doesn’t make a novel.

This book was very different from The Ballerinas (Rachel Kapelke-Dale's previous work) but that's not necessarily a bad thing. While The Ballerinas focused on complex dynamics of female friendships, The Ingenue's main character Saskia Kreis oozed loneliness and isolation including from those female friendships.

When you are deemed exceptional at something at such a young age but then walk away from that career path are you also walking away from part of your identity? Saskia used to be piano prodigy and now returns to her childhood home after her mother's death, filled with conflicting feelings about her mother and about herself and where she is in life. Though Saskia seems singularly focused on the future of her childhood home, it's her past and relationship that changed the course of her life that end up at the forefront of the story.

I found the first part of the story quite slow with many disjointed parts that later did come together. In the end I was the most invested in the cat/mouse aspect of the story that comes in later parts. The story is quite dark and heavy but builds suspense in ultimately intriguing way. I particularly loved the excerpts from mom's work "Fairy Tales for Little Feminists" that were featured throughout the book. I would definitely love to read that book on its own. This will appeal to those readers who like good character development and dramas that tackle heavy topics while adding elements of suspense.

Grateful to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This one felt a lot like My Dark Vanessa, but this one just isn’t that great. An inappropriate relationship, feminism, and taking back what’s yours. This one just misses the mark unfortunately.

I struggled with this one; was a really big fan of Rachel Kapelke-Dale's debut novel, THE BALLERINAS. but simply couldn't connect with the plot or characters in this release. I gave it multiple shots, but ultimate ended up DNF'ing this one- I still cannot wait for her next book though, I think she is a very strong writer.

This ended up being a bit to slow with large amounts of detail at the beginning that bogged me down early on so I didn’t make it all the way through it.

The Ingenue follows Saskia as she returns to her childhood home, the Elf House, upon the death of her mother. This former piano prodigy has mixed feelings about coming back, and things become even more complicated when she finds out the her mother has unexpectedly left the family estate to Patrick, the much older man Saskia was in a ‘relationship’ with as a teenager. As Saskia struggles to contest the will, she must also come to terms with her past. I found the book immensely readable and flew through it. I particularly liked the dual timeline; each chapter begins with a section from Saskia’s childhood before moving on to the present. It gives the reader a full picture of events while still providing suspense for how it will all play out.

I read Kapelke-Dale’s debut novel The Ballerinas in 2021, and while I enjoyed it, I did find some flaws. Unfortunately, these same flaws are magnified in The Ingenue. I took issue with the overly sensational ending, though I will give Kapelke-Dale credit for not leaving a major event until the very last moment this time. The social commentary also felt even more over the top here than in her previous novel. I want to make it clear: I believe that literature absolutely should be exploring the sexism and violence women face. And Kapelke-Dale mostly handles the subject well, just as she did in her previous novel. The relationship between Saskia and Patrick feels realistic and incredibly uncomfortable. However, there are some moments that feel too over the top and border on unbelievable.

My biggest issue with the book was the children’s book series Saskia’s mother wrote: Fairy Tales for Little Feminists. They reimagine classic fairy tales from a feminist standpoint, and each chapter begins with a short excerpt from one of them. As a big fairy tale fan, I thought this would be something I’d love. However, I found them so over the top and cringey. Many of them are also based on the Disney versions of the tales, which was the part that irritated me the most. There is a mention of the Beast being unpleasant and treating Beauty poorly, which simply isn’t in line with any variation of the original fairy tale. And one of the dwarfs in “Snow White” is called Grumpy. To me, using the Disney versions felt like a rather lazy copout.

Overall, The Ingenue is an engaging and enjoyable read, and I would recommend it despite the issues I had.