I love Lisa Scottoline’s books, especially the last two, Eternal and What Happened to the Bennets, so I was more than thrilled to be able to read her new novel, Loyalty, as an advanced read. As excited as I was is as disappointed as I am after reading the book.

My main issue with Loyalty is that some of the writing seems superficial and at times just not up to snuff. I did not feel invested in or care for any of the characters, who seemed poorly developed. While the plot was interesting, it took too long to get going, and I had a hard time maintaining interest. Not her best effort, though this won’t keep me from reading any of her future books.

My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of Loyalty.

This story is a different from Scottoline's previous writings, but I enjoyed reading about a completely different time in history and setting than I've ever read about. This story takes us to Sicily and the lives of lemon-growers, barons, criminals, kidnapping, and more. There are several different story lines and characters at the beginning of the story. This was a little confusing to me at first, but I knew that they story lines would begin to come into play with each other and all make sense in the end.

Loyalty by Lisa Scottoline. A very dark story, hard to relate to the characters or events in the story. Not what I was expecting from a Lisa Scottoline book. Readers of historical novels may find the setting and events interesting

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book

Thank you for this advanced copy. I really like Lisa so thought I would give this book a try although I don’t care for historical fiction. I did not care for this book. It was way too long for one. Demon babies. Kids kidnapped and locked in mental instructions. Families killing each other. I ended up skipping around more than anything and it just had no interest to me. Happy ending though I guess you could say. If you’re a fan of Lisa but her earlier works, you may want to skip this one.

Lisa Scottoline first distinguished herself as a first-rate thriller writer. Now she is turning her hand to writing historical fiction, and I couldn't be happier! This was a fascinating inside look at the mafia as it grows in power in Sicily, and how it affects four unique, unforgetable souls. I loved this book and its epic feel, and I highly recommend it!

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!