This was a wonderful and realistic tale of historical fiction but also contains themes that are relevant today.

Victoria Byrne ne Meeks, writes romantic fiction as Mrs Swann in Gilded Age Boston. However, she has grown tired of living through her heroines and longs to pen something more real and true to who she is. Touching on subjects such as abortion, women’s suffrage and emancipation this book gets to the heart of what it means to be truly free to make your own desicions and to live by your truths.

I really enjoyed Victorian as a main character and found the balance of her and Jonathan; her new editor, a really well done mix of main narrators and plot drivers. I found that alot of themes in this tale are still relevant today and I think that is what is so captivating about this tale. A well written, exciting plot with rounded, compex characters.

I was invested in what was going on in this book, I loved the concept of Gilded Age Boston and how well this was written. Virginia Pye does a great job in telling the story and creating unique characters in this world. It left me wanting more and I'm glad I got to read.

"Jonathan had sat with his head bowed over her manuscript, the dreamy strand of flaxen hair falling across his brow. Mrs. Swann’s characters surreptitiously swooned over one another all the time. A lady’s cascading curls, dainty shoes, and low-cut bodice, or a gentleman’s broad shoulders, manly stance, and clenched jaw prompted similar sighs to the one she released now. Hearing herself, she felt foolish, and tossed the pillow to the carpet. She could routinely create a leading man but had no idea how to obtain one for herself."