A Storm of Infinite Beauty tells the story of Valerie and her time in a lodge in Alaska and surviving the largest earthquake on American soil. It is told from the viewpoint of Valerie and her cousin Gwen through a non linear timeline. A Storm of Infinite Beauty was a beautifully told story that kept me engaged in both women’s stories. I love Julianne MacLean’s writing style and her descriptions of Alaska make you feel like you are there.

I really loved this book I can’t wait to read more by this author it was such a great story Julianne writes really great books.

The cover of this book is stunning and absolutely pulled me in! I was also very interested in the description of the novel. Once I started reading, the beginning was wonderful and exciting and I was hooked until further into the story. It started to feel a little rushed and not fleshed out enough. Some readers may love this kind of writing style, but I personally prefer more in depth stories. I just didn't feel as connected or immersed as I needed to in order to really LOVE this story. Overall though, it's a good story with many good points and I definitely recommend it!

I just close the last page of this book with tears in my eyes… I absolutely loved it… The backdrop of Alaska, the characters, the dual timelines! The magnificent writing, and the amazing story line. Had me read this book nonstop.!

Julianne MacLean writes breathtakingly beautiful descriptions of the settings for her novels and this one is no exception. With the majestic backdrop of Alaska and Nova Scotia, we meet Gwen Hollingsworth, a descendant of the once famous actress and songwriter Scarlett Fontaine. Gwen is also the curator of a museum devoted to Scarlett’s life as well as the only living heir to her estate. Her life is in turmoil as she’s dealing with several personal challenges when she is contacted by Peter Miller, a photojournalist, writer and one-time paparazzi who has uncovered a never before seen old photograph of Scarlett which will uncover many secrets about her life. The two embark on a journey to discover the truth about Scarlett and find their own truths along the way.

This multi timeline story is seamless in going from one time period to the next. With themes of family and self discovery, you will quickly immerse in the story and will want to travel to Alaska to bear witness to its beauty and history. Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this exquisite story in exchange for my honest review.
Publication date: September 12, 2023

What. A great story of preserving a character and the life she lead. The storyline of going back in time was a great to tell and the story and give only enough clues to want to keep reading.

A Storm of Infinite Beauty by Julianne MacLean, published by Lake Union Publishing is a mystery/ thriller of its finest and had me right from the start.
Set in Alaska, one of my fav settings - yay- Gwen is a movie star and songwriter with a pretty public life.
But when photographer Peter shows up she learns about relatives some interesting news, lets keep it that way.
It's a story I immediatedly connected with, loved storyline, writing and characters, heaven, what's more to say, nothing - 5 stars.

This is another excellent book from Julianne Maclean! The story goes back and forth in time between the 1960’s and 2017 and is told in alternating points of view of famous actress/singer Scarlett Fontaine who passed away at 36 years old and her relative and heir Gwen Hollingsworth, the curator of the Scarlett Fontaine museum. When photographer and writer Peter Miller comes to see Gwen at the museum, he shares a newspaper article with a photo of a woman who appears to be Scarlett in Alaska in 1964. This photo could unlock years of carefully-held secrets. Gwen and Peter travel to Alaska to try to put the pieces of this puzzle together. The characters in this book are beautifully written and it is also a wonderful tribute to Alaska. While in Alaska, Gwen and Peter read a passage from John Muir’s book Travels in Alaska about his trip there in 1879. “‘When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dew drop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.’” I learned so much more about Alaska and the devastating 1964 earthquake. I definitely recommend reading this book and can’t wait for the next one from Julianne Maclean. Thanks to #netgalley #lakeunionpublishing and #juliannemaclean for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This was quite a story, set partly in Alaska, Nova Scotia and Hollywood. There were a few mysteries to unravel, lost or withheld letters, broken hearts, earthquakes, rises to stardom ... just a heck of a lot going on, as I said.

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The GR blurb reveals that the curator of a museum dedicated to the town's local Hollywood celebrity, and a writer from Hollywood go on a quest to uncover the truth of what really happened to Valerie McCarthy (aka Scarlett Fontaine.)

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I can't go into too much detail without giving away a ton of spoilers but of course there were the usual plot tropes of a quarrel, a misunderstanding, interference by domineering family members, and two young lives irrevocably set on separate paths.

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The description of the devastating earthquake in Valdez, Alaska on March 27, 1964 was very well done.

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That breath-taking description, as well as the Alaskan setting, is what kept me reading on.

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This is a decent enough story, but I couldn't connect to any of the characters. There was too much telling and not enough showing and the characters (or stock caricatures!) were pretty standard fare.. In short, I didn't get a sense that the characters were real, full dimensional people.

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I also often felt as if I were reading a magazine article, or a newspaper clipping. It doesn't help that the reader gets only snippets of events, often second-hand - a snapshot of a moment in time., as it were. The omniscient narrator invariably gives us just so much information to keep the reader engaged, and only at the very end of the novel are the various mysteries resolved to everyone's satisfaction. There was a twist and a happy ending - of a sort - with a touch of bittersweet realism, as if to say: "real life happens, so make the best of things."

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This author has a ton of loyal fans, and this book is sure to please them once again. The descriptions of Alaska are very enticing, which is what hooked me into ordering this ARC in the first place. I'm rating this a 3.3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Waffling between 2 and 3 stars

For the most part I thought A Storm of Infinite Beauty was underwhelming. A tragic prologue began the narrative, but before I could wrap my mind around what happened in Valdez, Alaska in 1963, the plot moved to Nova Scotia in 2017.

Two women, related by blood but separated by time, suffered from grief. When I read a story with dual timelines I think it’s important to have a smooth transition between the past and the present. Instead, I favored the people from long ago.

I felt a literary hiccup when Gwen, Peter and Eric were being discussed. I was uncomfortable with Gwen’s frankness discussing Eric with Peter. I thought the separated couple passed over the mark that a good marriage counselor wouldn’t have missed. That, and there was little chemistry whenever any on the 3 characters were on the pages.

The story read like women’s fiction except with two timelines. But I think it would have been better served if Ms. MacLean wrote a full-length novel with strong characters coping with the massive earthquake in Valdez, Alaska.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Julianne MacLean for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I could not put this book down! It first caught my eye because it takes place in Alaska and I’m preparing to spend the next five weeks there. My intention was to read this book while I was there. I decided to take a quick peek at the first couple of chapters…which quickly turned into reading the entire book because I didn’t want to wait to get back to this story! The book tells the beautiful story of a young woman facing challenges with little support from her father who, sadly, is actually only placing more obstacles in her way. At the same time, we are following the story of a museum director and a journalist who are trying to learn about and tell the story of this young woman. The characters are beautifully developed and the scenery is described so thoughtfully that it made me feel like I’ve seen Valdez and other parts of Alaska that I have not actually even visited. But because of this book, I will be going very soon! This book is a must read!

A Storm of Infinite Beauty reveals beauty on many levels: physically, emotionally, even spiritually as Julienne MacLean’s characters learn to rise above life’s clutter and come to see unvarnished truth. It’s a book to savor and reread. Gwen, the custodian of her relative’s public life as a famous movie star and song writer, gets involved in learning about her relative’s very private unknown life when photographer and contracted book author, Peter arrives with a surprising photo that might refute some of the public narrative. Gwen soon comes to realize she has more in common with her relative than she ever could have imagined. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Most highly recommend.

Thanks so much to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley.

Scarlett was a true Hollywood legend who died alone with no children.

Gwen is a curator of the museum dedicated to Scarlett's life. Peter, a biographer, shows up with an old newspaper article that could be proof of a life in exile and a secret baby that no one knew about. They set out for Alaska to investigate.

This was such a great novel, and Julianne MacLean crafts a story with secrets in the past as well as new hope for the present. I was so curious to find out about Scarlett as well as what was going to happen with Gwen as she dealt with her own losses to figure out how to move on in her life. I really enjoyed this one.