Book Review: Maestra by L.S. Hilton

I wanted to like this book, I really did. With an intriguing concept and the promise of mystery and intrigue, I started reading it on a rainy weekend and finished it in one day. Usually that's a good thing, meaning I can't put the book down, but in this case it was more like a car wreck-- I couldn't look away.

My first issue with this book is the sex. I am by no means a prude and I'll take sex and romance in a novel any day as long as it drives the plot forward. In this case I firmly believe the author chose to open the novel with a needlessly raunchy sex scene simply to up the shock value. The book would have been far more alluring without the graphic sex. The main character, Judith Rashleigh, would have been just as developed and intriguing without the weird sex.

What I did love about the book was the mystery that was wrapped up in the art world, the subject that initially drew me to this novel. The eventual plot twist at the end was well placed and well timed, but I could have done without roughly 45% of the book in order to get there.

It's honestly been a long time since I have been this disappointed in a critically acclaimed novel.