Hello friends! I hope everyone is having a good week so far! Today I’m going to be reviewing Jessie Burton’s novel The Muse.

The Muse by: Jessie Burton: Set in different decades, in England 1967 Odelle begins work in a prestigious art gallery where she finds a painting by the famous Isaac Robles, a young man whose mysterious death was too soon. Compelled by the mystery, Odelle finds herself wrapped up in trying to solve it. Then on the flip side, Spain 1936 Olive follows her parents where she grows close to the housekeeper and her half-brother Isaac Robles where it is clear who the real artist is. This novel bounces back and forth between the lives of these two women who come together because of Isaac Robles. The plot was very intricate and the fact that there were so many stories that weaved in and out made this novel interesting, but it also made it hard to stay engaged because there was just so much going on. The fact that the author felt that everything needed to be connected, at times, was genius, but others just a tad too much. The characters were interesting; they were rounded and dynamic and the fact that they were rooted in so much history and the plots really gave them depth. At the same time, characters sometimes got lost within one another because some of them felt similar but in different decades. This was an intriguing novel that does manage to suck the reader in, and keep them engaged, just between the characters and the slow plot progression at times it made the reader disengage a bit.