Hounded by the stubborn pursuit of Pierre de Richelieu and journalists chasing the beguiling story of the newest American heiress, Cora fights to remain true to her past, reconcile her present, and still embrace her future. But as Will struggles with her newfound wealth, Cora begins to wonder if their love is strong enough to withstand all that threatens to pull them apart.
As she glimpses the end of the tour, Cora knows it's time to decide Who and what defines her ... and who and what does not.
Review: I have a confession to make concerning this book. Judge me if you will. But I did not read the first two books in the series. And after reading Glittering Promises I am sincerely glad I did not. I’m sure most would say that I really ought not judge this book without having read the first two. But I have so many other books I want to read that I really didn’t want to read those first two books.
Because I knew exactly what I would get.
As good an author as Lisa Bergren is she has one fault that I can catch her on every time I read one of her series: predictability.
She is almost always predictable.
Even more so to me because I read her River of Time series before I read Glittering Promises. Glittering Promises was strikingly similar to the River of Time series. The first reason being that both series are based in Italy. The second reason (and the one that stood out most to me) was that Cora had two men in love with her just like Gabriella had in the River of Time.
Glittering Promises wasn’t all bad. The research that Lisa Bergren put into this series is astounding and—I’m sure—flawless. I enjoyed that aspect immensely. However, throughout the whole of the book I could not dismiss the déjà vu that kept on creeping into my mind. I kept on thinking Hasn’t she done this before?
Well…yes. She had done this before. There weren’t many differences between the River of Time and the Grand Tour series. Except perhaps the times in which they were set.
I really felt as though the story dragged on. And not because I hadn’t read the first two books. The details of the first two books were fairly easy to pick up on. I only felt as though many parts of the story in Glittering Promises could have been condensed.
If you haven’t read the River of Time series, then I suggest reading The Grand Tour series. However, I found the similarities between the two too distracting. One thing I noticed that was different from the River of Time series was the more developed faith of the main character, Cora. Gabriella lacked that faith in the River of Time.
All in all, I’m giving Glittering Promises 3 out of 5 stars. It deserves at least that much for all the research the author put into it.
*I received a copy of this book through Netgalley from the publishers. The opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. I have given an honest review of this book.