Title: Whispers in the Reading RoomSeries: Chicago World's Fair Mystery #3
Author: Shelley Gray
Publisher: Zondervan
Published Date: November 10th 2015
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Christian Fiction
Page Count: 352
Format: Kindle
My Rating: ★ ★ ★.5
Goodreads Summary:
Lydia’s job at the library is her world—until a mysterious patron catches her eye . . . and perhaps her heart.
Just months after the closure of the Chicago World’s Fair, librarian Lydia Bancroft finds herself fascinated by a mysterious dark-haired and dark-eyed patron. He has never given her his name; he actually never speaks to a single person. All she knows about him is that he loves books as much as she does.
Only when he rescues her in the lobby of the Hartman Hotel does she discover that his name is Sebastian Marks. She also discovers that he lives at the top of the prestigious hotel and that most everyone in Chicago is intrigued by him.
Lydia and Sebastian form a fragile friendship, but when she discovers that Mr. Marks isn’t merely a very wealthy gentleman, but also the proprietor of an infamous saloon and gambling club, she is shocked.
Lydia insists on visiting the club one fateful night and suddenly is a suspect to a murder. She must determine who she can trust, who is innocent, and if Sebastian Marks—the man so many people fear—is actually everything her heart believes him to be.
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My Review:
Thank you to Zondervan and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book. I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Little did I know when I started this book that it was the third one in the series. Thankfully it appears that they are all just companion novels and not an actual continuing story-line. (I think)
Lydia is a young lady who not only has fallen from riches but is now also having to work as a librarian. Good news is though is that she loves being a librarian and loves reading books in general. Her mother doesn't feel the same way and would prefer for Lydia to marry a very wealthy man who could take care of them both. The problem with this is that Lydia has tried and tried and she's just not what most guys of that time seem to want. She is courting someone, but that ends up going horribly wrong and is just a rather tragic ending for the gentleman.
Have no fear though because while she is at tea with someone else she finally meets Sebastian Marks (the gentlemen who comes to her library and reads but never checks anything out.) who turns her life upside down and changes everything for the worst and then the better thankfully.
As for my feelings about the book. I thought it was okay. At times I had a little bit of trouble connecting to the characters especially during certain parts of the story.
Sebastian was very overbearing. I can understand why he was that way, but it still put me off when Lydia would tell him no and he would just do things anyway or find a way around it to help her. It was very sweet of him to do, but he really just needed back off a little bit in my opinion and listen to what she really would have liked for him to do.
Lydia, I liked, but I also got rather annoyed with how naive she was at times. I know it was because her parents had done a successful job of sheltering her. But still, she read the papers and worked in a public place you would have thought she would have known certain things.
I absolutely adored Sebastian employees. They were always so kind and you could tell that they really did care for him and want the best for him.
I am very curious to see what happened in the two books before this one. If you have read the books before this did you like them? Or like I did you not realize that this was the third one in a series.
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