Inamorata by Megan Chance

Good morning, everyone! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Megan Chance's latest, Inamorata.

Joseph Hannigan and his sister, Sophie, have come to Venice to meet the people who can make Joseph a star! He has the talent - his art immediately catches Nicholas Dane's eye - and the siblings are almost immediately swept into the city's thriving art community. But the Hannigans are hiding something, something that caused them to leave New York quite suddenly. Something they don't want their new friends to know. 

Nicholas has his own reasons for wanting to keep Joseph close. Nicholas himself was once a talented poet. Alas, all of his ideas have left him. He blames this on Odilé, his one time muse. Odilé serves as muse to many poets, musicians, and artists. It's how she lives. Nicholas knows her secret and knows that Joseph is exactly the kind of man Odilé would choose. And Nicholas wants to make sure that doesn't happen. 

Since I had no idea what Inamorata was really about when diving in, I'm going to leave it a surprise for you as well. No spoilers :)

I've read Megan Chance just once before this. Her City of Ash was amazing and was set around early stage life in nineteenth century Seattle. Given how much I'd enjoyed that one, I jumped at the chance to join in on the Inamorata tour.

Chance has an almost hypnotic style. Her prose is the kind that literally drowns out everything around you, wrapping you up in the setting and the characters. In this case it's nineteenth century Venice and the art scene. Whistler makes an appearance. Poets the likes of Byron and Keats are mentioned and even Schumann has a bit of a cameo (in a sense). And the city! I've never been to Venice but here I was imagining I was alongside Sophie and Joseph and Nicholas and Odilé as they told their tales!

Inamorata is a bit odd as well. Joseph and Sophie, for example, - as a reader it's hard not to immediately suspect that there's something off about their relationship. It doesn't escape Nicholas either. Part of the twins' plan involves Sophie gaining Nicholas's attention but she doesn't seem to realize that her connection with her brother also stands in the way. Nor does she realize that he's already obsessed with another woman.

Oh, and once we realize exactly what's going on between Nicholas and Odilé the story takes on a whole new level of wonderful!

Inamorata was darker than I'd imagined. And much more otherworldly as well. It was really fantastic not only to return to an author I've enjoyed but to find that she had so many surprises up her sleeve!

Rating: 4/5

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Megan Chance and her work you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.