[NOVEL] The Ties that Divide by Sandra and Taylor Preisler

ooh, this was rough

In the heart of Regency London, where the gulf between the opulent upper class and the squalid streets is as wide as the Thames, Zoe Demas, a young French woman entangled in two worlds, finds herself at the center of a chilling mystery.

When her lady's maid, Lucy, is found dead in the notorious district of Whitechapel, Zoe refuses to accept the verdict of a tragic accident. Determined to uncover the truth, she enlists the help of Quinton Huxley, a man whose expertise lies in navigating the murky waters between legality and the underworld.

Alongside a cast of characters as diverse as they are mysterious—Zoe's stepfamily, a Bow Street runner, a resurrectionist, and a gangster among them—Zoe and Quinton unravel a tale of forbidden love, jealousy, and betrayal that threatens to consume her.

Q&Z Regency Mysteries. Book 1

Well, this started well, but soon enough it became another case of - let me tell you, not show you.

We start from Zoe Demas, she and her mother escaped France, the imagery of her past still haunts her, she still feels out of place even if her life went well when her mother re-married when she was nine.

Zoe is a talented artist (I wish there was more of it) and has a bit of accentric temperament (very cliche thing to say about a French woman), so she has a bit of a temper even with servants.

But one day her maid is reported to be dead, no one takes upon themselves the investigation. But Zoe feeling guilt for her rude words before she last saw her maid made her turn to private investigator Quinton Huxley. This is where Q&Z come from.

He promises to find some leads, but the investigation to me was quite bleak, as if it wasn't even the important part of it all. We heard more about secondary characters, the inevitable and sudden pull between the two character, although I was sitting and thinking to myself "why are the attrackted to each other again?" I was not mad when we get to see more of Zoe's change, although at other times I thought why should I care?

I don't know about the tags on goodreads, but is this supposed to be a cozy mystery, because this was kinda... slow too.

I guess the fact that I got a really bad headache when I finished impacted my reading. But even before that I started feeling like we don't go anywhere.

Quinton finds his brother (how convenient) he is not blood-related, they just grew up in same place, who now rules some worst part of the London city. Another convenient acquaintance, Scottish resurrectionist Rory helps them to figure the maid actually gave birth. This is not the lead, but her connection to the killer. Because the one responsible is obviously the father of her child. I don't even mind this info, it's just too obvious.

Conveniently someone Quinton knows is murdered in the same manner and who is connected to the maid Lucy. Too many conveniences. Anyway, it becomes personal.

But again, too much time is spent on others.

Like the connection between Quinton and his two friends. They connect often and start discussing the past so the reader will know they have a strong brotherly bond. I call it info dumping.

Next is Quinton's attraction to Zoe...why? He calls her stubborn and many other names, but there is no particular reason that shows his attraction, it just comes in suddenly, the same sudden effect as how others around Quinton tell him - ooh, boy, you in love.

And of course they can't be together because now she belongs to a good family and he is some bastard born by an actress, so they're not meant to be. This is for later, but the book already gives a hint that he's not some low-born dude.

Sigh.

The writing at the beginning was comfortable and it's the type of book that is easy to read. And it feels liek the story progresses well. We exclude the obvious fact that some jargon was too modern.

But the way the story lacks depth and character just instantly like each other and many other details made me feel disappointed. For others it may have been a good read, but it's not enough for me, I wanted some thrill instead of a slow park walk. Also too convenient.

RATE: 3/5.