Monday, April 3, 2023

Review: The Metropolitan Affair by Jocelyn Green

For years her explorer father promised Dr. Lauren Westlake she'd accompany him on one of his Egyptian expeditions. But as the empty promises mounted, Lauren determined to earn her own way. Now the assistant curator of Egyptology for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lauren receives two unexpected invitations.

The first is her repentant father's offer to finally bring her to Egypt as his colleague on a new expedition. The second is a chance to enter the world of New York's wealthiest patrons who have been victims of art fraud.

With Egyptomania sweeping the city after the discovery of King Tut's tomb, Detective Joe Caravello is on the hunt for a notorious forger preying on the open wallets of New York's high society. Dr. Westlake is just the expert he needs to help him track the criminal. Together they search for the truth, and the closer Lauren and Joe get to discovering the forger's identity, the more entangled they become in a web of deception and crime. 

As I finished this novel, not an hour ago, I sat with tears rolling down my face. (Oh boy, here they come again!) I'm not sure how this will go as a review, so let me just say that the plot was one of my favorites, and the characters were stunning. I am so ready for book two and three. But really, what brings me to tears is how much Lauren made me feel seen. Like Lauren, I spent a lot of my growing up years trying to please people and gain approval, even fulfill wishes they never even placed on me. Like Lauren, I'd rather stick my foot in a great big anthill and get eaten up than have any sort of confrontation. Like Lauren, when I finally get fed up enough to have that confrontation, it gets heated. Like Lauren, I'm finally starting to accept the painful scars of my past and echo Goldie's sentiment, "Redeem this." And you know what? He surely has, He surely is, and He surely will.


I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley, but, as always, the thoughts and sentiments are my honest own.


Please, buy a copy, if you love learning about ancient Egypt, Prohibition, and old school detective work. Amazon Link

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