The Lost Diary of Venice

I received an advanced reader's edition of The Lost Diary of Venice through Librarything in exchange for an honest review. To be honest, the premise for this novel was a good one. However, the author's writing did not equal her ambitious plan for her first novel.

The publisher's summary:

"In the wake of her father's death, Rose Newlin finds solace in her work as a book restorer. Then, one rainy Connecticut afternoon, a struggling painter appears at her door. William Lomazzo brings with him a sixteenth-century treatise on art, which Rose quickly identifies as a palimpsest: a document written over a hidden diary that had purposely been scraped away. Yet the restoration sparks an unforseen challenge: William-a married man-and Rose experience an instant, unspoken attraction. 

Five centuries earlier, Renaissance-era Venetians find themselves at the mercy of an encroaching Ottoman fleet, preparing for a bloody war. Giovanni Lomazzo, a portrait artist grappling with tragedy, discovers that his vision is fading with each passing day. Facing the possibility of a completely dark world, Gio begins to document his every encounter, including what might be his final artistic feat: a commission to paint the enchanting courtesan of one of Venice's most powerful military commanders. Soon, however, Gio finds himself enraptured by a magnificent forbidden love. 

Spellbound by Gino's revelations, Rose and William are soon forced to confront the reality of their ownmystifying connection."

Let me start my review with some comments on the publisher's summary.  The summary gives the impression that there is a lot of action in the novel.  There isn't. Author Margaux DeRoux used too many character internal thoughts in her writing than actual action or character development.  As an example, when Rose Newlin entered a library to do research, eight pages were used to get her to the area of the library where she needed to be.  During these eight pages Rose had a lot of thoughts. Too many thoughts. Then it took Rose three pages to sit in a chair, musing to herself about the setting of the library.  Rose finished this visit with 2 more pages speaking to a librarian. The novel then left this scene for another scene. The reader does not know what was in the book that Rose wanted to read in the library.

The novel was written with alternating stories between the present time and 500 years ago.  DeRoux wrote the historical story well. It was the only aspect of the book that kept me reading. Unfortunately, the style of writing was different than how she wrote the present day story.  The present day story was boring because the author used character thoughts 90% of the time.  Character thoughts should be used along with action, character development and narration.  DeRoux did not use character development, action or narration.  This is the book's fatal flaw.

It took me 10 days to read this 311 page book.  Normally I might read 10 books in this time period. I feel that I wasted the last 2 weeks of my time off from work due to the coronavirus shutdown. I begin working remotely next week.

I cannot give this book any rating.  It's a zero for me.