Customer Reviews

Chloe (The Women of Ivy Manor Series: Book I)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read many historical fiction novels, but this was the best yet. As a history major it's hard for me to enjoy a 'historical' story when the history is really fiction. Lyn Cote finds a superb way to blend fiction with historical reality in this coming of age story. Set among the backdrop of WWI and the Roaring Twenties flapper Chloe learns what real love is and deals with family dynamics in a way that keeps the reader turning the page to see what happens next. The storyline is original, characters are believable and authentic and the history is right on the mark. Congratulations to Lyn Cote for such a superb work of fiction.

I would like to make a few corrections to a previous review. The man whom Chloe marries is named Theran Black, not Thoeran. Also, her black servant is Minnie, not Millie.

I picked up Chloe on a whim because of its historical turn-of-the-twentieth-century setting and the backdrops of the first World War, the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression. The 1920s Jazz Age intrigued me as well. This is one of the most beautiful and moving inspirational fiction books I have read. Chloe Kimball is a beautiful blue-eyed seventeen-year-old blonde who has had enough of her dysfunctional parents. She is nothing but an essential tool for her father's political career and the proper heiress to her mother's Carlyle upbringing and Ivy Manor estate. So, in the year 1917, Chloe and her pretty black maid Minnie, victim of Chloe's father's come-ons and sexual harassments, decide to escape to New York City, where Chloe marries a gorgeous soldier she only had brief encounters with, in spite of her friend Roarke's love confession. Chloe hadn't imagined the struggles she'd face after that. Her husband Theran dies during the war in France and Chloe has to work as a model to make ends meet. But then she discovers that she is pregnant with her late husband's child and moves back to Ivy Manor, where she begins to work with her selfish father again, loses her newborn daughter to her overbearing mother, and experiences the loss of her friendship with Roarke and his sister Kitty. There is something missing in Chloe's life, something that could change her life for the better. Will she be able to figure it out before it is too late? There are various twists throughout the novel.

There are several time lapses during the course of the story and we experience the different settings and backdrops as the years and decades change. The reader gets glimpses of Chloe's life from the year 1917 to the year 1930. There are many insights on WWI and its aftermath during the "Lost Generation" of the Roaring Twenties -- where jazz clubs, chic clothes and the Charleston dance were the height of fashion. I enjoyed this particular aspect of the novel because the descriptions were so historically rich that it felt as though I had been alive during that interesting era. The author took us on a tour of the startup of New York City's bohemian lifestyle, the fashion changes and the beginning of the fights for equal employment for African Americans and the demand for women's right to vote. The insights on the stock market crash in 1929 (also known as the "Crash of '29") and the beginning of the Great Depression were also quite interesting. As said earlier, this is a very historically rich and insightful novel. I loved it. As for the characters, I was able to feel their pain and emotions. Chloe and Roarke touched me deeply. Chloe's lack of backbone frustrated me at times, but she redeemed herself in the last pages of the novel. I loved the chemistry between Chloe and Theran Black. He sounded wonderful and I wish he had been in the novel more. But the love story between Chloe and Roarke is also quite moving. All in all, this is a beautiful first offering of a family saga that springs through generations of the Women of Ivy Manor. The next installment will center on Bette, Chloe's daughter. I will certainly give it a whirl, especially because I want to know what is happening to Kitty, a loose end in the story that I hope will be resolved in Bette. I recommend this inspiring story most highly.

The story begins quickly and without much character development, but that can be overlooked at first, as it jumps headstrong into an intriguing plot. However, the unsettling and jerky pace continues throughout the whole book, landing you in one place and then swiftly moving you on to another before you can even catch your breath and have a look around. As a previous reviewer said, it reads like a saga - except in my opinion, it reads more like the summary of a saga. It felt like there were holes all over in the story, as vast passages of time and events were casually skipped over. The historical setting is wonderful and well researched, but the characters are thinly drawn and the plot moves way too fast - this book has the potential to be something really great, but somehow misses the mark by trying to cram too much into 304 pages.
And then there's the ending. It left me entirely unsatisfied! I think the author was trying to create a cliff-hanger to lead in to the second book, but it ended too quickly with little explanation or reason. Suddenly, in the blink of a single page everything changes and ends!
Lastly, as the previous reviewer mentioned, there is not much religious/spiritual content in this book. That's fine, the story is not lacking because of it. The problem is that it is sold as being a "Christian" book, and God is only vaguely mentioned about 4 times. I am all for a book that does not beat you over the head with sappy Christian sentiment - but I feel it's wrong to try and throw in two or three awkwardly placed and unexplained references to Christianity and call it an "inspirational" book.
Despite its shortcomings, I am looking forward to the other books in the series, to see what happens to the other generations of Chloe's family, but mostly because the historical context of this first book was well written.

This is Lyn's best book and a glorious story of hope and redemption. The plot is delicious, full of characters that come alive and draw you into Chloe's world. The story lives and breathes history, brings it home in ways that evoke our deepest emotions. This is a must read, a delightful story that will keep you reading until the last page. Don't pass this one by.

"They call us the Lost Generation....We're not the only two who lost ourselves in the war."

Chloe by Lyn Cote began in Tidewater, Baltimore during 1917. Soon I would end up in Washington, New York and Paris. Chloe is truly a Family Saga. I am amazed by the way Lyn Cote wrote so much information about the time, the place and the people in this small book. The book is fantastic.

Chloe is the main character. Although, she is part of the "Lost Generation," she remains strong. She is a woman who loves the people in her life so much that it isn't possible to let go. Chloe gives, waits patiently to give more until it is hopeless to try again. All of the people in her life, Minnie her maid, Theran, her husband, Roarke, a very close friend, his sister, Kitty, Drake Lovelady, another man friend, her parents, Jamie, an orphan, and Bette, Chloe's little girl are a living photo of the "Lost Generation." Meaning each one becomes loss to themselves because of one reason or another reason during the war days. All that was flashy and golden and gay are gone.

By the way Lyn Cote writes at great length about the race problem: the days of rioting in New York, lynchings and the days of Jim Crow. Cote writes without shying away about difficulties faced by the Negro race at this time. I will always remember Minnie. Minnie is a lady who dreams big. She is wonderful, the best.

While reading "Chloe," I thought about the wars we have come through since 1917 and the wars we are living through today. There is a hopeless feeling that hangs over people during war and poor economic times. However, the people with strong faith, strong character do not give up. Their light, their ability to keep pulling themselves up gives other men, women and children the strength to stand up again and again and again because the beauty of life is able to conquer any ugly feature of war. Chloe by Lyn Cote is about survival, carrying on and giving your best shot. Who knows what is just around the corner to make you love again, feel again and laugh again? It is not all over until it is over. Never give up.

Chloe is Book One. I am excited to read Book Two, Bette.

Chloe is the turn of the century equivalent of today's pampered princess but she longs for so much more. To say that this young woman takes destiny into her own hands is an understatement. Her adventures take her away from home only to bring her back again. But she finds in the long run that love is from within.

The character of Chloe, first brought to life in this story, soon becomes the matriarch of the the Women of Ivy Manor as we follow her story through the successive books. This story is captivating and a must read for any young woman looking to find herself. While spanning the time period from 1900 through World War I, it packs a lot of punch into that short time period. The people we meet are real and vibrant. Kudos to Lyn Cote for such a terrific read!

It's not very often when I pick up an absolutely awful novel. I avidly read historical fiction and find fun in learning something new about a time and place I had little knowledge about. I won't rehash Chloe, because frankly, it's not worth retelling. My biggest issue with this novel is the lack of good historical research. It's so simple to say New York City was basically just like any other city at the turn of the century, but that is not the truth at all. One location was painted no differently than another except for the honking car horns. Theran's death seemed like Cote didn't want him killed violently in any way, so why not food poisoning? As for Chloe, well, she was one of the most self-centered protagonists I've ever met in a book. All the internal questioning about herself got really old really fast. By about three quarters of the way through, I simply gave up on the story altogether. It was boring. Chloe was boring. Roarke was boring. Her parents were boring. There needs to be depth and growth to the main characters and I saw none of that. When the writer has the characters constantly questioning everything on every page of the novel, there is nothing left for the reader to imagine. I would never recommend this novel.

I'm usually not one to put a book down and never finish it.....until now. Searching for a book to read at the library last week, I stumbled upon this book 'Chloe'. The description sounded interesting enough, so I picked it. I wanted to like this book, really. It started out okay, I loved Theran, but that was about it. I had a hard time liking any of the other characters, and it felt that they had no emotion or real depth to their characters, with the exception of Theran. But about the time Chloe and Minnie started modeling, I was feeling like this book had no point and was going nowhere....very slowly, and I got bored with it. A few times I put the book down and had to ponder 'what is the point of this story?' and 'why should I care for these characters?', and after that I just had no desire to pick it up again. It seems to me it could have been a good story if it had a more interesting plot and a little more excitement to the characters. But it just fizzled out way too fast.

"Chloe" is most definitely going on my list of "worst books read." It was if author Lyn Cote simply did not know how to design her main character, Chloe, or any of the other characters. No one had any depth or interestingness to him or her. The book spans nearly ten years, giving plenty of time and opportunity to showcase characters' growth, but Cote failed greatly. There was no development or explanation as to why these people turned out as they did. It was a mystery that wasn't interesting. There was no one to look up to, relate to, or like...it was as if Cote didn't like writing this story. A huge disappointment. I do not recommend.

To escape her controlling parents, Chloe elopes with Thorsen Black as WW I looms on the horizon. With her black servant girl, Millie, Chloe makes a decent life for herself and her unborn child in New York. Then, in a freak accident, Thorsen is killed overseas, forcing Chloe to find work. Good fortune leads her and Millie into a joint modeling career, and so life goes on for some time. Back home, one man still yearns to have Chloe for his wife, but Roarke is sure that he can never have her because of what happened to him in the war. It will be over a decade before the two meet again to find out if he's right or not.

*** In one sense, Chloe feels like a saga, ala Barbar Taylor Bradford or Danielle Steele. Yet, it moves a bit faster. Why it's classified inspirational when God is not mentioned very often is a bit of a mystery, but it does shine light on a seldom explored facet of history and the early seeds of the civil rights movement. If you enjoy watching Turner Classic Movies, then this reads like a Barbara Stanwyck movie. ***