Review: The Black Velvet Coat by Jill G. Hall

The Black Velvet Coat

by Jill G. Hall 

Publisher: She Writes Press

Pages: 350

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Twenty-eight-year-old struggling San Francisco artist Anne McFarland is determined to get a one-woman show, even though no one, including herself, believes she can do it. But when she buys a coat at a thrift shop with a key in its pocket, strange, even magical, occurrences begin to unfold, and she is inspired to create her best work ever. Fifty years before, the coat’s original owner, young heiress Sylvia Van Dam, is headed toward a disastrous marriage with a scoundrel. In a split-second reaction, she does the unimaginable, which propels her destiny out of alignment and forces her on a trip of self-discovery to nature-filled Northern Arizona. When Anne and Sylvia’s lives intersect, they are both forced to face their fears―and in the process, they realize their true potential.


Kritters Thoughts:  With two women characters taking their turns telling their story with a coat connecting them.  A modern San Francisco artist is barely making ends meet and finds a beautiful coat in a thrift shop and she has to make it a part of her wardrobe.  Once she finds out the previous owner - a former heiress she is inspired to create new art.  The heiress is the other character and her story weaves in and out of Anne's as the reader finds out what happened to her.

The one thing that I would have loved to change were the short chapters, they felt very choppy and it went back and forth from Anne and Sylvia too fast as soon as the chapter was starting too get good it switched to the other, I would have loved if more chapters for each character had been grouped together.

Beyond this one change, I enjoyed the stories.  I loved how they quickly overlapped and you knew how they were connected early on.  I also loved how as Sylvia's story was unfolding Anne was getting inspired and she was learning the details of Sylvia's life along with the reader.

I definitely liked this one and would recommend it.  


Rating: enjoyable but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2015 Challenge: 48 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from BookSparks PR.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.