But I could not put it down, and I think almost anyone who lives in or cares about Seattle will feel the same. This book has lightly sketched characters, a mildly interesting plot, and workmanlike writing style. In general, fictional books tend to attract because of the well drawn characters, engrossing plots, and excellent writing. And finally-the number of typos and other errors increased the further into the book I got, which (as an editor) I found distracting. But the writing style was not compelling, and the one sex scene near the end was so cliched I literally cringed while reading it. The overall plot, which focuses on the owner and inhabitants of a boarding house in the early 1900s that is likely to be demolished by the city's passion for regrading all its hills, was a good way to humanize an aspect of the city's history I hadn't given much thought to, and the different personalities and pursuits of the boarders really fleshed out how many different kinds of people lived their daily lives here. And then felt compelled to cram every bit of that research into the book in a way that doesn't so much bring the era alive as make me feel like I'm reading meticulous notes. Donahue clearly did a ton of research while writing this book. I love reading historical fiction about Seattle, my "new" hometown of the past 15 years.
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