Grosse Pointe by Natalie Barnes – Review by Jennifer Gordon

Grosse Pointe by Natalie Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Set in America in 1926, during the prohibition era and the time of, champagne, pistols, gangsters and dolls, this is a wonderfully written historical fiction novel with a mafia romance twist. Main character and Kilkenny bred, Brek O’Brien is mixed up with the Mafia and lives in a world of darkness and this is his story of how he found his light in Gabriella. Told from Brek’s point of view the story unfolds and is told in his dialogue which does take a little while to get used to and this does effect the easy flow of the narrative. However the plot is action packed and moves along at a fast pace and the storyline had me hooked from start to finish. Having left his home in Ireland at a young age to travel to New York, Brek ends up in Detroit, Grosse Pointe. Brek is responsible for ensuring that both alcohol and drugs flow freely even though it’s the era of prohibition and if any trouble crops up its his job to stop it along with friend Finnegan. Brek says himself that his hands are covered in blood and that he’s not afraid of any man only God. His relationship with Gabriella is complicated and their romance takes both them and the reader on an emotional rollercoaster as we follow their journey to love. The couples chemistry really came across in the narrative and I fell in love with both Brek and Gabriella, so much so that they stayed with me long after I had read the last page. Due to the authors wonderfully detailed and descriptive writing I felt totally immersed in Brek and Gabriella’s world, and in the time period of 1926. This was an emotional and engaging story which I definitely recommend.

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