I’m not even sure where to begin with this book. My head is still spinning. There is a LOT going on here. It is very long. Many a time I questioned why I was still reading, but the story was crazy enough that I felt compelled to get to the end. That being said, it ended so abruptly that it made me mad. Something definitely gets lost in translation here, and a lot of the characters- most of them- aren’t likeable. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks to Net Gallery for the copy of this book. This book is about a girl named Elizabeth who leaves France with her family destined for the new world. She looses both of her parents and is taken in by a kind family in NY. Eventually, she discovers the truth about her past and wants to meet her family in France.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. Ultimately, I agree with previous reviews that perhaps there is some of the “artistic prose” lost in the translation from French. I also found the pacing to be off. The book’s teaser tells you her parents die and she is taken in by another family—so I expected this to happen “quickly” in the book—instead, it is roughly the first third of the book. This was more difficult to get through because you already knew what was happening. After that point, I really was invested in the story and wanted to finish. I finished the last half of the book in just over 24hrs vs the beginning.

Disclaimer: I admit that I will “downscore” books that have content that I would characterize as “mysoginistic.” This book has sex scenes in which a man does not heed the woman’s clear request to stop, then depicted as “she was happy he didn’t stop after” as well as an incest rape scene.

The writing of this novel just wasn't for me, unfortunately. It didn't flow naturally nor did it feel easy to read. I was somewhat interested in the outcome of the characters, however, I struggled with the idea of whether I actually liked the main character. Some plot points seemed intriguing, but overall the novel felt a little flat to me. I have heard wonderful things about the author though so I suspect this might be the case of the translation, rather than the work itself. I'd be happy to read something else from this author in the future, I can feel the promise within this story, it was just missing something.

The Manhattan Secret by Marie-Bernadette Dupay is a book translated from French. It is a pretty good romance book but at times I had difficulty with whether or not I liked the main character, Elizabeth. She undergoes a lot of hardships and endures a mysterious childhood where all of a sudden the secrets of her biological parents, the voyage to the United States and her history just come to her as she is skating in Central Park. The couple who have taken her in and loved her since are discarded and the heroine goes off to France to a beautiful castle owned by her wealthy grandfather to discover her roots. She seems to have developed some type of clairvoyance and sees images of her future that do come to fruition at the books conclusion. There are several love interests and one of the main ones is a likeable fellow that befriended Elizabeth in her youth. The other is a mysterious carnal young man that is also devoted to Elizabeth and taken with her physical charms. The ending is an abrupt surprise and leaves the reader wandering about the future of several characters. Thanks #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review #NetGalley#TheManhattanSecret.

Wonderful read. I enjoyed the story very much. The main character’s journey into womanhood.
Would recommend, very well written, I felt I was right there beside her. .
Definitely worth reading.

The Manhattan Secret is an extremely well crafted and multi layered novel with characters that are very relatable and a story that you will love but will break your heart in two.

Unfortunately I really didn’t like this book and I struggled to finish it. I found the characters not nice and I struggled with what was going on.

The Manhattan Secret is an English translation from the French. I don't know if suffered in the translation or what, but the writing is elementary, not flowing as it should be. It is an intriguing story -- a couple moves from France to America to escape her overbearing, abusive father. When their daughter is orphaned, she is taken run by a wealthy family, but at the age of 16 she learns her French family has been looking for her. She is angry and returns to France. Here she learns her grandfather has many secrets of his own. There's more erotic sexual scenes than I like.

I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I was able to read this on NetGalley.

This story is a historical drama with romance throughout (hadn’t expected the romance, but that's fine). At first I was leaning toward a 3 star rating, because of the plot—a French family takes a perilous boat journey to NYC and experiences tragedies. As a result, the young daughter, Elizabeth (Lisbeth) is orphaned and is soon after raised by a wealthy American family. Lisbeth later returns to France to confront her past. While in France, she uncovers lies and secrets and experiences treachery as well as love.

The Manhattan Secret has all the elements of a sweeping, heartfelt saga. However, as I read, I found the first part of the book to be just a series of tragic, unfortunate events. (The events were realistic, but it also would’ve been nice to have some glimmers of hope included in the storyline). The story then fast forwards ten years, switching the focus to a teenage Lisbeth. And this is where it all became too melodramatic for me.

The tragic, amorous, and adventuresome scenes seemed too hasty, with awkward dialogue that interrupted the flow of the narrative. Additionally, I couldn't connect with the main character, Lisbeth, who I found to be mostly exasperating and rude. Her beauty seemed to be constantly mentioned as if that made her irresistible, despite her negative attitude and outbursts. I did, however, like her clairvoyance, which was an interesting feature to the story. As well, I appreciated her relationships with her father’s family and maternal grandmother and always cheered her on when she confronted her lecherous and villainous grandfather. Overall, I actually preferred several of the secondary characters.

Stepping away from the characters and plot, I felt like the transitions between dialogue and narrative didn't have a seamless flow. Further, the dialogue sounded mechanical and unnatural. I think the latter issue could've been remedied if the dialogue had been pared down in several places, as it often times repeated what had been read in the narrative. I'm not sure if these issues have to do with the fact that this book is a translation, but they didn't allow for me to become fully immersed in the story.


I continued reading and ultimately finished The Manhattan Secret because I remained curious about how the plot would unfold.