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Annie buys a painting from a junk shop with no idea what the value of it. With no real interest in art she is suddenly drawn into the cut throat business of the art world.

Honestly, I didn't think this book would be as intricate as it is. It was pretty telling when the book begins by basically introducing you to a long list of characters that you have to struggle to remember back to later. Even though some of them turn out to be of little meaning to the plot, it still draws back to them.

Then you have the narrative of 'the painting', which I think could have been interesting, but the voice of the painting just didn't seem particularly consistent or give you the depth you really wanted from an external narrative.

It wasn't a 'bad' book, per say, but I did really struggle to get through it because the art and food descriptions pretty much bored me. I assumed there would be some delving into art, but I thought if there would it would be a lot more interesting than what was in this.

This was a slow read for me to get into but then picked up. I would have liked to have known more about Annie's response at the end of the book. I really liked the references to historical figures and it introduced me to elements of the art world I had never considered. Rothschild went back and forth between narrators and I found that hard to follow at times but overall a pleasant story with well-developed characters that I enjoyed.

I loved how big of a role art played in the story. It was really cool to see the art world explored through the story and characters. I also enjoyed how immersive the writing was. However, while the premise was interesting, the execution fell a little flat for me. My main issue is that we never really get fully immersed in the characters’ minds. We have multiple POVs in the book and while each was interesting enough, by the end of the book none of the characters is as fleshed out as I would have liked. And while the story was largely a plot-driven one, the plot too felt a little underdeveloped by the end of the book. I thought that the book had a cool premise and I enjoyed the art elements of the story, but ultimately, I failed to properly connect with the characters and story.

Thank you Hannah Rothschild and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) for a free copy of The Improbability of Love in exchange for an honest review.

When lovelorn Annie McDee stumbles across a dirty painting in a junk shop while looking for a present for an unsuitable man, she has no idea what she has discovered. Soon she finds herself drawn unwillingly into the tumultuous London art world, populated by exiled Russian oligarchs, avaricious Sheikas, desperate auctioneers and unscrupulous dealers, all scheming to get their hands on her painting - a lost eighteenth-century masterpiece called ‘The Improbability of Love’. Delving into the painting’s past, Annie will uncover not just an illustrious list of former owners, but some of the darkest secrets of European history – and in doing so she might just learn to open up to the possibility of falling in love again.

Beautifully written and a very enjoyable read.

The Improbability of Love is a low key heist novel about the displacement of an expensive piece of art: The Improbability of love. Within the multi-narrative novel we see crooked art dealers, we see relationships blooming, and we also see the difficulty between families.

It is an interesting story, a bit tongue in cheek, but for me it was a bit of a slow burner. Things get more interesting later on in the novel when the origin of the artwork begins to unfold but it did take over half of the book to get there.

The most interesting chapters were the ones told by the painting itself. It sounds strange but the unique voice of The Improbability of Love was witty, entertaining and a little pompous so it is worth a read just for this character alone.

The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild is available now.

For more information regarding Hannah Rothschild (@Hannah71771890) please visit www.hannahrothschild.com.

For more information regarding Bloomsbury Books (@BloomsburyBooks) please visit www.bloomsbury.com.

Fascinating insight into the art world from an obviously knowledgable author.
I found the love story a little unbelievable but liked the satire about the art world characters.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me, but I'm sure others will love it.

This wasnt my favourite style of book. I found the characters to be a bit flat and I found it a struggle to keep reading it. I'm afraid the style in which the book was written just didnt suit my preferences.

A fun book that experiments with style and makes for a brilliant tongue-in-cheek satire of the art world, unfortunately I struggled with this one as the novelty of the way it's written wore off fairly quickly and I began to get frustrated with the feeling that the author was trying to be clever and the way it's written ended up overtaking the story for me. Still a fun read, though!

I read this book ten months ago, and I still remember how good it was. The descriptions and thoughts about the art (real one although the story is fictional) were impressive. I really liked the book, everything was great but one minor thing - the romance between our main characters was awkward, somehow out of tune with the whole book, as if added hastily on request from the publisher (weird, considering how I am reviewing the book given freely by the publisher itself). It wasn't bad really, I just didn't feel it was needed because everything else was so superb.