A scented journey with all of Marc Levy's trademarks, from the plot to the poetic details, and characters. What I like about this book is the way he filled every pages with scents, I can see drops of them in the air, or feel them in my nose, all are very enjoyable imaginations. I even kinda fell in love with Istanbul, a place I've never known before. Humid London or colorful Istanbul, both were shown at an impressive level of vividness and beauty.
However I would not consider this as my favourite cup of tea. The story started out quite attractive and mysterious and kept us reading, but it got plain as it progressed. I mean it became predictable, and I see all familiar details everywhere. The behaviors of the characters, the thinking path, the letters between characters...they're just...there. Like all other books of him. After a while reading back and forth letters, I got tired and wanted to skip some pages and skim for details more than just description and daily life details. For me there was not a good tight knot, as I expected from Marc Levy's books. Maybe I'm being picky, but I don't feel enough with the ending, many parts are still unclear and, I feel like he rushed to the ending, without perfecting it. I think readers' patience would be tested, yeah, who wouldnt, if after 2/3 of the book having no clue of significant twist, and then everything was revealed and get done within the last 1/3? I didn't find any catch phrase to remember, as well as the logical reasons and new things to be amazed.
In short, rating for the writing skill that brings alive scenes and smells and tastes, but does not awake the feelings.