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Souvenir
In Nazi-occupied Paris, Floy Devon, a beautiful American turned French movie star, finds her life threatened when it is discovered that her aunt leads an underground Resistance group, flees the Gestapo, and finds love with the cynical Max Winterhagen
345 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 2, 2018
I wasn't terribly impressed with David Kaufelt's other historical romance, Silver Rose, so I didn't have high expectations for this one. But Souvenir actually wasn't all that bad. The plot is fairly cliched and predictable, but the action and suspense were well-done and kept me turning the pages. The characters were nothing special, but I've seen worse. They were also pretty much interchangeable with the cast of Silver Rose:
Louisianne = Lillie
Rennie = Floy (though Floy was a lot more likable and not nearly as dumb)
Billy = Pepsi
Chambertin = Kimmel
Curry = Okay, this one is kind of cheating. Rennie gets pregnant toward the end of the book but doesn't actually have the baby until the epilogue.
Max, on the other hand, doesn't really have a corresponding character. Butch didn't have much of a personality from what I remember, and Wolff was dumber than a bag of rocks. It took a while for him to grow on me, but I ended up really liking Max. I loved his dry humor, his charisma, and his ability to stay collected in seemingly any situation. Unlike Rennie, Floy was not an over-the-top Mary Sue. But she had an extremely bland personality that made it hard for me to truly care about her. Her romance with Max was decently-written, but cliched. There were a few moments that resonated with me, but only a few. The writing style is okay. It's the same as Silver Rose: descriptive and competent, but with an over-the-top, snarky tone that kind of got on my nerves.
There's also one huge, glaring anachronism I can't ignore: Max's Jewish wife and son were killed in a gas chamber. In 1936. The nazis started using gas chambers in 1939 at the earliest, and the extermination camps weren't built until 1941. But sure, let's ignore historical facts for the sake of drama! I don't know if this was an intentional anachronism or simply a research fail, but it was my only huge issue with the book.
As a fluffy, escapist thriller, Souvenir does its job pretty well. It held my attention and kept me moderately entertained, and that's really all I can ask.
Louisianne = Lillie
Rennie = Floy (though Floy was a lot more likable and not nearly as dumb)
Billy = Pepsi
Chambertin = Kimmel
Curry = Okay, this one is kind of cheating. Rennie gets pregnant toward the end of the book but doesn't actually have the baby until the epilogue.
Max, on the other hand, doesn't really have a corresponding character. Butch didn't have much of a personality from what I remember, and Wolff was dumber than a bag of rocks. It took a while for him to grow on me, but I ended up really liking Max. I loved his dry humor, his charisma, and his ability to stay collected in seemingly any situation. Unlike Rennie, Floy was not an over-the-top Mary Sue. But she had an extremely bland personality that made it hard for me to truly care about her. Her romance with Max was decently-written, but cliched. There were a few moments that resonated with me, but only a few. The writing style is okay. It's the same as Silver Rose: descriptive and competent, but with an over-the-top, snarky tone that kind of got on my nerves.
There's also one huge, glaring anachronism I can't ignore: Max's Jewish wife and son were killed in a gas chamber. In 1936. The nazis started using gas chambers in 1939 at the earliest, and the extermination camps weren't built until 1941. But sure, let's ignore historical facts for the sake of drama! I don't know if this was an intentional anachronism or simply a research fail, but it was my only huge issue with the book.
As a fluffy, escapist thriller, Souvenir does its job pretty well. It held my attention and kept me moderately entertained, and that's really all I can ask.
Displaying 1 of 1 review