Timeline challenges

As enjoyable as the subject and characters of this book were, I had major problems with the timeline of events in the book. Most of the book's plot takes place over a period of less than two years. Everything is too fast! Especially in wartime, events just didn't move along that smoothly. Immigration took months to arrange, and Danielle wouldn't have been settled in America, fully acclimated to her new country (and already fluent in English!) and ready to travel to the west coast and open a high-end luxury business in just a few months.

And the whole story line with Heinrich is just implausible! I'm quite certain that Hitler wouldn't have approved leave for senior Nazi officers to travel to Los Angeles in the middle of 1941 to pursue their personal vendettas! Gimme a break.

I kind of felt the same way. I also felt things happened too fast for the time period of the novel. I felt the author placed things in the time frames that suited her idea of the story. If reality was different, it didn't seem to be a worry. There were lots of implausibles in the story, the whole Heinrich sending assassins to CA being the worst. I also felt people sailed back and forth between Europe and America with the ease and speed of today's airplanes. It was a frustrating read from that sense.

I became a bit overwhelmed with this as well since there were so many unrealistic coincidences in the book. At first it bothered me, then I decided to just get over it and let myself be entertained by the story even if it meant abandoning realism.

I agree with what everyone has written. Things couldn't have happened so quickly in real life. More people would have been jealous of her, too,I think, with that kind of success.

There were times I found myself flipping back to check the date. Yes, events did move much too quickly. There is no way she could have accomplished all she did in just two years. But I acknowledged this and moved on in order to enjoy the story.

I did not pay attention to the timeline for the first part of the book because I was just interested in reading.I do not normally care if things are plausible or not, this is fiction. That s the enjoyable part of fiction, however, I really did notice how quickly her business became a success. I think the author should have extended the timeline of the story.

Like others I think the time was too short. Was this because of what she had learned about her own family. I thought it odd that the marriage to Jon did not take place for about four years.

The timeline was ridiculous. Nobody could get to America from Europe that quickly. Her business was a booming success incredibly fast. The Heinrich thing was beyond belief and how could he be there when Max and Sophia were caught. Then to come to America himself was absurd. This was definitely a suspend disbelief story.

I agree with hdd above about deciding to just enjoy the story. However, one timeline challenge that boggled my suspension of disbelief was Danielle's rapid rise to fame and success in California high-end department stores. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book.

All of the above comments are certainly true, but suspended belief is the key to enjoying the other elements of the book like the descriptions of the various flowers and plant scents which compose perfumes. I also liked the descriptions of Danielle's clothes and furnishings ( call me shallow, if you must). When I am tired and reading for pure enjoyment, this book did that for me.

Shirley - I agree with you on the need to sometimes suspend disbelief in books but I suspect (although don't know for sure) that references to flowers and plants used for perfumes will be accurate, as Jan Moran has also authored two nonfiction books on fragrance and is the creator of the Scentsa fragrance and skincare finders in Sephora stores. More on this at https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/2613

I had the same reaction as everyone above. Moved too quick for real life. Very unrealistic. Seemed to also jump around a bit. Sales person, fashion and then keeping your family together. Loved the idea of the book, just would like it developed stronger.