Review: Gilt by Jamie Brenner

Gilt by Jamie Brenner

Blurb from Goodreads:

A luxurious and richly compelling new novel from the acclaimed author of Blush, about a famous family jewelry dynasty and the hidden past that could topple it all.

One perfect diamond is all it takes to divide a family. Could one summer be enough to fix it?

The Pavlin family built an empire on love. As the first jewelers to sell diamond rings exclusively for proposals, they started a tradition that has defined engagements ever since. But when an ill-fated publicity stunt pits the three Pavlin sisters against one another for a famous family jewel, their bond is broken. No ordinary diamond ring, the Electric Rose splinters the sisters, leaving one unlucky in love, one escaping to the shores of Cape Cod, and the other, ultimately, dead.

Now, over a decade later, Gemma Maybrook is still reconciling the reality of her mother's death. Left orphaned and cast out by her family after the tragic accident, Gemma is ready to reclaim what should have been hers: the Electric Rose. And, as a budding jewelry designer in her own right, Gemma isn't just planning on recovering her mother's lost memento, she's coming back for everything.

From Manhattan’s tony Fifth Avenue to the vibrant sands of Provincetown, Gilt follows the Pavlin women as they are forced to confront the mistakes of the past if they have any hope of finding love and happiness of their own.

 I still look forward to Jamie Brenner's novels as part of the start of summer just like Elin Hilderbrand even though her latest, Gilt, and her last Blush, didn't quite work for me. I still love how she uses a place as a character -- often Provincetown-- and how you feel as if you're there when reading her books. This was interesting in its family dynamics even though I felt like the flashbacks to the past could have been done better to explain the current feelings of some of the characters.  I liked reading about jewelry and felt like there almost wasn't even of that part either.  I guess I just didn't love this one. I hope you have better luck!

Gilt comes out next week on June 21, 2022 and you can purchase HERE.  

It was the tenth anniversary of Pavlin & Co's most famous diamond of all, a thirty-carat pink stone called the Electric Rose. Her grandfather Alan gifted the treasure to the first of his three daughters to get engaged: her other.  

That afternoon, her mother had let her try it on. It was so beautiful she couldn't take her eyes off it, the color of a pale rose petal but also clear like. a drop of water. Gemma had to clamp her small fingers tightly together to keep the ring from tilting over.  

"One day it will be yours," her mother said.