While the premise was intriguing I unfortunately did not enjoy this at all. I found the characters to be unlikeable (and better yet not interesting) which is sad because I had such high hopes.

I found the premise of this book to be a very interesting topic. I actually studied the art of Georgia O’Keeffe in elementary school, but obviously not to the same extent. This book had dynamic characters with complex internal issues, and there was a clear that sense that the subject matter in this book is related to a greater, worldwide picture. I only felt that the pacing of this book was far too slow in the beginning to truly get into it.

Honestly did not float my boat, if i can say so. It seemed interesting at the first few chapters, but the mirrage- problems with Ben, and the photographer hot-stud Richard and awful sex, husband who don`t care (seemingly) it just all was mixed and not in a good way, i was left unsatisfied and bored.

I’m sorry but I did not like this book. The premise was very intriguing but the main character was so unlikeable it was impossible to feel any empathy for her. She wasn’t nice, even when people were trying to be nice to her. Additionally it was too much art history which got in the way of the story rather than serving as context. I skimmed pages so I could get To the drama of the story. All that said, the book has been well reviewed and I’m in the minority on this one.

I love books that make you think about things you normally wouldnt or give you a different perspective on things, and this one definitely did just that..My parents had an O'Keefe painting in our home growing up and this book made me think more about art in general.

Thank you for the ARC!

I requested this book because it was super hyped up on instagram and all of my book friends were reading it.
I am glad that I requested it! I didn't think that I would like it as much as I did.
I did get a little bit bored with the plot and the characters weren"t as developed as i'd hoped for, but,
i would recommend Queen of the Owls for your next buddy-read.
It's a solid 3 star read.

This book is both exquisite and devastating. It poses a question most women might ask themselves: how far will you go to be seen?

It is beautifully written, reflecting with honesty the flaws we assign to ourselves.

This book is not about Georgia O'Keefe, yet I gobbled up every reference. It's not academic, yet I enjoyed lurking in the background of the politics that are just as prevalent in education as they are in business or government.

Any woman who has ever wondered what they would be willing to do to be wholly seen needs to read this book.

This was an interesting look at the world of art and identity. I enjoyed it and felt it was well written. I have always admired the art Georgia O’Keefe so was intrigued to learn more about her. I thank the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

Probably because am not an art lover or have any interest in museums, i don't think am the right audience for this.

Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the eARC. I just couldn't connect or care for any of the characters or find them likable.

I do love the cover, pretty good. But it just felt its all about art and unnecessarily long.

This is a beautifully written and impressive debut novel, rich and multi-layered. It's about a doctoral student and teacher named Elizabeth, an intelligent, driven, complex woman who is at a crossroads in her life as she balances the demands of her profession with those of being a wife, mother, and woman. She embarks on a somewhat unintended journey of self-discovery as the consequences of certain actions spiral out of control and force her to recreate and redefine herself, at first against her will, but ultimately in a way that fits. Although the plot was intriguing and definitely kept my attention, what set this book apart for me was the well-researched scholarly material on Georgia O'Keeffe, as aspects of the artist's life and Elizabeth's mirrored each other. The accessibly written non-fiction material interspersed throughout piqued my interest in O'Keeffe and her art and sent me to research further certain aspects of her life and to seek out her paintings, Steiglitz's photographs of her, and the work of other artists mentioned. Many of the books I read blend together in my mind, but this one was original enough that I will remember it and reflect back on it often. I very much look forward to reading Barbara Linn Probst's future work. Many thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an e-ARC of Queen of the Owls.

I enjoyed following along with the main character as she makes changes and takes risks to transform her life. This story is more than just the love of art — it’s about a woman finding her true self.
I hope to read more by this author in the future !

Elizabeth is brainy and apparently 'Owly' as she compares her sad, dry marriage with the apparent passion she imagines every other marriage is constantly experiencing.

Currently teaching an art class while doing her Ph.D. on the paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe and their significance in her life, Elizabeth meets Richard. Richard is a photographer who awakens her desire, while convincing her that she needs to re-enact the photographs that O'Keeffe's husband took of her at the beginning of their relationship, in order to really understand the significance of the Hawaii paintings.

This leads to all sorts of complications in Elizabeth's life, that I won't go into here as I don't want to spoil the story for future readers. That being said, I found the plot utterly predictable, and only just interesting enough to get me to finish the book. It felt extremely long and Elizabeth's journey could have been exactly the same if about half the O'Keeffe facts had been removed.

I do love the cover of the book. It's simply stunning and very appropriate given the story. However, the pace of said story needed to be much faster and I needed something a little more in regards to Elizabeth's character, so that I could become attached to her and actually care about her outcome. Unfortunately, this fell a little short and I found the story overall, remarkable - in how dull it is.

The story is not utterly without redeeming qualities. Elizabeth's relationship with her children and struggles with parenting is certainly enjoyable to read. I also like the fact that Elizabeth doesn't like people simply because they are nice. She finds overly nice people annoying like I imagine most of us do. I did enjoy the ending, only because it seemed fitting and anything else would have been a complete cop-out.

Whilst this was a pre-release copy of the book so may not have had its final edit at my time of reading, I was not a fan of the layout. It felt untidy and cramped.

Perhaps other people will like this book, we all have different tastes. I would suggest readers download the free sample on Kindle first to be sure that this suits their tastes before spending money.

I received #Queenofthe Owls for free from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An ARC of this novel was sent to me by NetGalley for reviewing purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found the book beautifully written- it was extremely realistic, and it felt like that the author is writing from their own experiences. I would recommend reading this book!

Barbara Linn Probst, Author of "Queen of the Owls" has written an intriguing and enthralling novel. I especially appreciate Barbara Linn Probst's observations of the Art of painting and photography and symbolic meaning. The Genres for this novel are Literary Fiction and Dramatic Fiction. The story takes place in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters and events.

Elizabeth, is a wife, doctoral student, teacher, and mother of two young children. Her dissertation is on the life of artist Georgia O'Keefe, and the period of her life when she was in Hawaii and her paintings. Elizabeth becomes very conscious of other married couples' affections, and her husband's lack of affection. At the same time, Elizabeth becomes obsessed with Georgia O'Keefe's relationship with a photographer, who used her pictures to express her feelings. The photographer also has an idea of how to utilize this idea. 

Coincidentally, Elizabeth meets a photographer who seems to get her feelings of Georgia O'Keefe and takes pictures of Elizabeth in the same poses that Georgia O'Keefe had done. Elizabeth is so intent on her expressing herself, she doesn't realize that they will be shown in public. How will she handle showing her private feelings?

Elizabeth is a teacher and talks about women and art. She never realizes that her students will see her pose. What will she risk and gain by doing this?

I appreciate that the author discusses the importance of a  woman's role in society, and the importance of family, friends, and colleagues. This is a thought-provoking novel that connects, art and media with emotions. It is a story of sisters, love, hope and making choices. I would highly recommend this unique novel.

Unlike anything else I've read; a novel I wish I'd had thirty years ago, though I'm not sure I would have understood it. A story of relationships, viewed through the lens of Lizzie. As much as the book covers relationships with her children, her husband, her sister, her students, it is even more about her relationship with herself, and her own body. As I read, I anticipated the story line falling into the expected, but it didn't. That aspect alone, waiting for the aha! of catching the author falling into the expected, may have affected the way I read and appreciated the book, and I can see a re-read needed in the near future, which will probably up my rating.

Bonus, for me, is the way the life and art of Georgia O'Keefe is woven throughout. O'Keefe's work has affected at least one of my relationships, as well.

I would like to start off by saying thank you to NetGalley and She Writes Press for giving me the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this book.
 
Elizabeth is a busy woman. She’s a mother, a wife, a teacher and a student writing her dissertation on the painter Georgia O’Keefe, mainly about her time spent in Hawaii. To try and help her relax Elizabeth starts going to a Tai Chi class where she meets Richard, a portrait photographer. While talking about the dissertation Richard tells Elizabeth that the only way to truly get into O’Keefe’s head is to become her and re-enact her famous nude portraits. With this proposition Elizabeth must decide if she wants to continue living her timid, academic life, or if she wants to break free and find happiness.
 
I ended up learning quite a bit about Georgia O’Keefe and art while reading this book, before starting it I had never heard of her. The plot of this book was very original and I like that the artist was a real person I could google and learn about instead of a made up character for the story, but unfortunately the main character was just too much for me to handle. Every decision she made infuriated me, and whenever I was supposed to feel bad for her I just couldn’t. She deserved everything that came to her.

My other issue with this book is that I could see the climax coming from a mile away. Elizabeth can’t see it coming because she’s stuck in her own little world, but for the audience it’s glaringly obvious. The book would have interested me a lot more if it had been a surprise.
 
Overall I just don’t think I was the right audience for this book. I couldn’t connect with the main character and art has never interest me too much. But who knows, if you’re into art and Georgia O’Keefe, you might love it.

Thank you to Netgalley and She Writes Press for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. Queen of the Owls was a surprise. All the way through, I wondered what genre it would fall under. When I finished, I decided it was self-discovery which I'm not generally a fan of. However, I was quite moved by this book. The author, using the relationship of Georgia O'Keefe and Alfred Steiglitz, explores a number of relationships in the book. The central character being Elizabeth who is writing her PhD dissertation on a part of O'Keefe's life.
She goes through all the phases of transformation, albeit a bit fast, but it felt realistic. It is a brave book and it left me thoughtful and reflective.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Elizabeth has always been "the smart one." So much so, that she's built her entire life around it. Now, as a doctorate student working on her dissertation about Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings, she is discovering that what she really wants is to just be herself.

I loved the parallels between Elizabeth and Georgia. While Elizabeth wasn't always the most likeable, she was always relatable, and I loved that. As a reader, I could really feel Liz's yearning to be seen, not just as the smart one, but as a woman. It's a novel about discovering femininity and what it means to be a woman, and it's a struggle that most women go through. One of the best books I've read so far this year!

A complicated, well-researched story, this book held my attention all the way through. A contemporary look at the works of Georgia O'Keefe, the artist most well-known for her sensual depiction of flowers and for her eccentric life. Our protagonist, Elizabeth, references O'Keefe throughout this book as she goes through the process of writing her dissertation on how the artist's Hawaii paintings, and her marriage to Stieglitz, affected her later work. During the course of Elizabeth's research, she takes a look at her own life and starts comparing herself to O'Keefe. She realizes she's not really happy and thinks she knows what to do to to improve that situation as the opportunity presents itself to find herself again. Elizabeth's story kept me engaged throughout. I appreciated seeing Georgia O'Keefe's story in a different light than I ever had before as it ran parallel to Elizabeth's search for fulfillment. The author, Barbara Linn Probst, has deftly woven the two tales together while adding a strong dash of Steiglitz' photographs of his wife sprinkled in. I so appreciated the level of research that went into writing this book. So much so that I found myself googling some of the works that were referenced so that I could visually see what Elizabeth saw as she found her way through her research. This was a fascinating book, one that I not only enjoyed for it's story, but that I learned from as well. Thank you Netgalley and She Writes Press for the advance reader's copy in exchange for a fair and honest review. I'll remember this one for a long time.

I read through this book fairly rapidly over the course of less than a week. I liked the ending very much because Elizabeth was able to have her happy ending in the happiest way with her job, her kids, and without her husband. I thought that Elizabeth was complex, to the point that I do not really understand all the decisions she makes. Her connection to Georgia throughout the novel made it very touching in the message and mirroring.