Elle Dakin is an Art History student battling with her dissertation subject. While her advisor is away on a trip, she answers a call from a man claiming to be a relative of her favorite artist and is in need of someone to authenticate a newly discovered piece in Paris. Ryan is an undercover FBI agent currently assigned to the Art Crimes division. When a million dollar painting is stolen, he's sent to Paris in search of the missing masterpiece. Their paths repeatedly cross until they ultimately join forces.

The blurb sparked my interest and the cover drew me in. If you love Paris and art, then you'll likely enjoy this story. The author does an excellent job of painting the Parisian setting, explaining police procedure, and ventures into art history and the relevant styles linked to the art pieces in the storyline. It's obvious extensive research was done in each of these areas.

But I struggled with this one. I was expecting to read a romance (based on the publisher imprint and the blurb), but the romance took a backseat to the art theft storyline and setting. The pacing and delivery of information felt off-balance and became overwhelming at times. While I appreciated the breadth of knowledge, I would have preferred more character development instead. I didn't feel the romantic connection between the leads at all and I would have loved to have known the reasons behind Ryan's departure from counterterrorism since it was repeatedly mentioned. 

In the end, I was hoping for more romance and well-rounded characters. While this story might not have hit the mark with me, I'm sure it will appeal to others.

/I received an early edition of this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my opinion of the book or content of my review./

I know you can’t judge a book by its cover, but usually the cover sways me to read it, especially if I am on the fence as to whether I will want to read it. Unfortunately this one let me astray. The premise was good - art theft with an innocent girl trapped in the middle between art thieves and an FBI agent who are attracted to each other. But that is where it stopped for me. The dialogue was difficult for me to follow and I felt that if an FBI agent was on a case, he at least would have some knowledge of the art. He seemed as lost as I was. My hope is that it can be rewritten or at least better editing.

This book was very interesting! I was immediately drawn in by the premise of an art heist. I loved learning about art history while reading this book. A Surrealist Affair follows a dual POV of Elle (an art history specialist) and Ryan (an FBI agent specializing in art crimes).
I really felt immersed in Parisian culture while reading this book. The world building was amazing as well as the funny quips about American stereotypes. I can tell how much research the author did for A Surrealist Affair based on all of the little details she added. This plot line reminded me of The Woman in Gold movie, which I absolutely loved.
I did feel that the plot was drawn out unnecessarily. At some points, the plot twists felt random and unrefined. I loved the interactions between Ryan and Elle. However, I didn’t really feel like they had much romantic chemistry at all. I really wish they had more scenes together that deepened their connections as love interests.

This book didn't even come close to living up to my expectations. Sadly enough. The premise was great and would have been a really interesting storyline but the writing. The writing was not good. Which is ironic considering the best I can come up with to describe it is not good, but then again I am not an author!

3.5⭐

A Surrealist Affair is my first foray into a story about art crime and it was an intriguing premise, especially with its links to the looting of art from Jewish families during WW2. And I did find it an engaging read with plenty of descriptive elements, but for me there wasn't enough mystery. Yet the story was well-written and the characters likable if not the most memorable duo I've ever encountered.

**I was kindly provided with an ARC via Entangled Publishing in exchange for an honest review**

Loved the blurb! Working on her art history degree but feeling stalemated by her advisor, Elle jumps at the opportunity to assist a client on an urgent call to authenticate a piece of art. With expenses paid for, Elle travels from the US to Paris, determined to have a successful experience, but once she arrives it’s nothing but problems for her – starting with the person who called her ending up dead! Determined to still find the piece and make a name for herself, Elle starts to work on investigating what happened to the artwork and through that she meets Ryan. Ryan is a FBI agent working on the case of the same piece of artwork except in a different capacity than Elle, and initially he feels that she is involved in the entire operation. As they work together, Ryan starts to realize that Elle is a victim rather than the bad guy, and they team up to get to the bottom of where the artwork went, authenticate it, and solve the murder. This book really just missed the mark for me. The characters were pretty flat and the spark between Ryan and Elle really wasn’t there as I continued to read.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

*Thanks to NetGalley for proving an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

A Surrealist Affair by Jacqueline Corcoran is by all counts a well-researched book. That's expected for all authors when they're going to write about topics and areas that aren't their expertise. That's why I enjoyed reading the acknowledgment and thanks on the last pages of the book. It gave me a sense of how important the author took their job to present to us accurate information.

I think accurate information made the book great but it did harm to it at the same time. From the pacing perspective, no character development. Both main characters were flat and not interesting. There were chances missed in the story, we could have had more romance or bonding. It was difficult to imagine a relationship between them when there was too much information happening at the same time. We could see the author is great at writing emotions, it was a tad concerning reading the main characters together and saying, “Oh, this is awful.” I found both characters incompetent when it came to their job, Especially Ryan who is an FBI agent undercover. Otherwise, the idea of the story and plot are fantastic. Even with missing scenes or scenes that were unnecessary for the story.

If we’re being honest, I wasn't going to finish this book at first. I read about 40% but left it and today I came back and continued reading. I'm glad I did.

It's a bit of a slow starter but stick with it!

Elle is an art history Ph.D. who is treated like a dogsbody by her Professor. But when said Prof is off on her holidays and an urgent call comes in to evaluate a possible "lost" artwork, Elle steps into the breach and is on her way to Paris.

Ryan is targeting Elle pretty much from the start. As part of the team tracking down stolen artwork by the same artist, he inserts himself into her life. But is Elle really part of a well-oiled art crime ring or just a dupe?

Interesting read and even as a non-artie person I enjoyed learning about art history and appraisals but it did get a bit "dry" in places and there were a few times where backstory was almost treated like an info download. But otherwise it was an entertaining read and I loved the interplay between Elle and Ryan.

A Surrealist Affair by Jacqueline Corcoran at its heart, is a great story. Unfortunately, it is bogged down by odd prose and uncomfortable dialog, and my overall impression was that I was glad when it was over.

Elle is a shy Art History doctoral student who ends up traveling to Paris to, supposedly, authenticate a work of art. She finds herself in the middle of a criminal investigation that includes art theft, fraud, and murder. She runs into Ryan over and over again, first on the plane and later at various art functions. He says he's an art exporter but is really working undercover for the FBI. Eventually, they sort of start working together to figure out the crime.

Both protagonists are very realistic, which for a work of fiction is rather disappointing. In addition to being shy and lacking any self esteem, Elle has no common sense. She falls victim to pickpockets more than once, and she follows the strange man into dark basements and bedrooms even against her own better judgment. She gets into scrape after scrape, always expecting Ryan to show up and save her.

As an FBI agent, Ryan is really bumbling. He makes stupid mistakes over and over, while hoping to solve the case and return to the Counterterrorism Unit. Supposedly, something happened to make the FBI feel he needed a quieter assignment, but we're never explicitly told what it was. Watching him stumble around Paris is cringey, and I'm surprised no one figured him out sooner.

Buried in all this nonsense is a decent story about early 20th century art, specifically the surrealist movement. In fact, the story reads almost as if there were different authors. I'd actually get very into the story for several pages, and then suddenly a strange burst of dialogue or an awkward bit of prose (please, no exclamation marks outside of quoted speech) would throw me off track.

I really dislike writing negative reviews. I've said it before: I do understand that writing anything is a monumental task and that it's much easier to criticize an author than to be one. That said, I feel like this book needs a lot more time with an editor.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Thanks!

DNF @ 21%

I requested this book on the basis of the blurb. It looked a promising, engrossing, riveting book. Imagine my surprise when I started on reading it and my eyes just went blurry.

For me, a book (no matter the genre) needs to grab you immediately. Be it immediate conflict, a crime, a chase, a life-and-death situation or even a lone character. I don't care, as long as it grabs my attention. This story failed on all counts. The heroine came across as a scared-y pushover and the trip to Paris with her falling victim to pickpockets as soon as she stepped onto the metro, didn't help. Worse, it made her appear stupid on top of everything. The hero barely made an impression. I remember his name and that's pretty much it.

The second problem was the plodding pacing, made even worse by the massive amount of exposition. I don't mind exposition, every story needs it to establish the background and characters, but in this instance it was badly done in the form of info-dump (especially in the initial just-come-to-Paris scenes that read more like a tourist guide of how to get to the city than a book).

Nothing much happened in the first fifth of the book I read, only one murder and even then the heroine was more worried about being too early to go to her rented apartment.

Pass.

This was a good read if you like a book heavy in mystery and suspense and light on romance. I think Ryan enjoyed his job more than he enjoyed Elle or trying to develop their friendship/relationship. In a romance, I expect the hero to pay a little more attention to the heroine and if I were her, I would have been angry that he seemingly had little romantic interest in me. Going to a party with someone else when I invited him to that same party?! Umm, no. That being said, it was well-written and had an interesting suspenseful plot. I just wanted more from the romance than I got.

I received an advanced reader's copy of A Surrealist Affair by Jacqueline Corcoran from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first book by Jacqueline Corcoran that I had read and I was pleasantly surprised to find an enjoyable new author to follow.

Overall, I felt this was a solid romance novel and I found it to be extremely well written. The plot was engaging and the characters were nicely written (layers, folks!). And while our main characters, doctoral student Elle Dakin and FBI agent Ryan DeLong, had flaws, they were likable and had chemistry.

This was a quick, fun read.

This was an interesting and entertaining book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Elle is an art history doctoral student, who get entwined in a mystery in Paris. Ryan is an undercover FBI agent, who, while attracted to Elle, is forced to focus on the possible art theft. As a knowledgeable art historian, Elle is pulled into his investigation.

I found the story to be well crafted and interesting. The author pulled me into her tale and made me care about the characters. I felt invested in their story and wanted them to get their HEA ending.

Fans of the genre will enjoy this one. The author is new to me and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work.