Having read The Ballerinas, I knew that I could expect some kind of plot twist from the author, I just didn’t know when exactly to expect it. After the first chapter, I spent the rest of the book waiting for the other shoe to drop. As chapter by chapter flew past, each chapter containing a snip in the present, and a snip from a year in the main character’s life from age 14 to 18. We see as she grows from a child piano prodigy to an ingenue to a slightly more jaded teen. How her relationship with her parents and best friend, as well as the secret affair with an older man shaped her into who she is in the present. And how she reacts to her present situation when her past rears its head.

This book just wasn’t for me. I felt like the pacing was a little too slow and I never found myself eager to pick the book back up. It wasn’t the writing that I didn’t care for but the development of the story.

This book surprised me by how good it was! Plot-saskia returns to her childhood home, the elf house, after the passing of her mother. Her mother was an author of feminist fairy tales and came from a wealthy family who lives in the mansion-the elf house-for generations. Saskia is ready to inherit the mansion when she finds out that her mother has willed the house to a colleague at the university. Through a series of flashbacks, we find out more about the twisted relationship between saskia and this colleague as she we watch her rise and fall as a child prodigy. The novel is hard to categorize into a specific genre of fiction as it has a bit of everything-suspense, relationship dynamics, gothic atmosphere, family secrets, etc. the writing is crisp and instantly grabbed me as the secrets unravel slowly until it all fits together. Surprisingly excellent novel and one I will be recommending to many .

"The Ingenue" by Rachel Kapelke-Dale was much darker than I had anticipated and the description that it is "My Dark Vanessa meets "The Queen's Gambit" is spot on. The story follows Saskia Kreis who, upon returning home after her mother's death, discovers that her mother unexplainedly left their ornate family home to someone outside of the family. Saskia endeavors to find out the reason her mother did so, and finds that she has to face up to demons from her past along the way.

As with the author's previous novel, "The Ballerinas," the writing in "The Ingenue" is top-notch. With lyrical prose, the author skillfully weaves a plot that is entertaining, thought provoking, and realistic. The characters come alive from the pages and I audibly gasped when Saskia's secrets come to light. It is definitely not a light, easy read, and it's a slow burn, but it is a good read and well worth the time. Part literary fiction and part psychological thriller, this book will enthrall readers who like to be submersed in a dark plot with damaged characters.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the privilege of reading an advanced digital copy of this disturbing book, in exchange for my honest review.

Not really what I expected. Very slow in some parts. I had hoped I would enjoy the story because of the synopsis really intrigued me. I may try another book from this author to give them another chance.

Five Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Ingenue by Rachel Kapelke-Dale is an exciting thriller about a young woman who returns home to find out her inheritance was left to her ex-lover.

Story Recap:
When Saskia Kreis returns to her childhood home for her mother’s funeral, she doesn’t expect to find out that her inheritance, the Elf House, was left to an ex-boyfriend, Patrick. The historic Elf House has been handed down from generation to generation and Saskia has grown up knowing the house would be hers one day.

Saskia and her father can’t believe her mother would not leave the home to Saskia. Even her father can’t understand her mother’s thinking, and even if she didn’t want to leave it to Saskia, they are both perplexed why she would leave the home to Patrick. With so many unanswered questions, Saskia is determined to find some answers.

My Thoughts:
I loved this fast-paced story and I could not put this book down until I found out why Saskia’s mother left the house to Patrick.

I like the way the author organized the chapters. It starts with a quick snippet from her mother’s feminist fairy tales and I thought this gave us a look into Saskia’s mother and how she thought. Next was a few paragraphs that took place in Saskia’s past and highlights how she became a pianist and how her parents supported her talent. I thought this gave us more suspense as Saskia’s past has clues to her mother’s motivation and we learn why Saskia abandoned her promising career. Next came the present-day section that details Saskia’s search to find the truth behind her mother’s bequest.

As I read, the suspense got more and more intense, and the ending was one I had to read twice as I couldn’t believe what happened, and it was a very satisfying end.

Recommendation:
I highly recommend The Ingenue to anyone who loves suspenseful fiction. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

to me this book was a bit hard to get into just at first......but once in , it was awesome!! i found it hard to put down,,,, a story of friendship, suspense, and intrigue...... and some other very disturbing facets...... im glad that i read it and i would not hesitate to read anything else that this author has written!

This book was so heartbreaking and haunting. It was A LOT. But I loved Saskia’s POV and the flashbacks and her finding her strength. I found Evie to be a really intriguing character as well. I especially loved the excerpts from the Little Feminists Fairy Tales which I would 100% read. This book had tones of My Dark Vanessa and also sort of The Queen’s Gambit in a way, but it absolutely held its own. This was a really beautiful look at understanding trauma and finding your way back from it. Kapelke-Duke has a gorgeous writing style that has a sort of fairy tale or mystical quality to it. Honestly, I’d love some sort of prequel with earlier members of the Harper family. The little I read about them made me all the more curious. Overall, I really liked this book and will be looking forward to her next.
TW: sexual assault, grooming, drug use, death, child pornography

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have conflicted feelings on this because I think it’s very well written and quite unique with its incorporation of fairy tales. I’m also quite happy with how things wrapped up. I was worried for awhile but phew!

The pacing is really what I struggled with. This felt a lot longer than 320ish pages and I fear it will dissuade readers from continuing once they start.

Overall worth the read. 3.75 stars

After loving The Ballerinas, I eagerly dove into The Ingenue, totally intrigued by the plot. Ultimately, while well written, and the characters are relatable and well developed, the plot fell flat to me. The #metoo movement is an important one, one that I actively support in any way that I personally can, but I felt The Ingenue took a lot of time developing the plot and setting the stage, only to rush the ending in a way that just didn't feel believable to me. I will still eagerly read anything that Rachel Kapelke-Dale writes, but this wasn't my favorite of her two books.

4.25⭐️

Wow. Just wow. Rachel Kapelke-Dale has such a dark mind LOL. Honestly, when I saw she had a new book I didn’t even hesitate to read it. The Ballerinas was dark and enjoyable, and The Ingenue? I actually almost stopped reading it at one point (which is actually a good thing in that it means she wrote it so well!)
There was definitely some content I was not anticipating, so be mindful that there is child pornography content.
I was actually feeling very stressed for the main character towards the end of the story because something happened and I did not know how Saskia was going to fix that situation! I think how the author wrote that ending was really the only way the book could end and it was the best solution (and helped with my confusion at the beginning of the story lol.)
Side note: I love the feminist fairytale tidbits at the beginning of each chapter!
I still feel I would read anything Rachel Kapelke-Dale writes and you should too!

Thank you to St Martin’s Press, Rachel Kapelle-Dale, and NetGalley for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel Kapelke-Dale is now an auto-buy author for me. I loved The Ballerinas so much. The writing and that feeling of want — she just got it so write.

The Ingenue is billed as My Sweet Vanessa mixed with the Queen’s Gambit. So, that’s your trigger warning. This book will not be for everyone because of the subject matter, but I loved it. I loved the writing, the structure, the characters and how spot-on she is when describing youth and reflection. This will certainly be on my top of the year list. Also, I loved the feminist fairytale snippets that started each chapter.

The book follows two time periods:
Saskia Kreis as a teenager when she was a piano prodigy.
Saskia Kreis as a 37-year-old woman adrift traveling back to her childhood home in Milwaukee to settle her mother’s affairs after she dies.

I could see this as a film or limited mini-series.

Thank you @ netgalley and @stmartinspress for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars!
Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the e-galley. I really enjoyed this book and the twisty story about Saskia, her mother, Evie, and the Elf House. The house created a creepy, gothic backdrop for this dual timeline novel that is a lot more you might expect. I heard about this book on the Sarah’s Bookshelves Live podcast and was immediately interested. While it might seem that it’s about a girl who plays piano expertly, which it is, there are many other themes like mother/daughter relationship issues, inappropriate conduct, sexual abuse, and childhood trauma.
Yes, it can be dark, but it was so well done. The dual timelines were expertly woven together, and some of my favorite parts were the mini feminist fairytale retellings at the beginning of each chapter. Finally, I thought the ending was perfect for this novel.
This is my first novel by Kapelke-Dale, but I will be looking to read The Ballerinas and anything she puts out next!

4.5 stars. Darkly dazzling, pulsing with desire and desperation, The Ingenue is a stellar second novel from Rachel Kapelke-Dale. Last year's The Ballerinas had so much potential, and all of that potential was realized with this book.

Following the death of her mother, Saskia Kreis has returned home to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She's under the impression that she'll be inheriting the Elf House, her family's ancestral mansion. But when she realizes that her mother has left the estate to a man with whom Saskia has a fraught history, Saskia is forced to examine memories long buried in order to move forward with her life. She may be able to claim her heritage -- but at what cost?

I loved the structure of this book. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from Saskia's mother's book series, "Fairy Tales for Little Feminists," followed by a couple of pages about Saskia's past, before moving into the present day story. I've grown tired of books that have alternating past-and-present chapters, and I felt like with this structure Kapelke-Dale gave readers just enough of the past to get to know Saskia deeply as a character: from her childhood as a piano prodigy, to an angsty teenager, to a young adult ready to make her own choices. And the fairy tale excerpts brought some needed levity to a book that takes on heavy, difficult subjects.

Fitting solidly into a post #MeToo landscape, The Ingenue reads like a contemporary gothic fairy tale with themes of mother-daughter relationships, the manifestations of grief, the complexities of family, inappropriate relationships and power dynamics, and the pressures of talent. It's a book about how we often don't process things that happen in our childhoods until we are adults viewing those events from a different perspective -- and how we don't necessarily have to be the people we grew into as a result of those events. It's psychologically nuanced, engaging, moving, and powerful, a story brimming with energy and longing. The Ingenue has me so excited to watch the rest of Kapelke-Dale's career unfold.

So this was quite the interesting read. Saskia was a hard character to get to know. Why did her sick mother not tell her about her disease? Why did Saskia, a brilliant pianist stop playin and quit Julliard after one year? Why did Evelyn leave the Elf House to Patrick? All these questions in just the first bit of the story but we have to wade our way through the story to find the answers.

Saskia was hard understand. She grew up a prodigy but without much parental supervision. It seems that her ability to plan the piano made her mother feel that she would be able to interact with adults as if she was a tiny one herself. Did this lead to her being distant from her parents as an adult.?

This was a difficult book because as you learned more about Saskia, you started to feel sorry for her. I wanted her to be able to talk to her mom and for both of them to forgive and help each other. I felt that Evelyn felt responsible for the events that happened in Saskia life from ages 14 to 18. I felt that she was trying to right her wrongs and save her daughter by giving the house to Patrick. I think Patrick was a sick SOB and deserved everything that came to him

The ending of this book was not quite what I expected but I did appreciate the justice that was served in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Apologies to the author but I found The Ingenue to be very boring. I loved The Ballerinas so couldn't wait to read this book. It was a struggle to finish. Figured out about halfway through why the mother did what she did. And I have to say this was not a "me too", more like a me, me, me. Sas was totally unlikeable and acted like her you know what didn't stink. Unfortunately, she and it did despite the circumstances and found I did not feel for her at all.

But did love the author gave Martha Argerich her due in playing Chopin,

I unfortunately DNFed at about 40%. The book felt too drawn out for me, and as intriguing as the plot was, I wasn’t invested in any of the characters and truthfully just felt uncomfortable. I did enjoy the feminist fairy tales at the beginning of each chapter.

What drew me to this book were the comparisons to MY DARK VANESSA, feminist undertones and being told in a post #MeToo era. I think this will appeal to readers, but just unfortunately fell flat to me.

I loved The Ballerinas so much and I was really excited about The Ingenue. Unfortunately, it just didn’t draw me in the way The Ballerinas did. Seeing the title and reading the synopsis, I had an idea of what I was getting into, but I had no idea it would be as dark and disturbing as it was. I did not find it nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped—it was disturbing to the point that I personally found it difficult to get through at times. I missed the character interaction of The Ballerinas, and I wasn’t as satisfied by the dual timelines here. Overall, I would recommend this with a strong caveat and content warning. Not my favorite, but objectively a good book.

I received an electronic ARC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley.

This story was too long and drawn out for me. I enjoyed the sections about Saskia’s past the most.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital galley in exchange for my honest review.

I was not immediately wowed like I was from similar novels like My Dark Vanessa or Such a Pretty Girl by T. Greenwood. It takes a step back from emotion in third person perspective, and it comes off cold and scrutinizing like a doctor’s visit. It has been compared to My Dark Vanessa, which is lyrical and poetic, but The Ingenue is not. It’s wordy, but not poetic.

This is a very personal story, and yet the opening words do not centre on a person, but on something that person stands to inherit and it’s history. There was too much description that was first, unnecessary, and second, exceedingly boring to read sentence after sentence of sterile descriptions of architecture.

The writing style was hard for me to get into, and by the 30% mark, my interest still hadn’t piqued and I had to stop reading. I did not even get to the parts that the novel is actually about or see how the main character’s relationship with an older man came to be or the dynamics between them.

I really needed more to happen sooner.

I’m not interested in classical music or piano at all, but I think it could have been written differently to make me interested in it. I didn’t care at all about tennis until I read Carrie Soto
Is Back.

Rating a two because I didn’t give it a fair chance but it’s more like a 1 for me.