I don't recall requesting this title as the content holds little interest for me. I did not read it. My apologies and also my sincere thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC

RATING: 4 STARS
2017; Dutton/Penguin Group

The Dollhouse is one of those books, I kick myself for waiting so long to read it. The cover had drew me in, and I requested it early on from NetGalley. I let it sit, and read other books. I saw a newer book by Davis available at my eLibrary on audio, so decided it was time to try Fiona Davis. After falling in love with the writing, research and interesting topics, I was hooked. I went back and read most of Davis's novels. I kept one (The Masterpiece) for my "hold one back" novel. I know you have heard me complain about dual-timelines, but Davis does a great job in tying the two stories together. I love the details of the Barbizon Hotel in 1950s, NY and the way "working women" lived and the rules around that. While the suspense for the mystery in this novel gets forgotten at times, but doesn't take away from enjoying the story. I highly recommend this one.

***I received a complimentary copy of this eBook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this time period in NYCity. Fiona Davis makes the reader feel like you are part of the story.

I thought I would absolutely love this historical fiction based around the Barbizon Hotel for Girls, but it lost me somewhere in the middle. I had a hard time caring about the present portion of the book, and I just got bored. It did pick up for me in the end, and I liked the ending, but overall, it was just an OK read.

Very enjoyable novel set in the Barbizon in Manhattan, jumping back and forth between 1952, when a young woman from Ohio is living there in its heyday as a woman's residence, and the present, when a journalist who is living there in its fancy condo incarnation starts researching the history of those women of the 1950s and 1960s. I love historical fiction that jumps back and forth in time, and this was an excellent example of that genre done well, with both timelines having a compelling main character and storyline, and with a connection between the two time periods that worked both thematically and plot-wise. Perfect for fans of Beatriz Williams and Sarah Jio. 4.5 stars.

Loved the story. Really enjoyed the jumps back to the Barbizon in the 1950's and the parallel lives of single women living in New York City decades apart. Suspense, intrigue, drama. It has it all.

First line: She’d forgotten the onions.

Summary: Told through the experiences of two women in two different decades that lived in the Barbizon Hotel. Darby came to NYC in 1952 to take a secretarial course and gain a job. Rose is living in the remodeled hotel with her fiancé and is working on an article about the lives of the elderly women still living at the hotel. As Rose continues to research and speak with the women, she learns the dark secret of the Barbizon Hotel.

Highlights: I love the different perspectives and time periods. These types of stories always capture my attention. I really liked the cover as well. This is the first book by Fiona Davis and I fully enjoyed it.

Lowlights: More chick lit than historical fiction.

FYI: Perfect for a book club. Cozy and descriptive.

Fiona Davis' story "The Dollhouse" is told in two parts by two women who live in the Barbizon Hotel (or Dollhouse as it was formerly known).

What we have is a clever mystery that gradually unfolds in two time-lines: the modern day with journalist Rose Lewin, and the past, the 1950s, with Darby McLaughlin. The lives of both women intersect in the modern-day timeline due to a chance meeting - Rose's interest is immediately piqued and she decides to discover the secret past of Darby, one that Darby and others are keen to keep hidden.

As the story, told in alternating chapters, develops, Rose's "real life" begins to imitate that of the past life of Darby. The more we read, the more we have this strange sense of history repeating itself - deja vu. We the reader are never quite certain how things will pan out in the end - for either Rose or Darby, until the story coalesces in the final few chapters.

This is a powerful first novel wherein author Fiona Davis weaves a tantalising tale of love, betrayal, and mystery that keeps the reader enthralled to the very end.

Oh my god! I absolutely LOVED the Dollhouse.It made me long to be able to step through the doors into the Barbizon and live alongside the girls and BE one of them; surely there can be no higher praise than that? I loved the characters of Esme, Darby and Sam - and thought that alternating their time with Rose's life and experiences in present-day NYC really worked. both timelines were equally compelling - which, let's be honest - isn't always the case.If you love tales of jazz-age New York with a brilliantly realised setting and truly convincing characters then this is the book for you. I'll be recommending this book to so many people and definitely will be gifting it to my NYC obsessed sister for her birthday. Take me to the Barbizon, please!

First line - She'd forgotten the onions.

Summary - When she arrives at the famed Barbizon Hotel in 1952, secretarial school enrollment in hand, Darby McLaughlin is everything her modeling agency hall mates aren't: plain, self-conscious, homesick, and utterly convinced she doesn't belong—a notion the models do nothing to disabuse. Yet when Darby befriends Esme, a Barbizon maid, she's introduced to an entirely new side of New York City: seedy downtown jazz clubs where the music is as addictive as the heroin that's used there, the startling sounds of bebop, and even the possibility of romance. Over half a century later, the Barbizon's gone condo and most of its long-ago guests are forgotten. But rumors of Darby's involvement in a deadly skirmish with a hotel maid back in 1952 haunt the halls of the building as surely as the melancholy music that floats from the elderly woman's rent-controlled apartment. It's a combination too intoxicating for journalist Rose Lewin, Darby's upstairs neighbor, to resist—not to mention the perfect distraction from her own imploding personal life. Yet as Rose's obsession deepens, the ethics of her investigation become increasingly murky, and neither woman will remain unchanged when the shocking truth is finally revealed.

Highlights - Very readable story with a great twist at the end.

Lowlights - Might be a little "Chicklit" for some people.

I absolutely loved The Dollhouse. It was one of those books that made me think about how what it means to be a woman has changed. Darby’s world is so different compared to Rose’s in some ways, and yet it is still exactly the same in others.

The very start of the book, which takes place in 2016, starts with the line: “She’d forgotten the onions.” Then it proceeds to launch into how Rose’s married boyfriend loved her risotto and this is the key ingredient.

This is a scene I’ve seen before, but when you compare the introduction to Rose with the introduction we get to Darby in Chapter 2, it almost feels like it should be reversed. Darby, by contrast, is hopeful, arriving in New York ready to start a new chapter in her life as she starts secretarial school.

The mystery about what happened in 1952 is very interesting and it kept me reading. Especially after we meet Esme, the maid. Esme has dreams, and she’s this bright flamboyant character who comes right off the page and disrupts everything that Darby thinks he wants out of life. Once we meet Esme the plot moves along briskly and I can’t help but keep turning the pages if only to see how the whole story plays out.

We can’t ignore the central character of this book, which is really the building. The Barbizon Hotel for Women is a real place that housed people such as Grace Kelly and Liza Manelli on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and it is in fact, a condo today called Barbizon 63.

It’s easy to walk through New York City and not see the history in these buildings, and I think that one thing Fiona Davis accomplishes is creating a personal and relevant link to that not-so-distant past through two beautifully constructed characters.

As much as I appreciated the mystery and the suspense of this novel, I think a part of why I kept reading was just to see how these women would connect with each other, and I wasn’t disappointed.

There is honestly so much that I want to say about this book, but I can’t because I would give away the ending.

So, I will say this: if you like historical fiction, this is a great book with a dual narrative. If you don’t like historical fiction, this is a great book with a dual narrative. If you just want to read a book that compared the different expectations of women between the 1950s and the present day, this is a great read. If you have a secret, or more overt, interest in New York City architecture, this is a good fiction book for that.

Really, just pick it up. It’s a good story, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

A well-written and enjoyable book, I am glad I requested this title and will be more than happy to pass the title along to my fellow library purchasers.

"The Dollhouse" started out great (and I love the basic premise of the historical background) but the last third of the book fell flat; so, unfortunately, this novel did not qualify for the Marvelous Novel of the Month on my website, The Marvelous Site. I have given more detailed thoughts about the book to the publisher.

3.8 - while I sometimes grew tired of the current-day character's tale, I was fully engrossed in the stories from the 1950s; an interesting look at a history that I knew little about

This was a really compelling story that took place in New York City. The story is told from the view point of two different women who happen to live in the same building called the Barbizon. The one story takes place in 1950's New York. The other story takes place in modern time. I liked how the author connected the two women slightly to give us these unique look into history. The Barbizon actually was an apartment building for women living and working in the city. There was a bit of suspense as well.
I received a complimentary copy via the publisher in exchange for a review.

This novel took me back to a time when women were starting to pave their way in the workforce in New York. It transported me to the smokey room of an underground club where bebop was played and drugs were ingested. It showcased how far women have come but how we still struggle to balance it all. I love the mystery that was intertwined with the history.

A delicious whodunit set both in the past and the present.

A book with two stories going on at the same time - my jam! One storyline is 2016 and Rose, a journalist, is living in the Barbizon building and after a series of events she finds herself completely interested in the women who lived in this building when it was a hotel just for women. The other storyline is 1952 and Darby, a young woman who moved from Ohio to the Barbizon hotel is trying to make it in NYC.

I love a book that has two storylines going on at once and I love it even more when the reader knows from the beginning where they intersect! The reader knows where Rose starts and Darby begins but also where they absolutely overlap. There are definitely some daddy issues in both stories, but nothing that doesn't seem honest and real. I also loved that although Rose and Darby had some relationship issues, this book was more than I need to find a man, but more I need to find my calling and maybe a man can be on the side!

I am putting this book on a shelf with all of my other NYC historical fiction favorites. I was worried that when I started it, it would be just another NYC historical fiction read, but this one had a little more because it made me look up the Barbizon and learn about a building and its culture that I was completely unaware of.

At just under 300 pages, this one was the perfect day of reading!