The Main Character: A Novel

This is an enjoyable read.Settings on train and Italy provide s great backdrop. Very entertaining plot twists.Little slow st times.

This is the tale of Ginevra Ex, a bestselling author famous for mining the lives of real people to weave her stories. Rory Aronov agrees to be a muse for Ginevra. Ginevra not only pays well, she treats Rory to a trip on the newly-renovated iconic railroad, The Orient Express. But Rory’s vacation soon devolves into mystery and melodrama. Secrets and lies threaten both the author and her main character. But who will write the ending?

After a long year that ended with Rory losing her prized TV anchor job, she finds herself in Italy, ready to board a train, and poised to become bestselling author Ginevra Ex's next protagonist in The Main Character by Jaclyn Goldis. Little does she know that she will meet up with principal characters in her life as the author composes her next novel about Rory. This includes her successful entrepreneur brother Max, best friend Caroline, and ex-boyfriend Nate. Why are they needed for this book and what secrets will be revealed to construct this story? I found the premise of an author hiring a real person to become her next main character incredibly original and intriguing. It sounded so unique and a great idea to base a book in this regard. You never know what others may contribute to a book about you and what the novel could reveal about your personality, history, and background. That starts off the book on strong footing, especially when you realize that Rory's family and friends may be hiding secrets from her that could upend her life even further. The scenery is incredible and makes you want to board a train in Italy to see the sights. I loved feeling like I was going on vacation, and the places they stay and places where they eat are decadent. It's apparent that the author must either have spent or spends a lot of time in Italy, and the atmosphere came alive. Some of the characters are somewhat lackluster like both of Rory's love interests. I think more development of those two characters could have strengthened the book. While you can surmise that Rory and her brother are close, I felt that Max wasn't a clear-cut character. Some of the things he does later in the book seemed somewhat implausible. I felt the female characters were stronger and possessed more depth. This includes the author in the book and her family. The story about Ginevra's family is quite interesting with a trip to the Soviet Union. If you read the author's note, you'll find out that Jaclyn Goldis based some of the story of Rory's father on her own father. The end of the book is weird and disjointed in places. You get answers on a lot of different things but something did seemed off about the ending. So much is packed into the last part of the book. While I really liked the book and felt it was well-written, something wasn't clicking for me so I felt this book deserved about a 3.5. I also felt like some plotlines ended in abrupt ways that needed a little more of a foundation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for an Advanced Reader copy of The Main Character by Jaclyn Goldis. After losing her job as a prominent news anchor, having her wedding called off by her fiance, and facing the news that her father is suffering from advanced dementia, Rory jumped at the opportunity to become the “main character” for a new book by eccentric author Ginerva Ex. She has just finished several months exploring Italy while being extensively interviewed by Ms. Ex in order to be turned into a fictional character for the book. As a bonus, Ginevra treats her to an extravagant trip along Italy’s Mediterranean coast as a passenger on the famous Orient Express. But when Rory boards the train, she’s met with a surprise - her brother, her best friend, and her ex-fiancé are passengers also. Each of these people integral to Rory’s life have been invited on the trip by Ginevra Ex. And all three have secrets they are anxious to keep. With each stop of the train, Rory begins to see how Ginevra has turned her bonus vacation into a real life mystery with her as a real main character. As secrets are revealed and lies are exposed, Rory’s fear increases that life might be imitating art in a deadly way. Why did Ginerva Ex bring this group together? What secrets is she hiding as well? Will they survive their journey on the Orient Express? I really enjoyed the twists and turns this story took. The mystery kept me engaged and was not predictable at all. The only thing I dislike is that the ending is VERY abrupt, almost like the author wasn’t quite sure how to wrap it up, so she just stopped. Having said, I would still recommend the book because of everything that happens before the last page.

I think the story was fun. I loved the descriptions of the train and travel. The mystery was an added bonus. It was a longer book than most, and of that I was pleasantly surprised!

This feels like two books hastily glued together. There's the book this promises this to be, a suspenseful murder mystery invoking the iconic Murder on the Orient Express and the book that the author actually wants to write, a historical family drama about Ansel, Ginerva & Orsola So much of the book's real estate and finer detail go into the latter that the promised plot of the book goes nearly forgotten. The characters in the present time (except maybe Caroline) are flat & under developed and most of the elements of suspense/mystery created in the present time all seem to be brushed aside by the final chapters. When the two ends of the two timelines eventually come to meet, it feels almost unreasonable and unrealistic. Such a disappointment for what seemed to an intriguing premise.