The Disenchantment by Celia Bell

Ah. I so wanted to love this book. On the surface, it had all the right elements. But ultimately, much like its cover, it just didn't quite work for me. So, I thought about why and ...
Well, first off, this is a novel of historical fiction. As such, it is largely a success. The author picked an interesting time and event (1660s France, Affair of the Poisons) and has obviously done a ton of research, for the amount of detail her is exhaustive ... and occasionally exhausting.
But the novel mainly advertises itself as a love story, and there it kind of fails.
The author has a great talent for describing the customs and surroundings of the time, but the connection between the two women in the novel is peculiarly dispassionate.
One of them remains barely fleshed out. The one other pulls all the focus and is fleshed out elaborately but doesn't become any more compelling for it.
The murder story that connects them is drawn out and convoluted. The most interesting thing there is how much it utilizes real historical details.
The main thing here for me was that the novel felt dense and read slowly, relying on detailed descriptions instead of emotional connections. That and the romance as awkward as the kiss on the cover.
A very solid effort for a debut and will surely sing to some, but it left this reader somewhat disenchanted.