"The Master Craftsman" by Kelli Stuart

In 1917, Alma Pihl, a master craftsman in The House of Fabergé, was charged to protect one of the greatest secrets in Russian history--an unknown Fabergé Egg that Peter Karl Fabergé secretly created to honor his divided allegiance to both the people of Russia and the Imperial Czar's family. When Alma and her husband escaped Russia for their native Finland in 1921, she took the secret with her, guarding her past connection to the Romanov family. Three generations later, world-renowned treasure hunter Nick Laine is sick and fears the secret of the missing egg will die with him. With time running out, he entrusts the mission of retrieving the egg to his estranged daughter, Ava, who has little idea of the dangers she is about to face. As the stakes are raised, Ava is forced to declare her own allegiance--and the consequences are greater than she could have imagined. This modern-day treasure hunt transports you into the opulent and treacherous world of the Russian Revolution to unearth mysteries long buried.

I love the subject matter--a treasure hunt related to the Russian Revolution? Super exciting! And the author has really done her research for this book. I kept pausing my reading to look up images of the Fabergé eggs described and fact-check about Alma Pihl and Fabergé's lives. It's stunning the research that went into the historical aspects of this novel (though the missing egg is presumably fictional). The past timeline is more about Fabergé himself and the eggs than Alma, but it was a unique aspect of the end of imperial Russia and the revolution that I hadn't heard about (and I took a class devoted solely to the Russian Revolution in college).

As much as I enjoyed learning new bits of history and the treasure hunt aspect, I struggled to like Ava. I just didn't relate to her personality or what drove her. Her mom is great, though, and I love that she got to take part in the treasure hunt too.

A few notes for those looking to get a better handle on the story:

• It's not a romance in either timeline
• It's not heavily suspenseful, but it increases in the latter part of the book
• There isn't actually any faith thread to the story, though I could see an argument for allegory (there's a fair amount of discussion on what makes art valuable, and the role of a master craftsman; I honestly expected it to be applied to God, as there was an easy comparison there, but it didn't go that far).

Thank you Revell and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.