"Writing in the third-person present tense, Noyes creates an eerie mood and limns a hauntingly vivid landscape; against this rich backdrop, her characters explore and test the bounds of their identities and their relationships."—The Horn Book 

"Historical details, opulent settings, and awakening passions paint a rich landscape. The gritty reality of pre-Renaissance life comes alive set against the relative ease of modern times."—Kirkus Reviews 

"Dark, deceptive, seductive, and haunting.... Noyes develops both modern-day Florence and the Florence of the past in fantastic detail."—Pamela Thompson, El Paso Times

"I loved the descriptions of Florence, past and present, the food, the architecture, the people, the places... I just fell into the writing."—Elizabeth Burns, "A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy"/SLJ blog