gettinglostinagoodbook's review
2.0
It usually doesn't take me this long to finish a book. It seemed to have all the right elements for me, but I just couldn't get into it. I can't say I liked it, nor can I say I disliked it. When a book doesn't hold for me it drags on forever.
jen286's review
3.0
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland
I feel like I have been reading a lot of books recently that just don't engage me with the characters and their thoughts and feelings. Loving from Afar was one of these. There are lots of things that happen in this story, some of them really horrible, but the writing never made it seem like a big deal. Like they were issues, but the characters seemed to deal pretty well with everything and just...I never really got the super love between the main characters, the heartache, the emotions they felt. It just didn't pull me in like I would have liked. It still wasn't a terrible read, just not as good as it could have been.
Allison and Cole fall in love when they are young. Everything is great until Allison must move to another city with her sister. She is close, but not close enough to be able to visit often especially since Cole is trying to work and save money so they can start a life together once she is able to (she is still in school). Then Cole gets in a bit of trouble, and gets locked up. Allison writes to him every day, but he never replies. It is hard on her, but she has faith in them and is just waiting until they can be together again.
While he is away Allison tries making some new friends and has some truly horrible things happen to her. She deals with them and the consequences of what happens remarkably well. I will say I did not when I was in a situation sorta like hers. Not as many consequences and not everyone knew, but still. I don't really get some of her decisions she made after she has her life altered. She never even tells her best friend who conveniently goes out of town suddenly so Allison can do what she needs to without her knowing. It was just odd to me. Like you wouldn't turn to your bff when you have super horrible stuff happening? Then when things really fall apart she never really tries very hard to make things right. I am not sure why. Why just go with it and try once, and even then not really explain anything so it doesn't fix anything? It was odd.
Then you have some drama added in which really didn't do anything for the story. It was again stuff that didn't really make me feel the emotions that would make these events significant. Some of them I wasn't even sure why they were added in. Of course everything works out in the end in a very simple way that it wasn't quite believable. It was just seems like after so long it would take a little bit more to get back to where they were. Oh well. Not the best read, but not the worst either.
I feel like I have been reading a lot of books recently that just don't engage me with the characters and their thoughts and feelings. Loving from Afar was one of these. There are lots of things that happen in this story, some of them really horrible, but the writing never made it seem like a big deal. Like they were issues, but the characters seemed to deal pretty well with everything and just...I never really got the super love between the main characters, the heartache, the emotions they felt. It just didn't pull me in like I would have liked. It still wasn't a terrible read, just not as good as it could have been.
Allison and Cole fall in love when they are young. Everything is great until Allison must move to another city with her sister. She is close, but not close enough to be able to visit often especially since Cole is trying to work and save money so they can start a life together once she is able to (she is still in school). Then Cole gets in a bit of trouble, and gets locked up. Allison writes to him every day, but he never replies. It is hard on her, but she has faith in them and is just waiting until they can be together again.
While he is away Allison tries making some new friends and has some truly horrible things happen to her. She deals with them and the consequences of what happens remarkably well. I will say I did not when I was in a situation sorta like hers. Not as many consequences and not everyone knew, but still. I don't really get some of her decisions she made after she has her life altered. She never even tells her best friend who conveniently goes out of town suddenly so Allison can do what she needs to without her knowing. It was just odd to me. Like you wouldn't turn to your bff when you have super horrible stuff happening? Then when things really fall apart she never really tries very hard to make things right. I am not sure why. Why just go with it and try once, and even then not really explain anything so it doesn't fix anything? It was odd.
Then you have some drama added in which really didn't do anything for the story. It was again stuff that didn't really make me feel the emotions that would make these events significant. Some of them I wasn't even sure why they were added in. Of course everything works out in the end in a very simple way that it wasn't quite believable. It was just seems like after so long it would take a little bit more to get back to where they were. Oh well. Not the best read, but not the worst either.
triniredreading's review
3.0
2.5 stars
While there was a lot of "story" it wound up too abruptly to be satisfying.
Pet peeve: when Mattie is present when Marnie calls to talk about Marty, maybe that's a sign that a little more thought should have gone into the character names!
While there was a lot of "story" it wound up too abruptly to be satisfying.
Pet peeve: when Mattie is present when Marnie calls to talk about Marty, maybe that's a sign that a little more thought should have gone into the character names!
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