sammy_'s review against another edition
5.0
Like a lot of other reviewers, I spent my childhood reading the "What Katy Did..." trilogy only to now realise there are two more books! 'Clover' is the first of them focusing (as the title suggests) on Clover's story (don't know why they didn't call it What Clover Did Next!)
Some other reviews have complained that the story is predictable or that all the stories see marriage as the culmination of a woman's coming of age, but a) romance is always pretty predictable lol and b) at the time this book was written marriage was very much the culmination of a woman's coming of age, sadly! So yes don't expect many surprises or early feminism (lol), but I had to give it five stars nonetheless because I just can't resist how Susan Coolidge writes. She peppers the story with so many little nuggets of wisdom and observations that are so beautifully put, that I spend most of the time highlighting sentences I want to keep so I can come back to them later!
Despite being in pretty predictable story arcs the characters are all three-dimensional and encounter coming of age doubts and struggles we will all be familiar with, and you can't help but feel you know them especially after growing up with them! The 'Katy' books are one-night reads for me because I just can't put them down and 'Clover' was no different!
Some other reviews have complained that the story is predictable or that all the stories see marriage as the culmination of a woman's coming of age, but a) romance is always pretty predictable lol and b) at the time this book was written marriage was very much the culmination of a woman's coming of age, sadly! So yes don't expect many surprises or early feminism (lol), but I had to give it five stars nonetheless because I just can't resist how Susan Coolidge writes. She peppers the story with so many little nuggets of wisdom and observations that are so beautifully put, that I spend most of the time highlighting sentences I want to keep so I can come back to them later!
Despite being in pretty predictable story arcs the characters are all three-dimensional and encounter coming of age doubts and struggles we will all be familiar with, and you can't help but feel you know them especially after growing up with them! The 'Katy' books are one-night reads for me because I just can't put them down and 'Clover' was no different!
tronella's review against another edition
3.0
Part of the "What Katy Did" series, but one I don't think I've read before! The first third of the book is still mostly about Katy and her wedding, but the rest focuses on Clover and Phil staying out west while Phil recovers from an illness (and meeting her future husband). It's a pretty cute book, but not as interesting as the earlier ones in the series.
wordnerdy's review against another edition
3.0
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2015/08/2015-book-207.html
I found out a year or so ago that the What Katy Did series actually has five books, not three! But I've been putting off reading the last two in case I didn't like them. Clearly, I'm finally getting to them. In this fourth one, Katy gets married, and then Clover takes their youngest brother out West for health-related reasons. Lots of funny little moments ensue, along with lots of descriptions of scenery and food. It's all a sort of cheerful industrious Christian sort of story (actually, the Christianity is sliiightly toned down here compared to, say, the first one in the series. Why did I love that book so much? I guess Katy is just that awesome?). All is nice and pleasant. No complaints, though I also wasn't really /excited/ by much of it. That's how these sorts of stories go, though.
I found out a year or so ago that the What Katy Did series actually has five books, not three! But I've been putting off reading the last two in case I didn't like them. Clearly, I'm finally getting to them. In this fourth one, Katy gets married, and then Clover takes their youngest brother out West for health-related reasons. Lots of funny little moments ensue, along with lots of descriptions of scenery and food. It's all a sort of cheerful industrious Christian sort of story (actually, the Christianity is sliiightly toned down here compared to, say, the first one in the series. Why did I love that book so much? I guess Katy is just that awesome?). All is nice and pleasant. No complaints, though I also wasn't really /excited/ by much of it. That's how these sorts of stories go, though.
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