ahudd's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse and War
jrjohnson1408's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Dementia, Suicidal thoughts, and War
mixyplixl's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, and War
macmannwood's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
melplays9000's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Is this book classed as historical fiction? I could have guessed that from the synopsis but for some reason I didn’t. For me, this book is was everything that makes me not read historical fiction very regularly; it was very slow paced and the plot wasn’t particularly exciting. This was more of a fictional biography than anything else which wasn’t really what I needed to be reading right now. However, I wouldn’t say I disliked this book; I liked the reveal at the end which I was not expecting and also how calm this book was in a sense. It meant I could put it down and pick it up and not think about it in between.
Something I must say I was not a fan of is that a lot of the time the reader knew more about the story than the characters which was quite frustrating as it was hard to tell how much the present day characters knew. I also struggled to see how they put together the information for themselves a lot of the time, as although we do see Laurel on her quest to uncover the mystery, most of what we saw was a whole lot of nothing.
Overall this book was somewhat interesting but would have benefitted from being a couple hundred pages shorter. Compared to The House at Riverton (which I loved) it was a bit of a disappointment. It did it’s job of occupying me during my quarantine tho, so for that it gets 3 stars.
Something I must say I was not a fan of is that a lot of the time the reader knew more about the story than the characters which was quite frustrating as it was hard to tell how much the present day characters knew. I also struggled to see how they put together the information for themselves a lot of the time, as although we do see Laurel on her quest to uncover the mystery, most of what we saw was a whole lot of nothing.
Overall this book was somewhat interesting but would have benefitted from being a couple hundred pages shorter. Compared to The House at Riverton (which I loved) it was a bit of a disappointment. It did it’s job of occupying me during my quarantine tho, so for that it gets 3 stars.
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and War
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
phantomgecko's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Books that go out of chronological order and switch POVs every chapter often seem to use the structure for mystery and suspense. They often end up being full of annoying cliffhangers and needless twists. This book stuck the landing though. The perspective changes were balanced and happened at appropriate times to forward the narrative. Like, you get to experience the journey with Laurel without a bunch of redundancy. There aren't twists so much as exposed layers.
Idk, A+ did enjoy very much, made me cry.
Idk, A+ did enjoy very much, made me cry.
Moderate: Domestic abuse
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