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shelbyday's review
4.0
4.5- Wow. This book is beautifully written. It is almost perfect. It is the story of two separate couples in two different time periods. The way their stories intertwine is masterful. This is the first book I've read by Lucy Ingles. It will not be the last.
emisph's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
alexperc_92's review against another edition
4.0
A feeling of Outlander and mystery in it. It was good!
hijinx_abound's review
4.0
Such a beautifully written story. It follows two storylines occurring hundreds of years apart. Two families rooted in Montana, rooted in hatred and revenge. One trying to live in peace while the other circles them causing pain and havoc.
A diary from the 1800's written by a young woman coming Friday m England to marry. Found by a young English girl on a work trip with her very opinionated mother. And as the story in the diary unfolds, so does her own story.
The characters are well written and the story flows easily between the two time periods.
A diary from the 1800's written by a young woman coming Friday m England to marry. Found by a young English girl on a work trip with her very opinionated mother. And as the story in the diary unfolds, so does her own story.
The characters are well written and the story flows easily between the two time periods.
missprint_'s review against another edition
2.0
I'd been waffling about reading this one but decided to pick it up when I saw it got a Carnegie Medal nod. I have to say I was disappointed. This one pacts a lot into a short story to no real effect. I also wasn't entirely comfortable with the portrayal of native peoples in the book and wish there were mention of that in professional reviews. The plot was interesting but unsatisfying and while seeing the girls have agency it was problematic when that was contrasted with native characters needing to be "saved" or otherwise rescued.
darkclouds's review
5.0
JESUS CHRIST. Lucy Inglis seriously knows how to mess with your feels, I feel as if my heart had been shredded multiple times in the last 3 chapters! But holy crow, that was a phenomenal story packed with so much emotion that I wanted to cry. Very different to Lucy's debut in a good way and I absolutely LOVED it. From beginning to end, it was amazing. Now I need time to recover.
Full review to come.
Full review to come.
emya's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
catwithbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Zwei Geschichten.
Vergangenheit und Gegenwart.
Die 16-jährige Hope begleitet ihre Mutter nach Montana. Sie ist nicht begeistert 4 Wochen auf einer Range mitten im nirgendwo zu verbringen. Eines Nachmittags entdeckt Hope ein kleines schwarzes Buch, welches sich als eine Art Tagebuch entpuppt. 1867 reist Emily durch Montana zu ihren zukünftigen Ehemann, doch ihre Reise verläuft anders als gedacht.
Beim lesen der beiden Geschichten merkt man schnell das es mehr parallelen gibt als gedacht. Die Vergangenheit verknüpft sich Stück für Stück mit der Gegenwart und alte Fehler scheinen sich zu wiederholen. Interessant aufgebaut da sich die Geschichten mit jeden Kapitel abwechseln so das man sich nie fragen muss in welcher Zeit man sich gerade aufhält.
Die Charaktere haben mir hier ganz gut gefallen. Mehr tiefe fand ich aber hatte Emilys Figur, da mir Hope sich doch zu sehr nach ihrer Mutter gerichtet hat. Und erst zum Schluß sich wirklich zu dem was sie wirklich durch gerungen hat.
Gut geschrieben.
Vergangenheit und Gegenwart.
Die 16-jährige Hope begleitet ihre Mutter nach Montana. Sie ist nicht begeistert 4 Wochen auf einer Range mitten im nirgendwo zu verbringen. Eines Nachmittags entdeckt Hope ein kleines schwarzes Buch, welches sich als eine Art Tagebuch entpuppt. 1867 reist Emily durch Montana zu ihren zukünftigen Ehemann, doch ihre Reise verläuft anders als gedacht.
Beim lesen der beiden Geschichten merkt man schnell das es mehr parallelen gibt als gedacht. Die Vergangenheit verknüpft sich Stück für Stück mit der Gegenwart und alte Fehler scheinen sich zu wiederholen. Interessant aufgebaut da sich die Geschichten mit jeden Kapitel abwechseln so das man sich nie fragen muss in welcher Zeit man sich gerade aufhält.
Die Charaktere haben mir hier ganz gut gefallen. Mehr tiefe fand ich aber hatte Emilys Figur, da mir Hope sich doch zu sehr nach ihrer Mutter gerichtet hat. Und erst zum Schluß sich wirklich zu dem was sie wirklich durch gerungen hat.
Gut geschrieben.
hsquared's review against another edition
3.0
When the stage coach carrying sixteen-year-old Emily Forsythe across the United States to meet her future husband for the first time crashes in a riverbed, she’s at the mercy of a Montana cowboy who rescues her and takes her to his lonely cabin a hundred miles away from civilization. Close to a hundred and fifty years later, Hope Cooper—also British and sixteen—finds herself lost in the same wilderness with a Montana cowboy. Though separated by time, both girls have much in common—including being raised by controlling mothers, one a Victorian with straight-laced morals and the other a modern feminist with just as restrictive values. As the parallel stories converge, both girls find freedom and love under the wide open Montana skies. Emily’s story is told through a diary, written like a letter to her rescuer. The second person narrative may be a little unfamiliar to some readers, but serves as a helpful technique to separate the two stories, as Hope’s story is told in third person. The historical details are well researched, but most readers will be more focused on the twin romances, which are both heartbreaking and satisfying.
*Review copy from Children's Literature Database
*Review copy from Children's Literature Database
reviewdiaries's review
4.0
This review was written for The Review Diaries
You can read the full review here
Huge thanks to Chicken House Publishers for sending me a copy in exchange fro an honest review
This was a surprising novel, one I knew very little about going in, but everything I had heard had more than caught my interest and I was very intrigued going in. The novel gets off to a fairly slow start. I found I was more interested in Hope’s story than Emily’s, and whilst it was enjoyable, it wasn’t quite piquing my interest as I’d hoped. However it is a sly and crafty novel. It creeps up on you, its slow pacing and quiet tones mean that you don’t realise just how deeply you’ve come to care and love these characters until something happens and you find yourself sitting on the floor in floods of tears at three in the morning because it just broke your heart.
And whilst it was busy distracting me with surreptitious feelings, I realised that I had somewhere along the way become more invested in Emily’s story as opposed to Hope’s. Hope’s was interesting and I did enjoy it, but it felt like we didn’t get nearly as much time with Hope and Cal. Whilst we got to see Emily and Nate’s relationship develop and evolve over the course of several months, we only spent a few days with Hope and Cal, and by the end that discrepancy really showed. I was much more invested in Emily’s storyline and I found myself really caring for and rooting for these characters, whereas I wanted it all to turn out ok for Hope and Cal, but it wasn’t the same level of emotional investment.
The slow development of Emily and Nate’s relationship was so well handled. I found myself with a set of expectations for Nate when he is first introduced, and he spends the entire novel shooting them down and being a completely different kind of hero, in the best possible way. It’s a soft, slow build of a relationship that left me feeling more than a little mushy and teary by the end. He and Emily quickly cemented themselves as one of my favourite fictional pairings.
However the last section of the novel didn’t work as well for me. Suddenly both storylines pick up the pace, everything happens at once and Lucy uses a sneaky trick of playing on the readers expectations, which is cleverly done but not something I’m a fan of in most stories. It just felt like so much time was given to developing the story and then the last part was just BOOM, and we’re done. I wanted more of a payoff after coming to care so much about these characters.
So with the slow start and slightly off ending, no matter how much I loved the rest of the book I didn’t feel I could give it a full five stars, however it is definitely a solid four. A surprising read that really crept up on me when I least expected it with a beautiful love story woven through its pages.
You can read the full review here
Huge thanks to Chicken House Publishers for sending me a copy in exchange fro an honest review
This was a surprising novel, one I knew very little about going in, but everything I had heard had more than caught my interest and I was very intrigued going in. The novel gets off to a fairly slow start. I found I was more interested in Hope’s story than Emily’s, and whilst it was enjoyable, it wasn’t quite piquing my interest as I’d hoped. However it is a sly and crafty novel. It creeps up on you, its slow pacing and quiet tones mean that you don’t realise just how deeply you’ve come to care and love these characters until something happens and you find yourself sitting on the floor in floods of tears at three in the morning because it just broke your heart.
And whilst it was busy distracting me with surreptitious feelings, I realised that I had somewhere along the way become more invested in Emily’s story as opposed to Hope’s. Hope’s was interesting and I did enjoy it, but it felt like we didn’t get nearly as much time with Hope and Cal. Whilst we got to see Emily and Nate’s relationship develop and evolve over the course of several months, we only spent a few days with Hope and Cal, and by the end that discrepancy really showed. I was much more invested in Emily’s storyline and I found myself really caring for and rooting for these characters, whereas I wanted it all to turn out ok for Hope and Cal, but it wasn’t the same level of emotional investment.
The slow development of Emily and Nate’s relationship was so well handled. I found myself with a set of expectations for Nate when he is first introduced, and he spends the entire novel shooting them down and being a completely different kind of hero, in the best possible way. It’s a soft, slow build of a relationship that left me feeling more than a little mushy and teary by the end. He and Emily quickly cemented themselves as one of my favourite fictional pairings.
However the last section of the novel didn’t work as well for me. Suddenly both storylines pick up the pace, everything happens at once and Lucy uses a sneaky trick of playing on the readers expectations, which is cleverly done but not something I’m a fan of in most stories. It just felt like so much time was given to developing the story and then the last part was just BOOM, and we’re done. I wanted more of a payoff after coming to care so much about these characters.
So with the slow start and slightly off ending, no matter how much I loved the rest of the book I didn’t feel I could give it a full five stars, however it is definitely a solid four. A surprising read that really crept up on me when I least expected it with a beautiful love story woven through its pages.