mybookishdelights's review
2.0
Story: 2/5 (It was okay/meh)
I've watched the show Hoarders before and have a weird fascination with it. Usually it's about the before and after pictures. I thought maybe a book would be interesting too, but I'm not so sure. Maybe the process of cleaning out a hoarder's house should be kept to a 50 minute episode. So this is a family drama with a bit of romance mixed in. If you want to call it that. I didn't like Race. The romance between Elinor and him was weird and didn't feel believable. He was such a dick to her. He yelled at her and was rude and this was just the first meeting. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a hate-to-love scenario, but it just didn't work for me. His actions and her reactions to them didn't make sense. It made both of them unlikeable: him for being such a freaking jerk and her for "melting" every time he was around. Ew.
Then there was her family. Her siblings were jerks. Her mother was a jerk. I thought Elinor was a good character by herself. I liked her and the way she treated the teens and even the neighbors. She tried to be a good person. I think this story would have been better if the romance wasn't in it at all. And I don't usually say that. Or maybe if it was a slow build and Race was... you know.. a nice person. The excuse that he's just "passionate" about poverty and sanitation is not a good enough reason for him to be such a jerk to her in the beginning. Not attractive. And I'm assuming we're supposed to find him attractive.
The writing was good, but really, this book could have been cut way down. 400+ pages is pretty long for a contemporary. Too long. I was at about the 50% mark when I started to feel like "Is this over yet??" I think 100-150 pages could easily be cut out and have this be a more well-paced book. By the last quarter of the book I was just skimming the paragraphs just to get it over with. That's too bad. I'm sure no author wants to have that be the result of their work.
**This review copy was provided for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Challenges:
2018 Goodreads Challenge
I've watched the show Hoarders before and have a weird fascination with it. Usually it's about the before and after pictures. I thought maybe a book would be interesting too, but I'm not so sure. Maybe the process of cleaning out a hoarder's house should be kept to a 50 minute episode. So this is a family drama with a bit of romance mixed in. If you want to call it that. I didn't like Race. The romance between Elinor and him was weird and didn't feel believable. He was such a dick to her. He yelled at her and was rude and this was just the first meeting. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a hate-to-love scenario, but it just didn't work for me. His actions and her reactions to them didn't make sense. It made both of them unlikeable: him for being such a freaking jerk and her for "melting" every time he was around. Ew.
Then there was her family. Her siblings were jerks. Her mother was a jerk. I thought Elinor was a good character by herself. I liked her and the way she treated the teens and even the neighbors. She tried to be a good person. I think this story would have been better if the romance wasn't in it at all. And I don't usually say that. Or maybe if it was a slow build and Race was... you know.. a nice person. The excuse that he's just "passionate" about poverty and sanitation is not a good enough reason for him to be such a jerk to her in the beginning. Not attractive. And I'm assuming we're supposed to find him attractive.
The writing was good, but really, this book could have been cut way down. 400+ pages is pretty long for a contemporary. Too long. I was at about the 50% mark when I started to feel like "Is this over yet??" I think 100-150 pages could easily be cut out and have this be a more well-paced book. By the last quarter of the book I was just skimming the paragraphs just to get it over with. That's too bad. I'm sure no author wants to have that be the result of their work.
**This review copy was provided for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Challenges:
2018 Goodreads Challenge
annarella's review
4.0
An entertaining and enjoyable read. It's well written, the characters are interesting and likeable and the plot is engaging.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Irene Vartanoff and Netgalley for this ARC
Recommended!
Many thanks to Irene Vartanoff and Netgalley for this ARC
More...