A review by meghb
The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman

emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I thought the book had a good premise, and a decent timeline, but some things just didn’t hit that right note for me. Firstly, the title is a tad misleading. It barely touches on the ‘Home for Unwanted Girls’ and Elodie’s (the only likeable character) story, and when it does, there is very little depth. The book spends most of the time on Maggie, who (and I may be biased as an adoptee) is an absolutely selfish character who learns nothing. Why there is so much time and repetition about her father and his love of seeds, I have no idea. If it’s some sort of “if you plant it, it will grow” sort of metaphor, it fell short. There were also a lot of unnecessary descriptors just so we were 100% sure she was in Montreal. (Why the need to mention that she scraped her shoes on the cobblestones of Old Montreal?). I also thought the English/French animosity had very little to do with the plot. 
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