A review by parkerwkelly1
Lemons in the Garden of Love, by Ames Sheldon
3.0
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book tells the story of a young woman, Cassie, in the late 70s exploring the decision of whether or not to start a family as she finishes her dissertation on Women's History, focusing on diary entries from one of her ancestors to guide her focus. The events in her life mirror her ancestor's diary entries as she proceeds through the novel, giving her guidance as she has to make tough decisions regarding her future.
The novel wasn't bad, but felt like a good short story dragged out to be a full length novel. There honestly is not a whole lot going on over the course of this novel and a large portion of it felt like filler for the author to get to novel length. The book did not feel super cohesive, but the inclusion of the historical viewpoints on events was a nice choice for helping the main character grow through the course of the novel.
I would give this a 2.5/5. Not a terrible read, but it did frequently feel unfocused and like it dragged out a fairly short story to get more content.
This book tells the story of a young woman, Cassie, in the late 70s exploring the decision of whether or not to start a family as she finishes her dissertation on Women's History, focusing on diary entries from one of her ancestors to guide her focus. The events in her life mirror her ancestor's diary entries as she proceeds through the novel, giving her guidance as she has to make tough decisions regarding her future.
The novel wasn't bad, but felt like a good short story dragged out to be a full length novel. There honestly is not a whole lot going on over the course of this novel and a large portion of it felt like filler for the author to get to novel length. The book did not feel super cohesive, but the inclusion of the historical viewpoints on events was a nice choice for helping the main character grow through the course of the novel.
I would give this a 2.5/5. Not a terrible read, but it did frequently feel unfocused and like it dragged out a fairly short story to get more content.