Harisa
Honestly, the end kind of made everything else better. This is HIGHLY predictable. Like, there are no surprises in this except that the author is not afraid to kill off characters (which is great), but everything else is very easily called. Anyway, I like where it's going so I gave it 3 stars because as a stand alone book and for the majority of it, it is not perfect, however it is entertaining and it definitely makes me want to keep reading so I will keep reading hoping that the rest are better :)
I appreciate the quirky romance hero in Mac but I had a hard time connecting with Ripley and the hot and cold nature of her.
That cheek caress at the end though. :')
2022: honestly, objectively, this is not a strong installment. Strong filler vibes. But I cannot be objective about this series never ever
Not only was it boring, but it was also extremely annoying. HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO REPEAT THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER? We get it this character had a secret love affair and secret baby, this dude is a famous NHL player and a billionaire, these characters had marital issues. YESSSS I get it stop repeating it everytime you mention their names!
Very boring, forgettable characters, and glad its over.
I really liked this!!!!!! It dragged a bit in part two and I wanted more ~closure~ but deff a fun ride
Overall....pretty boring. The brawl with her brother and Marcus was soooo dumb and so annoying to read and it does not really make me want to read the next book in which Daniel is somehow the hero.
But it was a quick, light, read and it was...fine.
The scenes where Marcus was bedridden gave me huge “Misery” vibes and maybe I was unable from enjoying the romance because of that, haha.
I listened to the interview with the author and I feel like Darynda Jones is a cool chick. Props for the Buffy shoutout (cause she's the best), but I will not be continuing this series.
The humor thing that everyone complains about finally got me to be angry at it when during a SHOOT OUT SCENE that was dramatic, the MC spent more time making wisecracks than being in the moment. It really took me away from the gravity of the situation and made me not care as much. This type of thing happened a lot throughout the novel and just made everything a lot less emotionally pulling.
Further, I find the relationship with her and Reyes super creepy and the sexual stuff almost rapey. So, I definitely didn't dig it. Also, she is a whiner. So, it was a decently fun ride but I'm done. Peace.
Despite the fact that this took me 1.5 months to finish (which, for me, is a long time) I am giving this book 5 stars. It was a slow start–a lot of time spent on character building and world building but WOW was it worth it. This book is sad, and tough to read at time which also contributed to why it took me so long. But it is so worth it.
Very powerful novel. Very relatable, beautiful, fleshed out characters, and so many lessons to learn. One of my favorites Rivers novel so far. I will forever respect her for providing Christian literature that doesn't shy away from reality.
Ultimately, I couldn't finish my collection of all of these novellas. I DID finish Ruth but stopped Bathsheba in the middle of it. It became harder to read and the character development just got weaker and weaker.
This one was unfortunately just not as strong. Again-while the story and overall messages was good I didn't feel very connected to Rahab we I did with Tamar. Rahab's life was just as difficult yet I didn't emotionally connect with the character at all.
Really enjoyed this one and how she put this kinda weird story into its historical context. It really helped me understand everyone's motivations.
Wow, this was so good!! I wasn't sure about it in the beginning but the characters and the setting SO grew on me!!
I found this book after searching for “thrillers set in isolated homes.” This is not a thriller, at all. This is instead a sweeping multi-generational family drama and I loved it. I wouldn't even really call this a historical since it is so character-driven but I am so glad I picked this up.
I fell in love with the family and cared about the Retreat just like Maude learned to do. I really wish that we got a BIT more about Maude's family she left behind but I guess that is very much not the point of the story. I really will be picking up more books by Anne Rivers Siddons after this and will be seeking her out. So good!
Not gonna lie, the prologue was the best part and then it all went downhill from there.
I can finally emerge from my cave. The last two books I read more recently so hopefully I can take it easy (maybe?) but oh, this story. So. Precious.
2022: I'm just...obsessed.
Also I need an adult novel with Father Doms backstory. Thanks. Also I reread parts of it over and over. I'm just obsessed with this installment.
This seemed to end very abruptly and it was very short. This didn't really seem like much of a novel when it comes to things that actually happened, and everything that did happened was just kind of quickly tied up then THE END EVERYTHING IS PERFECT. Weird. Could've been a lot stronger given the subject matter.
This was so good!! I'm so glad to find this author and I hope I like the backlist just as much. I think this is a very realistic depiction of prayer life and the romance was cute! A non cringe Christian romance is so so rare and this also had the added benefit of actually made me laugh out loud.
I don't know how to rate this. Super ambiguous ending (which made me mad) not a lot of backstory and world building (which I also don't like) but it's still so....good. I think Stephen King has finally won me over because this is a book I will be thinking about for a while. This has a lot of symbolism and could be an allegory for the futility of life? I'm not quite sure but nevertheless it was well done and I understand the need for all the ambiguities even if I don't like it.
2.5 rounded up for the writing style and holiday/winter vibes.
This particular sister/suspense sub plot wasn't for me personally. I had a hard time connecting with this book and found it very boring but I absolutely loved the first one. I'm looking forward to the next book and looking forward to learning more about Claire.
This also gets more points because I always appreciate more feminist elements in my Christian fiction and I am happy about that. I hope in the next book we get even more pushback on how the mom in the series is handling this death bed promise + Claire in Scotland (so terrible!!).
All of these characters are terrible, the plot is soo weird and this entire book is so weird.
Found at a thrift store, bought for the cover and my need to read some of the historical romance “classics.” This was painful though.
This was good! I actually enjoyed the sequel but the end kinda devolved more into an action/adventure instead of a sci fi thriller and I'm not as into that.
Also, it dragged on a bit too much. Just too long.
