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3.09 AVERAGE
3.09 AVERAGE
Blame It On The Brontës by Annie Sereno follows Athena Murphy, a 32 year old English professor trying to write a book to save her career. She goes back to her home town of Laurel, Illinois where she is trying uncover the identity of best selling Author, C.L. Garland. Little did Athena know she would run into her college sweetheart Thorne Kent, who happens to be her new boss at the cafe Athena is temporarily working at while writing her book.
This book was funny and entertaining at many points and Annie does a great job of getting her readers interested in the secondary or side characters. There was a lot of back and forth between Thorne and Athena as they have a lot of bad history, yet there’s still some romantic/sexual feelings involved between the two which we can clearly see everytime it switches pov.
The amount of miscommunication was a bit much at points and i wasn’t necessarily a fan of how many times Athena would get jealous simply from the fact everytime a beautiful woman was in the same room as Thorne she’d look for him to see if he noticed the other woman. It was a decent paced read and the ending was honestly amazing, however i do wish the climax and plot twist lasted longer than it did but overall i did enjoy this book. Thank you Booksforward for the opportunity to read this Arc.
This book was funny and entertaining at many points and Annie does a great job of getting her readers interested in the secondary or side characters. There was a lot of back and forth between Thorne and Athena as they have a lot of bad history, yet there’s still some romantic/sexual feelings involved between the two which we can clearly see everytime it switches pov.
The amount of miscommunication was a bit much at points and i wasn’t necessarily a fan of how many times Athena would get jealous simply from the fact everytime a beautiful woman was in the same room as Thorne she’d look for him to see if he noticed the other woman. It was a decent paced read and the ending was honestly amazing, however i do wish the climax and plot twist lasted longer than it did but overall i did enjoy this book. Thank you Booksforward for the opportunity to read this Arc.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I loved Athena and Thorne's love story. The repeated nods to all things Bronte had me from the jump. Would highly recommend to any classic literature fan who appreciates a good reboot.
Maybe just under three stars. I have a like/hate relationship with this book. I enjoyed the dialogue, loved the overall story, and I liked most of the side characters. I reeeeeeally didn’t like Thorne, however, and Athena was a little annoying, too. He was manipulative and controlling, thinking he knows best all the time and not even trying to come to terms with how his actions affect someone he allegedly loves. He kept so many things from her, major life things, and he justified himself repeatedly by pretending to sacrifice his own happiness for her. If he knows her so well, inside and out, why wouldn’t he know she would be able to handle the big stuff?
I also really hate when authors hide significant plot points from the reader with little hints about how we’re not getting the full story about past events, hinting at something huge someone said or did. This is overused in second chance, which might be another reason I generally avoid these. The flow seemed a little off, too, and well. I really didn’t like the normalized body shaming and judging.
I also really hate when authors hide significant plot points from the reader with little hints about how we’re not getting the full story about past events, hinting at something huge someone said or did. This is overused in second chance, which might be another reason I generally avoid these. The flow seemed a little off, too, and well. I really didn’t like the normalized body shaming and judging.
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was so disappointed in this book. None of the characters or their actions were believable. The main character was so unlikable. I was rooting for her to leave her job so that her work-nemesis, whose only faults seemed to be doing her job and writing books (something the protagonist can’t do for years, but then off handedly mentions sitting down and writing multiple chapters of an academic book she’s done no original research for in a few afternoons) and dressing professionally on a budget (the repeated criticism of her “Channel knockoff” clothes is weird… so she wears an H&M boucle jacket to staff meetings? And? Meanwhile, another character is mocked for wearing actual designer clothes.) can go on being awesome and writing her books, which I would totally read. The public and unprofessional snit the main character throws in a staff meeting should have gotten her fired, and I’m super confused about why the reader is supposed to be sympathetic to her.
The book is weirdly fat phobic and obsessed with the body imperfections of all the women. A character says something about how “gaining 3 pounds” is awful, and you realize she’s not kidding. The descriptions of every female character’s breasts reads like that meme parody of men writing about women’s bodies. Characters are made fun of for having breasts too big, and too small. What woman does that, let alone writes it?
Between the unhealthy attitude towards weight, the very strange attitude towards class (even besides making fun of women for both not buying expensive enough clothes AND buying clothes that are too expensive, we’re supposed to believe that a wealthy lawyer in St Louis thinks the Harvard-educated daughter of a highly cultured high school English teacher isn’t good enough for their son? What sort of class difference is that supposed to be? That’s not how class in America works.), I mostly just felt bad for the author, who seems to have really internalized a lot of cultural misogyny, and has a fuzzy sense of personal boundaries (we're supposed to side with the main character, I think, when she logs into other people's computers? And the way her family is always telling her about the details of their sex lives in super creepy ways?), and is presenting it as normal and unremarkable.
The book is weirdly fat phobic and obsessed with the body imperfections of all the women. A character says something about how “gaining 3 pounds” is awful, and you realize she’s not kidding. The descriptions of every female character’s breasts reads like that meme parody of men writing about women’s bodies. Characters are made fun of for having breasts too big, and too small. What woman does that, let alone writes it?
Between the unhealthy attitude towards weight, the very strange attitude towards class (even besides making fun of women for both not buying expensive enough clothes AND buying clothes that are too expensive, we’re supposed to believe that a wealthy lawyer in St Louis thinks the Harvard-educated daughter of a highly cultured high school English teacher isn’t good enough for their son? What sort of class difference is that supposed to be? That’s not how class in America works.), I mostly just felt bad for the author, who seems to have really internalized a lot of cultural misogyny, and has a fuzzy sense of personal boundaries (we're supposed to side with the main character, I think, when she logs into other people's computers? And the way her family is always telling her about the details of their sex lives in super creepy ways?), and is presenting it as normal and unremarkable.
Blame it on the Brontes by Annie Serena makes for a fun weekend read. If you are in the market for a second chance romance with a mix of a little mystery, flirty banter, and lots of Brontë references, this is the book for you. Just be prepared it will leave you wanting to reread the Brontë sister’s works while sipping coffee at a small cafe.
*The element of making Athena into a part time sleuth hunting for C. L. Garland made this book so much more interesting. I thought it combined two of my favorite genres, romance and mystery, together beautifully. Every time I thought I knew who C.L. Garland was I was pleasantly surprised to discover I was wrong.
Special thanks to NetGalley.com and Forever(Grand Central Publishing) for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.
*The element of making Athena into a part time sleuth hunting for C. L. Garland made this book so much more interesting. I thought it combined two of my favorite genres, romance and mystery, together beautifully. Every time I thought I knew who C.L. Garland was I was pleasantly surprised to discover I was wrong.
Special thanks to NetGalley.com and Forever(Grand Central Publishing) for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.
lighthearted
medium-paced
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a cute rom com that follows Athena a teacher who has to publish a book about mysterious erotica author who no one knows her identity. While Athena is trying to save her job she goes back to her small hometown and get a job at her ex fiancé Thorns cafe. While researching which local may be this mysterious author Athena and Thorn start to reunite. This was a cute story and the writing was fun and fast paced. I will say Thorn was not my favorite character which left me kind of meh about the romance. This romance contained second chance romance and small town vibes troupes and I enjoyed they were done in this story. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I would like to thank net galley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.
Blame it on the Brontes by Annie Sereno was such a fantastic read and I couldn’t stop thinking about it while I was at work, I just wanted to keep reading. Athena is a thirty-two-year-old, who is attempting to find the writer C.L. Garland so she can save her job. She goes back to her small town because the writer lives there. She ends up running into the love of her life and her ex, Thorne. Thorne journey was just as wonderful to read. He still loves Athena, but he has family secrets that he keeps to himself. He believes these secrets are only his to deal with, so he keeps her at arm’s length. The banter between these two was funny and just felt real while I was reading. I should state that I have never read any Bronte books, but I have watched two of the movies, but I still really enjoyed this story. I also really think the side stories and how it interweaved into Thorne and Thena’s story gave the story even more depth. You truly never know anyone, even your own family members because we all have things we are dealing with, and it isn’t always easy to open up to anyone. I’ll definitely re-read this story and buy the audible to listen to while at work.
Overall a cute story, highly predictable. As my typical small town second chance, I really enjoyed this story for the most part. I wanted more from the execution though. The characters fell kind of flat, and the plot had some repetition that felt strange. It just didn't play out the way my mind expected it to at all, but a very interesting concept.