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nuin_giliath's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I'm clearly in the minority here, but I really struggled with this book. Despite the fact that I've enjoyed several other books by this author, I found this one to have characters I never connected with, a weak romance, and a plot that relied too heavily on conveniences.
What I liked:
• John's personal journey toward self-acceptance as a "Two Foot" and his experiences within both of his cultures
• The descriptive writing that painted a vivid picture of what life might have been like for both the pioneers and the natives living in this part of North America at the time
• Naomi's artistic abilities and how her work was meaningful to the story and characters within it. Some of the scenes the included her sketching or painting were quite touching.
• The younger May children (Wyatt, Webb, and Will) - even though I could barely tell them apart - and their fondness for John and his mules
What I didn't like:
• Many of the early chapters felt confusing - especially in regards to John's backstory and his family situation.
• I wanted to like Naomi for her fierceness and sometimes quirky behavior, however she mostly came across as manipulative, selfish, and stubborn. Much of her early behavior toward John bordered on obsession and their interactions often made me uncomfortable as Naomi seemed determined to kiss/sleep with/marry him after only knowing him for a few weeks. What made it worse was that she later confessed that she deliberately threw herself at John and even learned his habits in order to get closer to him. There was also a chapter where she prioritized getting him a gift over providing items for her family's basic needs.
• Then there were the conflicting messages about whether Naomi's first husband ever meant anything to her. One minute, she's remembering how her grief kept her from even sitting in what had been his chair. The next, she's recalling how he never truly pleased her. Every time Naomi brought up something negative about him, it felt like she was justifying her pursuit of John.
• The insta-love ruined what could have been a compelling romance. I felt there was limited emotional development after the initial attraction which led to little interest on my part. The level of devotion that was demonstrated in later chapters didn't feel earned based on what was presented to readers.
• John's hesitation over whether or not he and Naomi should get married made no sense to me. The excuses he gave were weak and were overcome after a couple of convincing conversations.
• The drama between Naomi and her in-laws was pointless and ended without any real resolution.
• The primary antagonist for the first half of the novel felt cartoonish and unthreatening. And this ended up going nowhere.
• It was difficult to keep track of the many secondary characters that weren't given enough traits to be memorable. This became especially frustrating as more were added at each new location. Since I had little to no idea who some of them were (after only being briefly introduced), I didn't feel emotional when something bad happened to them.
• Much of the action in the middle chapters came across as "side quests" and felt like a waste of time.
• There were multiple instances of plot conveniences where someone just happened to be at the right place at the right time or something occurred to magically resolve a major conflict.
• There was a scene of sexual assault between an indigenous man and a white woman which felt completely unnecessary as it was only added to create emotional drama between the main protagonists.
• The narrative is definitely skewed toward the perspective of the white pioneers. 90% of the white settlers that were introduced to are good-natured and tolerant while a larger percentage of the native Americans were presented as unreasonable, uncaring, hostile, or downright vicious. To be fair, there were some indigenous characters who were kind and helpful, but it definitely felt unbalanced.
If this hadn't been a buddy read, I probably would have DNFed this. Based on my past experiences with this author and her other historical romances, I had high hopes for this story. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed.
What I liked:
• John's personal journey toward self-acceptance as a "Two Foot" and his experiences within both of his cultures
• The descriptive writing that painted a vivid picture of what life might have been like for both the pioneers and the natives living in this part of North America at the time
• Naomi's artistic abilities and how her work was meaningful to the story and characters within it. Some of the scenes the included her sketching or painting were quite touching.
• The younger May children (Wyatt, Webb, and Will) - even though I could barely tell them apart - and their fondness for John and his mules
What I didn't like:
• Many of the early chapters felt confusing - especially in regards to John's backstory and his family situation.
• I wanted to like Naomi for her fierceness and sometimes quirky behavior, however she mostly came across as manipulative, selfish, and stubborn. Much of her early behavior toward John bordered on obsession and their interactions often made me uncomfortable as Naomi seemed determined to kiss/sleep with/marry him after only knowing him for a few weeks. What made it worse was that she later confessed that she deliberately threw herself at John and even learned his habits in order to get closer to him. There was also a chapter where she prioritized getting him a gift over providing items for her family's basic needs.
• Then there were the conflicting messages about whether Naomi's first husband ever meant anything to her. One minute, she's remembering how her grief kept her from even sitting in what had been his chair. The next, she's recalling how he never truly pleased her. Every time Naomi brought up something negative about him, it felt like she was justifying her pursuit of John.
• The insta-love ruined what could have been a compelling romance. I felt there was limited emotional development after the initial attraction which led to little interest on my part. The level of devotion that was demonstrated in later chapters didn't feel earned based on what was presented to readers.
• John's hesitation over whether or not he and Naomi should get married made no sense to me. The excuses he gave were weak and were overcome after a couple of convincing conversations.
• The drama between Naomi and her in-laws was pointless and ended without any real resolution.
• The primary antagonist for the first half of the novel felt cartoonish and unthreatening. And this ended up going nowhere.
• It was difficult to keep track of the many secondary characters that weren't given enough traits to be memorable. This became especially frustrating as more were added at each new location. Since I had little to no idea who some of them were (after only being briefly introduced), I didn't feel emotional when something bad happened to them.
• Much of the action in the middle chapters came across as "side quests" and felt like a waste of time.
• There were multiple instances of plot conveniences where someone just happened to be at the right place at the right time or something occurred to magically resolve a major conflict.
• There was a scene of sexual assault between an indigenous man and a white woman which felt completely unnecessary as it was only added to create emotional drama between the main protagonists.
• The narrative is definitely skewed toward the perspective of the white pioneers. 90% of the white settlers that were introduced to are good-natured and tolerant while a larger percentage of the native Americans were presented as unreasonable, uncaring, hostile, or downright vicious. To be fair, there were some indigenous characters who were kind and helpful, but it definitely felt unbalanced.
If this hadn't been a buddy read, I probably would have DNFed this. Based on my past experiences with this author and her other historical romances, I had high hopes for this story. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, and Violence
Minor: Child abuse
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