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mfraise05's review
2.0
I tried to like this book, in fact, I did enjoy the first half of it. And then it went *ppffftt* and the ending was the worst. I've never read or even heard of the Bronze Horseman books so I had no expectations. Simons' writing is good and descriptive, she made the Attaviano family likable, Gina especially. But other characters seemed to have no motivation for their odd behaviors - why did the extremely eligible bachelorette Alice wait so long for Harry to propose? wasn't it just a good match, 'cuz Simons never made me believe she truly loved him, I mean she states it but I just didn't feel it...? Why was Harry so weak? Was it really because of his loneliness and death of his mother? University-aged Gina/Jane (she swore she would never change her name!! wtf?!) seemed more mature than teenage Gina but in the end I find she's just as silly. I don't know. I found these character development flaws irksome and false and they made me wish the book would end sooner rather than later.
bridget_h's review against another edition
3.0
After reading the Bronze Horseman series, I was really excited about this. But the first 100 pages were just not enjoyable - it didn't even seem like the book came from the same author. But then things turned around and I was very engaged in the book and in the story - the characters finally started having some life breathed into them and it was very engaging.
linseypinsey's review against another edition
5.0
Great writing, took my mind of this bloody pandemic for at least 1 hour a day!
snohr's review against another edition
2.0
I may be a bit slow here and in my defence, it has been long time since I last read The Bronze Horseman. But, I didn't even make the connection that this book was a prequal featuring Alexander's parents.
I found the entire book tedious to read. The characters were hard to like and the story line, well, nothing really happened.
Hopefully the next installment has more depth and the characters are developed a little more.
I am now questioning how a character that I love so dearly, could possibly be born to two people that I found hard to even like?
I am tempted to re read it, now I realise where it comes from. But quite honestly, I don't think I can endure it again.
Fingers crossed that the next one is another Paullina Simons book that I completely fall in love with
I found the entire book tedious to read. The characters were hard to like and the story line, well, nothing really happened.
Hopefully the next installment has more depth and the characters are developed a little more.
I am now questioning how a character that I love so dearly, could possibly be born to two people that I found hard to even like?
I am tempted to re read it, now I realise where it comes from. But quite honestly, I don't think I can endure it again.
Fingers crossed that the next one is another Paullina Simons book that I completely fall in love with
miss_murphy's review
4.0
La verdad es que empecé este libro un poco con la mosca detrás de la oreja, porque al saber de antemano el final de la historia, tampoco es que Harold y Gina fueran mis personajes favoritos del mundo.
Este libro no es como me esperaba en el sentido de que pensaba que sería algo similar a El jinete de bronce. Pero aquí no hay un romance épico e inolvidable. Apenas hay romance, punto. Lo que hay aquí es un repaso rápido de los temas políticos más candentes de principios de siglo en Estados Unidos, desde muchos puntos de vista distintos: por un lado tienes a los conservadores empresarios capitalistas, a los comunistas intelectuales, a los anarquistas idealistas y en medio de todo al señor Harold Barrington... que simplemente es un idiota. Ya está. Lo que se intuía en Tatiana y Alexander es cierto: Harold en este libro no es más que un niñato rico y pseudo intelectual de veintisiete años que siempre lo ha tenido todo y nunca ha estado contento con nada. No sabe lo que es el sacrificio, la empatía o simplemente en qué consiste no tomar una decisión con el culo. Y creo que la persona que mejor lo cala es su propio padre, cuando reconoce que esos no son ni siquiera sus mayores defectos, sino el orgullo que le impide reconocer sus errores. Spot on, sir. Gina es mucho más amena, y su recorrido al principio es similar al de Tatiana en ciertas cosas. En general es mucho más fácil encariñarse con ella que con Harry, porque tiene cualidades como la perseverancia y el ingenio que la hacen un poco más simpática.
Lo que más me ha gustado sin duda han sido las referencias a la saga principal. Me ha gustado ver Barrington, a la tía Esther de joven, las menciones al padre y al hermano de Gina, e incluso esas pequeña ironías amargas que parecen estar prediciendo el futuro de la pareja y de sus descendientes. Dice mucho del talento de Simons para hilar bien sus historias y que quede un tapiz bien compuesto.
La verdad es que no veo excesivamente necesario estos dos spin off y tampoco aportan mucho más que un ensayo más o menos ameno sobre política de principios del siglo XX, pero si eres una fanática de la saga principal como moi, pues siempre está bien echarle una leída.
(Also, estrellita extra por lo bonito que está escrito. Paullina nunca decepciona con la prosa)
Este libro no es como me esperaba en el sentido de que pensaba que sería algo similar a El jinete de bronce. Pero aquí no hay un romance épico e inolvidable. Apenas hay romance, punto. Lo que hay aquí es un repaso rápido de los temas políticos más candentes de principios de siglo en Estados Unidos, desde muchos puntos de vista distintos: por un lado tienes a los conservadores empresarios capitalistas, a los comunistas intelectuales, a los anarquistas idealistas y en medio de todo al señor Harold Barrington... que simplemente es un idiota. Ya está. Lo que se intuía en Tatiana y Alexander es cierto: Harold en este libro no es más que un niñato rico y pseudo intelectual de veintisiete años que siempre lo ha tenido todo y nunca ha estado contento con nada. No sabe lo que es el sacrificio, la empatía o simplemente en qué consiste no tomar una decisión con el culo. Y creo que la persona que mejor lo cala es su propio padre, cuando reconoce que esos no son ni siquiera sus mayores defectos, sino el orgullo que le impide reconocer sus errores. Spot on, sir. Gina es mucho más amena, y su recorrido al principio es similar al de Tatiana en ciertas cosas. En general es mucho más fácil encariñarse con ella que con Harry, porque tiene cualidades como la perseverancia y el ingenio que la hacen un poco más simpática.
Lo que más me ha gustado sin duda han sido las referencias a la saga principal. Me ha gustado ver Barrington, a la tía Esther de joven, las menciones al padre y al hermano de Gina, e incluso esas pequeña ironías amargas que parecen estar prediciendo el futuro de la pareja y de sus descendientes. Dice mucho del talento de Simons para hilar bien sus historias y que quede un tapiz bien compuesto.
La verdad es que no veo excesivamente necesario estos dos spin off y tampoco aportan mucho más que un ensayo más o menos ameno sobre política de principios del siglo XX, pero si eres una fanática de la saga principal como moi, pues siempre está bien echarle una leída.
(Also, estrellita extra por lo bonito que está escrito. Paullina nunca decepciona con la prosa)
sitibbetts7's review
2.0
Are y’all okay????? I’m super concerned for everyone who still romanticizes Alexander and tatiana.
I enjoyed the Bronze Horseman series because I thought the writing and world building was decent even if the MCs were extremely toxic.
This book was boring af. Just a couple of whiny MCs who are bland and bland and bland.
Where was the editor? This book should have been a short story. And the back of my copy said it was steamy? I think I read two very short sex scenes. No complaints from me with that, but compared to her other books…. Two pages of sex scenes in nothing. (Pages 600-700 of BH were redundant and constant sex scenes lol).
Also there was no reason this couple needed a weird age gap. It’s like the author likes her romances to be a little gross.
I enjoyed the Bronze Horseman series because I thought the writing and world building was decent even if the MCs were extremely toxic.
This book was boring af. Just a couple of whiny MCs who are bland and bland and bland.
Where was the editor? This book should have been a short story. And the back of my copy said it was steamy? I think I read two very short sex scenes. No complaints from me with that, but compared to her other books…. Two pages of sex scenes in nothing. (Pages 600-700 of BH were redundant and constant sex scenes lol).
Also there was no reason this couple needed a weird age gap. It’s like the author likes her romances to be a little gross.
amyma's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book to be beautifully written, engaging, and left me wanting more. I'm so happy there is another book after this because otherwise I wouldn't have been too happy at the end. I'm a huge fan of the Bronze Horseman series, so reading "pre" stories to them is quite exciting.
veuxmourir's review
1.0
Since when is cheating romantic?
Although I didn't expect this prequel to have the drama of The Bronze Horseman, I still expected cute, romantic moments like the ones between Tatiana and Alexander. For those of you who have read The Bronze Horseman: do you remember how they first met? With the bench and the ice cream, and then the bus ride where neither of them knew what they were doing? It was adorable. That's what I was hoping for when I got this book; more bus ride scenes, less drama and depressing deaths.
But I can't even recall one cute moment between Harry and Gina in this book. Not one.
Instead, Harry was a huge fucking asshole. Which brings me back to my earlier question: since when is cheating romantic? Since when is having a long-term affair with someone, when you've been with someone else for eight years okay? In my mind, it never is.
I never once felt an ounce of sympathy for Harry, which I believe is the opposite of what the author wanted. Clearly, the reader was supposed to feel for him. A poor little rich boy, disappointing his father, falling in love with the girl his best friend likes, having to pretend he doesn't because he's in a committed relationship... how awful, right? Except it isn't. His father gave him every chance in the world to do whatever he wanted. Despite what the author wanted, I never felt that his father was pressuring him, or was too hard on him. Quite simply, I felt instead that Harry was a spoiled brat.
The worst part was that he had so many chances to end his relationship with Alice. He could have done it easily before they were engaged. He could have done it when he saw Gina again for the first time in five years. He could have done it before he decided to go out of town with Gina, or before he had sex with her. But did he? No. Because he's an asshole. Instead, he decided to end the engagement two weeks before the wedding, and didn't even have the decency to tell Alice himself.
The reader is led to believe that Harry didn't want to end the engagement because of pressure from his family, or because it was expected of him, but that's bullshit. Honestly, if he had told his father months before the wedding, his dad would have been pissed, but he probably would have gotten over it. But when Harry tells him two weeks before the wedding, Harry is somehow fucking surprised when his dad cuts him off entirely.
My favorite part of this book was what Harry's father said to him when he canceled the wedding:
Because thank the lord, someone finally said it.
And lastly, I want to mention Ben: Harry's best friend who was so fucking screwed over. I wish Gina would have ended up with Ben instead; he actually cared about people other than himself. Ben deserved so much better than this shit.
Although I didn't expect this prequel to have the drama of The Bronze Horseman, I still expected cute, romantic moments like the ones between Tatiana and Alexander. For those of you who have read The Bronze Horseman: do you remember how they first met? With the bench and the ice cream, and then the bus ride where neither of them knew what they were doing? It was adorable. That's what I was hoping for when I got this book; more bus ride scenes, less drama and depressing deaths.
But I can't even recall one cute moment between Harry and Gina in this book. Not one.
Instead, Harry was a huge fucking asshole. Which brings me back to my earlier question: since when is cheating romantic? Since when is having a long-term affair with someone, when you've been with someone else for eight years okay? In my mind, it never is.
I never once felt an ounce of sympathy for Harry, which I believe is the opposite of what the author wanted. Clearly, the reader was supposed to feel for him. A poor little rich boy, disappointing his father, falling in love with the girl his best friend likes, having to pretend he doesn't because he's in a committed relationship... how awful, right? Except it isn't. His father gave him every chance in the world to do whatever he wanted. Despite what the author wanted, I never felt that his father was pressuring him, or was too hard on him. Quite simply, I felt instead that Harry was a spoiled brat.
The worst part was that he had so many chances to end his relationship with Alice. He could have done it easily before they were engaged. He could have done it when he saw Gina again for the first time in five years. He could have done it before he decided to go out of town with Gina, or before he had sex with her. But did he? No. Because he's an asshole. Instead, he decided to end the engagement two weeks before the wedding, and didn't even have the decency to tell Alice himself.
The reader is led to believe that Harry didn't want to end the engagement because of pressure from his family, or because it was expected of him, but that's bullshit. Honestly, if he had told his father months before the wedding, his dad would have been pissed, but he probably would have gotten over it. But when Harry tells him two weeks before the wedding, Harry is somehow fucking surprised when his dad cuts him off entirely.
My favorite part of this book was what Harry's father said to him when he canceled the wedding:
"You are not practical. You are unattractively selfish. You don't care about the people who love you, who you're supposed to love. You don't give a damn about your friends, you care not a whit about your family."
Because thank the lord, someone finally said it.
And lastly, I want to mention Ben: Harry's best friend who was so fucking screwed over. I wish Gina would have ended up with Ben instead; he actually cared about people other than himself. Ben deserved so much better than this shit.
lecrockett's review against another edition
2.0
Thank you William Morrow / HarperCollins for the ARC!
Gina, a young Italian girl on the brink of womanhood, steps onto the Boston shores excited for the future of opportunity ahead of her. The first American she meets, and whose story forever entangles her own, is Harry Barrington, son of the wealthy Herman Barrington and leader of the Barrington town just outside of Boston's city limits. Her eagerness to learn everything and headstrong, forward-thinking personality, mixed with Harry's studious and philosophical endeavors, bring these two together. Thus begins a whirlwind romance and a daring adventure in the uncertain, politically unrest future.
Although it was a great opportunity to read about the interesting view points and backstory for what brought Alexander Barrington's parents together, this book felt a bit unnecessary. In The Bronze Horseman, the first of the Alexander and Tatiana epic romance trilogy, the reader discovers Alexander's true American identity, that his parents were Italian and American, that they fled America for Russia due to their political beliefs, and that nothing turned out the way they expected. While it was fascinating reading this prequel to the trilogy -- who wouldn't be curious about how the parents of favorite beloved characters met and fell in love? -- it felt long and indulgent.
"Long" is really saying something, too. The Bronze Horseman and the other two books are tomes, really fitting the Russian stereotypes for epic romances. This book, however, was rather thin, and I still felt lulled to sleep. I'm sure if I brushed up on my American history, or cared more about politics, I could find some enjoyment from this novel. Unfortunately, the characters felt flat. I did not love them like I loved Alexander and Tatiana. I did not feel the love and connection between Gina and Harry. It was heartrendingly disappointing.
I believe what Simons gave the reader in The Bronze Horseman was enough of a story for Gina and Harry and should have been left at that.
Gina, a young Italian girl on the brink of womanhood, steps onto the Boston shores excited for the future of opportunity ahead of her. The first American she meets, and whose story forever entangles her own, is Harry Barrington, son of the wealthy Herman Barrington and leader of the Barrington town just outside of Boston's city limits. Her eagerness to learn everything and headstrong, forward-thinking personality, mixed with Harry's studious and philosophical endeavors, bring these two together. Thus begins a whirlwind romance and a daring adventure in the uncertain, politically unrest future.
Although it was a great opportunity to read about the interesting view points and backstory for what brought Alexander Barrington's parents together, this book felt a bit unnecessary. In The Bronze Horseman, the first of the Alexander and Tatiana epic romance trilogy, the reader discovers Alexander's true American identity, that his parents were Italian and American, that they fled America for Russia due to their political beliefs, and that nothing turned out the way they expected. While it was fascinating reading this prequel to the trilogy -- who wouldn't be curious about how the parents of favorite beloved characters met and fell in love? -- it felt long and indulgent.
"Long" is really saying something, too. The Bronze Horseman and the other two books are tomes, really fitting the Russian stereotypes for epic romances. This book, however, was rather thin, and I still felt lulled to sleep. I'm sure if I brushed up on my American history, or cared more about politics, I could find some enjoyment from this novel. Unfortunately, the characters felt flat. I did not love them like I loved Alexander and Tatiana. I did not feel the love and connection between Gina and Harry. It was heartrendingly disappointing.
I believe what Simons gave the reader in The Bronze Horseman was enough of a story for Gina and Harry and should have been left at that.