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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Far too wordy and far too obvious an American was writing a British book
An epistolary novel consisting of emails between Josie de Clare and her best friend Faith, texts between Josie and Faith and Josie and new friend Oliver, and letters from Elias Roch to Josephine de Clare (as well as a novel Elias writes about a imagined relationship between himself and Josephine.
Elias meets Josephine once at a party and promptly falls in love with her. He writes her numerous letters telling her how much he loves her and desires to court her and marry her, but the letters go unsent because he doesn't know where Josephine lives and is unable to find her again. They remain in his desk at Cadwallader Manor for 200 years.
Josie find the letters (and novel) Elias wrote to Josephine when she moves into Cadwallader Manor, which she has inherited after her father's death, and is stunned to realize that even though the letters are two centuries old, she and Josephine not only have the same name, they also look the same and have all the same personality traits- down to wearing clothes with bumblebees on them and sitting upside down to read books. She promptly falls in love with Elias, convinced that the letters were written to her, that he knew her, that they're destined to be together somehow.
I was sure that there was going to be some sort of time travel element eventually, that at some point 21st century Josie and 19th century Elias would meet, but they never do... so how does he know all about her when she won't be born for another 180 years?
The flaws:
-The romance between Josie and Elias didn't work at all for me, far too insta-love and unbelievable. Can you even call it a romance when from his perspective they only met once and from hers they have never met?
-The epistolary style. It can work for some books ([b:Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters|16200|Ella Minnow Pea A Novel in Letters|Mark Dunn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479697890l/16200._SY75_.jpg|2454636] by Mark Dunn is a brilliant story written entirely in letters), but in this case I felt like the writing style kept readers at a distance and kept us from getting to know the supporting characters. Standard third person narration would have been an improvement.
The strengths:
-The setting. I loved Cadwallader and the village of Atteberry- I would have liked to seen a lot more of them in the present day.
-The supporting characters. I loved Oliver and his grandparents, and the members of the knitting club, although aside from Oliver they are very minor characters.
Mostly I think I just didn't like Elias. Had Elias and his letters and novel and the star crossed lovers storyline been stricken from the novel entirely and the book been about Josie moving to Cadwallader and renovating it as her father had planned while she grieved his passing, I think I would have liked it a lot more. I wanted to know more about the renovations she was undertaking at the manor and the job she got at the bakery, and I wanted a lot more of Oliver, who was a far better romantic interest than Elias, and more importantly, a good friend. I don't even think the emails with Faith and what was going on with her and her boyfriend Noah in America were necessary. I just wanted to know what was going on with Josie and Oliver and the manor in the present day, and that was a very small portion of the book.
But if you like an angst-filled, moody, this-is-fate-and-we-were-destined-to-be-together romance, this might be the book for you.
Elias meets Josephine once at a party and promptly falls in love with her. He writes her numerous letters telling her how much he loves her and desires to court her and marry her, but the letters go unsent because he doesn't know where Josephine lives and is unable to find her again. They remain in his desk at Cadwallader Manor for 200 years.
Josie find the letters (and novel) Elias wrote to Josephine when she moves into Cadwallader Manor, which she has inherited after her father's death, and is stunned to realize that even though the letters are two centuries old, she and Josephine not only have the same name, they also look the same and have all the same personality traits- down to wearing clothes with bumblebees on them and sitting upside down to read books. She promptly falls in love with Elias, convinced that the letters were written to her, that he knew her, that they're destined to be together somehow.
I was sure that there was going to be some sort of time travel element eventually, that at some point 21st century Josie and 19th century Elias would meet, but they never do... so how does he know all about her when she won't be born for another 180 years?
The flaws:
-The romance between Josie and Elias didn't work at all for me, far too insta-love and unbelievable. Can you even call it a romance when from his perspective they only met once and from hers they have never met?
-The epistolary style. It can work for some books ([b:Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters|16200|Ella Minnow Pea A Novel in Letters|Mark Dunn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479697890l/16200._SY75_.jpg|2454636] by Mark Dunn is a brilliant story written entirely in letters), but in this case I felt like the writing style kept readers at a distance and kept us from getting to know the supporting characters. Standard third person narration would have been an improvement.
The strengths:
-The setting. I loved Cadwallader and the village of Atteberry- I would have liked to seen a lot more of them in the present day.
-The supporting characters. I loved Oliver and his grandparents, and the members of the knitting club, although aside from Oliver they are very minor characters.
Mostly I think I just didn't like Elias. Had Elias and his letters and novel and the star crossed lovers storyline been stricken from the novel entirely and the book been about Josie moving to Cadwallader and renovating it as her father had planned while she grieved his passing, I think I would have liked it a lot more. I wanted to know more about the renovations she was undertaking at the manor and the job she got at the bakery, and I wanted a lot more of Oliver, who was a far better romantic interest than Elias, and more importantly, a good friend. I don't even think the emails with Faith and what was going on with her and her boyfriend Noah in America were necessary. I just wanted to know what was going on with Josie and Oliver and the manor in the present day, and that was a very small portion of the book.
But if you like an angst-filled, moody, this-is-fate-and-we-were-destined-to-be-together romance, this might be the book for you.
while i was very excited for this story, i was left a little disappointed. overall concept is great, the alternating narratives are done well and cleanly exchange between chapters, story is well delivered and enjoyable.
the story felt flat, there wasn't a lot of character depth present making the buy in on their romance difficult.
worth the read but not a book i will be raving about.
*obtained arc from netgalley*
the story felt flat, there wasn't a lot of character depth present making the buy in on their romance difficult.
worth the read but not a book i will be raving about.
*obtained arc from netgalley*
This was a fun book told through a different perspective. I liked the combination of letters, emails, texts, and the novel; although it did take some getting used to while listening to it. The audiobook did a great job with the sound alerts to let you know when texts were coming in. Sometimes it was a little tedious to hear the full email address every time one was read but I understand it has to be done to include all of the book.
I had forgotten what category I had requested this book from so I was a little sad there wasn't more of a sci-fi/fantasy twist at the end. Although the way the plot was moving I didn't want that as much towards the end.
I really liked the full cast of characters in this one and how everyone actually developed and grew throughout the novel. It had great elements of romance and mystery and it had me constantly thinking about how it was going to end.
I had forgotten what category I had requested this book from so I was a little sad there wasn't more of a sci-fi/fantasy twist at the end. Although the way the plot was moving I didn't want that as much towards the end.
I really liked the full cast of characters in this one and how everyone actually developed and grew throughout the novel. It had great elements of romance and mystery and it had me constantly thinking about how it was going to end.
Books that make you go…”what?!?”
Fake but possibly real time traveling - that part of the story line made 0 sense. Plus I’m not a fan of books mostly written as texts and emails.
Fake but possibly real time traveling - that part of the story line made 0 sense. Plus I’m not a fan of books mostly written as texts and emails.
Those last two words made my jaw drop because I couldn’t believe that that was the end! I enjoyed this book so much!!! The format was so interesting and I kept guessing how things would turn out, and I was surprised every time!
I love that Oliver wrote the last chapter and epilogue oh my goodness
So this had such an interesting concept, but poor execution. Honestly, it felt full of plotholes.
WHAT IT DID WELL: Great conversations about grief and relationships! Interesting format - having Josephine be present only in text messages and emails was a great choice and I loved it.
WHAT IT DIDN'T DO WELL: Basically everything else? This whole mystery is that Josephine has no idea how she's showing up in Elias' past and
In addition, Josephine's romance just doesn't make sense at all to me and she honestly felt kind of like a manic pixie dream girl, both in Elias' view and in her best friend's description of her.
It felt half-baked which sucks because it had such a great start and because it incorporate God in such a beautiful way that didn't feel cliched or off.
WHAT IT DID WELL: Great conversations about grief and relationships! Interesting format - having Josephine be present only in text messages and emails was a great choice and I loved it.
WHAT IT DIDN'T DO WELL: Basically everything else? This whole mystery is that Josephine has no idea how she's showing up in Elias' past and
Spoiler
this never gets resolved in a satisfactory way. Josephine never shows up in Elias' past; not even like a "Time Traveler's Wife" kinda way.In addition, Josephine's romance just doesn't make sense at all to me and she honestly felt kind of like a manic pixie dream girl, both in Elias' view and in her best friend's description of her.
It felt half-baked which sucks because it had such a great start and because it incorporate God in such a beautiful way that didn't feel cliched or off.
Spoiler
contains romance, kissing, making out, illegitimate children/adultery
Ugh why did I read this! Its like 3 stories in one, none of them satisfying.