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bookymac95's review against another edition
2.0
DNFed it as I was starting to get bored with it unfortunately.
hannahslibrary92's review
2.0
I wasn't hugely impressed by this book. Even though it was a quick read, I have read other quick reads which have put more detail in. I felt like we were jumping about a lot, and you would think something would be important, and then it would just never come to anything.
I think the story of the book was good, there just wasn't enough of it to make it interesting.
I think I would have enjoyed it a lot better if it was a properly fleshed out novel, and not a novel storyline squished into a short story. Perhaps it was a little ambitious to cover the entire war in so few pages.
I think the story of the book was good, there just wasn't enough of it to make it interesting.
I think I would have enjoyed it a lot better if it was a properly fleshed out novel, and not a novel storyline squished into a short story. Perhaps it was a little ambitious to cover the entire war in so few pages.
nicolinesimone's review
3.0
I quite liked this book and I really enjoyed reading it. I really liked the historical aspects. (maybe I should read more historical fiction?) The setting of WW2 was entertaining and severe. I found it interesting reading about how it was like being a young woman in the UK during the war.
The name of this book implies that it has the literary form of a diary. However, I found it to be more of a novel of remembrance than a diary. I would have loved to see some dates and other historical references.
I think the story was limited by the length of the book. Amy's Diary belongs to the Quick Reads series and the book, therefore, has to be short. I felt though that Amy's story and character had way more potential, like 300 pages or something! I sometimes felt the story was a bit rushed and/or that the time went too fast. But then again that is the circumstances.
Regardless of this I really enjoyed Amy's story which was sweet but tough and informative. I will definitely recommend this book to anyone who needs a quick but good reading-fix!
This review was first published on my blog Booksih Stuff
https://wp.me/p9zpGp-3q
The name of this book implies that it has the literary form of a diary. However, I found it to be more of a novel of remembrance than a diary. I would have loved to see some dates and other historical references.
I think the story was limited by the length of the book. Amy's Diary belongs to the Quick Reads series and the book, therefore, has to be short. I felt though that Amy's story and character had way more potential, like 300 pages or something! I sometimes felt the story was a bit rushed and/or that the time went too fast. But then again that is the circumstances.
Regardless of this I really enjoyed Amy's story which was sweet but tough and informative. I will definitely recommend this book to anyone who needs a quick but good reading-fix!
This review was first published on my blog Booksih Stuff
https://wp.me/p9zpGp-3q
theelliemo's review
2.0
Books in the Quick Reads series are aimed at people who don’t read books very often, and it’s probably safe to say that anyone on Goodreads doesn’t really fall into the target market. Having said that, these novellas are nice fillers when life is throwing a lot at you and you don’t have that time to commit to a longer book. They can also be a useful tool to decide whether you might like to read a full-length novel by an author you haven’t previously read.
Bearing the above in mind, I gave this 2 stars. It’s a sweet enough little tale of life in Liverpool during the Second World War, but perhaps a little too saccharine. What little drama there is in the main character, Amy’s life is really quite, well, undramatic. The story seems to lack any real plot, but just meanders through several years in a little over 100 pages. If this were the first book a non-reader tried, I can’t see them being in a hurry to rush back for more, and I certainly won’t be reading any more of this author’s work.
Bearing the above in mind, I gave this 2 stars. It’s a sweet enough little tale of life in Liverpool during the Second World War, but perhaps a little too saccharine. What little drama there is in the main character, Amy’s life is really quite, well, undramatic. The story seems to lack any real plot, but just meanders through several years in a little over 100 pages. If this were the first book a non-reader tried, I can’t see them being in a hurry to rush back for more, and I certainly won’t be reading any more of this author’s work.
sprinkledwithwords's review
2.0
On September 3rd, 1939, Amy Browning turns 18 and starts a diary. Whilst being a tremendous day for her, it’s also the day that she hears it on the wireless: Great Britain was at war with Germany. Life goes on as normal for a while, with Amy and her friend getting a job at a factory and her sister giving birth to a baby boy. But then her brother is fighting in France, her boyfriend joins the RAF and the bombs begin to fall on Liverpool.
I hadn’t actually read a WWII book set in Liverpool before, and this novelette seemed like a perfect place to start, with what I hoped to be a realistic but promising lead.
However, I wasn’t particularly best pleased with this book. Whilst her friend Sally seemed to be 3D and have flaws, Amy seemed a bit like a paper-cut character, even though she had plenty of character-building toils thrown her way. I never really got into her romance, although I did like her sister, Alice, and an America soldier Amy came across: they were my two favourite characters, and pretty minor ones at that!
The writing style was not to my liking: I never really understood if Amy was actually writing in her diary, or if this was a recount afterwards. The style also seemed a little simplistic to me, although I understand that Amy was presented as being quite plain.
The plot…well, to me, there didn’t really seem to be one. Okay, I understood that it was about Amy’s life in the war, but that seems, to me, to be a loose version of the word ‘plot’, it needed more in it to make it more interesting to be the main one. Some of the subplots had more life.
Although I have just written a rather scathing review, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the WWII time period. It does offer an insight into rationing and how the Home Front carried on living, despite the atrocities being committed elsewhere. Some characters are rather charming ,and scandals are present which can make it an intriguing read. What’s more, it’ll only take you an hour or so to get through, so it’s not a decent amount of your time. And unlike One Good Turn by Chris Ryan, this does give you an uplifting finish.
I hadn’t actually read a WWII book set in Liverpool before, and this novelette seemed like a perfect place to start, with what I hoped to be a realistic but promising lead.
However, I wasn’t particularly best pleased with this book. Whilst her friend Sally seemed to be 3D and have flaws, Amy seemed a bit like a paper-cut character, even though she had plenty of character-building toils thrown her way. I never really got into her romance, although I did like her sister, Alice, and an America soldier Amy came across: they were my two favourite characters, and pretty minor ones at that!
The writing style was not to my liking: I never really understood if Amy was actually writing in her diary, or if this was a recount afterwards. The style also seemed a little simplistic to me, although I understand that Amy was presented as being quite plain.
The plot…well, to me, there didn’t really seem to be one. Okay, I understood that it was about Amy’s life in the war, but that seems, to me, to be a loose version of the word ‘plot’, it needed more in it to make it more interesting to be the main one. Some of the subplots had more life.
Although I have just written a rather scathing review, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the WWII time period. It does offer an insight into rationing and how the Home Front carried on living, despite the atrocities being committed elsewhere. Some characters are rather charming ,and scandals are present which can make it an intriguing read. What’s more, it’ll only take you an hour or so to get through, so it’s not a decent amount of your time. And unlike One Good Turn by Chris Ryan, this does give you an uplifting finish.
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