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soulhaven's review
4.0
I requested this book to read/review because I had previously read "The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises" and really enjoyed it.So, I had high hopes for this one.
Did it deliver?
... Yes?
I offer my review with a caveat. I've been caught up with a lot of late night work lately, and I still have a toddler who wakes in the night, so I function on a lack of sleep. While with the first book I was pleasantly surprised, in this case, I had high expectations, and I feel that coloured my experience somewhat.
You see, I didn't fall in love. Not with Jody, and not with Christian. I liked them, and I got where they were coming from and why they did the things they did. I just didn't lose myself in them, like I was hoping to. Reading is a subjective thing, so I don't want to put an objective cloud over anything from my very subjective POV, and I realise that where I'm at in my own head-space might have played a role in my inability to fall in love with these two, but this happened to be my experience this time around, and, yeh, I was a little disappointed. Entirely possible that the ability to fall in love with them is in there, though.
Still, I found it interesting that in the scene where Jody had a bit of a heart-to-heart with Tony, I... well, I felt something for Tony... He's hardly in the story, and yet he still affects me that way... As I said... interesting.
Anyway, the book follows the story of Jody, who feels she owes her little community of Rabbits Leap a debt, as she sets about organising as big a festival as a little community can muster in order to fund-raise to pay her debt. To help her, she hires Christian, a big-shot event organiser from London, who's taking a break from the big stuff after a bit of a stuff up of his own.
Actually, I think this is what kept me from falling for these characters, actually. Right from the start, you know they have faults... but you're not allowed to know what they are until much later. Which means, you can't get close to them, you're not part of the "inner circle", you're very much on the outside. Each of them would mention in their POV scenes that they'd stuffed up somehow, but they wouldn't tell me, the reader. I felt pushed away. So, if you don't mind characters who you see the thoughts of but who keep big secrets from you, then you are going to have no issue with this whatsoever and you could very well love the book.
Because, for me, once the secrets came out, I felt closer to the characters and things went along a bit more smoothly, although, smoothly in that way it does when you know your friend has lied to you in the past... So, yeah, I didn't click with Jody and Christian the way I did with Tony and Mel in The Cosy Coffee Shop...
That being said, Kellie Hailes can certainly write. She's got some neat metaphors, and a marvellous imagination for the quirks of burgeoning romance.
I see a great potential for books about Rabbits Leap characters. Something tells me there's an interesting tale coming from Serena some time in the future, and I'm looking forward to it.
Did it deliver?
... Yes?
I offer my review with a caveat. I've been caught up with a lot of late night work lately, and I still have a toddler who wakes in the night, so I function on a lack of sleep. While with the first book I was pleasantly surprised, in this case, I had high expectations, and I feel that coloured my experience somewhat.
You see, I didn't fall in love. Not with Jody, and not with Christian. I liked them, and I got where they were coming from and why they did the things they did. I just didn't lose myself in them, like I was hoping to. Reading is a subjective thing, so I don't want to put an objective cloud over anything from my very subjective POV, and I realise that where I'm at in my own head-space might have played a role in my inability to fall in love with these two, but this happened to be my experience this time around, and, yeh, I was a little disappointed. Entirely possible that the ability to fall in love with them is in there, though.
Still, I found it interesting that in the scene where Jody had a bit of a heart-to-heart with Tony, I... well, I felt something for Tony... He's hardly in the story, and yet he still affects me that way... As I said... interesting.
Anyway, the book follows the story of Jody, who feels she owes her little community of Rabbits Leap a debt, as she sets about organising as big a festival as a little community can muster in order to fund-raise to pay her debt. To help her, she hires Christian, a big-shot event organiser from London, who's taking a break from the big stuff after a bit of a stuff up of his own.
Actually, I think this is what kept me from falling for these characters, actually. Right from the start, you know they have faults... but you're not allowed to know what they are until much later. Which means, you can't get close to them, you're not part of the "inner circle", you're very much on the outside. Each of them would mention in their POV scenes that they'd stuffed up somehow, but they wouldn't tell me, the reader. I felt pushed away. So, if you don't mind characters who you see the thoughts of but who keep big secrets from you, then you are going to have no issue with this whatsoever and you could very well love the book.
Because, for me, once the secrets came out, I felt closer to the characters and things went along a bit more smoothly, although, smoothly in that way it does when you know your friend has lied to you in the past... So, yeah, I didn't click with Jody and Christian the way I did with Tony and Mel in The Cosy Coffee Shop...
That being said, Kellie Hailes can certainly write. She's got some neat metaphors, and a marvellous imagination for the quirks of burgeoning romance.
I see a great potential for books about Rabbits Leap characters. Something tells me there's an interesting tale coming from Serena some time in the future, and I'm looking forward to it.
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