Reviews

Where Light Meets Water by Susan Paterson

tothebookshelfandback's review

emotional sad slow-paced

3.75

sarahbryson's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Where Light Meets Water is a debut by a New Zealand born author. It’s set in the nineteenth century in England, Australia and New Zealand. The lead character is Tom Rutherford, a sailor who also has a talent and passion for painting. Apart from a strong focus on sailing, the sea and on painting, the book features a love story which transcended the class barrier. Its exploration of the impact of class was one of my favourite aspects of the novel. I also loved both Tom and Catherine as characters - who doesn’t love an unconventional woman - although I was sometimes frustrated by the choices he made due to grief, a sense of duty and feelings of inadequacy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

whatfern_reads's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

peita_hansen's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

kaitlyns_library's review

2.0

I found the start of this book pretty slow, which disengaged me from the jump. As someone who mostly reads YA and romance, I do need something to pique my interest at the beginning. What did continue my disengagement was the lack of any real climax and stilt-ness of the characters. On top of that, I didn’t get much of a class difference between the sailors ( plus lack of Scottish brogue) and the upper class. 

I did feel as if this book picked up around the halfway mark, but by then, I wasn’t feeling it.

Whilst this book wasn’t for me, I’m sure this will work for others.

Thank you @simonschusterau for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

anthy's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0