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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-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
Really enjoyed it. Jojo Moyes seems to have the ability to get a reader right into the story and characters' skins. I got quite emotionally involved with the book very quickly and didn't want to put it down.
Isabel has just been widowed and discovers there's little money left. She inherits a wreck of a house expectedly and moves to Norfolk with her 2 children. She doesn't know that other people expected to get the house, one of them the seemingly affable local builder Matt.
Isabel has just been widowed and discovers there's little money left. She inherits a wreck of a house expectedly and moves to Norfolk with her 2 children. She doesn't know that other people expected to get the house, one of them the seemingly affable local builder Matt.
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So I’ve realized thanks to this book that Jojo Moyes is a hit or miss for me. This was unfortunately a miss. I think I prefer her books set in more historical times are more my taste than books set in today’s time.
This book was just quite boring. I didn’t care for the characters and found Isabel so annoying for not being able to do ANYTHING because she has to keep her fingers intact and also they had to live in a house with the same standard as their old house, no livable apartment in London was apparently good enough for her family. I guess it’s better to live in a house with the roof falling in and there’s basically no functioning bathroom. But I guess we have different priorities, Isabel and I.
Also, Laura deserves so much better and Matt deserves to rot in hell for what he puts though literally everybody he knows.
This book was just quite boring. I didn’t care for the characters and found Isabel so annoying for not being able to do ANYTHING because she has to keep her fingers intact and also they had to live in a house with the same standard as their old house, no livable apartment in London was apparently good enough for her family. I guess it’s better to live in a house with the roof falling in and there’s basically no functioning bathroom. But I guess we have different priorities, Isabel and I.
Also, Laura deserves so much better and Matt deserves to rot in hell for what he puts though literally everybody he knows.
slow-paced
I have read/listened to most of Jojo Moyes books. I always find some character to connect with. This story taking place in countryside England brought the farm country to life and developed the local villagers characters to make you think they could be your own neighbors. I really loved the couple Henry and Asmad(sp?) and how they were the calm in the growing storm. Unfortunately the main character was just a little too helpless for my liking. I did relate to her daughter Kitty's role in the beginning of the book because it is hard being 15 and having to always be in charge. I was grateful that Isabel finally "woke up" enough to allow Kitty to be a young teenager and not always having to be the adult. I enjoyed all the description of the countryside, the village, the Spanish House, its slow destruction and the relationship that developed between Byron and Isabel's son. That seemed to be the most genuine relationship throughout the story. Kitty and her neighbor Anthony's relationship seemed to be because they both had parents who forgot how to either be a parent(Kitty) or were just so self centered they forgot they had a child (Anthony and Kitty). I have looked for and read Jojo Moyes's books because I feel like she can portray the common people and doesn't spend all her characters on the aristocracy. She makes them very relatable.
3.5 stars. The beginning was a little slow for me and the end had a few pieces that didn’t wrap up as nicely as it could have. I can tell this is one of the author’s earlier works. But it did really make me think quite a bit about several of the themes for a few days after the book was done which is a good sign for me. I liked the caution against becoming too attached to a dream or too dependent about future happiness being tied to a certain outcome. It can be easy to have a dream and then think I’ll be happy when we have X.
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It’s a nice book, but nowhere near the quality of other books by Jojo Moyes. The storyline is ok, but the characters are thin... can’t put my finger on it, but I was missing something the entire book.
emotional
tense