Reviews

All I See Is You by Lily Hammond

lezreadalot's review

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2.0

2.5 stars. The rating seems harsh, but I can't pretend that I really enjoyed my time with this book. I mean, keep in mind that if you're not picky about the same things as I am, you'll stand a good chance of liking this. So do give it a try! As for me... eh.

At first, I was actually liking it, but then it all kind of started to steadily go downhill once more and more characters were introduced, and I saw the shape that the story would be taking. Not that there's anything about the premise that I find objectionable. Eliza is a mute girl who finds herself alone in a new country after her mother's death, and falls on hard times. She ends up being taken in by an older lesbian couple, and falls in love with the couple's close friend. A lot of people tend to assume that Eliza is mentally deficient because of not being able to speak, but the more time that Clemency, the love interest, spends with her, the more she realises that that's not the case. This is a case of almost love at second sight, which I don't love, but I was willing to make it work for me in this instance. The romance moved pretty quickly (which I was a little disappointed about since I was assuming this would be slow burn, given the length) but it was quick and intense in a really sweet way that I probably could have liked.

The problem with this book was the POVs. Not only did we get the POV of almost every character in the book (which in my opinion is never necessary) there was an unbelievable amount of head-hopping, to the degree that it made me kind of infuriated. Giving us the inner thoughts of the close friends of the couple, or the servants, or the romantic rival, or a waitress at a shop... why? Especially if you switch right in the middle of a scene, or the middle of a paragraph. It's just never ever necessary and it breaks the tension/flow in so many ways. There's no more effective way of ruining a book for me than giving the reader too much information. And this book did that ad nauseam, and it got in my nerves. It didn't really help that the secondary couple's plot dealt with stuff that I really didn't care that much about. Nothing bad! I just didn't care.

I've really liked this author's books before, so I'm sure I'll read from her again. And the actual writing was really good. I loved reading a historical that doesn't take place in England, and you can tell the author really loves this town (Dunedin) and did a lot of research. But overall? Yikes. This was a bit of a let-down.

Content warnings:
Spoilerdeath, attempted rape, ableism

selahbelah's review

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5.0

A Beautiful Story

This story painted a beautiful picture through words. Descriptive from beginning to end, I really felt apart of the story as I read. As if I were there every step of the way and I always appreciate when an author makes me feel as such. 10/10 would recommend if you're looking to for an out of body experience through a well crafted entanglement of words.

ink_soul's review

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informative inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

zefrien's review

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emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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