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A review by codalion
Caroline's Heart by Austin Chant
3.0
Hmm. To be honest this was essentially 1/3 of a book, but it was 1/3 I liked of an imaginary book I also would have liked - I've never read a romantic story with such a graceful prose style and such a compelling premise and so little development, honestly. I'm not sure why something so specific and bittersweet got crushed into novella form, but it really suffered for it.
I was mystified by how little connection the characters formed - I felt that I was in the opening 1/4 of a romantic arc for the entire thing, and then at the end it attempted to catapult itself to the ending 1/5th. There's stories where people "barely know each other" and fall in love that readers complain about, but I can't even say this goes that far; I'd say they barely know each other and by the end, they still barely know each other. It's very strange.
But the situation is so interesting that I really want to unreasonably forgive it? And there was something very memorable about Cecily, even if Roy felt like sort of a placeholder boyfriend for Cecily's story. (An inoffensive one, but one wants for more than 'inoffensive' in a man.) And I still like Austin Chant's writing. What a weird thing to exist. I hope someday there's a full-length version of it.
I was mystified by how little connection the characters formed - I felt that I was in the opening 1/4 of a romantic arc for the entire thing, and then at the end it attempted to catapult itself to the ending 1/5th. There's stories where people "barely know each other" and fall in love that readers complain about, but I can't even say this goes that far; I'd say they barely know each other and by the end, they still barely know each other. It's very strange.
But the situation is so interesting that I really want to unreasonably forgive it? And there was something very memorable about Cecily, even if Roy felt like sort of a placeholder boyfriend for Cecily's story. (An inoffensive one, but one wants for more than 'inoffensive' in a man.) And I still like Austin Chant's writing. What a weird thing to exist. I hope someday there's a full-length version of it.