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A review by maddiementions
Coming Home to Bellingham by Katie Stewart Stone
3.0
*Thank you to NetGalley and Covenant Communications for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*
3.5 out of 5 stars
I almost gave this book four stars and I really wanted to. The truth is, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, its characters, and its swoon-worthy romance. However, I have two reasons as to why I did not rate it higher.
1. The plot moved way too quickly, in my opinion. At the beginning of the book, Annabelle is deeply mourning the sudden loss of her parents and it felt that rather too quickly, she was whisked away to Bellingham and the mood changed drastically. Don't get me wrong, I wanted happiness for Annabelle and I love that she found a community she could call "home", but I just felt that it all happened too fast. Getting settled into a new home and meeting new people takes time. I feel that this was a little rushed. It felt odd that she made such deep connections with people so quickly. At the same time, there was a part of me that enjoyed the lightheartedness of this story.
2. The people of Bellingham seemed a little too perfect. The Alexander's, our love interest's family, are like the dream in-laws every woman fantasizes about (Except Nathan Alexander, I want to throat punch him). The mother, Lady Bellingham, immediately falls in love with Annabelle without hardly even knowing her. The brothers also took a liking to her very quickly. While I liked this, it seemed rather unrealistic. The family was so optimistic and friendly at times, that I was wondering when the catch would come where we find out they're hiding a dark secret or something. No catch, this family is just extremely amiable.
I didn't have any issues with the love interest, Peter. I thought he was a great character, with a good (kind of tragic) backstory. The romance between him and Annabelle was very romantic to me and I actually liked that Peter's past didn't affect their relationship too much. I really liked that this story was clean and the romance was authentic. Overall, I enjoyed this book.
3.5 out of 5 stars
I almost gave this book four stars and I really wanted to. The truth is, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, its characters, and its swoon-worthy romance. However, I have two reasons as to why I did not rate it higher.
1. The plot moved way too quickly, in my opinion. At the beginning of the book, Annabelle is deeply mourning the sudden loss of her parents and it felt that rather too quickly, she was whisked away to Bellingham and the mood changed drastically. Don't get me wrong, I wanted happiness for Annabelle and I love that she found a community she could call "home", but I just felt that it all happened too fast. Getting settled into a new home and meeting new people takes time. I feel that this was a little rushed. It felt odd that she made such deep connections with people so quickly. At the same time, there was a part of me that enjoyed the lightheartedness of this story.
2. The people of Bellingham seemed a little too perfect. The Alexander's, our love interest's family, are like the dream in-laws every woman fantasizes about (Except Nathan Alexander, I want to throat punch him). The mother, Lady Bellingham, immediately falls in love with Annabelle without hardly even knowing her. The brothers also took a liking to her very quickly. While I liked this, it seemed rather unrealistic. The family was so optimistic and friendly at times, that I was wondering when the catch would come where we find out they're hiding a dark secret or something. No catch, this family is just extremely amiable.
I didn't have any issues with the love interest, Peter. I thought he was a great character, with a good (kind of tragic) backstory. The romance between him and Annabelle was very romantic to me and I actually liked that Peter's past didn't affect their relationship too much. I really liked that this story was clean and the romance was authentic. Overall, I enjoyed this book.