thebookgirl 's review for:

Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand

3.0

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To be honest this book wasn't that great for me. I have never read a book by Elin Hilderbrand, so I thought I would give it a chance. I wasn't blown away by her writing style or the story of this book.

This book turned me off from the get-go. I didn't think this was a good execution of the premise. The book is supposed to be a dying mother writing advice to her daughter about her wetting. The mother completely dominated the wedding and it felt like the main character Jenna was forced into the wedding. I felt like this might be something she would regret later in life. I disliked that the readers are forced to feel things. We are supposed to feel sentimental and happy about the dying mother. We are supposed to love the wedding and think its adorable that she is planning her daughter's wedding from the grave. I just felt like the mother was very manipulative in the way she presented things. Her advice was supposed to be just suggestions but they were surrounded by a guilt trip.

I felt sorry for the character of Pauline. I don't think what she did was right but I didn't think that everyone's punishment was right. I think at least until the end I could see why she read the Notebook. I could understand why she felt left out, not that she should have been included but they could have shared more than her. I just felt like people didn't like her because she wasn't Beth the dead wife.

Another thing that bothered me was the gay representation. It was stereotypical and almost done as if the author just wanted her books to be diverse. The author kept describing Jethro as "Ryan's boyfriend" throughout the entire book. Not just a once like the other couples, it felt singled out and weird.

This book is extremely boring. I just kept thinking when will this book end? I think the drama got old for me around the halfway point. The drama just ended up being a let down after all the ridiculous build-up and hype. I just wish some of the drama was just downplayed a little.