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A review by lezreadalot
Kicker's Journey by Lois Cloarec Hart
3.0
3.5 stars. This played a lot of hits, and at times I could really feel it getting close to something extremely special, but somehow it didn't quite get there. I'm always a sucker for historical sapphic romances, and this also involved a long journey sort of adventure/pioneer vibes with a lot of hardships that our heroines had to work through.
Kicker and Madelyn come from the opposite ends of English society, and when they quickly fall in love, they decide to emigrate to Canada and make a new life together at the turn of the 20th century. One thing that would have definitely upped my enjoyment is if this had been a bit more slow burn. Their courtship and romance takes place relatively quickly, and even though the book is nice and long, I still wanted to linger over all of their first times. It isn't that I didn't feel the romance and connection between them, because over the course of the story, I really did. But I still don't think the actual relationship got as much page time as I wanted. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the journey to get to Canada, all of the problems of homesteading and setting up in the small town. The villains are a bit cartoonish, and some of their suffering felt a bit forced, and some of their miscommunication reeeeally did not appeal to me.
IDK, I kept vacillating between really enjoying the story and being just a bit frustrated with it, because it wasn't giving me 100 percent. It's hard to put my frustrations into words. It's also kind of hard to put what I liked about it into words. As aforementioned, I have the hugest soft spot for historical f/f romance. It's all about the risk, and the sacrifice; it always feels so meaningful.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Amy Landon, who I usually like quite a bit, but I don't think her performance here really did it for me. Her English accents weren't the best and weren't very consistent in my opinion. Still, I got through it. And I'm going to continue with this author's works, because all of her books just leave me feeling like I could really eventually adore her writing.
Kicker and Madelyn come from the opposite ends of English society, and when they quickly fall in love, they decide to emigrate to Canada and make a new life together at the turn of the 20th century. One thing that would have definitely upped my enjoyment is if this had been a bit more slow burn. Their courtship and romance takes place relatively quickly, and even though the book is nice and long, I still wanted to linger over all of their first times. It isn't that I didn't feel the romance and connection between them, because over the course of the story, I really did. But I still don't think the actual relationship got as much page time as I wanted. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the journey to get to Canada, all of the problems of homesteading and setting up in the small town. The villains are a bit cartoonish, and some of their suffering felt a bit forced, and some of their miscommunication reeeeally did not appeal to me.
IDK, I kept vacillating between really enjoying the story and being just a bit frustrated with it, because it wasn't giving me 100 percent. It's hard to put my frustrations into words. It's also kind of hard to put what I liked about it into words. As aforementioned, I have the hugest soft spot for historical f/f romance. It's all about the risk, and the sacrifice; it always feels so meaningful.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Amy Landon, who I usually like quite a bit, but I don't think her performance here really did it for me. Her English accents weren't the best and weren't very consistent in my opinion. Still, I got through it. And I'm going to continue with this author's works, because all of her books just leave me feeling like I could really eventually adore her writing.