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mishale1 's review for:
The Island Villa
by Sarah Morgan
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This story rotates between three main characters: Catherine (the mother) and her two daughters Adeline and Cassie.
Catherine has invited her girls to her wedding in Corfu. Adeline is dreading it, after all Adeline’s view of love was majorly impacted by her parents’ divorce. Adeline’s dad was husband number one and Cassie’s dad was husband number two and unfortunately there was overlap. Catherine got pregnant with Cassie while still married to Adeline’s dad. Adeline wouldn’t say she blames Cassie but she’s also not close with her. She’s not that close with her mother either, Catherine is getting married for the fourth time.
Adeline doesn’t see it as optimistic that Catherine keeps trying, she sees it as foolish and impulsive.
Then there’s Cassie. Cassie feels like her parents love story was like the great love story. Catherine never left Cassie’s dad. He passed away when Cassie was a toddler. She believes they’d still be together and happy if he hadn’t died. And her view of love is much more positive than Adeline’s. She believes in great love and soul mates and is sure the same awaits for her.
As much as I liked Cassie, it was honestly hard to see her idolizing and glamorizing her parents’ affair the way she did. Maybe there’s a part of her that needed to see it that way because otherwise she’d be focusing on how it hurt Adeline and her dad.
Then there’s Catherine. Catherine is a very successful romance writer. Writing is her gift. In her life, she had a lot of losses early on and writing saved her to some degree.
But sometimes her tendency to romanticize and practically rewrite a situation in her head is a mistake.
She invites both daughters to her wedding. She doesn’t tell them who she’s marrying. She wants to rebuild her relationship with Adeline. And she pictures it all going perfectly in her head but it blows up pretty spectacularly.
I wasn’t surprised by either of the big reveals in the story (mystery groom, secrets from Catherine’s past) but I didn’t need to be. This isn’t a mystery. I didn’t need to be surprised to still feel the impact and fallout from both reveals. They added a lot of depth to the storyline and also to the relationship between all three women.
I appreciate that with this author, you know that the characters will get past their family drama and become closer. I think we all want that from her stories. I hope that’s not considered a spoiler. It’s just something I anticipate and enjoy in this author’s books. I love watching the characters growing closer.
Catherine has invited her girls to her wedding in Corfu. Adeline is dreading it, after all Adeline’s view of love was majorly impacted by her parents’ divorce. Adeline’s dad was husband number one and Cassie’s dad was husband number two and unfortunately there was overlap. Catherine got pregnant with Cassie while still married to Adeline’s dad. Adeline wouldn’t say she blames Cassie but she’s also not close with her. She’s not that close with her mother either, Catherine is getting married for the fourth time.
Adeline doesn’t see it as optimistic that Catherine keeps trying, she sees it as foolish and impulsive.
Then there’s Cassie. Cassie feels like her parents love story was like the great love story. Catherine never left Cassie’s dad. He passed away when Cassie was a toddler. She believes they’d still be together and happy if he hadn’t died. And her view of love is much more positive than Adeline’s. She believes in great love and soul mates and is sure the same awaits for her.
As much as I liked Cassie, it was honestly hard to see her idolizing and glamorizing her parents’ affair the way she did. Maybe there’s a part of her that needed to see it that way because otherwise she’d be focusing on how it hurt Adeline and her dad.
Then there’s Catherine. Catherine is a very successful romance writer. Writing is her gift. In her life, she had a lot of losses early on and writing saved her to some degree.
But sometimes her tendency to romanticize and practically rewrite a situation in her head is a mistake.
She invites both daughters to her wedding. She doesn’t tell them who she’s marrying. She wants to rebuild her relationship with Adeline. And she pictures it all going perfectly in her head but it blows up pretty spectacularly.
I wasn’t surprised by either of the big reveals in the story (mystery groom, secrets from Catherine’s past) but I didn’t need to be. This isn’t a mystery. I didn’t need to be surprised to still feel the impact and fallout from both reveals. They added a lot of depth to the storyline and also to the relationship between all three women.
I appreciate that with this author, you know that the characters will get past their family drama and become closer. I think we all want that from her stories. I hope that’s not considered a spoiler. It’s just something I anticipate and enjoy in this author’s books. I love watching the characters growing closer.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Abandonment