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A review by booksof_kell
Blame It on the Brontes by Annie Sereno
3.0
3/5
** Thank you to Net Galley for this Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review. **
'Blame It On the Brontës' threw me for a bit of a loop! Throughout the first half of the book, I was enraptured- I could not put it down! The second half, however, had some pacing issues for me, and some moments were a little too unbelievable. However, I still really enjoyed my time in Laurel, Illinois and getting to meet all of the regular clientele at the As You Like It café. This book had a very cozy, heartwarming, and melodramatic undertone (because of all the parallels to literary classics such as 'Wuthering Heights' and 'Jane Eyre') and it worked!
I really loved getting to know the town of Laurel and its inhabitants; I thought Annie Sereno did a very good job at creating real side characters and not just characterizations of people; some were maybe a little bit over the top, but coming from a small town myself, it really isn't that far from the truth, so it didn't bother me. One thing that did bother me, however, was the way Athena and Thorne's relationship evolved (or re-evolved ?? because this is a third chance romance, haha). I wish there had been a smoother progression between the two of them instead of how it ended up. It felt a little rushed at the end to me, and I would have really liked to see them mature a bit more together instead of having all of their realizations suddenly all at once in the last few chapters.
At the end of the day, I ended up giving this book a 3/5 just because of the disconnect I felt between the pacing and some of the characters' choices in the second half, but all in all I thought this was a sweet read! Definitely would recommend to literary buffs or fans of lighthearted romance reads. :) Looking forward to reading another one of her books in the future!
** Thank you to Net Galley for this Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review. **
'Blame It On the Brontës' threw me for a bit of a loop! Throughout the first half of the book, I was enraptured- I could not put it down! The second half, however, had some pacing issues for me, and some moments were a little too unbelievable. However, I still really enjoyed my time in Laurel, Illinois and getting to meet all of the regular clientele at the As You Like It café. This book had a very cozy, heartwarming, and melodramatic undertone (because of all the parallels to literary classics such as 'Wuthering Heights' and 'Jane Eyre') and it worked!
I really loved getting to know the town of Laurel and its inhabitants; I thought Annie Sereno did a very good job at creating real side characters and not just characterizations of people; some were maybe a little bit over the top, but coming from a small town myself, it really isn't that far from the truth, so it didn't bother me. One thing that did bother me, however, was the way Athena and Thorne's relationship evolved (or re-evolved ?? because this is a third chance romance, haha). I wish there had been a smoother progression between the two of them instead of how it ended up. It felt a little rushed at the end to me, and I would have really liked to see them mature a bit more together instead of having all of their realizations suddenly all at once in the last few chapters.
At the end of the day, I ended up giving this book a 3/5 just because of the disconnect I felt between the pacing and some of the characters' choices in the second half, but all in all I thought this was a sweet read! Definitely would recommend to literary buffs or fans of lighthearted romance reads. :) Looking forward to reading another one of her books in the future!