Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by mellied1975
Heir to Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson
2.0
More of a 2.5, really. It wasn't bad, just pointless. This is the very beginning of the story told in [b:Edenbrooke|12820360|Edenbrooke (Edenbrooke, #1)|Julianne Donaldson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1371398291s/12820360.jpg|17969941] from the hero, Philip's, first-person POV. We find out a little about his youth, a tiny bit about his service during the Peninsular Wars, and are with him to see what he was doing and thinking in the weeks before he encounters the heroine, Marianne.
The problem is, we've already surmised a lot of this from reading the first book, and this prequel doesn't tell us much we didn't know. It didn't make me like Philip less, but it didn't make me like him more, and to be honest I feel like the view we got of him through Marianne's eyes was a more interesting portrait. It all felt superfluous, especially once Philip and Marianne met and the book covered their entire first encounter all over again -- same happenings, same conversation. It wasn't different or insightful enough to make it worth rehashing from a different angle. The story ends right after this rehashed section and it all feels anticlimactic.
My recommendation: skip it and read the best bits of the wonderful Edenbrooke again.
The problem is, we've already surmised a lot of this from reading the first book, and this prequel doesn't tell us much we didn't know. It didn't make me like Philip less, but it didn't make me like him more, and to be honest I feel like the view we got of him through Marianne's eyes was a more interesting portrait. It all felt superfluous, especially once Philip and Marianne met and the book covered their entire first encounter all over again -- same happenings, same conversation. It wasn't different or insightful enough to make it worth rehashing from a different angle. The story ends right after this rehashed section and it all feels anticlimactic.
My recommendation: skip it and read the best bits of the wonderful Edenbrooke again.