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A review by selbs2004
Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
As a lot of reviews pointed out writing a second-chance romance can be very difficult. It takes a set foundation and a development in our main characters that makes me continually want to see them fight for each other, or make me want to fight for them.
But due to the pacing of the story I left the book not rooting for their HEA as much as I wanted to.
For one I felt like this type of story would've benefited so much from not having the signature Ashley Herring Blake third-act breakup, especially since this is such a different foundation for her other romances. I wanted to see them grow into rekindling their bond as a friendship, to give themselves time to understand who they were then and who they were now, and to let them fight as well as talk more. But I felt like we were giving little time for the tension and anger and it went right into them having sex and into a relationship too quickly without truly understanding how they got to this place in the first place. They needed more time to grow on their own and with the new people they had met before they realized how much they still wanted each other, and overall the book would've been so much better with a couple of 100 more pages.
I felt like Charlotte as a Character was very well drawn with Blake giving us a balanced picture of why she is who she is today. And why she chooses to make the decisions that she does, but Brighton. She fell flat to me. Her relationship with her parents always felt like they coddled her too much and I never felt like she truly acknowledged how this led to her selfishness and inability to speak on her emotions and that was unfortunate because there was so much growth that could've been done, but all her growth felt like "I am not the only one in the wrong" which is just not it.
I understand that Blake was trying to paint a picture of them being young and both having a lack of understanding of the complexities of an adult relationship, especially marriage, but their issues and places where they needed to grow were disproportionate and didn't truly link with the overarching message of the book.
The quartet falling apart felt like too smooth of an ending and an excuse for them to not actually talk about their issues, but the ending was cute and the symbolism of their love represented in music was so sweet, I just wish they had more time to develop.
The side characters were great with Manish (obviously) being my favorite.
But Sloane and Adele didn't quite make sense to me as supporting characters.
Sloane's attitude towards Charlotte about her inability to have a reciprocal friendship felt blown out of proportion due to the dynamics already set in the relationship. They are colleagues and yes I understand wanting to have friendship with the people you work with, but to paint Charlotte as someone who owed Sloane her undying trust and therefore her trauma felt unnatural. It honestly would've made more sense if it was made clear that Sloane had originally had feelings for Charlotte and those feelings felt unrequited which is why she was so hurt. I'm glad Charlotte did end up getting the help she needed, but I think Charlotte wasn't completely wrong for her attitude.
Adele on the other hand needed to be more honest with Brighton about how she was wrong in the relationship. To me, Adele felt like another person in Brighton's life who coddled her instead of letting her grow. But I understand wanting to protect your friend and Adele's support for Brighton was incredibly in all aspects of her life was incredibly sweet.
Overall it doesn't feel to me like Blake's best novel but it was definitely an easy read that I'm glad I got the chance to experience.
Overall 3.25 stars.
But due to the pacing of the story I left the book not rooting for their HEA as much as I wanted to.
For one I felt like this type of story would've benefited so much from not having the signature Ashley Herring Blake third-act breakup, especially since this is such a different foundation for her other romances. I wanted to see them grow into rekindling their bond as a friendship, to give themselves time to understand who they were then and who they were now, and to let them fight as well as talk more. But I felt like we were giving little time for the tension and anger and it went right into them having sex and into a relationship too quickly without truly understanding how they got to this place in the first place. They needed more time to grow on their own and with the new people they had met before they realized how much they still wanted each other, and overall the book would've been so much better with a couple of 100 more pages.
I felt like Charlotte as a Character was very well drawn with Blake giving us a balanced picture of why she is who she is today. And why she chooses to make the decisions that she does, but Brighton. She fell flat to me. Her relationship with her parents always felt like they coddled her too much and I never felt like she truly acknowledged how this led to her selfishness and inability to speak on her emotions and that was unfortunate because there was so much growth that could've been done, but all her growth felt like "I am not the only one in the wrong" which is just not it.
I understand that Blake was trying to paint a picture of them being young and both having a lack of understanding of the complexities of an adult relationship, especially marriage, but their issues and places where they needed to grow were disproportionate and didn't truly link with the overarching message of the book.
The quartet falling apart felt like too smooth of an ending and an excuse for them to not actually talk about their issues, but the ending was cute and the symbolism of their love represented in music was so sweet, I just wish they had more time to develop.
The side characters were great with Manish (obviously) being my favorite.
But Sloane and Adele didn't quite make sense to me as supporting characters.
Sloane's attitude towards Charlotte about her inability to have a reciprocal friendship felt blown out of proportion due to the dynamics already set in the relationship. They are colleagues and yes I understand wanting to have friendship with the people you work with, but to paint Charlotte as someone who owed Sloane her undying trust and therefore her trauma felt unnatural. It honestly would've made more sense if it was made clear that Sloane had originally had feelings for Charlotte and those feelings felt unrequited which is why she was so hurt. I'm glad Charlotte did end up getting the help she needed, but I think Charlotte wasn't completely wrong for her attitude.
Adele on the other hand needed to be more honest with Brighton about how she was wrong in the relationship. To me, Adele felt like another person in Brighton's life who coddled her instead of letting her grow. But I understand wanting to protect your friend and Adele's support for Brighton was incredibly in all aspects of her life was incredibly sweet.
Overall it doesn't feel to me like Blake's best novel but it was definitely an easy read that I'm glad I got the chance to experience.
Overall 3.25 stars.