A review by aplatt23
The Winding Ways Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

1.0

This book seemed to have little to no plot. The camp was marginalized in favor of character backstories, which made the whole thing lack cohesiveness. The book also did not seem to realize that backstory does NOT equal development. Sure, we could see where the character had been and what they had seen, but they didn't seem to have personalities. I didn't get any sense of emotion from any of them. Summer and Jeremy are supposed to be in love? Show me they're in love!! They don't seem to have any chemistry, and their relationship is never really shown, despite the fact they spend hours in a car together. They don't banter, they don't even seem affectionate toward each other beyond the occasional hand-holding. Backstory is NOT the same as character. It just gives you badly developed characters set in the past if you don't give the characters personality.

Besides all that, the dialogue seemed unnatural, the morals forced and generic, and the word choice repetitive and unexciting. This is my first taste of the Elm Creek Quilters, and based on this, I will not be returning.