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A review by anotherstoryreader
The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young
3.0
**Edited to add a few more thoughts.**
As much as I loved book 1 I didn't really enjoy book 2.
First of all, I should say that these books COULD be stand alone. The friends and family we meet in book 1 don't make much of an appearance till the end of the second book and they only have minor roles.
I felt like this book had pacing issues. Although things do happen in the first 80% of the book it sort of feels like nothing happens. (Does that make sense? Probably not.) There is hardly any interaction between Halvard and Tova until probably 70% though and then it's probably a 4-word conversation. There are some intense looks and feelings of connection between them tough. So there's that...
Another thing I found distracting was the flashbacks That seemed to have no purpose besides adding personal history to the characters. They didn't really move the story along. There were also "rewinds' of scenes to view them from the opposites' perspective. While sometimes interesting it made things drag for me.
On the plus side, I felt a lot of sympathy for Tova, what a miserable existence she had. Constant threat that someone would kill her, constantly told she was a scourge and shouldn't be allowed to live. I am surprised she seemed to hold any feeling other than hate to anyone in the Svell clan.
The last chapter or two did somewhat redeem this book from 2 stars to 3 for me. Overall it's not one I will reread. But I still stand by my Adriana Young obsession.
As much as I loved book 1 I didn't really enjoy book 2.
First of all, I should say that these books COULD be stand alone. The friends and family we meet in book 1 don't make much of an appearance till the end of the second book and they only have minor roles.
I felt like this book had pacing issues. Although things do happen in the first 80% of the book it sort of feels like nothing happens. (Does that make sense? Probably not.) There is hardly any interaction between Halvard and Tova until probably 70% though and then it's probably a 4-word conversation. There are some intense looks and feelings of connection between them tough. So there's that...
Another thing I found distracting was the flashbacks That seemed to have no purpose besides adding personal history to the characters. They didn't really move the story along. There were also "rewinds' of scenes to view them from the opposites' perspective. While sometimes interesting it made things drag for me.
On the plus side, I felt a lot of sympathy for Tova, what a miserable existence she had. Constant threat that someone would kill her, constantly told she was a scourge and shouldn't be allowed to live. I am surprised she seemed to hold any feeling other than hate to anyone in the Svell clan.
The last chapter or two did somewhat redeem this book from 2 stars to 3 for me. Overall it's not one I will reread. But I still stand by my Adriana Young obsession.