Scan barcode
A review by indiepauli47
The Cottage by Lisa Stone
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Ha well, ending the year with 2 really bad books, hopefully will start next year with the opposite 🙃
First book is this one; received it in a book box as a second-hand book, loved the cover, and the blurb sounded like a nice, easy thriller.
Found the audiobook on Youtube and started it yesterday morning.
The beginning wasn't bad, although didn't care much about Jan.
But then, the story slowly unfolded and... Ho boi.
I don't even know where to begin.
The core of the book itself isn't bad. It could even have been a great story, if dealt differently.
I will go into spoilers at this point, so beware.
The main problem I guess is how ridiculous all the characters reacted to events and discoveries.
I mean, when Ian discovers his wife is his half-sister (I know, I know..), he's just like "I could never look at her again the same way, let's break up and we can both find different partners to have healthy babies with"
I'm sorry, wat.
THAT's your reaction ?
Fucking bonkers.
The fact that every couple in this village apparently need a sperm donor to conceive, I'm just like... ok, whatever, it's down to [can't remember, some toxic wastes or something] and fertility is impacted.
BUT
The fact that it seems ALMOST every children conceived this way end up together and have babies and they're all deformed or whatever... I mean, PLEASE. THIS IS NOT HOW IT WORKS.
Is this some kind of amish village where no one goes further than a 5km radius their entire life, so they just pick up their neighbour as their partner??
And being half-brother and sister doesn't mean children conceived WILL be deformed. Every. Single. Time.
Especially NOT with this rare form of deformity.. unless it comes from the donor (which was explained IT DID NOT), then all the mothers who conceive with this donor have different genes, therefore the chance of their children having kids together being deformed every time is so slim, I can't wrap my head around it.
The worst for me will be the ending... the bullshit about Chris and Jan being related, cause her parents used the fertility clinic as well.. Ho COME ON NOW, is there ANYONE able to conceive a child without a sperm donor ? I can't anymore 😭
And she explaining she received the email because they did use the clinic but her mum had a miscarriage, and she arrived after...
But HOW would the clinic have your email address then ?? Did they not keep record of miscarriages and healthy babies being born (I KNOW it's mentionned)...
I'm not making any sense, but it is perfectly clear in my head ok.
The author added this final "twist" just because.. but didn't check if it was consistent with the rest of the story.
Anyway, yeah, it was bad, getting rid of this book now 👋🏻
First book is this one; received it in a book box as a second-hand book, loved the cover, and the blurb sounded like a nice, easy thriller.
Found the audiobook on Youtube and started it yesterday morning.
The beginning wasn't bad, although didn't care much about Jan.
But then, the story slowly unfolded and... Ho boi.
I don't even know where to begin.
The core of the book itself isn't bad. It could even have been a great story, if dealt differently.
I will go into spoilers at this point, so beware.
The main problem I guess is how ridiculous all the characters reacted to events and discoveries.
I mean, when Ian discovers his wife is his half-sister (I know, I know..), he's just like "I could never look at her again the same way, let's break up and we can both find different partners to have healthy babies with"
I'm sorry, wat.
THAT's your reaction ?
Fucking bonkers.
The fact that every couple in this village apparently need a sperm donor to conceive, I'm just like... ok, whatever, it's down to [can't remember, some toxic wastes or something] and fertility is impacted.
BUT
The fact that it seems ALMOST every children conceived this way end up together and have babies and they're all deformed or whatever... I mean, PLEASE. THIS IS NOT HOW IT WORKS.
Is this some kind of amish village where no one goes further than a 5km radius their entire life, so they just pick up their neighbour as their partner??
And being half-brother and sister doesn't mean children conceived WILL be deformed. Every. Single. Time.
Especially NOT with this rare form of deformity.. unless it comes from the donor (which was explained IT DID NOT), then all the mothers who conceive with this donor have different genes, therefore the chance of their children having kids together being deformed every time is so slim, I can't wrap my head around it.
The worst for me will be the ending... the bullshit about Chris and Jan being related, cause her parents used the fertility clinic as well.. Ho COME ON NOW, is there ANYONE able to conceive a child without a sperm donor ? I can't anymore 😭
And she explaining she received the email because they did use the clinic but her mum had a miscarriage, and she arrived after...
But HOW would the clinic have your email address then ?? Did they not keep record of miscarriages and healthy babies being born (I KNOW it's mentionned)...
I'm not making any sense, but it is perfectly clear in my head ok.
The author added this final "twist" just because.. but didn't check if it was consistent with the rest of the story.
Anyway, yeah, it was bad, getting rid of this book now 👋🏻