Harisa
Grumble, grumble.
Ok, this book started out pretty cool. Interesting backstory, and a female lead with really great political thoughts who was STRONG, and CAPABLE, and was very interesting in bettering the society...wonderful!!
However, this super promising exciting heroine eventually turned into as simpering whiny unlikable character who basically placed her entire worth/esteem on whether the hero would have sex with her. She was rather disgusting by the end, and I did not like them together. He also became very stupid and weak in his own way, and certain political things got tied up WAYYY too quickly and simply and it is just really disappointing because a bit more than half the book was very political then it turned into a very shallow romance novel somewhere along the way and I am not quite sure how it all happened but it made me really mad.
I. Loved. This.
Oh, my gosh. Loved loved loved it. It was so REAL and the emotion was wonderful. I can see how it would be boring if you don't like reading about relationships but I absolutely loved it. The characters are seriously the people in my life so maybe that is why I liked it even more but 100%, solid book.
This was very well written, and the emotions were believable and the backstory's are actually extremely interesting.
HOWEVER, the mystery that was brought in at the end honestly kind of bothered me. And I am not really into that, so I am unsure if I will be reading the rest of the series. MAYBE I will give the sequel a chance but probably not yet. It's just a little too twisted and dark for me.
Both characters were very likable and if I continue the series it'll be for them.
This was a pretty good and interesting story.
But it was SOO short, it felt more like a short story. I am trying this “new adult” genre and I am having a hard time with it. Truly. I do not get why people make college into something more complicated than it is. Like, did I do it wrong or something? Because really, it's not that crazy that she has to cut off contact with the guy she supposedly loves.
It was decent. Not as raunchy as the cover makes it seem it is actually a sweet romance. The issues however was:
1) parts of the romance between the two characters were totally ignored in an effort to use pages of this already short book to make it an advertisement for the rest of the series. LAME.
2) The big fight at the end was ANNOYINGGGG because i REALLY did not understand why the heroine was such a freaking WIMP about it and didnt fight back and argue her side. Also incredibly lame and disappointing.
I JUST WANT A STRONG FEMALE HEROINE WHO IS STILL STRONG EVEN AFTER SHE FALLS IN LOVE IS THAT SO HARD????
Apparently it is. Boo.
Well....I finished this in one day. It was CA-UTE. And deeper than I thought so that's good. The only thing is some of the drama at the end was a bit too frivolous for me to really care about, but still a very sweet romance with good themes and it helped me personally too. Her confession that she has never felt “desirable” was particularly striking. The author handled self-esteem issues well, and realistically. Lucy didn't think about it 24/7 and led a successful and on the outside fulfilling life, but every once in a while the depths of her issues were revealed and eventually dealt with. Well done.
I am upset that there is no rating for “0” stars because that is what this book deserves.
I really, really wanted to like this book because it was a historical romance novel that had Christian themes, and the author has written many more stories as well, so I would have many books to choose from to complete my challenge. In addition, my current reading mood has really been all about the cutesy-don't have to think too hard type of novels.
This, however, hurt my brain. Everything–action, plot, character development, emotions, and relationship was SO INCREDIBLY ALL OVER THE PLACE. I am a little fired up still, because I literally JUST finished it but WOW this was freaking horrible.
The religious stuff was conflicting. The author chose good Bible verses, and did a good job of using the Bible to change the character's opinions and actions but UGHHH at times it was just so FORCED. In addition, the ending was WAY TOO RUSHED. Like woah, what about forgiveness? Forgiving those who deserve it the least...that is a HUGE lesson in the Bible and the author had plenty of opportunity in this plot to do it and she chose not to. Like what?
The romance was horrible, I almost gagged at the end when the love interest, Nate, kept saying how much he wants a little girl. I thought it was a last ditch effort of the author to be like SEE HE'S NOT A SEXIST JERK I PROMISE, READERS. Too little, too late, and again, it seemed forced. In addition, the romantic scenes at the end where everything tied up were all HORRIBLY OUT OF PLACE AND HORRIBLE TIMING. There was so much I have questions about that was just skipped for the purpose of this book ending.
Why didn't Lucy stay for the cattle drive?? Like why did she let him take her back and come with him? Who did Jed stay with at the cattle drive? WHAT IS THIS BOOK, HOW DID THIS BOOK GET PUBLISHED THE WAY IT IS??
Ugh, I am so glad to be done and so disappointed I wasted my time. DO NOT RECOMMEND. Please do not waste your time.
I liked this for what it is, an in-depth look at a singular character, Landon Lucas Maxfield.
This is not a romance novel. If you were to read this as a stand alone novel you would be very confused, because Jacqueline and many other characters are not fleshed out at all, like we know barely anything about Jacqueline from this novel alone.
The point, then, is not necessarily her or the relationship but how all of these things make Landon/Lucas FEEL and how he handles them and how they eventually help him heal. In order to fully know these things, we also had to know his past.
I think Ms. Webber did an excellent job of all of this. The pace was great, everything was described very well...it wasn't confusing but it didn't make me think she was questioning my intelligence as a reader either haha. It is a well-written novel, told from an alternating perspective of teenage boy to young adult male. That was also interesting in itself. I enjoyed this novel a lot, and really liked seeing what Ms. Webber already knew as she wrote “Easy”.
I will be reading her upcoming novel also because I am extremely interested in Boyce's home life as well. Now there is an interesting character!
Valten was fun and likable but this book was disappointing, just like her other ones. Good plot, good potential but very poorly executed. Cliched, repetitive, and very...conveniently placed characters. No really good plot development in these novels. Extremely disappointing but its a quick fun romance....just don't think too hard.
Poor character development as well. As I said in my comments, the author could've done a lot with this book as far as Valten growing up and getting politics/governing involved instead of the typical guy saves girl crap. Annoying.
Finished this little sucker in one day. Two, technically since I stayed up until 3:30am to finish it. Very well done. Beauty and the beast + history + religion. It's been a long time since I read a novel with undercurrents of Christianity that were developed this well but most of all...this novel was truly FUN. I had a great time reading it and will definitely be looking into the authors other stories.
Cons: let me just mention it wasn't perfect. It bothers me that I believe some characters were primarily used in the novel as drama creators and I thought the drama could have easily been done without. It has a point for Anabel's personal emotional development but the drama didn't have to be taken that far. Still, I was too immersed to really care by that point and was too invested to see how each character would react
A peppy, fun, feel good mystery romance christian novel that did a wonderful job of balancing all three. Seriously, that's impressive in itself. It was a bit slow at times, and things got wrapped up a little too well for my liking haha, but I was scared for the character so that's definitely good! Overall, I liked it very much and am looking into more novels by the author!
I would rate it 3.5. It is 4:30am and I have to be up at 8 for work at 9...oops. Once I got past the slump of the first half, it became impossible to put the book down. The emotions were very raw, and I felt them both in present and past narratives. However, I want to jump into the story and scream that SO MUCH OF THE DRAMA could've been avoided with PROPER COMMUNICATION!! It is unbearably frustrating and SO heartbreaking. Wow. This book is entirely heartbreaking and it was mostly due to just a lack of communication. Quiet a shame, honestly.
Worst book I have ever read. Most despicable characters ever. Cannot even continue...I'm speechless.I just simply do not view the world as these characters do at all, so I think they're horrible, delusional,and selfish people.
My point basically is that the “love” that is explored in this book isn't the love that I believe exists in this world. So, not a book about love to me, it read like a book about people who used “true love” as an excuse for their very bad behavior.
Would've had four stars if it didn't have such cliche, horribly cheesy lines at the end of the book. Ruined a lot of it for me.
Good story, a bit slow, I had a hard time grasping what exactly the whole point of everything was and the author tried to tell us in the end of the novel by overly cliched lines, but by then it was too well. So, I guess the correct term is “underdeveloped themes” but it seems more like they were rushed, or she felt like we should just get it? IDK I was confused. The epilogue made a big point about how our identity is found in God as we are HIS children above all else and thats a great theme but seemed to come out of nowhere, the family stuff with the Mel character seemed WAYYY underdeveloped and that couldve been a good (and better) story in itself but there was a lot of things hinted at that weren't fully explored and I'm just left confused and rambling on a comment thing on goodreads so ill end this here. Its a fine, light, read the ending was just dumb. The author tried to make the story more than it was, I feel like. That's rude, but its how it felt. Oh, and she failed.
Ohhhh my. There is something about teenage, high school, popular rich girls that is so irresistible and when it is mixed with mystery....it is perfection. This was great, very well done. I would've liked to see more done legally about Liv and Adele and some other actors, but I get that it focused more on connections and relationships. I enjoyed this novel a lot.
Bahhhh I hate myself for finishing this book in a day and liking it so much and getting TOTALLY sucked in yet again.
Very, very, good and very fun!
Also the one little “mystery” the other left was google-able so i do not have to read the other books after book #8 which is also nice. I like where #8 left off and I would like to keep the ending that way in my imagination.
