Harisa
What the hell is this.
What. The. Hell.
I honestly feel utterly sick to my stomach by the fact that Thomas completely wrote Teresa off because of what she did but after time and time again of Brenda being suspicious completely ignores it because he's “too tired to think about it right now”. But Teresa is horrible and irredeemable?
Minho does the same. So unfair and not okay and I hate it so much.
Also the fact that Thomas never got his memory back (by choice) seemed extremely lazy. I just didn't respect Thomas as a character at all in this one and I'm very disappointed. I wish it would have been in Teresa's POV she is much better.
Also, Brenda sucks.
I read some of the negative reviews and feel that I should defend this book.
It is a fiction young adult novel. Yes it's emotional and it made me cry (full out sob, actually) but to those saying it wasn't as deep as expected and it was a shallow novel....I think that is to be expected in some way. I don't mean to sound like a cynic, and I love John Green from what I've read of him, but the fact is young adult novels romantic fiction novels don't tend to have the same kind of depth as something like “island beneath the sea” by Isabel Allende.
So taking the novel for what it is, it is well written and emotionally taxing. Yes there are some quirks to the novel and some morbid humor that may put people off but it was an enjoyable read, even if I could not say I learned some kind of life lesson from it, it was thoroughly entertaining, evoked emotion, and did make me think about how I would cope in that situation.
I agree with some other reviews on here. While I appreciate Isabel allende's writing style and her opinions, this book was very long and started out incredibly slow.
However, by the time I got to the end I appreciated all the backstory so it was worth it and it certainly picked up in the second half of the novel but I must admit it took me a ridiculously long time to get through the first half (almost a month I believe) and only a few days to get through the second because I couldn't stop myself from reading.
The characters were all really interesting, especially since we got to see them through many many many years of their lives.
Hard to read at times, but it was good. Very, very, good. I got mad, sad, and at times wanted to put the book down...but I couldn't.
Now...Spoiler
WHY OH WHY COULDNT SHE END UP WITH RYLAND?? I thought thats what the last conversation with his sister was alluding to! WHAT WAS THAT? Is there going to be ANOTHER book after this? Because Walker is cool and all, but Ryland finally cared about someone and it was HER. DOESNT THAT MEAN ANYTHING?
I will never let that go.
Creative story, very likable characters–all of them! Respect that main character had a guy best friend that WASNT in love with her (That's new!).
The cuss words were a little TOO much and I dont like how EVERY time someone said “You're welcome” they said “Welcome” instead. Nit picky, but even characters with completely different personalities all did this....I like personality to shine through even when a character is deciding how to respond to a “Thank you” haha.
Edit 03/25/2019: Counting this as my Dominican Republic book around the world.
Original angry rant...I mean review. Leaving this unedited because it's Harisa of the past (almost exactly 5 years ago past!)
Cannot even begin to describe how horrible this book was. Some parts were mildly interesting, but the characters all sucked and I found it hard to feel any amount of sympathy for them. They're all morons and choose/prioritize the wrong things in life and I'm not surprised their life is so horrible.
The author incorporates an attempt at magical realism in the novel, but it's mostly him blaming a “curse” for the horrible outcomes of each family members, when in reality, each family member doesn't even seriously try to build a good life for themselves. So, there is no “curse”, they're all idiots.
Isabel Allende is wonderful with this literary device (magical realism), but I can't even say that this author even tries to use it...I just think he tried to make a story of crappy characters into something deeper....he failed.
Would not recommend, unfortunately I had to finish if for a class otherwise I would have given up a while ago.
Since this book is so highly rated, I feel it is kind of like my duty to bring everyone back to reality.
I agree with what the other “2 star rater” said, the plot is really captivating and interesting and I really looked forward to this book but it's so....awkward. The ‘dramatic' scenes are random and lose their effect quickly. I rolled my eyes more than once throughout many of them.
The romance is very direct and awkward and badly written, and the religious scenes come off as silly and shallow. The emotion of those kinds of scenes is not properly conveyed it's just thrown in the book because it's the right thing to say or do but the author doesn't build anything up. That's the problem. Nothing is built up.
The characters are all very interesting and their backstory is great. I with the author spent more time developing the characters instead of putting in stupid, badly written drama.
Do not recommend.
This book explored serious topics but also made me laugh. I liked the writing style and that helped me keep going through the book, I found the most ridiculous situations absolutely hilarious.
The end left things a little ambiguous as far as her relationship with her husband and I was disappointing with the fact that he kept against her even though he realized his part in his wife's disappearance. I wish he could have matured a little more.
Highly enjoyable novel, none-the-less. Her little girl was by far the most likable character.
I absolutely, positively loved this! Let me tell you why.
1) The emotions were so well developed and captured! While I was consistently looking forward to the mystery unraveling, I was also tugged by the grief, guilt, and other emotions Jaycee was feeling and the moments of tender romance between her and Skylar and also the companionship and shared guilt between her and Eduardo. It was really, REALLY, well done.
2) The mystery unfolding perfectly, the “who dun it” was answered SO well and we got to hear Rachel's voice throughout the novel and feel her emotions too, it was really spectacular.
And finally, this is what pushed the rating to 5 whole stars because I honestly feel that authors writing in a teen's POV have an immensely hard time with this:
The character acted her age. It was extremely realistic, but it wasn't annoying. When she made mistakes I sympathized with her because I understood and it was TRUE TO HER CHARACTER. I feel like authors have the tendency to betray the character to push the story along, but Jaycee was very well done.
Loved this book :) It'll stay with me for a while.
I'm so confused. How do people like this novel? I'm 18 years old, so I am well over the recommended age for reading this novel. At first, I thought that was why I hated it. But there's more to it. I have been reading for most of my life. While I appreciate the deeper themes of diversity in the novel, I believe they are not executed well AT ALL. The writing is absolutely atrocious. I do not believe any 8th grader is as stupid as this authors implies they are. There is no mystery in the novel with why the main character is acting a certain way. Almost too much is explained rather flatly to the reader.
The main character herself is certainly very spoiled and extremely immature. It's very painful to read and she is not likable at all. Just...definitely not a good book.
Could not finish it. Then, I looked at the first pages of the other two books in the trilogy thinking the writing may mature with the age of the main character. Boy, was I wrong. If anything, it got worse. Do not recommend for any literate teen girl.
I read this book a long time ago, and I am digging up old books I read as a preteen/teenager so I wanted to mark them on my goodreads while I read it.
This book was deep for me at the time, with a bittersweet ending that left me very sad but thoughtful. I really enjoyed this book and it was a good look into how growing up can mean different things for different people...and that's okay.
UGHH DNF.
First book for the historical romance readathon. I just cannot bring myself to care about these characters and I'm skimming way too much.
My first DNF of 2022 at page 138...
I feel so bad because this author is so sweet, this cover is gorgeous, and I really wanted to love this!! Unfortunately, I really could not get into this. The characters just did not draw me in and I didn't care about this. The tone was a bit more serious than I expected as well and it's just not my favorite.
Finally, she's a teacher who is on a class trip and I somehow missed that before diving in and the teens from the class being such a large part of the book is just not something I'm interested in.
Another DNF. This time at page 60.
I'm sure there will be character development at some point but as it stands this book just makes me feel...very old. And I don't care enough about fashion to muck through the main characters bratty behavior and thoughts.
DNF @ pg 40.
The writing REALLY didn't work for me. I didn't like that the book started with a 26 year old who had never been in love, been married and widowed, yet we still had intsa-love (on her end) so soon. I put this down and will be giving it back to the Little Free Library in hopes that this will work for someone.
My first Mary Balogh though and I just don't think her writing style is for me.
Counting this as my Spain book around the world. I liked it, but felt like the end was a bit too ambiguous for my taste.
DNF at 38%. I can't. I'm so frustrated that there is no progress or knowledge sharing about dragons and we go through the same issues and misunderstands EVERY SINGLE BOOK. I can't do it anymore.
DNF.
I just can't. This isn't my type of book at all.
Yet another 2022 DNF. Decently strong start only for a whole lot of nothing to happen for too long
DNF at page 131. This one is just not for me.