Amanda

I initially let some reviews I read of this book cloud my early judgement so getting a few things straight. Is this a wholly original story? No. Would you be knocked away by the writing? No. Was it still a blast to read? Yes.

It was a gripping story and evoked the right emotions at times. My only gripe was with the timeline. At points it felt like many months had passed and I was immediately pulled out of the story when our main character mentioned it had been two months.

I definitely understand some of the reviews as I frequently had “oh just like —insert book here—“ thoughts several times, but do I regret spending the time reading it? Nope!

I’ve long been a fan of Viola Davis’ work and learning her journey to getting where she is now has absolutely changed the way I view her performances. That’s a good thing, btw! Her perspective and willingness to really understand herself and the world around her is highly respectable and inspiring.

I enjoyed the premise of the story where all these characters, hundreds of years apart, are connected by a single story, written many years ago, nearly lost to time.

The pacing felt very uneven, with about the beginning 40% feeling extremely slow and dragged on. Each character’s stories were unique and but not necessarily interesting. There was a theme of loss of childhood throughout each characters’ backgrounds which makes sense why the interwoven story of a paradise so appealing to each character.

Konstance’s was most interesting to me. What she learned really ties all the story lines together. Omeir & Anna’s stories seemed very isolated from the others and detracted from how each character was linked with the another. Maybe I missed something. 🤷‍♀️

I couldn’t decide whether I liked the book overall. Felt quite average and felt much of it could have been pared down without much impact to the overall story.