Autumn at Apple Hill

I thought this book had a lot of promise when I read the synopsis. It promised to be wistful and nostalgic and have an endearing love story. However, once I started reading it I quickly realized that there were a few fundamental issues with it.

1. The author had a lot of trouble picking appropriate words to describe the mood or the conversations that were had in the book. A lot of the words she used did not fit the environment of the book. Many times I found myself wondering if it was supposed to be set in Victorian England rather than modern Portland, Maine. It felt very scripted rather than flowing like a natural conversation should have been.
2. Also, it was cringy just how many times she used the word “as” in place of words like “since”, “because” etc.. Or instead of just changing the sentence structure for it to flow more naturally. For example:
a. “I don't want to disappoint you, either, as you're taking a chance....”
b. “I have a staff of fantastic people who are the glue that holds me together, as I needed their guidance...”

It's ridiculous how many times she used “as” in that way. Every time I'd come across it, I had to resist the urge to toss the book across the room; and there was many, many time the urge welled up.

3. For some reason, everyone is always snickering in this book.... Why are they always snickering??

Overall it seemed like there was not a lot of thought that was put into the book. The author did not take time to think of context, or getting an interesting build to some climax that needed to be resolved. The climax of the book was just a minor misunderstanding between the 2 main characters that got resolved in like half a day. Not to mention the book had a bunch of grammatically questionable things like multiple dialogs being thrown into a single paragraph, which made it hard to distinguish the different people speaking. This is easily one of the more disappointing books that I have read in my lifetime...