Thursday, April 13, 2017

Shine Like the Dawn Review

Shawn Like the Dawn was a book that I greatly enjoyed, largely due to the plot and the two main characters, Nathaniel and Maggie (although I liked Nathaniel better). A large part of the plot focuses on the "accidental" death of Maggie's parents and older sister; it doesn't take long for Maggie to come to the conclusion that their deaths were not accidental at all. This leads Maggie, and eventually Nathaniel, on a search for the truth. In the process, old secrets are dug up and revealed, bringing a dark spot to Nathaniel's family name.

My only real complaint with this story was Maggie's initial attitude toward Nathaniel. Initially, she believed that right after her family's deaths, Nathaniel had abandoned her, despite their strong childhood friendship. When she runs into Nathaniel as an adult, she still harbors a strong grudge against him for this supposed offense. However, it was her unwillingness to even explain to him why she was angry that frustrated me. Rather than at least point out why she didn't want to associate with him, she acted childish and refused to reconcile for a long time, until finally the two realized the misunderstanding that had occurred. Other than that, The plot was strong and I enjoyed the story.

I received this book from the publisher for free; I was not required to write a review, nor a positive one.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Wildwood Creek (Moses Lake, #4)

Seems like it's been a very long time since I read a book all the way through, let alone reviewed it with the busyness of planning a wedding, having said wedding, moving 1,500+ miles, and getting settled in. Despite all that and being out of the swing of it, once I arrived at my new home and began reading this book, I finished it quickly. It was an easy read for the most part. The story of Wildwood Creek is divided into two time periods--part of the book is told from the viewpoint and time period of Allie Kirkland in present day Texas, while the other part is told from the viewpoint of Bonnie Rose in 1861 Texas.

I usually like split viewpoints, with one flashing back to a past time in the same location. My only problem with this one was that some times it was difficult to get through Bonnie's chapters due language barriers. Bonnie and some of the slave characters were at times difficult to understand because of their poor grammar. Don't get me wrong, it was completely understandable and true to the time...it was just difficult to read through sometimes because it didn't flow smoothly whenever a patch of dialogue hit. Other than that, the duel time periods/characters worked pretty well to communicate the story.

I liked the story line, plot, and characters. Bonnie's chapters had an eeriness to them that made me shy away from reading it at night or when I was home alone. I did feel like the romance in the story could have been developed a bit better over a longer period of time, but it wasn't terrible. I would recommend it. I bought this book, and therefore was not asked nor required to write a review. These opinions are my own; I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated for this review.