This was most definitely not my kind of book. The premise sounded very
exciting when I was offered the review copy, but I could not get into
the author's style of story-telling. The shifting point-of-view--from
first person for Serena to an odd not-quite first person for her husband
(he talks about himself in the third person quite a bit) to a weird omniscient point of view for other characters--just did not work for me. There is
also a great deal of present tense going on and I'm not a big fan of
that either. For me--this is a story that took place in the past, I'd
prefer that the story-telling reflect that throughout the book. I realize these are personal preferences--which is why I am offering no formal review.I tried skimming so I could have a real sense of the story and characters, but that didn't help me either. So--no real review and no star count.
*****
This is a book I received free from Jocelyn Kelley of Kelley& Hall book publicity for my honest review. I was not compensated in any way for my review. I wish that I could give it my usual thorough examination.
Was it a crime novel at all? I would've got a headache from trying to read this and I already am trying to get over a bad sinus infection. No more pain, please! ;^)
ReplyDeleteI get a ton of requests to review new books and about one out every seven turns out to be of any interest to me. Way too many are self-published, cookie cutter mysteries with "A [insert name] Detective Novel" emblazoned across the front like we're all supposed to know the series character. Most of the time it isn't a series at all. It's a debut book with the hope for a series. I just say no to all of those.
John: I had a sense from the synopsis I was sent that there was a mystery involved--not necessarily crime. What intrigued me was the setting and the historical time period.
ReplyDelete"As The Great Hurricane of 1938 moves over Long Island, finally reaching the fabled Hamptons, the place and its people are irrevocably changed. Over the course of five minutes, as Serena relives the defining moments of her life, we learn of the tragedies that left their indelible mark, the promises that were made and broken, and the decisions that brought them all there that evening, their destinies forever intertwined and sealed."
The thing is, I never made it far enough to find out about any of that....I just couldn't make headway at all.