Helpful Score: 5
Oh my - this was a book that I just could not put down. I got it one day, started reading that evening and finished the next evening. Highly recommend it. Plan to look for more books by this author. Enjoy!
Helpful Score: 1
This book could have been SO much shorter! I really got into it in the beginning, then got bored because I didn't think the "questions" were such big deals as they were making them and it all could have been shorter if she'd just read the whole of her grandmother's journas right in the beginning! Anyway, I DID stick it out and it was an easy read, sort of entertaining, very wordy and repetitive, but I had tears in my eyes a couple of times, I will admit that! See what you think
Helpful Score: 1
All I will say is that I throughly enjoyed this book while setting in front of a warm fireplace this winter. Even though the plot of this story is set in mostly the spring and summer the way the author describes the beauty of the Adirondack mountain cabin just makes me want to get cozy and warm! This would probably be a good beach read in the summer too.
I picked this book because, I live about an hour or so from the Adirondack mountains and I have camped on islands in some of the lakes in the area. Perhaps that made the author's descriptions of Brooke's cabin and the lake just come to life more for me. Just experiencing first hand the vast mountains in the Adirondacks really adds an understanding of the plotline.
Usually, I don't care for storylines that jump back and forth in the timeline telling Brooke's story one piece at a time from Chelsea reading it in Brooke's diary, but, the author went back and forth seamlessly. It's not an easy thing to do in a story and keep it fluid, interesting and making perfect sense.
The story is reminiscent of a Nicholas Sparks novel as other reviewers have mentioned, so if you don't like those types of novels I wouldn't recommend. It's a very simple romance story and some might think it too simple and predictable. Even though Brooke's secret's are fairly easy to guess right from the beginning I was interested in the characters and seeing how it would all play out.
Overall, an enjoyable book I'd rate it a 4.5. This is the first book I've read from Robert Barclay and I'd definitely read another one.
I picked this book because, I live about an hour or so from the Adirondack mountains and I have camped on islands in some of the lakes in the area. Perhaps that made the author's descriptions of Brooke's cabin and the lake just come to life more for me. Just experiencing first hand the vast mountains in the Adirondacks really adds an understanding of the plotline.
Usually, I don't care for storylines that jump back and forth in the timeline telling Brooke's story one piece at a time from Chelsea reading it in Brooke's diary, but, the author went back and forth seamlessly. It's not an easy thing to do in a story and keep it fluid, interesting and making perfect sense.
The story is reminiscent of a Nicholas Sparks novel as other reviewers have mentioned, so if you don't like those types of novels I wouldn't recommend. It's a very simple romance story and some might think it too simple and predictable. Even though Brooke's secret's are fairly easy to guess right from the beginning I was interested in the characters and seeing how it would all play out.
Overall, an enjoyable book I'd rate it a 4.5. This is the first book I've read from Robert Barclay and I'd definitely read another one.
If you loved "Bridges of Madison County" and have no qualm with a writer who can't discern when to use "like" and when to use "as", you might enjoy this mediocre romance.
I see no point in finishing it, however. There certainly won't be any surprises. It's obvious that the heroine's flirtation with her sexy neighbor at the remote summer cabin is going to end in pregnancy, which she will credit to her WWII-bound husband (courtesy of a leave before he departs). When he then dies in combat, she will pass the child off as his and nobody will know for 60 years until a hidden journal surfaces.
I see no point in finishing it, however. There certainly won't be any surprises. It's obvious that the heroine's flirtation with her sexy neighbor at the remote summer cabin is going to end in pregnancy, which she will credit to her WWII-bound husband (courtesy of a leave before he departs). When he then dies in combat, she will pass the child off as his and nobody will know for 60 years until a hidden journal surfaces.
