Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Born of Persuasion, book #19

My response to this book? 

I don't THINK so!!!

So, this book was one that was on my bedside for a very long time.  I am not even sure how it got there, whether it was a donation that I thought sounded good and I wanted to read, one a bought at my beloved BAM! on sale, from my mom, who knows!!  In the mean time, as it collected dust, I learned the author is the wife of someone Roger knew who worked at LifeWay.  Since I got the Paperwhite, I was trying to whittle the books on my bedside by adding them to my Amazon WishList.  Also in the meantime I sort of stumbled on how to get books from the library on my Paperwhite.  Long story short, this is the first one I read via R.E.A.D.S. for free!  But, I only had seven days to read it and it has 450 pages!!  (Again, I have been working on this all week, not just since I last posted.)

Well, I get into the book and decide I really didn't like it.  At all.  But, I am also of the nature that no matter how horrible the book is, unless there is excessive language or other worldly topics, I'm gonna finish it.  I have to see if it gets any better or if there is any hope for these pathetic characters.  (Remember The Chance?) Well, this book kept me so stinking confused I could never tell which way was up!!  Who was good and who was bad. Apparently there were all sorts of secrets that everyone knew except the main character and some people would begin to tell her some of them, but would then decide it wasn't time.  There were lots of flash-forward moments (beginning with paragraphs like, "Later, when the whole story came out, I would see how important this truly was..." or "In hindsight the teaset really didn't matter" ... ) which seemed to occur every chapter at least once.  Are you kidding me?!?  I don't remember a one that was actually fulfilled, unless I took the time to actually buy the book and go back and hunt for each flash-forward and see if I could find where it came true.  But do you honestly think I am wasting any more time on this book?  No!!!

This is the beginning of a series and while I kept holding my breath for the end, well, don't hold your breath.  I'm all about series books, but not when you have an ending that demands you read the next one immediately.  That, dear authors, really ticks me off.  And I think it is selfish of you, like giving a child one bite of an ice cream cone and then taking it away and eating it all yourself while the child watches.  Like, purposefully withholding secrets to make you want to read the next book and spend another $10+ on it.  Or, even worse, when it is a new series and you get to an end like this and have to wait another 6 months to a year to find out what happens.  (This actually happened once to me and I actually threw the book across the room.  When the next book finally came out there was an author's note at the front that revealed I was not the only one who felt that way.  And the author actually apologized!)

Ok, enough about that soap box.  But I will tell you I'm not clamoring for finding Book 2 in the series.  I could care less what happens to Julia and if she and Edward ever end up together.  There are too many others "fish in the sea" to waste my time on them!! And, I haven't started the book for Book Club next Tuesday which promises to be considerably better!

The year is 1838, and seventeen-year-old Julia Elliston’s position has never been more fragile. Orphaned and unmarried in a time when women are legal property of their fathers, husbands, and guardians, she finds herself at the mercy of an anonymous guardian who plans to establish her as a servant in far-off Scotland.

With two months to devise a better plan, Julia’s first choice to marry her childhood sweetheart is denied. But when a titled dowager offers to introduce Julia into society, a realm of possibilities opens. However, treachery and deception are as much a part of Victorian society as titles and decorum, and Julia quickly discovers her present is deeply entangled with her mother’s mysterious past. Before she knows what’s happening, Julia finds herself a pawn in a deadly game between two of the country’s most powerful men. With no laws to protect her, she must unravel the secrets on her own. But sometimes truth is elusive and knowledge is deadly.  (picture and description from Amazon.)

O:)
Melissa
 

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