★★★★✩ (This is a review of the audiobook.) I liked Therese Plummer's narration, but she doesn't differentiate the voices - at all! She didn't bother m★★★★✩ (This is a review of the audiobook.) I liked Therese Plummer's narration, but she doesn't differentiate the voices - at all! She didn't bother me, and her enunciation and pacing are great, she just didn't kick this one up a notch and so, even though I increased it to X1.25 speed, I found myself easily switching to the eBook format to speed things along and to find out what happens...then going back to the audio afterwards.
Also, the story is really more of a "Contemporary" novel, not a Contemporary Romance. The romance doesn't enter the picture until towards the end of the book. Still, it held my interest and was a fast, easy read. Loved Cooper’s sense of humor....more
★★★★½ This is vintage Catherine Anderson and I just loved it! It is a reissue, but definitely holds up and remains wortA vintage button wreath. [image]
★★★★½ This is vintage Catherine Anderson and I just loved it! It is a reissue, but definitely holds up and remains worth the read – or re-read – as the case may be. I loved the characters, especially the little girl, Miranda. Ms. Anderson knows how to write a big rough and tough hero interacting with a small child. It was also heartwarming to see this gentle-giant of a neighbor, Zachariah McGovern, fall for the ‘little mite’ as well as the abused, skittish, young widow, Kate Blakely.
This author can take a scene that has been done a million times and make it special:
“What are you doing?”
His voice was tight with laughter. “I’ve never been so fascinated with a woman’s buttons in my entire life.”
The plackets of her bodice fell open. “Zachariah, it’s broad daylight.”
“So it is.”
Not impressed? Well, maybe it is the character-building before that that makes me picture the scene so well, and what takes place before this...and that it is a set-up for (view spoiler)[those three little words! (hide spoiler)].
Is it my favorite Catherine Anderson? No. But I’ll still give it ★★★★½ because Ms. Anderson’s best is beyond five stars. Was it perfect? No. Was Zach a little too patient (view spoiler)[I would have hit the bottle sooner (hide spoiler)], and the ending a little too neatly wrapped up? Yes and yes. Or maybe I just need to find a man like him? Doesn’t matter to me. I know I’ll re-read it again just to enjoy the dialogue between the characters and escape back into their world just to experience them falling in love all over again...and the three of them becoming a family....more
★★★½☆ Not bad, not great. Standard 90’s fair. Fast read, but lost its momentum about three-quarters of the way through, when really, given what was go★★★½☆ Not bad, not great. Standard 90’s fair. Fast read, but lost its momentum about three-quarters of the way through, when really, given what was going on in the story, it should have taken off....more
★★★½ ✩This is the best ★★★ star book I’ve read this year, and for that I have to give it another ½ star. I really liked this book, when I wanted to lo★★★½ ✩This is the best ★★★ star book I’ve read this year, and for that I have to give it another ½ star. I really liked this book, when I wanted to love it. It is like one of those B movies – you know, the classic kind that turn into a blockbuster. There are so many neat things in it. However, there is something off about it too. When I found out it was a collaboration of two authors, this made total sense to me. Still, I would recommend it to anyone looking for an apocalyptic sci-fi romance or a book with zombies for a challenge – it is a hoot.
I especially enjoyed doing it as a “buddy read” in the Nothing But Reading Challenges Group – ladies you saw where this was going long before I did. It was so compelling, nobody in the group stayed on track – we all read ahead.
I’ve set up the next book in the Dark Age Dawning series – and joining in a “buddy read” again.
Robert Pattinson as Jacob Jankowski; Tai as Rosie the Elephant; and Reese Witherspoon as Marlena Rosenbluth, in the movie version of “Water for ElephaRobert Pattinson as Jacob Jankowski; Tai as Rosie the Elephant; and Reese Witherspoon as Marlena Rosenbluth, in the movie version of “Water for Elephants”. [image]
★★★☆☆ (This is a review of the audiobook.) John Randolph Jones as Jacob - the novel’s protagonist - at a curmudgeonly ninety-something, and David LeDoux as Jacob at 23, both do a nice job of narrating this first person POV of an elderly man who is not ready to be old and a young man who is more than ready to grow up. Nevertheless, some of the switching between old and young Jacob was jarring for me.
Warning: There is animal cruelty and death in this book.
Highly recommend this book over the movie. (No surprise there!) While I love Reese Witherspoon, there is more depth and back-ground to the characters, including the animals, than was presented on the screen. Most people will find it eyebrow-raising to see what life is like in a nursing home as well as the behind-the-scenes look at a third-rate train circus during the Great Depression. (Hmmm. Parallel lives?)
Sometimes knowing too much about a topic can ruin a good book: The major issue I had with this one is that people with schizophrenia are far more likely to harm themselves than be violent toward another person; violence is NOT a symptom of schizophrenia. Though there is a real feel to the Great Depression era, for me, this casts a ‘shadow of a doubt’ on the research of this book, which is touted as excellent.
I’m also not keen on adultery, regardless of the whole ‘grasping-for-whatever-happiness-they-can-find’ thing, regardless of how much the despicable villain is deserving of cuckoldry...
Yet, the book has a lot of raw emotions that are presented well for the reader that doesn't have these hang-ups. I’ll probably get around to seeking out more of this author’s work.
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