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Westmore #1
Westmore
Three families come together in this soap opera style romance. Westmore is the story of the Greens, the Braxtons, and the Reynolds—families’ enveloped by drama threefold.
Charlotte Green mourns the loss of her husband while battling her dislike for her son’s new love. One day, handsome Detective Bryant comes into her life, rescuing her abandon. Meanwhile, Scott and Alicia, musical siblings, fight their way to the top of the charts when tragedy strikes.
Andrew Braxton is a ruthless and influential businessman who runs his household the same way he runs his company … with an iron fist. Upon learning his son Wayne plans on abandoning the family company, which Andrew has dedicated his life to, Andrew will do everything and anything in his power to stop Wayne from leaving.
After Laura Reynolds’ divorce, she and her daughter Megan move back home to live with her father. Her plan is to start life anew, relinquishing all sorrow. Little does Laura realize that it is harder than she thinks to leave the past behind.
Drama, mayhem, love and heartache are the ruling elements in this small New England town called Westmore.
Charlotte Green mourns the loss of her husband while battling her dislike for her son’s new love. One day, handsome Detective Bryant comes into her life, rescuing her abandon. Meanwhile, Scott and Alicia, musical siblings, fight their way to the top of the charts when tragedy strikes.
Andrew Braxton is a ruthless and influential businessman who runs his household the same way he runs his company … with an iron fist. Upon learning his son Wayne plans on abandoning the family company, which Andrew has dedicated his life to, Andrew will do everything and anything in his power to stop Wayne from leaving.
After Laura Reynolds’ divorce, she and her daughter Megan move back home to live with her father. Her plan is to start life anew, relinquishing all sorrow. Little does Laura realize that it is harder than she thinks to leave the past behind.
Drama, mayhem, love and heartache are the ruling elements in this small New England town called Westmore.
298 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2011
1 person is currently reading
19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 15, 2012
Westmore is the first book that I have read from Carol Cassada. Carol describes this series as "a romance novel meets soap opera." And a soap opera is exactly what her style of writing reminded me of.
Westmore revolves around the characters of three different families and the story continues to switch back and forth between these characters. The three families consist of the Greens, the Braxtons, and the Reynolds.
My favorite couple is definitely Scott Green and Melissa. I just love them. I also like Jacob Reynolds and Alicia Green and I can't wait to see what happens with Charlotte Green and James. Westmore is a good read that definitely has that soap opera feel. There is no sexing at all, which was disappointing and I will warn that it ends in a major cliff~hanger that left me eager to read the next book. 3 out of 5 rating.
***Copy provided by Carol Cassada~Thanks!! :)
Westmore revolves around the characters of three different families and the story continues to switch back and forth between these characters. The three families consist of the Greens, the Braxtons, and the Reynolds.
My favorite couple is definitely Scott Green and Melissa. I just love them. I also like Jacob Reynolds and Alicia Green and I can't wait to see what happens with Charlotte Green and James. Westmore is a good read that definitely has that soap opera feel. There is no sexing at all, which was disappointing and I will warn that it ends in a major cliff~hanger that left me eager to read the next book. 3 out of 5 rating.
***Copy provided by Carol Cassada~Thanks!! :)
October 27, 2020
An easy read
This book takes you on a journey in a town called Westmore where people are dealing with every day issues. Charlotte has to deal with the loss of her husband. Marie has a daughter living far away. Elizabeth may be losing her son and her marriage. All this makes for an interesting tale.
While i enjoyed the characters some things threw me off. There is a lot of telling. The author jumps around a lot from character to character which can be confusing. Honestly, i think a little more editing could have polished it right up. Minor grammar mistakes pull you out of the story. But the plot is solid and the characters relatable, which i enjoyed.
This book takes you on a journey in a town called Westmore where people are dealing with every day issues. Charlotte has to deal with the loss of her husband. Marie has a daughter living far away. Elizabeth may be losing her son and her marriage. All this makes for an interesting tale.
While i enjoyed the characters some things threw me off. There is a lot of telling. The author jumps around a lot from character to character which can be confusing. Honestly, i think a little more editing could have polished it right up. Minor grammar mistakes pull you out of the story. But the plot is solid and the characters relatable, which i enjoyed.
January 4, 2023
A soap opera in a book
Cassada has written a book that reads like a soap opera with romance, drama, love, and more with the book encompassing three families full of mischief.
Cassada has written a book that reads like a soap opera with romance, drama, love, and more with the book encompassing three families full of mischief.
September 14, 2011
www.chicklitaholic.blogspot.com
Family drama, romance and a picture perfect New England town; what more could you want in a novel? Well Westmore offers all this and much more. I was first introduced to Westmore by Tiffany over at A Cozy Reader‘s Corner Review. She is running a blog tour of Westmore and after becoming intrigued by the novel I decided to sign up.
Westmore follows the lives of three families; The Greens, The Braxton’s and The Reynolds. Charlotte is a widowed single mother, who never believed she could find love after the death of her husband. That is until Detective Bryant comes onto the scene. Andrew Braxton is a ruthless successful businessman who runs his household with an iron fist. As soon as he learns his youngest son Wayne plans to move away and work for another publishing company he goes out of his way to do everything he can to stop his son from leaving. Laura Reynolds is having marital problems and so decides to move back home with her daughter Megan. Little does she know that she may be running from the past but her past could be about to catch up with her.
The style in which Carol Cassada wrote Westmore was very enjoyable. I found style and storyline is a little reminiscent of Danielle Steel’s novels. The storyline held a large amount of promise being filled with romance, family drama and family issues. The characters are engaging and I found that there were characters I fell in love with. Charlotte in particular was one of my favourite characters throughout the novel. I found Charlotte to be very relatable and I was moved by the problems she has gone through in her life. I felt the emotions she was feeling and found that I was routing for her to overcome the issues and find happiness. I also found that the character of Andrew was enjoyable to read about. Even though I did not like him as a character, in fact at times I found myself hating him, I enjoyed the way in which he brought drama into the novel. I also loved the way in which Westmore ends on a cliff hanger, leaving the reader in suspense. This made me want to read the next instalment to discover exactly how the story plays out.
I did find, however, that far too many characters were introduced in a short space of time. At the beginning of the novel numerous characters are introduced for about a page each. You do not really get to know much about the characters before you learn about new ones. I found that this meant I forgot who characters were and became confused about how the characters were intertwined with each other. I usually enjoy novels with numerous characters but in the case of Westmore I think they should have been introduced as the novel progresses rather than just all in the beginning. I also thought that very little seemed to actually happen within the novel until the very end when I was left with a cliff hanger. I would have liked to see more drama in the middle of the novel in order to power the novel forward. In addition I found that there were a large number of errors; both spelling and grammatical. This may, however be due to the fact that I was send a novel for review, therefore it may not be the finished manuscript.
I have to admit that I found Westmore was not a novel that I enjoyed as much as I thought I would. I found that my tastes were slightly different to this novel. I would defiantly recommend anyone to read this novel for themselves and form your own opinions. I have read many good reviews on Westmore, however I just found that it was not to my tastes. Please remember that my reviews are only my opinion, therefore you may find yourself completely disagreeing with what I say. Having said that, I am defiantly looking forward to reading volume two of Westmore and finding out exactly how the story progresses.
Family drama, romance and a picture perfect New England town; what more could you want in a novel? Well Westmore offers all this and much more. I was first introduced to Westmore by Tiffany over at A Cozy Reader‘s Corner Review. She is running a blog tour of Westmore and after becoming intrigued by the novel I decided to sign up.
Westmore follows the lives of three families; The Greens, The Braxton’s and The Reynolds. Charlotte is a widowed single mother, who never believed she could find love after the death of her husband. That is until Detective Bryant comes onto the scene. Andrew Braxton is a ruthless successful businessman who runs his household with an iron fist. As soon as he learns his youngest son Wayne plans to move away and work for another publishing company he goes out of his way to do everything he can to stop his son from leaving. Laura Reynolds is having marital problems and so decides to move back home with her daughter Megan. Little does she know that she may be running from the past but her past could be about to catch up with her.
The style in which Carol Cassada wrote Westmore was very enjoyable. I found style and storyline is a little reminiscent of Danielle Steel’s novels. The storyline held a large amount of promise being filled with romance, family drama and family issues. The characters are engaging and I found that there were characters I fell in love with. Charlotte in particular was one of my favourite characters throughout the novel. I found Charlotte to be very relatable and I was moved by the problems she has gone through in her life. I felt the emotions she was feeling and found that I was routing for her to overcome the issues and find happiness. I also found that the character of Andrew was enjoyable to read about. Even though I did not like him as a character, in fact at times I found myself hating him, I enjoyed the way in which he brought drama into the novel. I also loved the way in which Westmore ends on a cliff hanger, leaving the reader in suspense. This made me want to read the next instalment to discover exactly how the story plays out.
I did find, however, that far too many characters were introduced in a short space of time. At the beginning of the novel numerous characters are introduced for about a page each. You do not really get to know much about the characters before you learn about new ones. I found that this meant I forgot who characters were and became confused about how the characters were intertwined with each other. I usually enjoy novels with numerous characters but in the case of Westmore I think they should have been introduced as the novel progresses rather than just all in the beginning. I also thought that very little seemed to actually happen within the novel until the very end when I was left with a cliff hanger. I would have liked to see more drama in the middle of the novel in order to power the novel forward. In addition I found that there were a large number of errors; both spelling and grammatical. This may, however be due to the fact that I was send a novel for review, therefore it may not be the finished manuscript.
I have to admit that I found Westmore was not a novel that I enjoyed as much as I thought I would. I found that my tastes were slightly different to this novel. I would defiantly recommend anyone to read this novel for themselves and form your own opinions. I have read many good reviews on Westmore, however I just found that it was not to my tastes. Please remember that my reviews are only my opinion, therefore you may find yourself completely disagreeing with what I say. Having said that, I am defiantly looking forward to reading volume two of Westmore and finding out exactly how the story progresses.
August 12, 2012
This review and others can be found at Cozy Up With A Good Read
*This is a review based on both volumes.*
The cover conveys a very WASPish type book, which is exactly what this book is. Most of the characters in this book are conveyed as rich and spoiled. The whole story was exactly like a soap opera. I definitely feel that these books are a guilty pleasure for those who enjoy soap operas. They were both very short and quick reads, which was nice.
I had some difficulties throughout the books though because there were so many characters to follow. Cassada introduces the families very quickly and then takes her time to show how they all connect with one another. I also found that the story seemed to jump between the characters very quickly and it made it difficult to connect with the characters. I felt that if the books were longer there may have been more of a chance of connecting more with some of the characters.
The story seemed to move quite slow in the beginning until the ending of the first one and the beginning of the second book. I was really enjoying it when the drama started to pick up (I admit it I love my soap operas, they are so much fun, definitely a huge guilty pleasure). But I felt like everything slowed down again in the end, and I found myself losing interest once again.
My biggest issue was how the story ended as a whole, I wanted more. It seems like Carol may write more to the story in the future because everything ended on such a cliffhanger. I feel like a few more chapters to clear everything up would have been nice instead.
My biggest issue throughout reading this was some editing mistakes. I found more of them in the second one and started to become a little restless, it made the second book a lot more difficult for me to read.
Overall I did enjoy the story a bit, me being the soap opera fan that I am. I wished there was a little more focus on characterization rather than heavily focused on the drama though. I do believe, with a little bit of editing Cassada could write some great books.
*This is a review based on both volumes.*
The cover conveys a very WASPish type book, which is exactly what this book is. Most of the characters in this book are conveyed as rich and spoiled. The whole story was exactly like a soap opera. I definitely feel that these books are a guilty pleasure for those who enjoy soap operas. They were both very short and quick reads, which was nice.
I had some difficulties throughout the books though because there were so many characters to follow. Cassada introduces the families very quickly and then takes her time to show how they all connect with one another. I also found that the story seemed to jump between the characters very quickly and it made it difficult to connect with the characters. I felt that if the books were longer there may have been more of a chance of connecting more with some of the characters.
The story seemed to move quite slow in the beginning until the ending of the first one and the beginning of the second book. I was really enjoying it when the drama started to pick up (I admit it I love my soap operas, they are so much fun, definitely a huge guilty pleasure). But I felt like everything slowed down again in the end, and I found myself losing interest once again.
My biggest issue was how the story ended as a whole, I wanted more. It seems like Carol may write more to the story in the future because everything ended on such a cliffhanger. I feel like a few more chapters to clear everything up would have been nice instead.
My biggest issue throughout reading this was some editing mistakes. I found more of them in the second one and started to become a little restless, it made the second book a lot more difficult for me to read.
Overall I did enjoy the story a bit, me being the soap opera fan that I am. I wished there was a little more focus on characterization rather than heavily focused on the drama though. I do believe, with a little bit of editing Cassada could write some great books.
August 25, 2011
From - Lilac Wolf and Stuff
The cover is quite waspish, which fits the story well. The fictional town is as white bread east-coast as you can get.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the story. It's pure chick lit, lots of characters that you love and love to hate. They all cross each others lives here and there throughout the book.
I felt the pace was perfect, not too fast, not too slow. I felt like I was reading a Danielle Steel novel, only this was better. Charlotte is still grieving her husband who died 4 years earlier, she is just getting ready to think about dating. Her oldest son works in a bar until he finds something better, her middle son is in a rock band with the daughter, hoping to make it big. The youngest quit college to shack up with a 29 yr old (he's 19).
Charlotte is best friends with Marie who is married to Jeff. Jeff is brother to Andrew who is married to Elizabeth - and they are Wayne's parents. Wayne is best friends with Jacob who starts dating Alicia (Charlotte's daughter). Very soap opera-ish. But it flows so well that even I can keep the characters straight (I'm so bad with names as some of you know) and I can't wait to see what happens next.
This book is fairly lengthy, 391 pages...but I read it in 2 days. Now remember, that's with kids so the story does grab you. Only problems are the numerous grammatical errors and the ending. Although I saw on Amazon that it's Volume 1 so I think I can give some leeway to the ending now. The grammar needs work. Some of them I'm not sure if it's just a bad feed to the PDF version, so I'm not going to hit that too hard either.
Just a reminder to authors - please, let many people red pen your manuscript, especially if you plan to self-publish.
Ok - since it's volume 1 and I see paperback versions out there while I read a PDF I'm going to upgrade this to 4 stars since I really didn't want to put it down and it read so very fast. I do look forward to volume 2 and hope Carol Cassada lets me review that as well.
The cover is quite waspish, which fits the story well. The fictional town is as white bread east-coast as you can get.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the story. It's pure chick lit, lots of characters that you love and love to hate. They all cross each others lives here and there throughout the book.
I felt the pace was perfect, not too fast, not too slow. I felt like I was reading a Danielle Steel novel, only this was better. Charlotte is still grieving her husband who died 4 years earlier, she is just getting ready to think about dating. Her oldest son works in a bar until he finds something better, her middle son is in a rock band with the daughter, hoping to make it big. The youngest quit college to shack up with a 29 yr old (he's 19).
Charlotte is best friends with Marie who is married to Jeff. Jeff is brother to Andrew who is married to Elizabeth - and they are Wayne's parents. Wayne is best friends with Jacob who starts dating Alicia (Charlotte's daughter). Very soap opera-ish. But it flows so well that even I can keep the characters straight (I'm so bad with names as some of you know) and I can't wait to see what happens next.
This book is fairly lengthy, 391 pages...but I read it in 2 days. Now remember, that's with kids so the story does grab you. Only problems are the numerous grammatical errors and the ending. Although I saw on Amazon that it's Volume 1 so I think I can give some leeway to the ending now. The grammar needs work. Some of them I'm not sure if it's just a bad feed to the PDF version, so I'm not going to hit that too hard either.
Just a reminder to authors - please, let many people red pen your manuscript, especially if you plan to self-publish.
Ok - since it's volume 1 and I see paperback versions out there while I read a PDF I'm going to upgrade this to 4 stars since I really didn't want to put it down and it read so very fast. I do look forward to volume 2 and hope Carol Cassada lets me review that as well.
September 5, 2011
Reviewed by Stephanie
Book provided by author for review
Westmore is an extremely quick read; I bulldozed straight through it and didn't even have to skim. Cassada's style is simple and to-the-point. It's not particularly poetic or good, but it is very no-nonsense and fresh. The main problem with this book is that there is no plot structure. I mean, things happen, life happens, to each of the characters in the book, but there's no problem, no action, no climax, no anything. Things happen and then the book is over.
I will say I enjoyed reading it, just because of how easy it was, but by the end, I was wondering, What was the point of all 388 pages of that book? I hesitate to even call this a book; it was more like a chapter. It's a relief there will be more "books" in this series, because this one doesn't even have an proper ending. All books should at least have an ending. Don't get me wrong; the last few words are exceptionally tragic and have me hanging on a cliff, but nothing is resolved, no strings are tied; everything is just suspended in midair because there are no more pages in the book.
I, for the most part, like this book and am keen on reading the sequel. However, there is nothing profound about the writing, and there is no story. There are a bunch of stories all connected together, which is an interesting take on contemporary fiction, but it still doesn't make up for the lack of plot.
Book provided by author for review
Westmore is an extremely quick read; I bulldozed straight through it and didn't even have to skim. Cassada's style is simple and to-the-point. It's not particularly poetic or good, but it is very no-nonsense and fresh. The main problem with this book is that there is no plot structure. I mean, things happen, life happens, to each of the characters in the book, but there's no problem, no action, no climax, no anything. Things happen and then the book is over.
I will say I enjoyed reading it, just because of how easy it was, but by the end, I was wondering, What was the point of all 388 pages of that book? I hesitate to even call this a book; it was more like a chapter. It's a relief there will be more "books" in this series, because this one doesn't even have an proper ending. All books should at least have an ending. Don't get me wrong; the last few words are exceptionally tragic and have me hanging on a cliff, but nothing is resolved, no strings are tied; everything is just suspended in midair because there are no more pages in the book.
I, for the most part, like this book and am keen on reading the sequel. However, there is nothing profound about the writing, and there is no story. There are a bunch of stories all connected together, which is an interesting take on contemporary fiction, but it still doesn't make up for the lack of plot.
May 18, 2015
Good book
I enjoyed reading this story, some grammar issues, I think due to auto correct on some words. I like the characters and appreciate not having to deal with unnecessary language and sex scenes
I enjoyed reading this story, some grammar issues, I think due to auto correct on some words. I like the characters and appreciate not having to deal with unnecessary language and sex scenes
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews