Tricia > Recent Status Updates

Still terrible copy editing. Comma issues, verb tense issues; are very distracting. I’m giving it until the end of the current chapter to decide if I’ll continue.

The story is okay. The copy editing is atrocious. Random; semicolons.” Missing punctuation marks. One to/too error already. It won’t matter how compelling the subject matter might be if I can’t get past the grammar issues.

This one might not be finished. The dialogue, both interior and between and aming characters, is completely unbelievable. Trite might be the word for which I am searching. Definitely pretentious and self-serving.

This book has such great reviews. I’ll stick it out a bit longer even though I am not enjoying it. I don’t like the writing style, and I’m not invested in the town or the characters.

I won’t finish this book. It’s a chore to read. I don’t care about the characters, I don’t have any curiosity about the “mystery,” and the writing is unnecessarily “fancy.” I also tried to watch the TV series and won’t get further than episode 2. Not my type of story.

Can’t do it. Not reading any further than 15%. Trite. Twee, if you will. Ugh.

30% in and I just can’t continue. So boring.

What a joy it is to read a well-written, thoughtful book after reading a less-than adequate book. Maggie O’Farrell writes beautifully. What a story.

The editing issues continue to distract me, but I do want to know the outcome of the story. However, the storyline with the Beaumonts seems like one storyline too many. Maybe it’ll come together.

The editing is horrendous. The errors are distracting, and I need all my concentration to follow the storyline. This may turn into a DNF for me.

It’s a struggle. It’s a Lifetime movie, a total cliché. That’s probably the point, and it’s just not the right book for me right now.

Sappy, repetitive, and unrealistic. Six-year-old kids, even precocious ones, don’t talk like that. School administrators don’t act like that. I’m going to keep reading because the story itself is engaging and I want to know what happens next. So far, 3 stars.

I don’t think I’ll finish this book. It is too slow. Beautiful sentence structure and word chouce, but nothing happens.

I do not like Liky. She’s whiny and silly. Get over yourself, girl. I don’t know if I’ll keep going.

I should have known. I’m concurrently reading The Friend Zone, and it’s basically the same storyline with different characters/setting. Nothing new.

I should have known. I’m concurrently reading another book (I think it’s called The Paradise Problem) and it’s the same storyline with different characters and setting. Nothing new here thus far.

I learned something, so there’s that. I had never heard of Spirolonga. But the storytelling was heavyhanded, relying on too much information. I don’t need to know that it was 5:30 when someone left home and thus 10 to 6 when they arrived. It didn’t matter. So many of the words didn’t matter.

Dies it get better? I don’t like Julia at all. She’s a twit. We actually have a lot in common: we’re the same age, we weren’t raised in a traditional household, we’re married to men who adore us. But I hope I’m less annoying than she is. I’m going to keep plodding through this for a while longer.

A bit tedious. Glad to have finished.

I really like the writing style, but the back and forth with Jacob’s over-the-top insecurities is getting tedious. She likes him. She’s not keeping it a secret. This trope has been done over and over and I knew/know what’s coming (I think), but I had hope that the journey to the assumed destination might be different. So far, it’s not, and I’m disappointed.

3.5. Entertaining.

I haven’t kept track of them specifically, but there are far too many simple grammatical errors in this book; there is no excuse for its/it’s errors. P 334: “…she couldn’t help but feel it’s chunky softness….” If this only happened once, I wouldn’t be bothered enough to stop and comment on it. Alas, that is not the case. I’m not invested in this story; apparently, neither were the editors.

I love the concept of this story. I hate the execution. Six-year-olds, no matter how promiscuous, do not talk lime this and the unbelievability of Melody’s conversations when she was young is driving me crazy. I know the conversations are part of what’s needed to move to story along, but these are not young kid conversations.

Will Florence ever stop whining and feeling sorry for self? I. Am. Over. It.

I don’t think I’ll finish this book. It’s terrible.

I love the idea of this story, I really do. But it is cumbersome. Wordy. Too many adjectives, adverbs. It tries too hard.

Pretty cliche. Meh.

A few things:
1. Why in the world would Kya's mother walk away WITHOUT her? It makes no sense.
2. Kya's random dialogue (monologue?) in the middle of a beautifully rendered passage about nature is jarring.
3. The poem by Galway Kinnell (referenced on page 116) couldn't have been included in a book published prior to 1952.

I am sorry to say that I don't even know who Teddy Price is.

I am so disappointed. I know a lot of people really enjoyed this book, but I am not. I don't like the format. I don't care about any of these characters. I have had this book on hold for about 4 months and really have been looking forward to reading it, and now I have to force myself to keep reading. I amso disappointed.