However, I was almost as quickly taken out of the story by
all the French words and large uncommon English words. I studied very little
French when I was in school, so I could fairly well piece together what was
being said despite not fully knowing what each word or phrase meant in English.
I got to read this story as a file on the computer and so I
didn’t know Jill had included a French glossary until after I had stumbled my
way through and around the words I did not know. If I had the physical book in
hand, I think it would have been a better help because then I could reference
the glossary in the back.
Truth be told, I am not sure how many people will actually
read the whole story because of all the French and the big English words.
People who read a lot probably will have no issue reading this, however, I
think some who don’t read as often or have a great education may have a fairly
difficult time.
It is not that the story is not good because it is! – but it
is rather exhausting trying to figure out what the French means or what the
uncommon English words mean.
The characters are well described, the story has the
strength to tug at your heart. My favorite characters are easily Leonie and
Etienne (hopefully I spell his name correctly). I didn’t really care for Pascoe
– in fact, there were moments when he flipped personalities so much it made my
head spin.
There were moments I cried, a few moments I chuckled – but
overall, I never fully got into the book the way I like to. In fact, if I am
honest, I skimmed over the last hundred pages or so.
In short, it is a very well written novel with lots of
dramatic twists and turns, the characters are well thought out and well
written, but I found it to be simply a story and not a captivating work of art.
I give it a 3 ½ out of 5 and hope others find it to be more
captivating than I did. However, Jill does have a talent for writing and I
think she should continue to develop it.
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