Read for: Mount TBR & RI Authors
Synopsis: "Noah Hartman has it all, or so it seems. Groomed since childhood to inherit the family fortune and business empire, the effect of living the life set down for him by controlling parents has left Noah out of touch with his inner self. Enter Robin, who -- in direct contrast to Noah -- is a vivacious, free spirit with no material possessions to speak of. Robin's love saves Noah by inspiring him to stand up to his parents and reclaim his true identity at all costs. But Robin harbors a secret that could devastate their lives forever. Is it enough for two soul mates to find each other, or are the forces that would tear them apart too great to overcome?
Many years later, Noah lies in a hospital bed recounting his life of love and loss, only to discover a far greater truth about the past, present, and future. And the one certainty that remains unchanged in Noah's heart -- true love never dies."
My Review: I picked this book up at the Rhode Island Authors Convention, it was on a whim and the author indicated it was along the lines of The Notebook. Now I am a big fan of that book and how it wrenched emotions from me. This one is like the Notebook but with a huge cup of mental illness and some controlling parents, some religion and all wrapped up in monotone terms. It felt like there was a specific agenda and a popular story was used to push it. The story was all over the place, timelines were all over the place, one minute you are in a memory the next you are in present, occasionally the font would indicate the change but even that was inconsistent. The whole story, characters, dialogue, everything really felt monotone. I had absolutely no connection to any of the characters in the story and definitely felt no emotions. I do give him props for featuring a mental illness and the struggle with it but it just wasn't pulled off in a way that you could sympathize or connect.
Many years later, Noah lies in a hospital bed recounting his life of love and loss, only to discover a far greater truth about the past, present, and future. And the one certainty that remains unchanged in Noah's heart -- true love never dies."
My Review: I picked this book up at the Rhode Island Authors Convention, it was on a whim and the author indicated it was along the lines of The Notebook. Now I am a big fan of that book and how it wrenched emotions from me. This one is like the Notebook but with a huge cup of mental illness and some controlling parents, some religion and all wrapped up in monotone terms. It felt like there was a specific agenda and a popular story was used to push it. The story was all over the place, timelines were all over the place, one minute you are in a memory the next you are in present, occasionally the font would indicate the change but even that was inconsistent. The whole story, characters, dialogue, everything really felt monotone. I had absolutely no connection to any of the characters in the story and definitely felt no emotions. I do give him props for featuring a mental illness and the struggle with it but it just wasn't pulled off in a way that you could sympathize or connect.
My Rating: Maybe I was expecting something too different when I read this book but if you make a connection with a book that made me bawl like a baby I expect to have some emotional connection. It did get some very high rating from others so it may be the book for someone else but for me I have to give it a rating of Two Paws.
That sucks! They shouldn't be advertising its likeness to The Notebook if it's nothing like it.
ReplyDeleteI think it is really risky to compare your book to another so popular, it can really backfire like this one did.
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