Good Morning Sweet Friends :)
I pray today finds you all doing well, and I'm so thankful you've taken the time to drop on by The Preppy Book Princess today for another book review.
It's been awhile since I last mentioned this on my blog, but to put it mildly, I own a lot of books. I actually have a home library that we turned one of our spare bedrooms into, and as such, there's also a lot of books that I own that I haven't yet read.
I'm trying to get better at reading some of my backlist titles, and sometimes it's fun to browse "my library" to try and find a new great read to dive into.
I recently ended up picking up a title that's been sitting on my shelf since 2016, and today I'm here to tell you guys all about it.
I hope you'll keep reading down below for today's full review.
The Bronte Plot by Katherine Reay:
Source: Complimentary Copy Given in a Swag Bag at RT Booklovers
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: November 3rd, 2015
Genre: Christian Fiction/Contemporary
Synopsis:
Lucy Alling makes a living selling rare books, often taking suspicious measures to reach her goals. When her unorthodox methods are discovered, Lucy's secret ruins her relationship with her boss and her boyfriend James—leaving Lucy in a heap of hurt, and trouble. Something has to change; she has to change.
In a sudden turn of events, James's wealthy grandmother Helen hires Lucy as a consultant for a London literary and antiques excursion. Lucy reluctantly agrees and soon discovers Helen holds secrets of her own. In fact, Helen understands Lucy's predicament better than anyone else.
As the two travel across England, Lucy benefits from Helen's wisdom, as Helen confronts the ghosts of her own past. Everything comes to a head at Haworth, home of the Brontë sisters, where Lucy is reminded of the sisters' beloved heroines, who, with tenacity and resolution, endured—even in the midst of change.
Now Lucy must go back into her past in order to move forward. And while it may hold mistakes and regrets, she will prevail—if only she can step into the life that's been waiting for her all along.
(synopsis from goodreads)
My Review:
I've had this title sitting on my bookshelves since 2016, and it's honestly a title I've always looked forward to reading. It's got a gorgeous cover, I've loved other titles by this particular author, and the plot sounded cute and immersive. I was looking forward to reading it, I expected to love it, but I didn't.
Unfortunately this ended up being nothing like what I was expecting, and failed to live to up to pretty much every one of my expectations. I loved the idea of it being connected to the many Bronte stories, but it wasn't done in a way that was appealing to me as a reader, and it took me forever to end up finishing this title. In fact, I literally put it down with three pages left and forgot all about finishing those pages for a good week.
My biggest frustration as a whole was with the characters. I felt like I was basically reading a prime example of the term "rich people problems", and I didn't feel like a single one of the characters truly showed any growth before the end of the story. Lucy does some pretty terrible things to help herself along in life, and I kept waiting for her to finally come to her senses, but a big part of me felt like I was still waiting by the time the story came to a close. I didn't think the trip to England really even made that much sense, and those chapters were perhaps some of the most lackluster of all.
With a plot that failed to hold my attentions, characters that were all unlikeable and hard to root for, a romance that didn't seem to be properly developed, and a conclusion that failed to answer the majority of the questions I had during the course of reading, The Bronte Plot was unfortunately a pass for me, and not one I would either recommend or reread.
Final Rating: 2/5.
I'm going with a two instead of a one because I do enjoy Katherine Reay's writing style, and I enjoyed the classic literature references, however neither of these were enough to salvage it in my eyes.
Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me and all rights to the respective owners.
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