Ehhhh, I had such high hopes for Great and Precious Things, but it sadly fell flat for me. There were so many storylines going on simultaneously in this novel that it made my head spin— Cam and Willow, Cam and his dad, Cam and his brothers, Cam and the town, etc. I thought it was a lot for one book.
First, I’ll start with Cam and Willow. I guess the love story aspect of the book was cute, but a bit too over-the-top. There was a constant reminder in every chapter of how much Cam loved Willow, how he has always loved Willow, and how she was too good for him. I found Willow herself to be too much of a damsel in distress, and the fact that Cam had saved her life four times proves my point. Maybe the purpose of this was to show how heroic Cam is, and to prove just how much he loves and will sacrifice anything for her, but it only made the story more unbelievable for me. Plus, I felt like the author wanted us to think that Willow was a strong woman who took care of herself, but the damsel in distress thing negated that.
The town of Alba, where Cam and Willow live and have lived for their entire lives, definitely lacked that small town vibe. Everyone in Alba was so spiteful, hateful, and close minded, especially towards Cam. The novel continues to reveal a small town full of secrets, and dysfunctional families at odds with one another. Once I uncovered the reasons for that dysfunction, it only caused me more confusion and did not help me to understand the problems any further. I’m going to keep this reference vague so as not to give away anything, but a perfect example of this would be Cam’s reasoning behind taking the blame for certain actions that tarnished his reputation in order to protect his brothers. It simply did not make sense to me.
By the conclusion of this novel, I felt like I was left with more questions than answers. Here they are— Why did Cam’s dad blame him for Sullivan’s death? I can understand that maybe his dad felt broken over the loss of his son and needed to take out his anger somehow, but why did the townspeople blame him as well? Why was Cam blamed for Willow’s broken nose when he was actually the one who rescued her from the mine? Why didn’t Willow ever speak up about how she broke her nose to help clear Cam’s name? Why did Cam never speak up about the real cause of the fire? He let the entire town blame him and I don’t understand why. Alba seemed to be made up of people who either never talked or didn’t listen.
I will be the first to admit that romance novels are not always my favorite, and I am quite selective when it comes to choosing books that fall into that genre. Great and Precious Things seemed to have more going for it than just the romance aspect, but it ended up not being for me. It was a fast read and very well-written so I’m sure many others will enjoy this book more than I did.
First, I’ll start with Cam and Willow. I guess the love story aspect of the book was cute, but a bit too over-the-top. There was a constant reminder in every chapter of how much Cam loved Willow, how he has always loved Willow, and how she was too good for him. I found Willow herself to be too much of a damsel in distress, and the fact that Cam had saved her life four times proves my point. Maybe the purpose of this was to show how heroic Cam is, and to prove just how much he loves and will sacrifice anything for her, but it only made the story more unbelievable for me. Plus, I felt like the author wanted us to think that Willow was a strong woman who took care of herself, but the damsel in distress thing negated that.
The town of Alba, where Cam and Willow live and have lived for their entire lives, definitely lacked that small town vibe. Everyone in Alba was so spiteful, hateful, and close minded, especially towards Cam. The novel continues to reveal a small town full of secrets, and dysfunctional families at odds with one another. Once I uncovered the reasons for that dysfunction, it only caused me more confusion and did not help me to understand the problems any further. I’m going to keep this reference vague so as not to give away anything, but a perfect example of this would be Cam’s reasoning behind taking the blame for certain actions that tarnished his reputation in order to protect his brothers. It simply did not make sense to me.
By the conclusion of this novel, I felt like I was left with more questions than answers. Here they are— Why did Cam’s dad blame him for Sullivan’s death? I can understand that maybe his dad felt broken over the loss of his son and needed to take out his anger somehow, but why did the townspeople blame him as well? Why was Cam blamed for Willow’s broken nose when he was actually the one who rescued her from the mine? Why didn’t Willow ever speak up about how she broke her nose to help clear Cam’s name? Why did Cam never speak up about the real cause of the fire? He let the entire town blame him and I don’t understand why. Alba seemed to be made up of people who either never talked or didn’t listen.
I will be the first to admit that romance novels are not always my favorite, and I am quite selective when it comes to choosing books that fall into that genre. Great and Precious Things seemed to have more going for it than just the romance aspect, but it ended up not being for me. It was a fast read and very well-written so I’m sure many others will enjoy this book more than I did.