Unpopular opinion time…
I love when a historical novelist puts effort into researching details for a story, and it’s clear that the author did this. I had a hard time with the timeline, though, as Pack Rider services were actually decades away from the time period where a cure was found for methemoglobinemia. Perhaps if I didn’t know about both topics already I wouldn’t have minded, but as it was, it took me out of the story a few times…
Some things I liked:
📚 The reader gets a feel for how difficult life was in rural Appalachia during this time period, and there were several characters who had terrible (but unfortunately realistic) things happen.
📚 The research was thorough, and it showed in the writing.
📚 There was ample stress on the importance of reading and service and empathy.
📚 The premise was unique and interesting!
Some things that weren’t my favorite:
📚 The ending felt rushed! There were big events happening and then several years went by in the span of a few pages. There were too many dramatic plot scenarios and the one at the end could have either been expanded upon or taken out altogether.
📚 At times it felt like the author was checking boxes instead of letting the story flow, which took up space that could have been used for character development. (More on that later…)
📚 The voice and language in the dialogue seemed inconsistent, which was distracting.
📚 The protagonist felt like a woman in her 30s, not a teenager. I know she dealt with a lot of trauma that made her grow up faster, but I often forgot that she was not an adult. It didn’t feel like her inner dialogue matched her age.
📚 I felt that there was a lack of character development. The protagonist seemed pretty self-actualized from the beginning, and we didn’t see much development in the side characters or how they impacted her development. This was an area that had a lot of potential, but the execution just wasn’t there for me.
Overall I found this to be pretty enjoyable despite the pacing, and I appreciated the historical aspects, but I wouldn’t read it again.
I love when a historical novelist puts effort into researching details for a story, and it’s clear that the author did this. I had a hard time with the timeline, though, as Pack Rider services were actually decades away from the time period where a cure was found for methemoglobinemia. Perhaps if I didn’t know about both topics already I wouldn’t have minded, but as it was, it took me out of the story a few times…
Some things I liked:
📚 The reader gets a feel for how difficult life was in rural Appalachia during this time period, and there were several characters who had terrible (but unfortunately realistic) things happen.
📚 The research was thorough, and it showed in the writing.
📚 There was ample stress on the importance of reading and service and empathy.
📚 The premise was unique and interesting!
Some things that weren’t my favorite:
📚 The ending felt rushed! There were big events happening and then several years went by in the span of a few pages. There were too many dramatic plot scenarios and the one at the end could have either been expanded upon or taken out altogether.
📚 At times it felt like the author was checking boxes instead of letting the story flow, which took up space that could have been used for character development. (More on that later…)
📚 The voice and language in the dialogue seemed inconsistent, which was distracting.
📚 The protagonist felt like a woman in her 30s, not a teenager. I know she dealt with a lot of trauma that made her grow up faster, but I often forgot that she was not an adult. It didn’t feel like her inner dialogue matched her age.
📚 I felt that there was a lack of character development. The protagonist seemed pretty self-actualized from the beginning, and we didn’t see much development in the side characters or how they impacted her development. This was an area that had a lot of potential, but the execution just wasn’t there for me.
Overall I found this to be pretty enjoyable despite the pacing, and I appreciated the historical aspects, but I wouldn’t read it again.