My ultimate desire before starting this book was that the story would equal the STUNNING book cover! In a few ways, yes, but with some caveats.
Wild Women and the Blues was a split-time novel set in both 1925 and 2015. While I enjoy dual timelines and discovering the connections between the two, I also like them to work together seamlessly. For the first 30% of this story, I wasn't thrilled with the first person/present tense narrative of the 2015 setting and these chapters often slowed down the story's progression. I liked Sawyer and that he was a male protagonist, but his POV would sometimes irk me in it's casualness and familiarity. For example, when Sawyer talks directly to the reader, "By the way, I'm like this, because I don't like flying." Ugh. It takes me right out of the story. Honoree's historical setting was written in 3rd person/past tense and the shift between the two narratives could be distracting. It probably didn't help that 1st person/present is my least favorite narrative style and 3rd person/past is my favorite.
Honoree's chapters in the past were stronger and more interesting than present day. There was a sense of urgency to her story that kept the it moving at a swift pace. Overall, this author had a much stronger voice in 3rd person. While I struggled to empathize with Sawyer, I was much more invested in Honoree's outcome. There were a couple time-frame issues and I wasn't fully invested in the romance, but I did really like the historical setting and story arc. This book could have scrapped Sawyer's chapters and further developed Honoree's in order to create an even more compelling historical fiction novel focused on a time and place not often read about. I also would have loved to have felt more emotionally attached to the romance between Honoree and Ezekiel.
I felt both narratives could have been developed more to create a more immersive overall story, but it did surprise me a couple of times and in the end, I was entertained.
Wild Women and the Blues was a split-time novel set in both 1925 and 2015. While I enjoy dual timelines and discovering the connections between the two, I also like them to work together seamlessly. For the first 30% of this story, I wasn't thrilled with the first person/present tense narrative of the 2015 setting and these chapters often slowed down the story's progression. I liked Sawyer and that he was a male protagonist, but his POV would sometimes irk me in it's casualness and familiarity. For example, when Sawyer talks directly to the reader, "By the way, I'm like this, because I don't like flying." Ugh. It takes me right out of the story. Honoree's historical setting was written in 3rd person/past tense and the shift between the two narratives could be distracting. It probably didn't help that 1st person/present is my least favorite narrative style and 3rd person/past is my favorite.
Honoree's chapters in the past were stronger and more interesting than present day. There was a sense of urgency to her story that kept the it moving at a swift pace. Overall, this author had a much stronger voice in 3rd person. While I struggled to empathize with Sawyer, I was much more invested in Honoree's outcome. There were a couple time-frame issues and I wasn't fully invested in the romance, but I did really like the historical setting and story arc. This book could have scrapped Sawyer's chapters and further developed Honoree's in order to create an even more compelling historical fiction novel focused on a time and place not often read about. I also would have loved to have felt more emotionally attached to the romance between Honoree and Ezekiel.
I felt both narratives could have been developed more to create a more immersive overall story, but it did surprise me a couple of times and in the end, I was entertained.