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Post by garej on Mar 8, 2017 17:22:44 GMT 1
It really is a strange one, I certainly wouldn't say it's dire, in fact there's good stuff in it, there's just something about the damn thing than doesn't motivate me to keep reading. Normally if I found it this hard to get through a book I'd give it a bad rating but I just don't feel like I could rate it poor. Like I said, a really odd one! What do other folk think? Kunuma - I love the Discworld books. Which are your favs - I love the Witches and the Death books best. I am the same Claire. So far if I was reviewing it on amazon I was give it 3 stars. Caroline Akrill has talent and I don't mind the occasional f word. Normally religious quotes bother me (I once got into a argument with a religious person on another forum but we got talking and once we sorted our religious difference out we became great friends so much so that we exchange Christmas cards) but this time it doesn't. I am glad that I got it as an present because I would be sending it back if I bought it myself.
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Post by darkhorse on Mar 11, 2017 17:08:19 GMT 1
I think I have run out of steam with this one. Unless I have a sudden burst of enthusiasm in the next few days I'm probably going to give up on it.
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Post by garej on Mar 13, 2017 13:28:30 GMT 1
I made some headway with it last night. I don't know if it's because I have a cold or what but it's picked up because there's a horsey bit in it.
I think that there's just too many characters in it. I keep on getting confused as who is who.
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Post by Claire on Mar 13, 2017 19:15:33 GMT 1
Garej - totally agree about there being too many characters. I still have to finish it. I think I will give it one last go at the weekend. Trouble is I just discovered a new author (non-horsy) and have been reading all of her books so I haven't really felt tempted by the Caroline Akrill one.
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Post by rallycairn on Mar 23, 2017 3:35:56 GMT 1
Finally picked it back up enough to get going again and knocked out a couple of chapters today. New characters still being introduced, and I am certain I don't have all the other ones straight anymore, if I ever did. But it has picked up a tiny bit. The family of Mary, Tony, Tom, and (?) Emily just got introduced, right after Norman, who works with Elsie and Genevra and Yvonne. Whew. Lot of characters.
One of those List of Characters sections at the beginning, while a bit kindergarten-ish I guess, would be nice for this one!
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Post by garej on Apr 29, 2017 14:23:10 GMT 1
Thanks to a neighbour's constantly barking dog all night I managed to finish the book.
It's biggest problem is that there was too many characters. I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't about the practical parts of actually doing the house up to become a hotel. I thought that when it came to the practical part of the hotel up and running it drew on Caroline akrill ' s personal experience. I did like the horsey action and the last quarter of the book when the ensemble made sense. It's the jumble in the book and a boring/weak middle almost made me give up on the book.
To me it wasn't obviously set in the 1980s and didn't read that it was set then.
Would I read it again? Yes but I am in no hurry. I think it's the weakest of Caroline ' s books.
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Post by Claire on May 2, 2017 11:08:17 GMT 1
Well done Garej. I did try but had to give up in the end. It was just too meandering. I think it was self published and thus perhaps suffered from having no editorial input tightening up the plot and chopping out a lot of the characters. I agree that it's her weakest book.
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Post by rallycairn on May 13, 2017 4:57:16 GMT 1
Ugh, I got too irritated with the anachronisms and finally quit fairly near the end. After Akrill actually had the nerve to have one group lose their way to the hotel and have the driver pop in a pub for refreshment and directions, noting that this was pre-GPS times, she has several references to teens wasting their time on the internet, buying something on amazon, etc. Umm, sorry, the internet and GPS and amazon were not yet in existence! I wish it had focused on the characters more. Maybe a two volume companion series, with the first one being about getting the hotel financing together and the behind the scenes look at the refurbishment, and the characters of the owners and staff -- then book 2 could have been about the ensemble of guests?
The little girl's big reveal scene was much too saccharine/twee for me, as well. Just stood out as too contrived.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
The baronet's gravestone inscription is included, dating the story to the 1980s -- but why? There really wasn't any big reason for it to be set then.
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Post by garej on May 13, 2017 13:49:25 GMT 1
If it weren't for the gravestone at the end dating the book to the 80s I would have assumed that it was set in the present day. I, like many people, lived through the 1980s and there was no talk of the political unease or even Thatcher. It wasn't until the great detail of the hunting scenes that it gave hint to the fact that it was set in the past. I assumed that the lack of mobiles was due to no coverage and lack of Internet was due to it being a rural location. Or perhaps they were having too much fun to bother with technology.
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