I’m ashamed to say this book has been sat on my bookshelf for too long. I kept hearing great things about it but on my shelf it managed to stay. Whilst it took me till about 30% in to be invested in the story I’m glad I persevered because I devoured the rest of this book in a day!
I loved Augusta and the simplicity of her views that people often mistook for being weird or less intelligent. Her fascination with words amused me and made me realise there are probably a lot of ways I could expand my vocabulary. Justa were a sweet pair and I loved seeing how their relationship developed/changed, especially where Diego was concerned. Parfait was an interesting character and his story was so fascinating. Whilst this book is a work of fiction his character represents what happened to real people and it saddens me to think that it did. I would love to see a further book where he goes back to see his brother and Victor, to have that family reunion.
As well as having interesting and memorable characters the setting was brilliant. Joanna Glen describes the scenery beautifully, I would love to of galloped along the beach or witnessed the flamenco dancing and hopefully one day I will.
There were some very touching scenes and apart from the obvious ones there were many that brought tears to me eyes. I particularly liked the telephone conversation between Augusta and her mother towards the end of the story. It felt like they both finally got the closure they needed.
At the end of the book I felt that everything was neatly tied up and finished. I loved the link between Augusta and Parfait, by the end I didn’t mind her father too much either! This story spoke volumes about family, love, friendship and had a very interesting take on it, what a great first novel. I can’t wait to see what Joanna Glen writes next.
This is another one to add to my Beat the Backlist Challenge and I think I’ll cross off ‘wish it had a sequel’ on my bingo card. I also earn one more point on the Cheapskate Reading Challenge and get to cross one book off my Netgalley Library Readathon!
I loved Augusta and the simplicity of her views that people often mistook for being weird or less intelligent. Her fascination with words amused me and made me realise there are probably a lot of ways I could expand my vocabulary. Justa were a sweet pair and I loved seeing how their relationship developed/changed, especially where Diego was concerned. Parfait was an interesting character and his story was so fascinating. Whilst this book is a work of fiction his character represents what happened to real people and it saddens me to think that it did. I would love to see a further book where he goes back to see his brother and Victor, to have that family reunion.
As well as having interesting and memorable characters the setting was brilliant. Joanna Glen describes the scenery beautifully, I would love to of galloped along the beach or witnessed the flamenco dancing and hopefully one day I will.
There were some very touching scenes and apart from the obvious ones there were many that brought tears to me eyes. I particularly liked the telephone conversation between Augusta and her mother towards the end of the story. It felt like they both finally got the closure they needed.
At the end of the book I felt that everything was neatly tied up and finished. I loved the link between Augusta and Parfait, by the end I didn’t mind her father too much either! This story spoke volumes about family, love, friendship and had a very interesting take on it, what a great first novel. I can’t wait to see what Joanna Glen writes next.
This is another one to add to my Beat the Backlist Challenge and I think I’ll cross off ‘wish it had a sequel’ on my bingo card. I also earn one more point on the Cheapskate Reading Challenge and get to cross one book off my Netgalley Library Readathon!