Book Synopsis:
Sadie Jones experienced extreme devastation at only nine years old. Now on the cusp of her high school graduation, Sadie is more than ready for a future that will take her away from the small town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia…
As the year is wrapping up, she catches the attention of a cute lobster fisherman who works down at the local docks. Tom Carter is everything Sadie would want—he’s charming, honest, and hardworking, but will he ever be able to accept her distrust of God?
When a stranger from her mother’s past reaches out, Sadie finds herself poised to experience the culture and adventure she’s always dreamed of, but she also is on the brink of emotional breakdown.
Will she open her heart to God’s plan for her life and will she find hope and love at the ocean’s edge?
My Review:
3/5 stars. I liked the concept of this book and the overall arc that the main character had, but it wasn't executed very well. The pacing wasn't great. The beginning was well-paced, but the middle dragged for a while, and then the ending felt rushed. I also had an issue with how the love interest and romance was handled. In the end, it was resolved well, though.
I wasn't the biggest fan of the writing style. Not just because of personal preference, but because it wasn't good at times. The first chapter was full of exposition dumps that got boring. There were lots of long, overly detailed descriptions of characters' appearances, personalities, and backstories. To be honest, I don't even remember much information from those descriptions because they were barely brought up again throughout the rest of the book. Also with the writing style, it just felt "off" a lot. There was some incorrect grammar, and it had a lot of overly cheesy writing.
I have a couple issues with the romance. First, it felt very insta-love. Sadie bumped into TOm once and then suddenly couldn't stop thinking about him for the next few days, going as far as doodling her name with his last name. That's very extreme and ridiculous.
My main issue with the romance, though, is that it was like missionary dating. Tom flirts with her and talks to her about God at the same time. He asks her out, knowing full well that she's not a Christian, only to tell her on their date, "we can't be romantically involved if we can't agree." He led her on and never should've asked her out in the first place. In the end, I was happy that the book acknowledged he made a mistake, and I loved that he apologized, but it still wasn't handled the best.
The setup for Sadie's arc was done well. I knew where it was going to go in the end but still rooted for her to become a Christian. It's a similar plot to a novel I'm working on, so it was familiar. However, her change at the end felt very sudden. She became a Christian and she suddenly recognized every single flaw she has and has a perfect outlook on life. It's not that fast in real life.
I liked the plot twist with her brother. I wasn't expecting it. It was a little unrealistic that she would be so quick to hop on a plane alone to visit a stranger, despite it being her brother, but it was still a nice plot. That ended up being a bigger plot than the romance, and I liked her dynamic with Mark and his family.
Once she got to England, though, the plot started to drag. There was a whole lot of nothing happening. She spent many chapters hanging out and exploring England, but nothing that really moved the plot forward.
Content:
Language: None
Sexual Content: Mention of a porn addiction, a story about someone getting pregnant as a teenager, men flirt with and make innuendos about Sadie in a way that make her uncomfortable
Violence/Gore: Sadie's parents died in a car accident, but this isn't described much
Drugs/Alcohol: Mentions of people drinking irresponsibly as teenagers, mention of someone dying of a drug overdose
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