Amanda

I read this book on audio and will definitely need to go back and read on a physical format. Puzzle examples don’t lend well to audio, however the author did a great job keeping the audio engaging.

I enjoyed the perspective that Jacobs shared. It was highly thought provoking, offering different perspectives of solving puzzles. I tend to gravitate towards puzzles and love working on them so the content matter was engaging for me. It was interesting to hear about puzzles not being just logic based but also requiring creativity and ingenuity!

This was an adorable, lighthearted read that was amusing at times. I relate well to characters who are not very socially inclined but seem to have been taken under the wing of an extrovert.

There was a bit of adventure in the second half, but overall a delightfully easy read! I’m looking forward to the next books to see what other journeys Emily finds herself on!

I enjoyed the premise of the story where all these characters, hundreds of years apart, are connected by a single story, written many years ago, nearly lost to time.

The pacing felt very uneven, with about the beginning 40% feeling extremely slow and dragged on. Each character’s stories were unique and but not necessarily interesting. There was a theme of loss of childhood throughout each characters’ backgrounds which makes sense why the interwoven story of a paradise so appealing to each character.

Konstance’s was most interesting to me. What she learned really ties all the story lines together. Omeir & Anna’s stories seemed very isolated from the others and detracted from how each character was linked with the another. Maybe I missed something. 🤷‍♀️

I couldn’t decide whether I liked the book overall. Felt quite average and felt much of it could have been pared down without much impact to the overall story.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was quite flat. I would’ve enjoyed it more if the story was just Liam and Cory’s relationship. All this extra bouncing around with his kids felt like an odd way to tell Liam’s story. It didn’t give us enough time to understand Liam and Cory, but their story was the center of it all.

It’s a quick read, so I couldn’t help but finish it. Predictable. I would have liked a little more time with the side characters- Sam, Tommy, Jack. The main characters were just frustrating. Why are they making these same decisions year after year?!