I got hooked by the summary. The cover was a plus for me, to apply for this novel. In the end, I borrowed it from the library to see how things would unfold and end for the main figure. Well. I am disappointed. This book wasn´t at all what I had expected. The plot was foreseeable, the characters seemed to live in whatever century ever but not in the present. And I wondered why the author used one word so many times.
A Place To Love
by Lilly LucasCherry Hill Series #1
Publisher Knaur on May 22, 2022
Genre Novel
Pages 333
Format Paperback
Source Library
Goodreads
✶✶✶
Since the sudden death of her father three years ago, Juniper (June) McCarthy has been running the family fruit farm, Cherry Hill, with her mother and sisters. The 25-year-old loves the farm in rural Colorado and feels responsible for the family business that meant so much to her father and is struggling financially. That's why she dumped her great love Henry under a pretext so as not to stand in the way of his future plans in Wales. However, when he turns up at Cherry Hill one day, he plunges June into an absolute emotional chaos... (personal translation by ©Vi at Inkvotary).
Story
Juniper is convinced that she can only save her heritage and her family if she sacrifices herself. She works day and night to keep the farm running. Fun is a word she doesn´t know. But the moment her husband arrives she is thrown out of her daily routine and life. But what can she do to keep him secure and make him live the life, she believes is the best for him? Correct. Nothing.
Style
The author put this novel into words in a very gentle, almost boring way. In places, Lilly Lucas reaches very deeply into the cliché box in order to bring out scenes and dialogues. After only a few chapters, I was annoyed by the attitude of the main character Juniper toward life in general and her legacy in the orchard.
I am far from the absolute enthusiasm that others feel for this novel. The obviously limited vocabulary of the author and the openly displayed naivety and short-sightedness regarding general knowledge or the famous "thinking outside the box" also contributed to the fact that I asked myself in which century this story actually takes place. Because here the customs from the fifties were obviously lived and presented.
Characters
I'm slowly but surely fed up with female protagonists who feel they have to give up themselves and their lives, so to speak sacrifice themselves so that the family business can continue. Who doesn't have fun in life, no balance in their daily work, and no Friends? At least none she is in regular contact with. Juniper, the protagonist, does just that. And the fact that she croaks in almost every dialogue only made it worse. Didn't the author find enough synonyms to make it more varied?
Juniper is a young woman in her early twenties who sees herself as a self-sacrifice in order to save her family legacy and those she loves from a "difficult fate" at her side. It would have been bearable for me as a reader if she had at least asked the relevant people if that was ok. But no, Juniper simply decides, acts accordingly, and then bravely endures its oh-so-difficult fate. She must not have any fun or even joy in her life. God forbid, that could be the downfall of her inheritance, for which she works day and night and still can't get out of her money worries. Why might that be? Certainly not because of their eagerness to work. Juniper is convinced of that. That was an admirable attitude at the beginning of the book. I found the protagonist to be refreshingly different. After a few chapters, the opposite was the case. Unfortunately.
Conclusion
For me, that was unfortunately only mediocre, often cheesy average. After a great start in terms of both story and characters. After that, unfortunately, it only went downhill. A pity. Wasted time. Don´t think that I will read the other books.
Happy reading
Lilly Lucas
Lilly Lucas was born in Ansbach, Germany, in 1987 and studied German in Bamberg. Today she lives in Würzburg with her husband, her son, and countless books. Her romance novels became Spiegel bestsellers. When she is not writing novels about love and life, she prefers to see the world, stick her nose in books or live out her addiction to films and series on the couch at home.
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