For some reason, I keep reading this series, although the past three books weren´t really mine. Maybe it is because I hope that the author will go back to her fun and charming style she used to have in the first few books of the Green Mountain series. This fifth book was again, not as good as the start of this series has been. But nevertheless, I read it. Good, I wasn´t as thrilled, as I used to be while reading, but I hope that this series will change back to the way the author started.
It´s Only Love*
by Marie ForceGreen Mountain Series #5
Publisher Berkley on November 3, 2015
Genre Novel
Pages 320
Format Paperback
Source Publisher*
Goodreads
✶✶✶½
Ella Abbott has long been secretly in love with Gavin Guthrie. A few recent encounters have only added to her infatuation, especially the kiss they shared at her sister´s wedding. It doesn´t matter to Ella that Gavin is in a bad place. He says there´s no hope for a future with him, that he has nothing to offer her. But all Ella cares about it the love she feels. It´s been seven long years since Gavin lost his brother. He´d kept himself under control and moving forward until his brother´s beloved dog died and his brother´s widow re-married. Since then, he´s been drinking, fighting, and even getting arrested. It seems the only time his demons leave him alone is when Ella is around. Gavin knows it wouldn´t be fair to drag Ella into his darkness, but when she inserts herself into his life, what choice does he have but to allow her to soothe his aching heart?
Story
Ella would do anything, and give anything if she could take away the pain Gavin, the love of her life, is feeling. But she has to learn it the painful way, that she can´t help every person. And with her mother and her happy siblings around it is not easy for Ella, to understand why Gavin is rejecting her all the time.
Style
In some places, I´ve always wondered if Gavin is simply stuck in self-destructive grief, suffers from severe depression, or simply has an alcohol problem. I do not know exactly, but I do not want to think about it anymore. Suffice it to say that this fifth band has very dark notes in it, and unbelievable many repetitions, both in terms of single words, as well as whole sentences and the constitution of Gavin. At some point that was too much for me, and again it is the other Abbott´s who have their performances, thus saving the novel from total annihilation. Gentle and sensitive, but also incredibly dark is It´s Only Love written by the author. And if you ask me, too dark sometimes.
The author is increasingly moving in a direction that somehow covers everything that the emotional world of humanity has to offer. Self-destruction, hate, depression, grief, heartache, happy couples, and over-anxious men. The range is big, but not always well tolerable. The protagonist is rather pale, even if she carries a power that is amazing.
Characters
Ella is a very helpful person who would like to save everyone from himself as well as the greater evil. That this is not always possible, she feels even the most painful.
Gavin still mourns. Only the responsibility for his company and his parents protect him from the final crash. Occasionally I would like to have him slapped against the wall and asked why he always things so negative about himself and thinks that he isn´t good enough for nothing and no one.
Conclusion
No question, I have become an absolute Marie Force fan and love this series very much. But I also have to say that this book does not correspond again to what I am used to from the author as well as the series. A nice novel, no doubt about that. I lacked the lightness in spite of the dark sides that are otherwise inherent in the author´s novels. This book is, to my mind, a bit too dark and contains too many repetitions.
Happy reading
*I read the German edition new release by Fischer TB on May 24, 2017
Marie Force
Marie Force is the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling, award-winning author of contemporary romance. She writes series as well as stand-alone novels. While her husband was in the U.S. Navy, Marie lived in Spain, Maryland, and Florida, and she is now settled in her home state of Rhode Island.
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