I left off with book #10, which is about a skier in Finland. I got a few chapters in and was so bored, I didn't finish it...for several months.
Seriously, my review for book #9 was in April.
This one was just plain disappointing. The main character isn't that interesting. She's from a family of competitive skiers and suffers from the need to not be compared to them all the time. When she struggles with her jumps in Finland, she gets help from a guy and that blossoms into romance, but is then complicated by the bitchy daughter of her host family.
This is another of those books that pretty much focuses on one thing, the skiing, and forgets the most important things to S.A.S.S.: the scholarship and the culture.
The daughter's actions also go mostly unresolved. She was a bitch because she wanted to get her family's attention, but this isn't dealt with at all. She makes things right with the main character, but nothing happens with her family.
There's also a dull side plot with the main's friend liking a male friend and that just wasn't handled well either.
Definitely one of the worst of the series.
Thankfully, it's followed by one of the best of the series.
Delk is a Tennessee society girl off to Ireland to escape her father and his child bride pregnant new wife and her "presentation" into Nashville society. Delk's big issue is that her mom died two years ago and she doesn't want to talk about it or how she's still not over it or how her stepmother changing everything in their house is hurting her.
So she heads to Ireland for a semester to escape.
This one ticks all the right boxes. Delk has family drama and it pervades the book, but it's done well and indicates how she heals and comes to terms with her problems over the course of the semester.
The supporting cast is good: a sporty girl, a sophisticated wannabe model who's obsessed with Paris, a scholarly girl and her wild brothers who have ADHD.
The romance is also good, because they actually delve into it pretty quickly and the pair are quite suited to each other. They're cute.
And we actually get to learn a lot about Ireland, visit several places and watch Delk do hard work for her classes.
The next one heads back to France to check in with Nicole again, then the final regular book is the first one I reviewed about China. The last book in the series is a super special. So only two more reviews to go and this series is done!
No comments:
Post a Comment