Stars: ***
This book was read as a part of the Beach Blanket Bonanza Challenge
This is the first of Alice Hoffman’s books that I’ve read that I didn’t rate 4 stars or higher. The premise is good, seeing the different people who live in one house over a period of two hundred years. However there were so many characters that I found it hard to follow who was who. I enjoyed it when the next set of people were somehow related to the previous set. When it seemed the next set of people were completely unrelated and had just moved in somehow, I didn’t like it as much. For example, we go from Ruby and Garnet and their mom to Lysander and there is no indication of where Lysander came from. It would have been better if a descendant of Ruby or Garnet had moved into the house. Also there were a few story lines I felt should have been explained better such as those of Vincent Hadley and Rosalyn Brooks and Husband.
Maybe it’s just me and how I read things because a lot of people have given more positive reviews of this book. Don’t get me wrong, I did like it and I had trouble putting it down but it was just a little too confusing for me.
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