26 October 2011

16 Lighthouse Road by Debbie Macomber

16 Lighthouse road
Debbie Macomber
ISBN #: 978-1551668307
Publisher Name:  Harlequin Enterprises/Mira Books
Date Released:  September 2001
Genre: Contemporary Romance    
Book Format:  Print


BACK COVER BLURB:

"Dear Reader, You don't know me yet, but in a few hours that's going to change. You see, I'm inviting you to my home and my town of Cedar Cove because I want you to meet my family, friends and neighbors. Come and hear their stories-maybe even their secrets!

"I have to admit that my own secrets are pretty open. My marriage failed some years ago, and I have a rather...difficult relationship with my daughter, Justine. Then there's my mother, Charlotte, who has plenty of opinions and is always willing to share them.

"Here's an example: I'm a family court judge and she likes to drop in on my courtroom. Recently I was hearing a divorced petition. In Charlotte's view, young Cecilia and Ian Randall hadn't tried hard enough to make their marriage work-and I agreed. So I rendered my judgment: Divorce Denied.
"Well, you wouldn't believe the reaction! Thanks to an article by Jack Griffin, the editor of our local paper (and a man I wouldn't mind seeing more of!), everyone's talking.

"Cedar Cover-people love it and sometimes they leave it, but they never forget it!

"See you soon...Olivia."


COVER SNARK:
Meh.



LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:
I've never read Debbie Macomber before and one of my twitter buddies suggested that I try her Cedar Cove series so I requested the first book in the series from my library.

It was interesting. The writing was emotional and compelling. When I opened the novel, I got sucked into the situation with Cecilia and Ian a young married couple having to deal with the loss of their child, their new marriage, and Ian's military career. I think those two resonated with me the most because when I was a Sergeant in the Army, I saw a lot of young couples going through the same thing (not exactly the death of a child, but all the others) while trying to adjust and fit into a military life. Even when Cecilia was annoying to me, blaming Ian for things, he couldn't change and her lack of maturity annoyed me, I still got her. I saw girls exactly like her (heck I had soldiers under me who were like her) when I was in the military.

16 LIGHTHOUSE ROAD has an interesting cast of characters. From Olivia, the judge who denied a petition from the divorcing Ian and Cecilia forcing them to work out their problems, her love interest Jack who has a murky past, her best friend Grace whose husband walks out on her after thirty-five years of marriage, her mother Charlotte, and her daughter Justine. All these stories were layered and I had a hard time trying to figure out where she was going with each storyline because it was so nuanced.

Yet, despite all my praise, I had issues with 16 LIGHTHOUSE ROAD. My main issue, is because there were so many characters (the story is step up as a soap opera minus the millionaires and the implausible plot lines), it was hard for me to really focus on and root for the characters. I don't know if this will be addressed in later books, but 16 LIGHTHOUSE ROAD didn't seem to have an ending so you didn't get that satisfying happily ever after feel. It also took me a long time to read this book (about two weeks), because there were too many characters to focus on. 16 LIGHTHOUSE ROAD was the book I picked up when I didn't have another book handy to read.

While I loved the writing and characters, I missed not having a main character or plot thread to focus on. However, since I did love the writing and characters, I will continue the series (through my library) but it's not something that I must read, nor am I interested in re-reading them.



WHERE PURCHASED:
Borrowed from the library.


RATING:









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2 people posted their 2 cents:

Anonymous said...

Janet W Excellent summation. They're good go-with-the-flow books and now that she's finished the series, there's no waiting for who HEAs w/whom.

Lynette said...

Janet. They are good books, but I don't see myself getting caught up with wow, I MUST have it. Though I am going to the library in a little bit for story time and will pick up the next one, so maybe I'm a hypocrite! LOL!

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