Smiling Mom

A few weeks ago I recei­ved the novel, For­give Me by Amanda Eyre Ward, in the mail from the publisher for review. I was quite exci­ted to begin rea­ding! While pic­king sto­ries to read, I’m pretty easy to please. I have only a few requi­re­ments for my light night­time reading.

–First, the chap­ters have to be short. When I lay down in the middle of the night at the end of the day, I often read for about fif­teen minu­tes. I like being able to start and com­plete a chap­ter within that time.

–Second, the books needs to be an easy read. Let’s face it. My brain is tired and I don’t want to think too hard about what I’m rea­ding. I just want to be entertained.

–Third, I like feel good’ sto­ries, and some­ti­mes mys­te­ries. But I only like mys­te­ries if thy don’t keep me up with night­ma­res. A girl’s gotta get her beauty sleep!
So, like I said, I’m easy.

For­give Me is a story about Nadine Mor­gan, a jour­na­list, who has been on the road repor­ting in dif­fe­rent coun­tries for the past ten years. The majo­rity of the story takes place when Nadine goes back to South Africa to cover a mur­der trial. During this time Nadine is faced with her past and has to make a deci­sion about who she is and who she wants to become.

So For­give Me met my first cri­te­ria. The chap­ters were mana­gea­ble and I didn’t really ever find myself searching for the end of the chap­ter. This is always a plea­sant surprise!

For­give Me was also a pretty easy read for me. But, unfor­tu­na­tely, I found that I just never con­nec­ted with the main cha­rac­ter, Nadine. I some­ti­mes found it to be a chore to pick up the novel and read. Nadine was not too lika­ble or hate-able enough for me to love. She was just somewhere in the middle. I had a hard time rela­ting to her through most of the story.

I felt that Amanda Eyre Ward’s wri­ting lac­ked something. Maybe it was my ina­bi­lity to con­nect with the main cha­rac­ter, or that the story didn’t flow and nicely as I wished, but it was mis­sing the ‘it fac­tor’ that makes fall in love with a novel.

Although I strug­gled to con­nect with Nadine, I found that I went back to the story night after night. There was something that drew me back to For­give Me. Maybe it was my desire to learn more about a world that I knew nothing about. Maybe it was Amanda Eyre Ward’s story. Either way, it kept me coming back.

If I were to grade For­give Me, I’d have to give it somewhere around a C+. The chap­ters were short, her wri­ting easy to read, but it wasn’t really a feel good story or a mys­tery. It was more of a jour­ney. A jour­ney of a woman whom in the end I strug­gled to con­nect with and love.