I absolutely loved ‘A Spanish Sunrise’ and was disappointed at discovering that this one didn’t hold my attention. I felt that Annalisa’s accomplishments were almost too perfect and some of the plot was a little on the cheesy side. I almost tossed it several times because of pacing and yelled at the characters for walking blindly into consequences as a result of their poor communication skills. I’ll be honest - I DNF’d this one and left it in Whittier, Alaska in a LFL. I hope it finds an excited...

Not sure how I ended up with a love story on my shelf, but I'm not too upset, it was a good book. The writing was good. The characters were well-developed and likable. The overall story was a little on the cheesy side, but a very enjoyable read. We follow Annalisa a young Italian girl from small town Maine with aspirations of moving to the "big city" and becoming an artist. Now is it super realistic that she accomplishes all her life goals by her mid twentys....no. Would the book have been bette...

I can't believe I actually got through this book. I felt like I was watching a tennis match with the main characters thoughts and actions bouncing back and forth. Could have been a good story but her constant (and I mean constant) questioning of everything was insane. I don't feel she was a very likable person. I know I didn't care for her.

so trite

This book had so many cliched tropes that there was no room for any story. I will never read another by this author.

The storyline is weak and idiotic.

⭐⭐⭐This one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I loved the big Italian family. The setting. The time period. A lot of the characters were very likable. All positive things. However, I found the writing to be simplistic. The pace incredibly slow. The book overly long. And the biggest issue was it contained one of my biggest pet peeves...lack of communication. Nothing annoys me more than when a simple conversation would clear the air, thus avoiding all the drama and long separation. 🤬 **ARC Via Net...

Outlier here. For me this was barely okay. I wanted to like it, but the overkill on 1960's and 1970's culture became too much (JFK; Elvis; a VW Beetle; Teaberry gum; Woodstock; Three Stooges; Black Panthers; Kent State; Nixon; various causes and protests; incense; and on and on). The author seemed to be trying too hard to show all the research that went into the book. One thing that really drove me crazy (ha, pun intended) was the weird tendency to write the model of a car every time it's mentio...

A Hallmark Movie in Book Form

I absolutely cannot believe the high ratings this book has received. It was completely predictable, overwhelmingly unbelievable, and the main character achieved all her life goals at warp speed (early 20s as I recall). This is the first time I’ve really disliked a book that had 4+ stars. Save yourself some time and possibly money on this one. PASS

"One day, I'm going to have an entire choir of them, like a big forest of singing trees, and I'm going to sit out there for hours and listen and let the world go."The prologue of The Singing Trees by Boo Walker starts in present day 2019. From there, it goes back to 1969 and chronologically tells the story of Annalisa Mancuso, a passionate and talented artist trying to find her voice during a very unsettling period in U.S. history and a difficult period of her life. So many books have dual timel...

I wouldn’t change a thing. When was the last time you could say that about a book? From the intriguing prologue through the touching epilogue, I was captivated by this story about a young woman coming of age in 1970s New England. Annalisa Mancuso is a budding artist determined to find success as a painter in the big city of Portland. While she has talent and determination in spades, life - in the form of first love, prejudice, and betrayal - makes her path a rocky one. The Vietnam War is also ra...