Illuminated

by Erica Orloff

[e_rodz_leb]

Let me put it this way:


Did the book have romance? Yes, of the instant, all consuming kind.

Did the book have a mystery? Yes, one that was interesting, but kind of estrange and with historical / paranormal undertones.

Do I believe in soul mates? Of course I do! After all I married mine almost 20 years ago!

Did I like the book? Yes, just not as much as I was expecting to like it.


I think one of the big issues that I have is that the characters were easy to identify with. We have Callie, which is a sweet and very smart teenager that has many problems with her dad and who enjoys her time with her uncle and his partner a lot more. Her mother’s past is a mystery and I felt like there were a lot of loose ends.


The story of Heloise and Abelard was new to me and I appreciate the historical undertones of the novel, BUT (you saw that one coming, right?) I feel like the story was all over the place. There were little details that didn’t make sense to me. For example, a ‘book thief’ is introduced and linked to a certain event and there was no follow up; another example is Callie’s mother’s story, it felt disjointed for some reason as well as August’s taking off after what happened to his dad. The writing was fine. I don’t know how to express how much I hope to like the story and how disappointed I was that I didn’t.


About the cover: The cover is truly beautiful, I think it’s the best thing about the book J