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A review by alexx_nickh
Sweet Forgiveness by Lori Nelson Spielman
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
To forgive and to be forgiven are both topics we as humans are conflicted with and that we need to adress and be adressed throughout our lives. This is also a topic author Lori Nelson Spielman talks about in her novel Sweet Forgiveness.
This novel follows Hannah Farr who has her own TV show, a seemingly wonderful boyfriend that's also the city's major and that she intends to marry. When she gets a letter from a former classmate who used to bully her and invents a national phenomenon where you sent one person you forgive a little peddle stone back and sent another to a person you want to forgive you. This is the opportunity for Hannah to reconcile with her mother who she hasn't seen ever since she'd been a teenager.
Generelly, this is an interesting topic and because I really liked Lori Nelson Spielman's other novels, I was exited to read this, not really knowing what I was getting myself into and really enjoying the first half of it. I had quite a few struggle with her as a character, she read more like a teenager than a grown woman to me which only got worse as the story continued on and which lowered my enjoyment of anything in this story a whole ton.
Not only this but the conversation this book strikes regarding topics such as toxic romantic relationships,child abuse and sexual assault is just harmful and made me incredibly mad. The way these topics are discussed and excused, especially the latter, was just wrong. Not properly adressing these topics when choosing to include them in a novel, is just bad and can strike a wrong expectation how victims should behave, that they need to support the abusers, the ones that don't deserve exactly that, no matter their circumstances. This factor destroyed any enjoyment I had reading this book and makes me doubt if I'll ever read another book by the author going further.
The only reason why this book has 1.5 not 1 star is because there was a twist near the ending that I didn't see coming and that I quite liked. Everything else, was just not it, especially when the story was washed down to a random love story with no depth.
This sadly wasn't the book for me which I find quite sad.
This novel follows Hannah Farr who has her own TV show, a seemingly wonderful boyfriend that's also the city's major and that she intends to marry. When she gets a letter from a former classmate who used to bully her and invents a national phenomenon where you sent one person you forgive a little peddle stone back and sent another to a person you want to forgive you. This is the opportunity for Hannah to reconcile with her mother who she hasn't seen ever since she'd been a teenager.
Generelly, this is an interesting topic and because I really liked Lori Nelson Spielman's other novels, I was exited to read this, not really knowing what I was getting myself into and really enjoying the first half of it. I had quite a few struggle with her as a character, she read more like a teenager than a grown woman to me which only got worse as the story continued on and which lowered my enjoyment of anything in this story a whole ton.
Not only this but the conversation this book strikes regarding topics such as toxic romantic relationships,
The only reason why this book has 1.5 not 1 star is because there was a twist near the ending that I didn't see coming and that I quite liked. Everything else, was just not it, especially when the story was washed down to a random love story with no depth.
This sadly wasn't the book for me which I find quite sad.