Skip to main content

Kwame Dawes: The Mountain and the Sea

I was scrolling through the month's selection of Audible Originals and this was one that came up. From the summary, it sounded interesting, though I thought it would have more of a fantastical spin. 

Disclaimer for this post: Romance is not my usual genre, and it's not one that I usually like either. That's probably why I rated this so low.

At any rate, The Mountain and the Sea is about a widowed artist, Esther who lives in Jamaica. She has a house on a small island off the coast, as well as an art studio. She tends to head there during hurricanes and other tropical storms. On her way to the island, she comes across a naked man lying on the side of the road. He has no memory of who he is, what happened to him, or even where he is, and how he got there. Esther takes him to her island home to wait out the coming storm. In the time after the storm passes, they fall in love, the first love Esther really feels she's ever had. Will this love story last? Will Monty remember who he is and what's happened to him?

As I said before, I didn't love this book. It was cute, sure, but the plot was drawn out, even though it's not very long, to begin with. I struggled to get into it and to keep reading. I liked Monty and how he developed, even though you get the sense that it's not truly him you're discovering. I found the ending a little anticlimactic after all of the romantic tension buildups. I almost wanted Esther and Monty to stay together!

Overall rating: R-full on sex scene, masturbating scene, 1 star


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Some Forgotten Thoughts--Eragon vs. The Belgariad

I forgot to mention something I noticed about Eragon in my last post.  If any of you have read David Edding's Belgariad series, then you might have realized that many ideas about the workings of magic in Eragon follow along with the Belgariad .  For example, the "Be Not" principle is a very important one in book three of the Belgariad  and has some of the same effects that it does in Inheritance (book four of the cycle).  "Magic" in Eragon can be equated to "sorcery" in The Belgariad .  Magic in both series depends upon your personal strength.  You can't bring people back from the dead (this is a common rule throughout all of the magical fantasy).  Another similarity is that there are different kinds of magic.  Shades are spirits trapped in the mortal world in Eragon .  Eddings actually portrays basically the same idea as an actual demon.  Mispronunciation or breaking of concentration will cause the Shade or demon to destroy the ma...

Brandon Sanderson: The Emperor's Soul

As Elantris  is probably my favorite Sanderson book of all time, I was excited to see this novella that takes place in the same world. I listened to this on Audible, and it went really quickly (I think it's about 3 hours total). The Emperor's Soul  follows the story of Shei, a Forger, who has been arrested for Forging a copy of a painting in the Emperor's palace. Unbeknownst to Shei, the Emperor was injured in an assassination attempt, and his mind was broken. Knowing her great skill, the bureaucrats in charge of the Empire offer her a trade: her life, for a forgery of the Emperor's soul. This feat is nearly impossible, and Shei knows this, but she accepts the chance at freedom. Will Shei actually be able to recreate the Emperor? This novella was beautifully written. I loved Shei's personality, and the conflicts she had with the Empire. I found it fascinating to learn more about her, and her attempts to thwart being manipulated. I thought her story was fascinating i...

Dashka Slater: The 57 Bus

 I picked this one up to possibly use in my AP class. It had been recommended to me by one of my coworkers and I was trying to decide if it was worth using in AP. The 57 Bus  recounts the true story of two teens whose happenstance meeting on a public bus in Oakland, California. Sasha identified as nonbinary, liked to wear skirts, and went to a private school in Oakland. Richard was a black student, a good kid, but also tended to get mixed up in trouble. He went to a public school in Oakland's poorer side of town. One day, Sasha was riding the bus as they always did back to their house from school. This time though, Sasha fell asleep on the long ride. Richard and his friends boarded the bus as well, and seeing the skirt hanging off the edge of the seat, decided to see what would happen with a lighter. The material of the skirt burst into flames, and suddenly Sasha was burning. This story is unbelievably sad for both teenagers involved. In working with teenagers, one thing is tr...