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

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...

Robert Louis Stevenson: Pavilion on the Links

For anyone who has read Stevenson's short story "Pavilion on the Links" here is a short discussion of the story and a key passage. For anyone who hasn't, here is a short explication dealing with a passage from the short story. The prompt is as follows: In "The Pavilion on the Links," Frank Cassilis, the story's narrator, describes his friend Northmour: "My wife and I, a man and a woman, have often agreed to wonder how a person could be, at the same time, so handsome and so repulsive as Northmour. He had the appearance of a finished gentleman; his face bore every mark of intelligence and courage; but you had only to look at him, even in his most amiable moment, to see that he had the temper of a slaver captain. I never knew a character that was both explosive and revengeful to the same degree; he combined the vivacity of the south with the sustained and deadly hatreds of the north; and both traits were plainly written on his face, which was...

Brandon Sanderson: The Lost Metal - Wax & Wayne (Mistborn Era 2) Book 4

I finally finished Mistborn era 2! I loved this series so much (though I think I love era 1 the most still). This story was an incredible addition to Scadrial's story. In this final installment, we pick up in Elendel at a time of great uncertainty. The outer cities are threatening war, their tentative alliance with the Malwish is falling apart over the Bands of Mourning, and Wax is still in the middle of all of it. Now serving on the senate, Wax is desperately trying to help the Elendel nobles maintain peace while hunting the Set. Unsuccessful thus far at locating his sister, the leader of the Set, Wax is still trying to uncover her plans. Can Wax, Marasi, and Wayne uncover the Set's plans before the invasion of Trell crushes Scadrial? This was a fitting conclusion for Mistborn's second era. I loved the character development we saw in each of the characters: Marasi, Wax, Wayne, and Steris. I love the involvement of some era 1 characters (one who I am not going to spoil), a...

Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

Search This Blog