Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Book Review- Anxious Hearts

Last night I finished reading Anxious Hearts by Tucker Shaw for an Around the World Tour.

From Goodreads:

“Evangeline,” he repeated, calling at a whisper. “Evangeline.” He was not calling that she may hear, he was calling that somehow her soul might know that he was devoted entirely to her, only to her. “Evangeline, I will find you.”

Eva and Gabe explore the golden forest of their seaside Maine town, unknowingly tracing the footsteps of two teens, Evangeline and Gabriel, who once lived in the idyllic wooded village of Acadia more than one hundred years ago. On the day that Evangeline and Gabriel were be wed, their village was attacked and the two were separated. And now in the present, Gabe has mysteriously disappeared from Eva.

A dreamlike, loose retelling of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous love poem “Evangeline,” Anxious Hearts tells an epic tale of unrequited love and the hope that true love can be reunited.
 
Anxious Hearts was another just okay book for me.  It was hard to really connect with any of the characters in the story.  The book alternates viewpoints AND alternates time periods which I think makes it difficult to really care.  Eva tells the story of her and Gabe in the current time and Gabriel tells the story of him and Evangeline in the past.
 
One thing I do have to say is that the author painted a very vivid picture.  I could easily picture the setting and the feelings that the characters had.  But that being said, I think some of those feelings were a little off.  Gabe's response to what happened seemed a little too out there for me, and Eva's love of Gabe seemed to come out of nowhere too--it wasn't built really.
 
Overall, an okay story.  Something that I feel I would have had to read back when I was in school where I didn't love it, but didn't hate it either.
 
I gave this story a rating of 3/5.
 
This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2010 100+ Reading Challenge: 85
2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 64
ARC Reading Challenge 2010: 63
 
*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

1 comment:

  1. I pretty much felt the same way. I didn't like it. It was VERY rushed. :(

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