Book Review: With All My Love

When Veronica recieved this from S&S, she was quite excited to read a novel that promised an endearing story about how a seemingly necessary decision could affect the lives of three generations of women. Patricia Scanlan wrote a tale full of drama, hardships and life in a small town. Her ability to seamless weave between the generations kept us turning the pages even if we couldn't necessarily relate to any of the topics.


VERONICA
I have a particular soft spot for chick lit and stories that bounce from the past to the present. 

Patricia Scanlan touched on a topic that many women today don't need to fear anymore - the stigma of being an unwed mother. But for a young woman in the 70s, this can be a harrowing and scary time, especially if you live in a small town. 

Relationships are inherently complicated and ones that involve women are more so. We're just so prone to stubbornness and using that to fuel our misunderstandings. 

Everything that we did in the past will reverberate to what happens in our future. Valerie and Tessa's dislike for each other was instant and lasting. And it wasn't until age and wisdom settled in that they finally met on common ground and resolved something that shouldn't have even mattered in the first place. 

This is my first Patricia Scanlan novel (how have I not heard of her before?) and I'm sure won't be my last. 


ASHLEY
I have to be honest; I didn’t like this book. I have nothing against chick lit and often find comfort in it when I’m in the right mood, and while this had all the makings for such an experience, it just didn't do it for me.

I guess I just had a hard time relating to the characters. Not that I have to have personal experience with something to relate to a situation that they’re going through in order to have any kind of empathy, but I just didn’t agree with the character’s actions and reactions and couldn’t find any kind of compassion for them. Which doesn’t speak to the book or the writing, it was just my own personal reaction to the story.

We received this as an Advanced Readers Copy, so I’m not sure what the final product ended up like, but I also found it very repetitive and in need of some tightening up. Perhaps that did happen, but it was the first time I have read an ARC where the unedited version made an impact on my enjoyment of it.

There were definitely interesting parts, but overall this just wasn’t my thing.

CityGirls Rating: 3 Glasses of Wine out of 5

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