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morpmeep's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It's hard to rate this book lower than 3 because of the affection i have towards the series. but... this novel was tough.
Emily really does feel like a shell of herself, and she gets a bit stuck in a cycle of melancholy. which, we absolutely all do as we age, and I appreciated that take in a way, but the escaping of the cycle and her transition to happiness only happen in the last 4 pages or so. this was especially jarring when experienced via audiobook. I agree with many of the other reviews.
one of the best parts of this series are the characters, but so many of them are now only mentioned in passing or through epistolary means. i wanted so much more of aunt Elizabeth's coming around to Emily's stories.
Emily really does feel like a shell of herself, and she gets a bit stuck in a cycle of melancholy. which, we absolutely all do as we age, and I appreciated that take in a way, but the escaping of the cycle and her transition to happiness only happen in the last 4 pages or so. this was especially jarring when experienced via audiobook. I agree with many of the other reviews.
one of the best parts of this series are the characters, but so many of them are now only mentioned in passing or through epistolary means. i wanted so much more of aunt Elizabeth's coming around to Emily's stories.
laurendeen's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved this book ❤❤❤❤ I've always liked Anne of Green Gables, but Emily is a now an all time favorite of mine.
elisakissa's review against another edition
2.0
This is the weakest book in the series. The tone is melancholic, but not in a romantic, touching way. In a depressing, Emily-come-on-pull-yourself-togehter-for-gods-sake type of way.
I felt like the story dragged on without nothing particularly significant happening for pages and pages on end. Most of the book was filled with different suitors going in and out, while Emily goes through the motions - she gets up, writes, feels dead inside, describes the nature outside her windows in decorative words, writes, goes back to bed. The years go by. I felt like her writing was no longer the central part of the story. She kept writing for magazines and she even got her novel published. But all of this was told to us like the author was just reporting it to us. The dreamy, poetic writer girl whom I fell in love with was gone. Instead we were faced with the sullen, practical Emily, whose creativity felt like a dog on a leash and whose writing seemed to only mean a career anymore.
And don't get me started on her love life. I never rooted for Teddy, because I felt like them being "destined to be together" was too obvious, and Teddy's character never was fleshed out enough for me to like him. But when Emily got herself into the whole mess with Dean, I thought that it would be better to just marry her off to Teddy so no more damage could be done. While Dean was surely a creep about to marry a girl half his age, having had his eyes on her since her early teens, I always kind of liked him. Well, at least I pitied him, and I felt bad for what Emily did to him.
I think I ended up disliking most of the characters in this book. With most of them the reason was that I felt like they became shells of themselves repeating the same patterns they had in the two previous books, without adding anything interesting to the story. Then there was Ilse. I used to love her and her relationship with Emily. But in this book she didn't feel like herself anymore, she had become uncaring and mean. The only character I liked was Mrs Kent, she became very interesting. But maybe she was only in the book for so little that there was no time to make her unlikeable.
I still couldn't give this book just one star. The reason is mostly that the rest of the series will always have a special place in my heart. Also the book picked up the pace in the end and the last pages did grab my attention. Even if the ending did annoy the heck out of me.
I felt like the story dragged on without nothing particularly significant happening for pages and pages on end. Most of the book was filled with different suitors going in and out, while Emily goes through the motions - she gets up, writes, feels dead inside, describes the nature outside her windows in decorative words, writes, goes back to bed. The years go by. I felt like her writing was no longer the central part of the story. She kept writing for magazines and she even got her novel published. But all of this was told to us like the author was just reporting it to us. The dreamy, poetic writer girl whom I fell in love with was gone. Instead we were faced with the sullen, practical Emily, whose creativity felt like a dog on a leash and whose writing seemed to only mean a career anymore.
And don't get me started on her love life. I never rooted for Teddy, because I felt like them being "destined to be together" was too obvious, and Teddy's character never was fleshed out enough for me to like him. But when Emily got herself into the whole mess with Dean, I thought that it would be better to just marry her off to Teddy so no more damage could be done. While Dean was surely a creep about to marry a girl half his age, having had his eyes on her since her early teens, I always kind of liked him. Well, at least I pitied him, and I felt bad for what Emily did to him.
I think I ended up disliking most of the characters in this book. With most of them the reason was that I felt like they became shells of themselves repeating the same patterns they had in the two previous books, without adding anything interesting to the story. Then there was Ilse. I used to love her and her relationship with Emily. But in this book she didn't feel like herself anymore, she had become uncaring and mean. The only character I liked was Mrs Kent, she became very interesting. But maybe she was only in the book for so little that there was no time to make her unlikeable.
I still couldn't give this book just one star. The reason is mostly that the rest of the series will always have a special place in my heart. Also the book picked up the pace in the end and the last pages did grab my attention. Even if the ending did annoy the heck out of me.
squish93's review against another edition
1.0
I read the entire Emily series in about two weeks because of how quickly captivating I found Emily and her life. Anne will always be my favorite, but I loved how tangible and relatable Emily felt throughout the books. I could relate to her in a way I never could with Anne. That is, until this final book. I sincerely cannot remember the last time I was so disappointed by book's ending--it truly soured this whole series for me. It's not that this books is sadder or more morose than the other books, it's that it's sadder and depressing for no reason! This book absolutely TANKED characters and storylines I just can't believe this is how I leave Emily's story. Here are (just a few) of my biggest qualms:
1. Ilse starts the series as this wonderful, wild, temperamental child but who truly has a heart of gold. Despite her rages and Emily's pride, they have a beautiful deep friendship. Then the third book happens and Ilse becomes the biggest B***H EVER. She treats Emily awful and practically abandons her. Somehow they're so close but she can't see or WON'T see how miserable Emily is or how much she cares for Teddy? And then she leaves Teddy at the altar, ruins a wedding, and NEVER EVEN FEELS BAD. I. CAN'T. STAND. HER.
2. Teddy is possibly worse than Ilse. Obviously set up to be the main love interest from the beginning. He and Emily share this inexplicable, sweet bond that means they understand each other on the deepest of levels. As they mature, a romance blossoms and they are trying to understand these new feelings. Then the third book happens and Teddy becomes such an A**hole and treats Emily like garbage for a DECADE, almost marries her BF, then chalks it all up to several misunderstandings and they finally get together in the last 5 pages of the book. This whole "will they, won't they" feels SO contrived I can't believe LM wrote this. You mean to tell me these two characters who have an unexplainable soul bond, can't tell each other how they really feel? STUPID. I HATE Teddy, Emily deserved better.
3. Perry just falls off the face of the earth in this book. I was so excited to see him show everybody what Stovepipe town can do and we learn about him through random offhand mentions every now and then. We don't even get to read about his and Ilse's romance, it just happens and the story moves on. Perry deserves better.
4. Emily?? WTF?? Where did your intuition go? Your second sense? Your brain?? Emily is shown from an early age to be very, almost unnaturally, perceptive, especially with people. Yet, this whole damn book, she thinks Teddy doesn't love her for some reason, can't tell that Dean is a walking red flag, and still thinks Ilse is her friend. Everyone treats Emily so badly and all she does is forgive them all their sins and deal with the fallout alone. What happened to the proud Emily that turned down the opportunity to go to New York because she had a strong sense of who she is and that she will make it, HER way? Also, when her life sucked, why didn't she go to NY later? Pretty sure the offer still stood. Anyway, Emily gets turned into this sad, weepy martyr, who just gets abused and takes it. It doesn't come across as maturity or a sign of personal growth, it comes across as a sad look at life draining away youthful essence and Emily just bearing it as a part of life. Again, I don't mind that Emily had these sad things happen to her--it's part of what makes her compelling. But in previous books, she persevered and came out the other side. Changed, but in a good way. It doesn't feel like her character should be celebrated by the end, just pitied somehow. Emily, you deserved better.
This book died in a whimper. It started out really strong, I was captivated watching Emily slowly lose herself because I wanted to see how she'd come out of it and triumph as she always had. But chapter after chapter it got sadder and sadder and contrivance after contrivance popped up to keep it going. I really think that LM wanted this to be a happy ending but it wasn't. It was pitiful.
1. Ilse starts the series as this wonderful, wild, temperamental child but who truly has a heart of gold. Despite her rages and Emily's pride, they have a beautiful deep friendship. Then the third book happens and Ilse becomes the biggest B***H EVER. She treats Emily awful and practically abandons her. Somehow they're so close but she can't see or WON'T see how miserable Emily is or how much she cares for Teddy? And then she leaves Teddy at the altar, ruins a wedding, and NEVER EVEN FEELS BAD. I. CAN'T. STAND. HER.
2. Teddy is possibly worse than Ilse. Obviously set up to be the main love interest from the beginning. He and Emily share this inexplicable, sweet bond that means they understand each other on the deepest of levels. As they mature, a romance blossoms and they are trying to understand these new feelings. Then the third book happens and Teddy becomes such an A**hole and treats Emily like garbage for a DECADE, almost marries her BF, then chalks it all up to several misunderstandings and they finally get together in the last 5 pages of the book. This whole "will they, won't they" feels SO contrived I can't believe LM wrote this. You mean to tell me these two characters who have an unexplainable soul bond, can't tell each other how they really feel? STUPID. I HATE Teddy, Emily deserved better.
3. Perry just falls off the face of the earth in this book. I was so excited to see him show everybody what Stovepipe town can do and we learn about him through random offhand mentions every now and then. We don't even get to read about his and Ilse's romance, it just happens and the story moves on. Perry deserves better.
4. Emily?? WTF?? Where did your intuition go? Your second sense? Your brain?? Emily is shown from an early age to be very, almost unnaturally, perceptive, especially with people. Yet, this whole damn book, she thinks Teddy doesn't love her for some reason, can't tell that Dean is a walking red flag, and still thinks Ilse is her friend. Everyone treats Emily so badly and all she does is forgive them all their sins and deal with the fallout alone. What happened to the proud Emily that turned down the opportunity to go to New York because she had a strong sense of who she is and that she will make it, HER way? Also, when her life sucked, why didn't she go to NY later? Pretty sure the offer still stood. Anyway, Emily gets turned into this sad, weepy martyr, who just gets abused and takes it. It doesn't come across as maturity or a sign of personal growth, it comes across as a sad look at life draining away youthful essence and Emily just bearing it as a part of life. Again, I don't mind that Emily had these sad things happen to her--it's part of what makes her compelling. But in previous books, she persevered and came out the other side. Changed, but in a good way. It doesn't feel like her character should be celebrated by the end, just pitied somehow. Emily, you deserved better.
This book died in a whimper. It started out really strong, I was captivated watching Emily slowly lose herself because I wanted to see how she'd come out of it and triumph as she always had. But chapter after chapter it got sadder and sadder and contrivance after contrivance popped up to keep it going. I really think that LM wanted this to be a happy ending but it wasn't. It was pitiful.
saliwali's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mary00's review against another edition
4.0
I really love this series. I just wish that there would have been a little more time spent on the "happily ever after" ending. It ends a bit too suddenly for me.
karinlib's review against another edition
4.0
L.M. Montgomery's books are comfort reads, but yet I must admit that I was a bit restless, can I say a little bored? I enjoyed the trilogy as a whole, but I felt that this last book was not really needed, in that it could have been told in two books.
The Emily trilogy is similar to the Anne books, with some differences. They are well written and I am glad I read them.
The Emily trilogy is similar to the Anne books, with some differences. They are well written and I am glad I read them.
therealkathryn's review against another edition
3.0
I feel like LMM got tired of these characters and didn't feel able to do anything with them except have them marry. Emily/Teddy has to be one of the more boring pairings and Dean is just an awful person.
maria_keyton's review against another edition
5.0
Finishing these books was very bittersweet. As a whole, I loved them and they now hold a special place in my heart. They made me feel all of the goodness of being young and imaginative again. I feel like my inner 12 year old has been reawakened in the best of ways.