Reviews

Harvest Day by Heidi Catherine, Tamar Sloan

pandorasboxofbooks's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

cheyec97's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

kimbar's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Loved it. The first in a dystopian series, Harvest Day was suggested as a book club read. I flew through this in a day. Solid character development and world creation, I was drawn into the story of River and Echo, and the unique world the authors have created. Well written, with a decent pace - it was thoroughly enjoyable. Before even finishing, I ordered the rest of the series - can’t wait to continue it! 

graceforester's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

kelseybris's review

adventurous dark funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

morgue102's review

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

breggoe's review

medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.0

This book seems to be written by AI. Full of cliches and poorly written. The male protagonist is selfish and the female protagonist is dumb and codependent. I listened to the audiobook where the reader put on terrible childish voices so maybe I am biased. The ending makes no sense at all. 2 stars because of the big cliffhanger at the end so that you are still somewhat curious about the sequel.

catastrojb's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

jpeaslee's review

1.0

Interesting premise—weak execution. So much did not make sense.

Starting with Echo's "plan" at the beginning. Rubbing pollen on your arms might attract the bees, but it wouldn't make you any more or less vulnerable.

In fact, the whole setup of "finding out if you're immune" is ridiculous. Why would you have the kids out in a field? Why would you not just set aside one bee for each kid, and test them one at a time?

Spoiler

Yes, I know the "twist" at the end shows that the test was a scam, but it also makes it clear that it wasn't always that way.

Hey, readers, I hope you like Instalove in your stories, because this might be the fastest I've seen.

In fact, the entire book is weirdly rushed. It all takes place in under a week, and I don't understand why. Do the authors not know how to write about time passing without detailing every day?

Annnnd to top it all off, nothing is resolved in this book. Nothing. It ends on a ridiculous cliffhanger.

So, in actuality, this isn't a novel. It's a cash grab saying, "buy my next book...and the next one...and the next one...and maybe one day you'll get answers!"

Fitting that I finished reading this on April 1, because it reads like an April Fools' joke in print.

(Bonus: Echo doesn't know what a toilet is. They don't have toilets...or outhouses...just bedpans. And although the Dead Zone gets several new people joining every year, apparently none of them have ever talked about any of the wonders of their world, like toilets and showers and computers.)

DOUBLE BONUS because I really can't let this one go: the bees are revered, right? They are practically worshipped by the Immunes. It's made clear that intentionally harming a bee is a Bad, Bad Thing that nobody should do.
At no point is it addressed that bees lose their stingers and die when they sting you. But you know what? This society is wasting countless bees every ceremony by allowing them to swarm the teenagers.

china_03's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25