Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by drie80
The Only Best Place by Carolyne Aarsen
1.0
Where do I even begin?
This book was not good. The story idea had potential, but the characters were awful - I don't remember the last time I read a book in which I hated nearly every single character.
Leslie and her husband, Dan are broke (the details on this are sort of given in the book, but not super-clearly). They decide to move back to Dan's hometown and live on the family farm. Before they arrive at the farm, they have solidly agreed that this will be for 1 year, no more, no less.
Leslie, who comes off as a socially inept, spoiled princess is super-pouty about the whole thing and honestly, is kind of a spoil-sport bitch about it all. Things have gone downhill in their marriage and she has a right to be upset, abosolutely, but at the same time, she agreed to make the move, so maybe it's time to get over her dislike of all things country. If you say you want to rebuild your marriage, maybe you want to let go of the resentment. Otherwise, nothing will change, nothing will get better. Leslie and Dan don't seem to understand this.
Dan isn't much of a husband. He's the type of guy to sit back at the breakfast table and watch his wife deal with their children's terrible behavior without lifting a finger. He also lied to his wife and brought her to the farm under false pretenses. It quickly becomes apparent that he agreed to a year to get Leslie out to the farm but had no intentions of ever leaving.
In the end, Leslie gets worn down enough not to care anymore and they decide to stay. Seriously. That's pretty much it.
One other note - this book could use some serious editing. At one point, the youngest child, Nicholas, is renamed Ben for about 3 pages. At another, a woman Leslie meets at the hospital also undergoes a name change. The writing throughout is repetitive and weak. With better characters and stronger writing/editing, this could have been a much better book.
This book was not good. The story idea had potential, but the characters were awful - I don't remember the last time I read a book in which I hated nearly every single character.
Leslie and her husband, Dan are broke (the details on this are sort of given in the book, but not super-clearly). They decide to move back to Dan's hometown and live on the family farm. Before they arrive at the farm, they have solidly agreed that this will be for 1 year, no more, no less.
Leslie, who comes off as a socially inept, spoiled princess is super-pouty about the whole thing and honestly, is kind of a spoil-sport bitch about it all. Things have gone downhill in their marriage and she has a right to be upset, abosolutely, but at the same time, she agreed to make the move, so maybe it's time to get over her dislike of all things country. If you say you want to rebuild your marriage, maybe you want to let go of the resentment. Otherwise, nothing will change, nothing will get better. Leslie and Dan don't seem to understand this.
Dan isn't much of a husband. He's the type of guy to sit back at the breakfast table and watch his wife deal with their children's terrible behavior without lifting a finger. He also lied to his wife and brought her to the farm under false pretenses. It quickly becomes apparent that he agreed to a year to get Leslie out to the farm but had no intentions of ever leaving.
In the end, Leslie gets worn down enough not to care anymore and they decide to stay. Seriously. That's pretty much it.
One other note - this book could use some serious editing. At one point, the youngest child, Nicholas, is renamed Ben for about 3 pages. At another, a woman Leslie meets at the hospital also undergoes a name change. The writing throughout is repetitive and weak. With better characters and stronger writing/editing, this could have been a much better book.