Dellaripa

I adore complexity in story lines

Revisado: 05-03-25

What a lovely surprising story. I fell in love with the characters and the building mystery tensions surrounding the two protagonists and the 100 difference in eras bound together by similar experience. Susan Meissner has thoroughly developed an engaging and satisfying novel. The narrator was very good except for her attempts at a Scottish lilt. But thank goodness that was a limited character. Overall well worth the the listen.

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An interesting insight into an historical era

Revisado: 04-21-25

Im a history fan. I think the research done for this story was well accomplished. She stated that she wanted to be as historically accurate as possible. She achieved that.
It’s a formulaic romance novel. The relationships are expected and no realistic twists. One must suspend belief for the ending.
I’m happy to have read this. Always a fan of K Hannah.

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It took a while to capture my attention

Revisado: 04-08-25

I almost abandoned this book every few chapters when it started. Crass and repetitive. But I gave it the benefit of the doubt and I’m glad I did. The author abandoned the shock value inserted randomly (did nothing to move the story forward) and gained traction in character development and storyline. By the end it felt like a satisfying journey with all main characters. The writing itself is a bit immature but perhaps intentional. Too many narrator tags. Overall a worthy purchase and read. Perhaps get it loaned instead from Libby.

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A chaotic, rambling, bubbling mess of a story

Revisado: 02-17-24

I love the concept of the story. And I adore the details of Italian family and life.
But overall this was a hard listen. Firstly were the constantly changing narrators. Unusual use of a variety of readers. They didn’t change with characters, but randomly changed with chapters. As a listener, one subconsciously attempts to create correlations between the changing voices and the story- character? Location? But it just appears that the narrators were handed random chapters to read and then the audio book was knit together. It was very distracting.
Two of the narrators are among my favorites. But the narrator who started the book off was just horrible - flat, monotone, unbelievable.
The story line starts down one road and solidly navigates between two time periods. But about ten chapters in the author abandons the rhythm of telling the tale between current day and 1929 and just delivers the next dozen chapters in the 1929 plus period. It’s like we’ve forgotten about the other characters. Therefore when we suddenly return to the current day, it’s jarring and I actually forgot where we were with the present day story.
Altogether a novel that feels like it’s missed a final edit or maybe was an attempt at a unique story telling style. But missed.

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What a wonderful experience!

Revisado: 02-06-24

Loved the educative and performative nature of the book! What an enjoyable way to spend a few hours, listening, envisioning the scene through the great detail and the narrators exceptional performance. Also appreciated the interspersed historical documents from the era.
Well done!

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Tells but doesn’t show. (Spoiler alert)

Revisado: 12-26-23

This reads/sounds like a neophyte authors first draft of their first book. I’m not sure it had an editor and if it did the editor was also inexperienced. The story goes on and on with fake urgency and breathless anticipation. The author tells you everything about the characters but they never act out or behave in their character profile. I cringed at so many places. The love story was cringy too. (Spoiler alert) sleeping with your half sisters adopted father. Ew. The only saving grace was I didn’t waste a credit on it.

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It had a rough start, but held my attention half way through

Revisado: 10-23-23

As if the author grew and perfected her craft as she wrote this novel, the beginning of the book was rough. It read very immature and sophomoric. I almost gave up. But pushing through I found the writing improved with each chapter, as did the story. I recommend this novel and encourage you to keep with it through the first ten chapters. It gets better- even great!

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Slice of life continuum with color!

Revisado: 10-04-23

I’m enjoying the series! As an Italian American who travels frequently to italy, I relate to her characters and locale. As a middle generation “child” caring for parents and kids, I empathize with her situation. And as one who enjoys storytelling I am enthralled with her ability to weave a tale with laughter, sorrow, and compassion.

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Fascinating and spellbinding

Revisado: 06-13-23

The story is almost impossible to believe. And yet you can believe it because it is true. Having experienced religious legality and conformity, but not to the extreme, I could relate to some of the experience. However the environment she endured was far beyond religious community. It was the result of a madman, power mongering, sexual predator.
The narration is a mess though. What a disappointment. I shouldered through it because the story was so engrossing. But what a mistake to have the author narrate her own story. Was not a wise decision. I would have preferred to have a professional narrator, as her delivery was flat and droned on.

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A waste of time and money

Revisado: 12-20-22

Firstly the narration. It’s like some teenager reading their friends letter from camp- dry, emotionless, without inflection.
Secondly the structure of the story, it skims the surface and caused me anxiety- when I needed it to give me more context it moved forward. Then again, at random spots, it went into oddly specific and laborious detail that lent nothing to moving the line forward.
Finally, the author is clearly inexperienced or disinterested in character development. The characters evoked no empathy in me. Quite the opposite. By the end of chapter two I felt alienated from the main character. She comes across self absorbed (“I was my mothers most important person, more than my father”), petulant, and vacuous (her “meet cute” description with her husband was trite and non believable).
Sadly there is no return feature available. So I share this as a warning before anyone else wastes $15 on this amateur piece of 10th grade fiction. You’re welcome.

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