Review: Cliffnotes????????
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2014
Spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!When I saw this book was available, I actually "squeed" with excitement.  But after reading it, I have whiplash.  While I LOVED getting more of this strange and endearing family, it jumped from one character to another so quickly that I felt totally dizzy.  One minute they are discussing Finn and Charlotte, and the next minute it's off to other characters.  It has been months since I read the first 8 books, and I actually had to stop and think carefully to remember all the characters-- especially secondary characters.  I felt like it was just too much.  And because the author was trying to cover so many characters, I felt like nothing really got covered.  There were no details, nothing for my heart to ache over.  One minute Finn is dead, and then it's 4 months later, and quickly 1 year later.  I don't feel like I even got to mourn Finn's death-- and the urn... What the heck?  No casket for the Seals to slam their trident pins into and Charlotte walks out--- way to disrespect the men Finn was a part of.  That could have been a heartbreaking, tear inducing scene, instead I feel like I was teased.  Then she spends a year with Jude and we get NO details-- just a botched proposal.  Finally, there all these relationships that are hinted at with no follow up.  Yah, I know we will hear about it in the next book, but don't mention them in one chapter and never go back to it.  It they are that unimportant, leave them out and put your time and words into the main characters.I have craved this book.  Every time I looked at books 4-8 and wondered when book 9 would be released, my heart would flutter a little knowing that soon I would be with Bly and Finn and Charlotte again, but I feel like all I got was a virgin margarita...  A tease.  I needed more.  I needed to feel Charlotte's and Atticus' pain-- and everyone else's, and I just didn't get that.I would have rather waited 6 more months-- or even a year and have gotten a story full of details-- even the heartbreaking ones.  Though I love this family, and I was super happy to read, I just wish this author would have given me more-- instead of cliffnotes.