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Sweet Hollow Women By Holly Tierney-Bedord – Review by Melissa Agena

Sweet Hollow WomenSweet Hollow Women by Holly Tierney-Bedord
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book like this and I’m glad I read this book. Sweet Hollow Women is written by Holly Tierney-Bedford and this story is definitely a must read! It’s a great book that follows four generations of women that have grown up in Sweet Hollow, LA. Each chapter is narrated by each one of these women with exceptions from Big Daddy. Starting from the top there is Louisa, Maggie, Rhonda and Carasine. They are all so young and start their lives including having children very young. For some of them, that’s just how it was in their time. For others…it’s just what happens in the rural south. It’s always so mesmerizing to read about generations. All the stories are completely different but when you think about it later…they are all the same. Each one of these women has an amazing and different story. All of their stories intertwine and I liked how the author would jump back and forth between all of them, which helps develop all of the stories. You have to pay attention or you will get a little bit lost. All in all it’s a really great book and one that I believe that all mothers and daughters could read together. I’m definitely going to have my mom read this book and tell me what she thinks. If I had a teenage daughter I would do the same. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this book but it’s also such an entertaining book because it’s so real.

Reviewed By@vegasdaisie

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Sweet Hollow Women by Holly Tierney-Bedord – Review by Angela Hayes

 3 Stars

 

Sweet Hollow Women by Holly Tierney Bedord is a multi-generational saga that follows four generations of a family tree through their search for happiness. The best way I can describe this book is it felt like a cross between The Waltons and The Gilmore Girls (without the comedic elements). There was a lot of hardship, despair, heartbreak, poverty, disappointments, dilemmas, ignorance, sadness, frustration, and struggles- and not a lot ‘wins’. The family dynamics was interesting, and there were parts where the characters did chase their dream/s, and were true to themselves- but mainly this book seemed to me to be about how choices can have far reaching consequences and/or effects.

I am a big Holly Tierney Bedord fan, having read most of her books now- but I have to say that this was my least favourite of them all. I hate to say this because I really do love her books- but this one depressed and frustrated me.

The story is told from multiple perspective, and jumps from character to character, from past to present and back again, and from generation to generation- which was both distracting and somewhat confusing. The story itself was interesting- but there was just so many jumps and so much information that it became a distraction from the actual storyline (if that makes sense).

I liked Carasine as a character, and would have preferred for the story to concentrate on her more- with less input from the others. I think if that were the case the story would have read better. I found it difficult to like or connect with most of the other characters.

The story was a little slow to get going and there were parts in the story that seemed to lag or drag. Which is so unlike any of the other books of Ms. Tierney’s that I have read. So maybe it is just me and I just don’t ‘get’ this book- so you should probable read the story for yourself and come to your own conclusion…

I will definitely be reading Ms. Bedord’s next book, because like I’ve mentioned before- I normally absolutely love her work.

I will revisit this book again in a month or two and see if I still feel the same way, or if I was just having an ‘off’ day.

I really did want to love it!

 

Thank you, Ms. Bedord!

Sweet Hollow Women by Holly Tierney-Bedord – Review by Sara Oxton

Sweet Hollow WomenSweet Hollow Women by Holly Tierney-Bedord
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sweet Hollow Women a four-star read that will challenge you. This wasn’t my favourite story by this author, it was well written and had a great plot, but missed some of the sparkle that I’ve seen in the other books I’ve read by this author. I don’t know if it was the jumps between characters and time that meant I couldn’t get as fully into it as I wanted or what. If you are in the mood for a deep and meaningful read that will challenge you and make you care about characters then this is one for you,

Review @saraoxo

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