A Brilliant One Star Review For The Topsail Accord (and a nice five star…)
The Topsail Accord received another 1 star review this morning (and a nice 5 star yesterday). People seem to either love it or hate it. This reader clearly hated it, even though she admitted reading all the way to the end, hoping that Shannon would wake up and smell the coffee. So, my question is, can a book that makes you read all the way to the end really be a one-star book? Or, is the review a product of the reader’s dashed hopes for a cliched ending? Is the review a review of the book, or of the reader’s hopes that a conventional love story can erupt at any time in anyone’s life? Shannon and Joe certainly don’t have a fairy tale romance. But perhaps they put together a life that both of them can accept. Anyway… here’s the one-star review from this morning.
Evidently, the premise of this book was to switch around what quite often
happens in relationships and let the woman be the manipulating user who will not
commit instead of the man. I found Shannon’s character neurotic, compulsive,
selfish, and downright cruel. She strung Joe along for decades, alloting him
only minute increments of her time, and the only promise she ever made to him
was that she could and would end their pseudo-relationship whenever she felt
like it. Yet, I kept reading, somehow hoping this woman would see the light and
realize she had met her soulmate and the love of her life. Only a man could
write a novel like this, thinking he had written a romance.
