Two problems with the story flow in all these books: one, God seems to have a limited vocabulary and is always saying the same thing regardless of the specifics of the situation. Bit trite and cliche even if everything He says to the characters is true. He's a "bit" more personal and verbose with me at least! Second, it gets a bit tiresome that the characters seem to constantly rehash their back story in every story....sometimes several times in one book. It's as if they are afraid the reader is going to forget what came before and needs to be constantly reminded. Annoying at the least, condescending and bad melodrama at worst....especially with Ashley constantly reviewing her whole Paris-Cole-rebellion-I'm so lucky/grateful for Landon story every time she looks at him. We get it already. She loves him, he loves her....let's talk about the rest of their lives already, not get stuck reviewing the past over and over.
Nonetheless, the stories have a way of sucking you in so you have to keep reading find out what happens to the characters, even when they and their circumstances come across as a little "too good to be true", unrealistic and disconnected from the reality of most people's everyday lives. Most of us don't cavort with A-list movie stars, NFL players and coaches or have things just "magically" work out. These are modern day fairy tales where the girl always ends up with the "prince" (aka football star/hero, mega movie star) and things work out marvelously in the end most of the time (except for poor Tim, who just had to be conveniently eliminated to make room for the NFL star to get the girl. Kind of coldhearted there in a series purporting to be about saving marriages.) Their "struggles" seem to be on an entirely different level than the day to day survival struggles most people have; and when they decide they want something, it conveniently works out with relatively little fuss and muss. I mean really, what are the odds that an unknown artist, no matter the talent, is going to set her sights on showing in NY and make it within a few weeks? Real people don't just wake up one day and get asked to star in a major motion picture opposite the biggest name actor or then have said actor magically fall in love with them; or manage to lead a losing team to state championships in the first season as a coach. Real caregiversu can't just up and decide to fly to NY twice in a month on the kind of salary they make. Nor do most people have the kind of money that can say, "Oh sure, let's do NY several times a year, stay in the best hotels and buy a whole block of tickets for the entire family to see several Broadway shows. Totally disconnected with average real life people's experience and too much convenient, fortuitousness to be truly believable. Even the bad stuff, seems to turn out good. I'll finish the series just so I know the whole story line because I hate loose ends. But, I'll take Nancy Moser anyday over what essentially amounts to a soap opera, albeit a Christian one without the lurid parts. I can't say any of this evoked any strong emotion of any sort or that I could truly related to any of the characters, being as they are so unrealistic and my life resemble theirs not in the least. Maybe someone's life is like this, I guess. But for the most part, no, just no. People don't die just because it's convenient to the storyline of my life, children die after terrible accidents and everyone cries and grieves but miraculous recoveries are the exception, not the rule -- even when there is heavy prayer covering. Parents die without meeting the long lost son who just miraculous finds them on their death bed after 35 years. Spurned high school loves move on and find others to love - they don't often wait around and pursue through thick and thin. Cheating spouses don't always repent and even less, conveniently die. Drug problems don't just crop up over a few months and then disappear again within a few more. Just a little too much rose colored glass here, for my tastes.
Nonetheless, the stories have a way of sucking you in so you have to keep reading find out what happens to the characters, even when they and their circumstances come across as a little "too good to be true", unrealistic and disconnected from the reality of most people's everyday lives. Most of us don't cavort with A-list movie stars, NFL players and coaches or have things just "magically" work out. These are modern day fairy tales where the girl always ends up with the "prince" (aka football star/hero, mega movie star) and things work out marvelously in the end most of the time (except for poor Tim, who just had to be conveniently eliminated to make room for the NFL star to get the girl. Kind of coldhearted there in a series purporting to be about saving marriages.) Their "struggles" seem to be on an entirely different level than the day to day survival struggles most people have; and when they decide they want something, it conveniently works out with relatively little fuss and muss. I mean really, what are the odds that an unknown artist, no matter the talent, is going to set her sights on showing in NY and make it within a few weeks? Real people don't just wake up one day and get asked to star in a major motion picture opposite the biggest name actor or then have said actor magically fall in love with them; or manage to lead a losing team to state championships in the first season as a coach. Real caregiversu can't just up and decide to fly to NY twice in a month on the kind of salary they make. Nor do most people have the kind of money that can say, "Oh sure, let's do NY several times a year, stay in the best hotels and buy a whole block of tickets for the entire family to see several Broadway shows. Totally disconnected with average real life people's experience and too much convenient, fortuitousness to be truly believable. Even the bad stuff, seems to turn out good. I'll finish the series just so I know the whole story line because I hate loose ends. But, I'll take Nancy Moser anyday over what essentially amounts to a soap opera, albeit a Christian one without the lurid parts. I can't say any of this evoked any strong emotion of any sort or that I could truly related to any of the characters, being as they are so unrealistic and my life resemble theirs not in the least. Maybe someone's life is like this, I guess. But for the most part, no, just no. People don't die just because it's convenient to the storyline of my life, children die after terrible accidents and everyone cries and grieves but miraculous recoveries are the exception, not the rule -- even when there is heavy prayer covering. Parents die without meeting the long lost son who just miraculous finds them on their death bed after 35 years. Spurned high school loves move on and find others to love - they don't often wait around and pursue through thick and thin. Cheating spouses don't always repent and even less, conveniently die. Drug problems don't just crop up over a few months and then disappear again within a few more. Just a little too much rose colored glass here, for my tastes.