Monday, August 14, 2017

Catching up on book reviews: Any Dream Will Do, Debbie Macomber



Any Dream Will Do
Debbie Macomber

While I admit to being a fan of Romance, and most often anything Debbie Macomber writes, I didn’t love this book.  I didn’t care for the alternating point of view chapters, between Shay, the protagonist, and Drew, the love interest. Mostly because it felt like reading parts of their personal journal, and I want characters to interact more.  The number of times these two conversed, or more, was very limited.  The result was a set of cardboard characters who only did the right thing or the wrong things.  Characters, like people, need to have depth for me to feel invested in them.  There was ample opportunity for this, but that wouldn’t serve what felt like the simplistic happily ever after that we knew was coming. 
I’m especially disappointed with the way the author handled Shay’s family… while she was willing to give up her dreams, job, and reputation for her brother, by stealing money for him and going to prison, he seemed to have no feelings for her at all.  Shay befriends a couple of homeless people along the way, but we get very little of their story as well. Why not let Shay have conversations with these people?  The story is merely told, not experienced.

I’ve been a long time Macomber reader and while I was disappointed with this book, I don’t think it will keep me from reading her next one. I know her writing well enough to know she could have done better.

I accepted this copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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