April & Oliver: A Novel (edit title)

• Rated 3 stars

“Good Plot but I'm too romantically jaded to be taken in by the unrequited love in this story.”

• Rated 3 stars

“To its credit, I raced through this book, devouring every word quickly. So why didn't I give it five stars? A few reasons.

The beginning was very confusing and it took a bit for me to get used to the flip-flop of time-periods. There was no real indicator at times that the author decided to go back in time, and I had a hard time distinguishing between the present and past. Once I got used to the format, it became a little easier.

Too many people introduced all at once, without really any clear introduction to who they are. I didn't get everything straightened out in my head until about 70 pages in. It shouldn't take that long.

April was a weak character. I think maybe the author wanted to show that she was strong because she barely reacted to the abuse heaped on her, but with her lack of decisions and her need to be protected all the time by people around her while she made stupid decision after stupid decision, she just simply came off as weak.

The book focuses on this twisted, garbled love that two childhood friends have always had for one another when in my opinion, I would have preferred reading a story of how one friend was able to help the other regain control of her life, through her own actions. Instead we get a load of self-pity. Lovely.”

• Rated 4 stars

“This is a very haunting love story. The author did an excellent job with character description. This was a story you couldn't put down and the ending was fantastic!!!”

• Rated 4 stars

“The story opens with the death and funeral of Buddy. Childhood friends, April and Oliver haven’t seen each other in years the two are separated by time and an unhappy past. When Oliver comes back there is another woman in the picture. Bernadette is everything April is not, charming, works with special needs children and is pretty much the classy lady who comes off prim and proper…..and clueless. April works in a bar, lives in a dump and has terrible taste in men. With her not subtle sexiness, vulnerability and intelligence she is a woman Oliver cannot resist. The story also gives us great insight into Oliver’s mind. He wants to be with April so badly but has no idea how to do it. He wants to be her knight and protector but April has so many walls built he can’t climb up fast enough. It seems once he jumps one the next hundred face him.
I really liked this and enjoyed reading it. The end was depressing but bittersweet.
( Read entire review on Blog)”

• Rated 2 stars

“very sad story. it was one of those books that was hard to read in that it was very depressing but i could not put it down. i had to know how it was going to end. i was glad when it was over. i would not read this one again, once is enough!”

• Rated 4 stars

“2009 1st novel by this author. Friends as kis. April messed up because abused. Oliver has fiance as adults and returned to town. Truth and feelings start coming out. READ ANY NEW”

• Rated 4 stars

“This is a haunting story of the twisted paths of family & the human heart. I just loved the writing & the pacing. I never wanted to put it down. Probably too dark for some, but that's not an issue to me. A gentle story of redemption & the prices we make ourselves pay.”

• Rated 1 stars

“The novel starts out a little slow and mundane in terms on content and pace. It appears as sappy love story with flat characters. The quick glimpse, in the prologue, of Callhan's abilities to tap the reader's emotion and stir their imagination is quickly forgotten. As the first few chapters unfold, Callahan nearly bores the reader with her exploration of how superficially different these two people are from one another, giving little credit the the intelligent reader to figure some things out on their own. One is compelled to continue reading, if only in the hopes of there being more depth to the novel as alluded to in the prologue. Luckily, the reader who perseveres is rewarded with a much more rich and rapid development of the secondary characters. This character development is critical to the overall enjoyment of the novel. With it, the story delicately spirals back around itself as these characters provide the reader enlightenment into the the plot line. The storyline that develops not only connects the experiences of the characters, but interweaves their very core of being in a way that begs the statement ... "there, but for the grace of God..." Callahan ultimately balances the plot with a spiritual overtone that leaves the reader more open and receptive to the questions and potential in life.
Overall this was a great first novel. I look forward to reading more of Callhan's writing in the coming years.”

• Rated 2 stars

“My wife read this book for her book club. I needed a break from another book I was reading, so I picked this up. It was a cliched story from beginning to end. Not that well written. Depressing from first to last. This being said, I couldn't put it down because I wanted to get to a point in the story where something good happened to somebody. Never got to that point.
At least parts of it happen on Long Island.”

• Rated 3 stars

“It was ok...nothing great.”