I developed a case of ADHD

I don't have ADHD, but reading this book made me think I did.

First, the summary: It's 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is shipped off to Maryland so she can find herself a good match. After all, in the Victorian Era the only aim and end to a woman's life was marriage. So, Amelia needs to find a good husband. Nathaniel Witherspoon isn't a good match, being an artist, but he's dark and mysterious and Amiela likes that. She starts to have visions, and things happen, but I dunno what because I couldn't finish the novel.

My problem with this book is that while it started out good. Amelia did something very bad because she was now "ruined." I thought oh, how naughty and wanted to read more. Then I continued to read and developed a horrible case of ADHD.

The author likes to create choppy chapters which had me jumping from one scene to the next. I don't mind this, but I don't think the author used it to its full potential. Instead I felt cheated by the writing style. An example of this is when the girls go out dress shopping and Amelia is told to strip down to her corset. She is horrified but Zora(the cousin I think) tells her not to worry because maybe the seamstress has a ready made piece that can be bought at a cheaper price. OK, and then....we go to another scene. I'm like, hello, are we buying this dress or not? And furthermore what is the point of even putting this little scene into the book? Did the author need to fill some pages and decided to throw it in there? I hate that. The scene didn't further the story in anyway and left me wondering why she was standing practically naked in a dress shop freezing to death.

I'm also not a big fan of Ms. Mitchell's writing style. I tripped over the first sentence because it sounded awkward and strange. I knew it was going to be a long, painful read if the story continued in that manner, and it did. I'm unsure if she was trying to be Victorian in her writing style, but I think it failed. The characters were also very wooden and the way they spoke did not appeal to me.

It wasn't all bad, the author does a great job of capturing historical details. I think she did a good job of injecting the Victorian Era into the book.

On Amazon you can see this book is dearly loved, which makes me nervous when I post my review. I know I'm going to get dinged because I wasn't a fan, but such is the way of life.

I'll be honest and say I'm not sure who this book will appeal to.