Although I enjoyed the process of reading this book, I was not captivated by the story and I didn’t feel invested in characters.

This book was not for me BUT may be better suited for YA crowds. I had a hard time getting into the plot and character story lines. Not a bad book just not for me.
Thank you Netgalley for the digital copy for review.

Pretty good

I’m not the target audience for this story But it’s based in the (late) 80s so I thought I would enjoy it and I did.

Good writing and interesting characters, some more relatable and likable than others. My favorite was Milo and his friend Guy was great fun.

Beth’s impact on, and relationships with, the three very different men was well developed and felt organic. I would recommend and read more by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Kobo Writing Life for a copy in exchange for a review.

Sadly this was a DNF for me. While I wanted to like this book, I just wasn’t able to finish it. I struggled with the author’s writing style, and the story couldn’t keep my attention in general.

I could not finish this one. The writing was repetitive and the storyline didn’t really keep my attention. I tried to give it my all on this one but just couldn’t forage through.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

I had high hopes for this book based on the blurb and concept... unfortunately it just didnt' work for me. It felt repetitive at times. It didn't hold my interest very well either. I'm sure it's better suited for the YA crowd.

Campbell's "The Islanders" is a perfect read for young adults that enjoy humourous, fun and romantic story lines but a mediocre, at best, novel for those of us who have read Hardy's "Far from the Madding crowd".

This book was very intriguing to me as an adaptation of 'Far From the Maddening Crowd", set at a boarding school,. The story follows new girl Beth, who has captured the attention of three boys: sweet Milo, golden boy Edward, and player Zack.

The characters were complicated, but also quite flawed. Overall, the writing was a bit repetitive and this was more on the disappointing side to read.

This book is a retelling of Thomas Hardy's "Far from the Maddening Crowd" set in a Boarding School.
I love boarding school settings in books so i was pretty excited about this however i didn't enjoy this story as much as i thought i might.
The story and the characters just fell a bit flat for me, they lacked depth and felt a bit superficial to me.

Cool concept and setting just not for me.

Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange of an honest review

Dnf at page 10. I just couldn’t do it. The characters and story felt flat for me and I couldn’t follow what was happening. There was no time placement,something that made it even harder to follow the story

DNF I was really excited about this book, as it promised to be an intriguing 'Far From the Madding Crowd' adaption, set at a boarding school, which really appealed to me. Unfortunately I didn't get far enough in to see any parralels to Hardy's work because I could not get past the writing. It was repetitive, and just not great, and it detracted from the plot to the point I couldn't keep reading. I know it is a YA novel so wouldn't be written like Hardy, but even for a YA I found the writing to be very awkward. Even in the first couple of chapters the phrase "of which was" (for example..."the top of which was...") was used so many times it really stuck out, and to me it was just awkward, lazy writing. I might return to it one day with lower expectations but for now I'm putting it aside.