Member Reviews

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity

So sweet and romantic 🏳️‍🌈

Was this review helpful?

My first time reading this author and I enjoyed the story for the most part. It felt a tad clunky in places,especially where and how it transitioned from love scenes to fad to black. There was a lot of baggage that both protagonists had to deal with, I’m not sure it worked for me as such.

Nice enough story and different that it was set in Northern Ireland for a change.

Was this review helpful?

I enjoyed reading this story but I would have liked more of the story to involve some more backstory such as why Sophie's family and her sister had a strained relationship and some more about Sophie breaking free from the expectations of her parents.

Was this review helpful?

This book was definitely worth reading but it was hard to get into at first. But I enjoyed the characters and loved the writing style.

Was this review helpful?

The author is new to me. So, I started with nothing specific in mind. I wanted to explore different styles of writing other than my usual choices. So okay, here is the review of the book: Unit the End of the Line by Hazel Yeats.

First, the writing is good. I like those kinds of writing which help me visualize the book while I am reading along with scenes, characters, expressions, etc. The writing of this book helped me do that. It was flowing.

However, it may be my difficulties to keep the pace but I felt the scenes and character developments were too abrupt. Even the dialogues. Dani Morrison's flailing in her career as a writer was neither discussed in detail nor her actual job in which it showed why Dani thinks her professional life is in the trenches. The scene with Cynthia did have some explanation about her writing process, struggles, and obvious writer's block. But, the point is what led Dani to this stage of understanding that everything in her professional life is falling apart. It wasn't very clear. The plot was thin in the beginning and it did require some more explanation to grab attention. It is a great read but it seems that the story starts somewhere in the middle of an already full-blown story.

Sophie's character has depth. I really liked her. She wasn't complex in nature but her surroundings, her parents,  her friends, her choices in life, etc showed complexity that she herself struggled to grasp. For example, her relationship with her elder sister (Susan). The animosity between them. What happened in the past that made both of them drift apart. The challenges she was facing with her niece, Hope. This made her more human and complex.

The story did cover a bunch of different topics like friendship, the nature of open-minded parenting, toxic relationships, homophobic parents, the process of understanding one's own sexuality, a slight nudge towards patriarchy in family (in the form of David's reaction, Sophie's father's opinions, etc).

Overall, the book is easy, light-read, not heavy and can be used to initiate discussions about above topics in Focus Group Discussions among students, young adults, educators, etc.

I have received an ARC from NetGalley. Thank you to NetGalley and Ylva publication.

Was this review helpful?

I did not like this book. For me it isn’t well-written, the story is flimsy and the characters are very far from likeable. I would even say the characters are the worst part of this flimsy story. One is a grump who jumps to conclusions, the other is a grey mouse/ wallflower without a backbone. Until the backbone suddenly is there and the grump becomes one who trusts everyone and pretends to be likeable. I was annoyed by all of this book and I can’t, in good conscience, rate this.

Was this review helpful?

I had higher hopes for this book as I love stories set in Ireland, but once again this story just didn't do it for me.

I like Dani who's sister is getting married in Northern Ireland and she's instantly attracted to Sophia who is her sister's best friend. Found it a little weird they'd never met before than. Sophia is closest and is kind of a mouse who lets everyone walk all over her and she goes along regardless of how she feels.

I didn't like David, the groom's brother and yet Sophia kept seeing him even though he wasn't nice to Dani who she liked, but refused to do anything about it. I preferred Dani's character over Sophia's and didn't like the romance between. Not a bad book, but unfortunately not for me.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I enjoy reading this book. The author set the stage in another country. And it was nice to the main characters visit the sites whenever they had the chance. I think both Dani and Sophie fell in love at first but different things kept blocking them. They did manager to figure things out and got together. The story was from Dani's POV but I the author would have shown Sophie's POV. Because Sophie was also finding a true self. It is a great read.

Was this review helpful?

Good characterisation, and a great flavour of Belfast! I liked the characters including the secondary ones, apart from the fella I wasn’t supposed to like. A wee bit of belief suspension around the amount of time everyone was able to get off but my attention was held. 3.5, up to 4 because 3 felt like under marking.

Was this review helpful?

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

dani is in a slump shes been dumped by her girlfriend and her writing career is also in a slump... shes a bit of a mess emotionally but its her sisters wedding and why not go over there and try to get into the mood of it all

and its whilst there her sister askes for her help in getting her best friend sophie to her wedding and though its against all that dani believes she joins in with the idea of lying to sophie to get her there

have to say the storyline between dani and sophie was a bit long winded with many misunderstandings between them but the ending more than made up for it

a slow build up but keep going it gets there in the end

Was this review helpful?

I don’t know…. I really struggled with this and I don’t know why. It just didn’t capture my attention.

Was this review helpful?

Was interested in the book until Dani became Sophie-obsessed
I understand that Sophie is the kove interest but one thing I find hard to understand is why Claire was treating so badly?
David was a creep so I understand why he was put in a bad light but Claire? All she ever did was try to make Dani a corsage, She never did anything wrong.
Jane was annoying, Mike was okay, I liked Mike's mother but we didn't get enough time to really get to know her.
In summary, the book was okay, but it definitely isn't my favorite in this trope

Was this review helpful?

Dani is having a rough time following a bad breakup and stagnation at work when the invite arrives to travel across the ocean to attend her sisters wedding in Ireland. Thankful for the escape and a change of pace, she goes weeks early and turns the event into a vacation. There, she meets her sister’s gorgeous best friend Sophie and the two hit it off. Unfortunately, not only is Sophie closeted but Dani’s sister is actively trying to set them both up…..with other people.

This was a difficult novel for me to rate and review. Overall, I enjoyed reading it. There were a lot of great moments and little parts that I enjoyed throughout. I plan on reading any other novels by this author as well, if that is any indication. At the same time, there were elements that did not work for me too. I don’t know that I would recommend this novel to others, but I also certainly wouldn’t tell anyone not to read it.

If this makes sense; I think this was a good novel with some elements that fell short and dragged it down. This is opposed to a bad novel with some good parts that redeem it (this novel is the better option). There were some excellent and memorable characters, and some great interactions between them. The main characters demonstrated great character growth/arc’s with regards to their personal struggles.

The main thing that didn’t work for me was that so much of the action seemed to take place off the page. The timeline flew by with a lot of scenes taking place out of the readers sight and it hurt the story overall. This was true of both the relationship as well as the overall plot. The relationship was framed as significant to both characters and something unlike anything they experienced before, however I didn’t feel like what we saw was sufficient to support the magnitude the author wanted. They simply didn’t talk enough or have enough experiences for the “I love you” moments to have very much impact for me. This was also the case with the background plot; we were told that there was wedding planning, and that Dani spent time with her sister, and that Sophie spent time with her set-up, but we didn’t see any of it. I realize that these moments were not essential to the central romance however their absence made the novel feel flat and two-dimensional. I also would have liked a little more of what happened between the last chapter and the epilogue as it was quite the jump, and a lot must have happened but we don’t know what.

To nitpick, there were a few choices that simply seemed unrealistic to me. For example, how had Jane’s sister (who she is close to) and long-time best friend never met each other before in any capacity (even seeing photos!)? I also thought it was strange that Sophie spent so much time with her set-up and continued to lead him on even though she actively disliked doing it; I can come up with explanations that work but they were not cannon in the story.

Was this review helpful?

I hate to leave a bad review but after reading this book twice, I could not figure out where I lost the trail. SO I did, and started over again but it’s just not working for me.
Now that doesn’t mean someone else won’t leave a nice review. You might enjoy it.
ARC via NetGalley/Bold Stroke Books

Was this review helpful?

Until the End of the Line was such a romantically cutesie book that i adored. It had destination wedding, troubled main character who is having an early mid life crisis with her career, wlw love and above all, sister relationships! I love when books don't just focus solely in the story between the two love interests but also delve into the side characters and build hard block imagery and relationships for them. The sisterly bond was one of my favourites. It was a fun read and i loved everything funny, silly, cute and great about it! It was nice and the story in itself was great, but the writing did not flow easily for me for some reason, Other wise, it was fun!

Was this review helpful?

This was my first book from the author. The story is solid, but i couldn´t quite connect with the characters.

The story line is sometimes very slow and little bit unrealistic, but than there were good parts. The story about Dani and Sophie and finding her happy end on the other side of the world is a fun tu read, but some parts were littel forced.

Was this review helpful?

Having crossed the pond to Ireland for her sister's wedding, Dani is recruited to persuade Jane's best friend Sophie to fly over also. Fascinated by Sophie during a FaceTime chat with Jane, Dani is completely smitten when they actually meet. Problem is Jane is matchmaking Sophie with her brother-in-law to be, David. From the start I disliked David's character (he's a total jerk) then both Dani and Sophie annoyed me. The push pull drama with Sophie was too much and overall the pacing of the story wasn't smooth.
Unfortunately this romance fizzled for me but that's MHO. I will however give the author's future work another try and encourage readers to form their own opinion.
2.5 stars

Was this review helpful?

The book wasn’t as great as I expected but I did get through it.

Maybe someone else’s cup of tea, just not mine.

Was this review helpful?

The premise of this one sounded promising, but the story ultimately fell flat for me.

After getting out of a toxic relationship, Dani makes the trip to Northern Ireland for the lead up to her sister’s wedding. After some convincing, Dani’s sister, Jane’s best friend Sophie also makes the trip. The two are tasked with planning the bachelorette party together. Despite what Jane says about Sophie being the straightest person ever there’s a spark between the two. However, they both have some issues in their past they’ll have to work through.

Despite the setup that Dani and Sophie are planning the party we never really see them do any planning. This is just one example of the action that apparently happens off the page. Instead, we get a lot of conversations with them sitting at home and awkward dinner parties with David, the man Jane is trying to set Sophie up with. The conflict largely stems from the mixed signals Sophie is giving but that means that we see the same argument repeatedly. This not only creates a flat plot but also flat characters. My favorite character was Eileen, Jane’s future mother in law who can tell there’s something between Sophie and Dani. But even Eileen could have been more fleshed out.

I also was disappointed with the timeframe that was covered in the novel. The first couple of chapters were heavy on the exposition and it could have benefited from starting a couple chapters later. Similarly, I would have added a couple of chapters at the end. The epilogue was a nice peek into the future but resolving some of the side plots in the main story would have made this better.

Overall, I would skip this one. The premise was interesting, although not always the most believable, but the writing just wasn’t very good.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

Was this review helpful?

I was interested in this book because of the setting, but the story might as well take place in Anytown, Any Country for all the details provided about the location. The characters are all two-dimensional and I didn't find myself favoring any of the relationships. There was no chemistry between the "love interests" and the supporting characters were barely described.

This book was almost a DNF, but I pushed through, hoping for a sudden turn-around towards the end...

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Was this review helpful?