Across The East River Bridge (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
DNF at 58%I usually quite like her writing. But this one suffers a few things that I don't particularly like: 1. Academia competition - it's petty and ungraceful, it makes me difficult to like either of the main characters. 2. Paranormal activities that is redundant - the mystery case would be more interesting and mysterious if the ghosts don't just point them to the evidence conveniently. 3. Too many things are resolved and revealed too early on in the story - readers know they really loved each other, the readers know the ghosts were lovers by less than 30% into the story. I like the story well enough - a contemporary romance with a dash of the supernatural and plenty of historical intrigue. The pace is very slow, though, and while I usually find nothing wrong with that, in this particular story, it felt like things were moving along a a speed that I can only call "glacial". With Finn, the skeptic of the pairing, both the relationship with his former arch-nemesis and occasional-lover Troy and their investigation, and subsequently the whole story, seem to be "one step forward, three steps backwards" at every turn. This makes for a very frustrating read especially when, like me, you feel an affinity towards the characters and are rooting for them to be together.I also find the conversations between the characters rather tedious; everything that comes out of Troy and Finn comes across like an exposition on the Victorian period of New York. I would be first to admit to love an intelligent story with a strong historical background but the presentation of this one felt heavyhanded so that I felt like I was reading a textbook. This may put off some readers who came into this book looking for romance and get a history lecture instead.Fortunately, the story has a very strong theme of rivals-to-lovers, which I adore very much, so I stuck with Troy and Finn to the end. Ms. McMuray does not disappoint with the ending either. I'm used to of hopeful endings from her, but she gave me a very nice one that is gift-wrapped with the nicest of papers, complete with an Epilogue as the proverbial pink bow tied on it. Beautiful, sweet, happy ending.
What do You think about Across The East River Bridge (2011)?
