Okay, I guess I'm stuck on 2.5-kind of books, but I think that's a fairly generous rating for this one. The romantic premise behind this book was entertaining enough, but why oh why did North decide to treat one of his main character's severe sexual abuse problems with a spell/incantation from the local witch doctor? Not only does he describe her incestual abuse in some sordid detail (if you're going to provide the gory details, at least create a more nuanced bad guy, for Lord's sake!), but he then goes on to outline his proposed remedy--visiting a witch doctor for an old-fashioned spell, which of course takes care of the problem in a week. Really?!!! Bad news for all the counselors/psychologist types out there, I guess :0 I didn't like North's head-over-heels infatuation with British culture or his detailed hedge-building descriptions. His dialogue scenes also bordered on the inane most of the time, and the character's witty repartee wore thin quite quickly. On the plus side, he did a nice job with the characterization of the main character, a college professor on the run from his life, and the professor's love interest. Glancing at some of the reader's reviews, I think I should start writing novels in the romantic genre. Despite the cookie-cutter cute kid subplot, the obviously overly tidy and facile ending, and the clunky dialogue, lots of readers really enjoyed this novel. People really eat this shit up, eh? Take along to the beach with you if you're looking for something light and not too challenging and don't have much else on the shelf. First I loved the title; next I loved the cover art; most importantly, I loved the story and the characters and the setting. This was published in 2009 so I'm not sure how I missed such a great book. Andrew Stratton is a professor of architecture who's never built a building. He goes to a small town in England to learn stone hedging (stone wall building) to reconect to the land after his wife leaves him for another man. He meets Nicola Rhys-Jones, an artist still recovering from an abusive relationship and avoiding men altogether while working part time at the Museum of Witchcraft. They find their instant connection confusing and are unable to breach each others barriers without some serious work. The supporting characters are wonderfully drawn, quirky and lovable, the setting is magical and the author has perfect control of the dialogue so that it is just snarky enough to be funny but it doesn't fall into meanness. The weather report snippets at the beginning of each chapter nicely foreshadow the climax but you don't know that until well past the half way point and I'm not going to tell you what happens. The climax is scary but we live through it and the very end is where you get the payoff and it was absolutely worth the reading of 270 pages. This is a somewhat gentle read; although there is mention of abuse, it is handled quietly. I'll be recommending this to everyone.
What do You think about Água, Pedra, Coração (2011)?
Fast read. Very nicely written. Not real wordy. Lots of action and suspense toward the end.
—jena
Similar to Nick Sparks, but didn't hold my interest as well as Sparks' novels do.
—Kevin
very interesting read and way more story line that I originally thought
—Archana
