An isolated island girl with painful memories. A dedicated city boy with a wild past. What will it cost for them both to find a refuge from their storms?
My Review:
I wanted to read Love’s Refuge because I was intrigued by the lovely front cover. Also, I had never read Sandra Lee Smith before and wanted to find out what her writing was like. She had good character development, believable characters, and even some intrigue. I was also impressed with how she ended almost every chapter. This author knows how a reader thinks, which is always key when writing a book. She knows that if a reader doesn’t want to read more of the book, the reader probably will read to the end of the chapter and stop there. However, there was a cliffhanger at the close of almost every chapter, which kept me wondering and kept me reading. It’s very smart to do that if the reader is not enjoying the book because it will keep them reading anyway.
I enjoyed learning about how to go hunting for clams and oysters and crabs. That was really interesting to me, since I've never lived near the ocean or had anything to do with things like that. It made me want to go hunt for them after reading about it!
I know that this book has some five and four star reviews, but I truly couldn't see how it got those stars. I could not connect with Skye or Danny. In the beginning, I found Danny somewhat pathetic because it seemed like he couldn't do much for himself on the island. He did get better, but I still could not connect with him. And I did feel sorry for Skye for what she went through, but I just felt as if something was missing. Love’s Refuge had a good plot—though predictable—and nice characters. It was a nice book. But that was all it was. Nice. There was nothing amazing and nothing fantastic. Nothing memorable. In another year these characters will have blended into all the other books I have read. If I’m going to read a book, then I want it to hold a theme, story, and characters that will stay with me years after I've read the book. I’m sorry to say that Love’s Refuge did not have any of those things.
All in all the characters were well made and the plot was solid. But not anything memorable. I give Love’s Refuge 3 out of 5 stars.