Review by Wally1327 -- High Hopes by Sue Lilley

This forum is for volunteer reviews by members of our review team. These reviews are done voluntarily by the reviewers and are published in this forum, separate from the official professional reviews. These reviews are kept separate primarily because the same book may be reviewed by many different reviewers.
Post Reply
Wally1327
Posts: 10
Joined: 07 Sep 2019, 06:57
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 8
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-wally1327.html
Latest Review: Yesterday by Samyann

Review by Wally1327 -- High Hopes by Sue Lilley

Post by Wally1327 »

[Following is a volunteer review of "High Hopes" by Sue Lilley.]
Book Cover
2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review


High Hopes
by Sue Lilley

This story was woven around the various lies, deceit and mistaken supposition of Grace’s teenage pregnancy. Grace is the main character in this romance where the characters connect in expected scenarios. I gave this romance novel, High Hopes by Sue Lilley, 2 out of 4 stars.

I liked best the immediate identification of the characters and their roles, making the story easy to follow. With only five central characters the transition between events was smoothly done. I disliked most that Grace, (the central divorced 40-ish woman) viewed almost every young man as a potential lover. A little demoralizing for a modern woman! The depth of characters was thoughtfully addressed which made some speculation possible on where the story might go. There was only one character I found implausible, Danny. Danny, the gardener employed by Sam, appeared way too outspoken and inappropriate for an employee. His whole demeanor changed from a licentious player to a nice, well-meaning gentleman. Not all that probable in the circumstances given. The soft porn approach to some events was acceptable, however, some variety would have been more appealing.

The unfortunate pregnancy occurred when Grace had a brief one-night stand with her lifelong friend Sam, now married to Grace’s friend Dixie. Most of the characters knew of Grace’s teen pregnancy, but thought the pregnancy was terminated. 75% of the story was based upon Grace telling involved parties of her illegitimate child. The reason for the admission being that the child, Ally, had tracked down and wanted to meet her birth parents. Grace was thrilled with the opportunity to meet her child and felt it only right that the father be advised. I would have enjoyed the first meeting between Ally and Grace to be more descriptive seeing as the story was centered around this event. This, however, was not to be and ended up being a mere mention.

Predictably, all ends were nicely wrapped up at the end of the story, not completely to my satisfaction. Some of the solutions were not feasible but resolved as an afterthought. I found the final confronting conversation between Grace and Dixie was very stilted and somewhat jarring for supposedly close friends. A pleasant read best for adult readers due to graphic sexual content although the vocabulary and terminology seemed geared to younger readers.

******
High Hopes
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Yesterday by Samyann
Post Reply

Return to “Volunteer Reviews”