DNF REVIEW: Can’t Buy Forever by Susan Laffoon

(Disclaimer: Susan Laffoon was kind enough to send me a copy of her novel. This does not affect my review in any way.)

INFORMATION:

Title/Author: Can’t Buy Forever by Susan Laffoon

Series: Standalone

Publisher: Page Publishing Inc.

Release Date: June 1, 2015

Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller, Historical

SYNOPSIS:

In the early 1950s, Odessa Drake (Dessa) is rescued from a bleak existence with a single mother. She takes a chance on the unknown to work in a boarding house owned by a widowed great aunt in Mineville, New York. Dessa is devoted to Aunt Flo and especially a young man, Nicholas, who appears and takes shelter in the attic, the only available space. Four years pass. She looks forward to each day because of his presence, in spite of the tedious work. Dessa is now eighteen and knows little more of Nicholas than the day he arrived to work the mines. She knows only he is a remarkable man who has a limp and she trusts Nicholas explicitly. There is a familiarity both recognize and an unshakeable bond develops. Nicholas has reasons to keep his past buried. Dangers loom and become evident when Nicholas gets too close and exposes their bond. What is the mystery behind this threat? To discover the answer, they escape by railway heading West, colliding with treachery and uncovering secrets, mile by mile. Their journey is impossible, but, they are supported by friends who risk their lives to make sure a great love and lineage is preserved. Or is it? None will forget their odyssey as they proceed to their destiny farther than they imagined.

MY THOUGHTS:

I was actually super excited to read this book when I first saw it! It has a beautiful cover and a thrilling synopsis, but it turned out to be a huge disappointment for me. Before I even started reading, I scrolled through the Goodreads reviews and I found a lot of horrible reviews. Usually I don’t believe in those reviews but, this book was different for me. And most of the reviews I read turned out to match my own opinion.

I will admit, I really loved the first 25 pages of the book! It had a super good speed to the story and kept me very entertained. But after that, it just started to go downhill. The book started to get super confusing and was filled with grammatical errors. And if there is anything that I am picky on in a book, it is the grammar and editing.

This book also featured many tense changes. It constantly changed between past and present tense within a couple of paragraphs. The only times that readers were really able to identify a change in tense was when Odessa experienced a nightmare and the author wrote it in italics.

Overall, I decided to only give this book 1 star since it was super troubling for me and I was unable to finish it. If you are a fan of historical fiction and are able to get past grammar and editing errors, you might enjoy this novel. It just wasn’t right for me.

Thank you so much to Susan Laffoon for sending me this book in return for an honest review. I wish I enjoyed it more and were able to give it a better review!

THAT’S IT FOR TODAY! I hope you enjoyed my review. Don’t forget to comment, like and follow for more posts!

Happy Reading!

~Alaina