What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon - 3 Stars
This was the first Amy Harmon book I have read. I started this book for the first 50% and loving it! It was giving 5 star level. Unfortunately, it ended up falling flat after chapter 15/16 for me personally. I absolutely love Amy's writing style because she can truly tell a good story and keep you interested in what's happening. I own several of Amy's books so I will be continuing to read them as I hear she has some wonderful stories to tell. Further details on what I liked vs didn't below.
This story is all about Anne in the year 2001 who is heartbroken by her grandfather's death. She travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. Right when she is about to do this, she is pulled back in time to 1921 Ireland. Her grandfather is a young boy at this time and she is mistaken for her grandfather's mother after being hurt and taken care of by a Dr. Thomas Smith, who is the guardian of her grandfather after his parents disappeared. With people thinking Anne has "returned", she is thrown into being the "mother" to her grandfather in 1921....so she adopts this as her identity trying to figure out her next steps and the story goes on from here.
What did I enjoy?
1. The writing style and plot itself - I love a good time travel story. The writing is very lyrical and I would consider it beautiful storytelling.
2. The setting - I love stories set in Ireland.
3. Loved the first 50% of this where we saw so much of Anne trying to figure out her new life in this new time.
4. Anne as an author and the stories about her Grandfather were precious to me because I didn't have a Grandfather myself so I love stories that have a Grandfather storyline.
5. Learning about Ireland's history and war details
What did I not enjoy?
1. The romance. I was frustrated with Thomas and Anne's sudden romance that jumped from him learning about who she was to them having sex all of a sudden? I didn't see the build up personally for their romance. He went from not being sure he could trust her to passionately loving her, unless I missed something?
2. The open door sex scenes - 2 of them. I didn't love the sex scenes personally. While they were not "explicit" they were flowery descriptions explaining the act basically. It was a bit much for my personal taste so take me with a grain of salt because that will be different for each person.
3. The time travel details - I needed more explanations personally on how this time travel worked. Can anyone time travel? Do you have to think about someone to go to that time? Do you have to have an item they owned? How do you get to a certain year? Is it a certain place, country etc.? This is a pet peeve of mine in any time travel story. I personally want fleshed out details in a time travel story so I understand how it works exactly to the best of my ability. I also didn't understand a few points in the timelines themselves and how it all played out exactly.
4. Anne trying to change things and reveal things to people in the past. Another personal pet peeve of mine in a time travel story. Another time travel story I read, I really enjoyed where the travelers were not able to change things or reveal things. It was part of the mechanics of it all. In this story, Anne continued to try and reveal things that frustrated me.
5. Something that happens in the end that I can't say LOL It reminded me of Outlander in several ways, but not explicit or anything. Just the tropes and plot points some.
Overall, I still think Amy Harmon could be an author that I love - this is just a book that personally wasn't a favorite of mine. I didn't love it, but also didn't hate it. We'll see how it goes next time!
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