 |
|
Title: A Week from Sunday
ISBN: 0446695335
Author:
Dorothy Garlock
Publicate Date: 2007-11-02
Publish: 2007-11-02
List Price: $12.99
Average Customer Rating: 3.0
Format: Paperback
 |
|
|
|
|
Amazon Lowest New Price: $1.98
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $11.04
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Customer Review: |
|
1: Not up to Dorothy Garlock's usual standards
This book was so poorly done that I began to wonder if someone else had actually written it and forged Dorothy Garlock's name. I have enjoyed Garlock's books for years and been impressed with her character development, plot lines, character dialogue and ability to mesh past times and places into her stories. Not this time. I never felt a connection to her hero and heroine and her villains were so ridiculous that I actually groaned out loud several times while reading this book. Wish there was a satisfaction guarantee, I'd be getting my money back. If you've never read a Dorothy Garlock book before, read one of her older books. When it comes to "A Week from Sunday", just walk away...
|
2: American Gothic?
A Week from Sunday is another miss from best selling author, Dorothy Garlock.
Garlock attempts to resurrect the genre of the Gothic Novel with this release, creating a damsel in distress threatened by the tyrannical Richard Pope who--dastardly fiend that he is--informs our heroine only hours after her beloved father's funeral, that he (Richard) controls her substantial inheritance and she has 8 days...a week from Sunday...to agree to marry him.
Hence, Garlock sets up Adrianna Moore's overwrought flight from certain misery. "Desperate to escape..." our heroine flees into a dark and stormy night. No, really. Distracted by tearful memories, Adrianna loses control of her car and collides head on with a truck driven by our dark and brooding hero. Here is where Garlock first departs from the traditional Gothic mode and creates a lumberjack rather than a Lord to fill the role of our intense and angry hero. Toss in a handicapped teenager needing a tutor and a villainess (complete with an Igoresque henchman) and you cap off the primary casting.
Had Garlock kept to the literary theme and focused on building high emotions, mystery and suspense that would allow the reader to suspend disbelief and get lost in the fun of "an old fashioned romance," as another reviewer termed it, she may have been able to pull the novel off under its own terms.
Unfortunately, the author yanks the reader back to reality by arbitrarily injecting misplaces scenes--such as one discussing the environmental impact of logging and the value of reforestration. *yawn*
Like On Tall Pine Lake and Leaving Whiskey Bend, Garlock's new release suffers from a serious loss of timing. Though the pace of this story starts similar to some of her earlier, more skillful novels, A Week from Sunday begins to fall apart in Chapter 18 when Adrianna announces to a disbelieving Quinn that she was locked in the stifling hot attic by the sinister housekeeper. Rather than use the scene to build tension between primary characters, our hero draws our heroine aside--to talk about himself and what happened in his life to make him so sullen and angry. Um...wait...what...?
From that point, Garlock abandons all effort at pacing, as though she cannot finish the writing project fast enough. Gothic elements collide on the page like billiard balls simultaneously shot from all four corners of a table, ricocheting willynilly. Any sense of writers craft disappears to the point the novel simply ends with the most unlikely and inexplicable of plot twists.
Garlock gets a star for giving thought to resurrecting the traditional Gothic literary genre--the kind that doesn't involve vampires and werewolves--and give it a mid-20th century American twist. Sadly, however, her attempt is a swing and a miss. Strike two for recent releases from the author.
|
3: Very dissappointed in this one
"A Week From Sunday" by Dorothy Garlock
Usually I love Dorothys writting but this book was a big dissappointment.
The story was weak and the wording was like a 10 year old boy trying to impress his friends with all the new cuss words he learn.
|
4: Sweet PG-rated historical romance
This is a good book for people who like their romances quite tame. My grandma would have liked it. The one love scene is not written in explicit detail.
The plot is a bit predictable and the bad characters are over-the-top evil but it is a pleasant read, especially for those who don't care for the steamier romances on the market too much to handle.
|
5: Humor and romance make this a great read...
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com, 3/08
The setting for Dorothy Garlock's latest book A Week From Sunday is Shreveport, Louisiana, spring 1935. She has just buried her father when unscrupulous attorney, Richard Pope, notifies Adriana Moore of the shocking news. Her father had made Pope the executor of the estate, in charge of all of her money and of her. She would retain all she had grown accustomed to only if she married Pope.
The very thought left her nauseous and repulsed. She had until a week from Sunday. She considered contesting the will, but was frightened at the thought of going against Pope, instead she ran. She was driving in the midst of a storm when her car drifted to the wrong side of the road. She fought the wheel but could not avoid hitting the truck.
Quinn Baxter was furious. The lumberjack/bar owner needed a piano player and liquor, thanks to the stupid girl. All the bottles in the back of his truck were busted from the impact along with his piano player's hand. Quinn and Adriana came to an agreement. She would play the piano at the Whipsaw to pay for the damage to his truck and for the lost merchandise. Plus she would stay at his house and help out with his younger brother Jesse. The young man had a bright future ahead of him in football until the accident that left him unable to walk. Quinn had hired Lola to take care of the house and work with Jesse.
Adriana (Annie) was shocked at the state of the house. Lola obviously did not clean, and she neglected Jesse. Lola's intention was to land Quinn as a husband, and she certainly did not want Annie around. Annie must deal not only with Jesse and Lola but the bar's customers as well. Love begins to blossom between Annie and Quinn. Pope finds out where she is and comes after her.
This is the first Dorothy Garlock book that I have read. It will not be the last. She has quite a talent for bringing her characters to life. Humor combined with romance made this book delightful to read. The love story was a bit low keyed, while the characters of Lola and Pope were over the top. This is an old-fashioned romance complete with a villain, a damsel in distress, and a reluctant hero. The relationship between Jesse and Quinn was heartwarming. Readers will enjoy A Week From Sunday.
|
|
|
|
|
