Title // Naslov: Under the Northern Lights
Author // Avtorica: S. C. Stephens
Release Date // Datum izdaje: April 30th 2019 (30. april 2019)
Genre // Žanr: Christian Romance, pobožni roman
Buy here // Kupi tukaj: Amazon
Blurb:
Mallory Reynolds is a driven woman fueled by her passion for photographing wild animals in remote locations. Every year she makes a trek deep into Alaska, but this time the unthinkable happens: she crash-lands after her plane stalls out in a storm. Injured, vulnerable, and threatened by the very creatures she loves, Mallory fears the worst—until she’s rescued by Michael Bradley, a mysterious mountain man living in self-imposed exile.
Mallory is grateful for Michael’s help but desperate to return home to let her family know she’s alive. Unfortunately, neither of them can leave Michael’s secluded cabin until spring. Mallory’s stuck with a stranger for months.
As Mallory recovers, a deep bond begins to form between the pair. Mallory is convinced that fate brought them together, but Michael is buried in his past, unable to move forward. Undaunted, Mallory tends to Michael’s heart as tenderly as he cared for her wounds—but will her love be enough to heal him?
Povzetek iz knjige:
Mallory Reynolds je zagnana ženska, ki jo žene strast po fotografiranju divjih živali v odročnih krajih. Vsako leto se odpravi na izlet globoko v aljaške gozdove toda tokrat se zgodi nemogoče: njeno letalo strmoglavi v nevihti. Poškodovana, ranljiva in ogrožena iz strani bitij, ki jih ljubi, se Mallory boji najhujšega – dokler je ne reši Michael Bradley, skrivnostni moški, ki živi v azilu, ki si ga je sam naredil.
Mallory je hvaležna za Michaelovo pomoč toda obupno se želi vrniti domov k družini. Na žalost nihče od njiju ne more zapustiti Michaelove osamljene koče do pomladi. Mallory je tako obtičala s tujcem za več mesecev.
Ko si Mallory opomore, se med njima splete globoka vez. Mallory je prepričana, da ju je združila usoda, toda Michael ima bolečo preteklost, ki je ne more pustiti za seboj. Neustrašno Mallory skrbi za Michaelovo srce tako previdno kot je on za njene rane – toda bo ljubezen dovolj?
My thoughts:
There are a couple of things I hate and DNFing a book is one of them.
Rarely I came across a book that just doesn’t suit me but when I do, it’s really hard to end it especially if I already read more than half of the book.
While once I finished it no matter what, lately I stopped doing that because there are just too many good books out there to spend my time on the ones I don’t like.
First thing I don’t really like is that the MCs met at around 20 %. That’s one-fifth of the book. It’s waaay too late for me.
But you know, I thought ”Eh, maybe it will get better”.
Ha, not really.
In the fifth chapter (after they already met) I came across a moment where they were talking and the whole conversation turned religious. Now, I am Christian but I really don’t like to read about religious aspects in the books. They are not my cup of tea. I like my books simple, deep with emotions and yes, with heat between characters. When I got to this conversation, I was like ”Please, don’t let it be like Return of the Song” (book I once also requested on NetGalley and it turned out to be a Christian romance with no emotions, no heat, anything I liked in book – you can see the review here). Because if there’s religion mentioned in a conversation there’s a mild possibility that there will be no passion in the book, not the one I would like.
But as I did before, I continued reading because maybe it will happen just this once and not anymore.
One thing that also bothered me was too detailed descriptions of animal killing and preparing for food. I have a ”slight” idea where food came from, I really don’t need the details. It was just so hard to read about it…
Sometimes I thought that while the author mentioned a lot of things, she forgot to include the basics. For example, when she crashed and rescued herself from the plane in the forest, she mentioned that her fingers are so cold and she needs to warm them otherwise she’ll need to cut them or something. But then a couple of pages later she wore warm gloves. Umm, what? Maybe she got them from her first-aid kit but it wasn’t mentioned and it left me confused. Another example: In another chapter, they were making pancakes. He goes to civilization twice a year. Where does he get eggs? How did they make the pancakes if not with eggs? Why is this not mentioned if the author goes in details with animal cutting?
Her injuries were mentioned also in details, yet when they both came to his cabin, she was already up and running in a couple of days. With her injuries, I thought she would need more than a week to recover! (not an expert here though)
At around 60 % they had a big conversation about why he chose a cabin away from people. He said some things that made me think that he will not be persuaded otherwise, that the heroine can’t change his opinion, can’t change him no matter what she tried. His beliefs were strong, it was like watching two very different people, each on a different path, leading the different way, never coming across. I didn’t see the connection between them anymore.
She realised she can’t fix him (her words) and a couple pages later she thought she can. Such a contradiction.
Because I didn’t see the passion between them anymore I stopped there. I can’t bring myself to continue reading it.
I was curious though what other readers thought of this book and if the talk about religion continued. Apparently, it does and it goes beyond that and I was also right that there are no hot moments between them (except some kissing).
Even though I didn’t finish this book, I’m gonna rate it. I’m giving it two stars. Not because I want to lower the average ratings, but because this rating is more for me. So that I know what bothered me. I know many people would say why rate it if I didn’t finish it. I’ll tell you why. I think it’s important to have arguments on why rate it the way you rate it. I think that if I’d continue reading my rating wouldn’t change. Because no matter the ending, my opinion wouldn’t change. I came across so many things in this book that bothered me that those last 40 % for sure couldn’t make the book better. And because also, I’m over half of the book. I already have a clue what’s the author’s writing style, how the characters act and such. Nothing could make my rating better, not even a HEA.
This was my first book by this author, by the way.
ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
My thoughts:
Kar nekaj stvari obstaja, ki jih ne maram, in končati knjigo na sredi, je ena izmed njih.
Redko se zgodi, da najdem knjigo, ki se mi ne dopade, toda ko jo, je zelo težko prenehati z branjem, še posebno, če sem prebrala že polovico knjige.
Če sem jo včasih končala ne glede na vse, zadnje čase raje neham z branjem, saj je na svetu veliko boljših knjig, s katerimi lahko preživim svoj prosti čas.
Prva stvar, ki me je zmotila, je bila ta, da sta se glavna junaka srečala na 20 % knjige. To je ena petina knjiga. Veeeliko prepozno za moje pojme.
Toda sem vztrajala, ker ”mogoče pa bo boljše”.
Ha, ne ravno.
V petem poglavju (potem, ko sta se že spoznala) sem prišla do trenutka, kjer sta se glavna junaka pogovarjala in se je celoten pogovor zdel bolj duhoven. Sama sem kristjanka, ampak res ne maram brati o religioznih zadevah v knjigi, še posebno v romanu. Preprosto mi ne sede. Rada berem knjige, ki so lahkotne, z globokimi čustvi in ja, tudi take, ki vključujejo malce bolj vroče prizore. Ko sem prišla do tega pogovora, je bila moja prva misel ”Prosim, naj ne bo ta knjiga taka kot Return of the Song” (knjiga, za katero sem ravno tako zaprosila na NetGalleyu in se je izkazala za Christian romance (sama sem to prevedla kot pobožni roman) z nič čustvi, nič vročih trenutkov, nič, kar bi mi bilo všeč v knjigi – oceno si lahko prebereš tukaj). Ker če je religija omenjena, potem obstaja velika verjetnost, da ne bo nobene strasti v knjigi, vsaj ne take, ki bi je jaz želela.
Toda tako kot prej, sem tudi po tem pogovoru nadaljevala z branjem, ker sem upala, da bo to enkraten pogovor.
Ena izmed stvari, ki me je tudi zmotila, je bil preveč podroben opis ubijanja živali in pripravljanja mesa za hrano. Saj vem, kako nastane hrana, ni potrebe, da o tem še berem. Res nisem marala brati teh delov…
Včasih se mi je zdelo, da je avtorica povedala veliko stvari, a pozabila pa na tiste osnovne. Na primer, ko je glavna junakinja strmoglavila z letalom in se potem rešila iz njega, je omenila, da ima premražene prste in da če si jih ne bo segrela, jih bo mogla odrezati. Toda nekaj strani kasneje ima na sebi tople rokavice. Am, kaj? Sklepala sem, da jih je dobila v paketu za prvo pomoč, ki ga je našla nekje v snegu toda to ni bilo omenjeno zato sem bila zmedena. Še en primer: v enem poglavju je omenjeno, da si delata palačinke. Kje je dobil jajca? Michael gre dvakrat na leto v civilizacijo. Dvomim, da bi jajca zdržala toliko časa. Torej kje jih dobi? Iz česa jih naredi, če ne iz jajc? Zakaj to ni omejeno medtem ko dajanje živali iz kože pa?
Njene poškodbe so bile omenjene v podrobnostih ampak ko sta prišla do njegove koče, je ona po nekaj dnevih že opravljala opravila okoli koče. Z njenimi poškodbami bi pričakovala več kot teden do ozdravitve (nisem strokovnjak drugače).
Na približno 60 % knjige sta imela malce večji pogovor o tem, zakaj si je izbral tako življenje, odmaknjeno od ljudi. Rekel je nekaj stvari o katerih sem dobila občutek, da ne bo spremenil mnenja, da ga glavna junakinja ne bo mogla spremeniti kot bi si želela. Njegova prepričanja so bila močna, bilo je kot da bi bila na popolnoma drugih poteh z junakinjo, vsaka z drugim ciljem, in da se nikoli ne bosta srečala. Kot bi bila na nasprotnih polih, nasprotnih bregovih reke. Nisem več videla kemije med njima po tem pogovoru.
Ona je ugotovila, da ga ne more spremeniti, nekaj strani kasneje pa da ga. Čisto nasprotje.
Ker nisem videla kemije med njima, sem na tej točki končala. Ne morem nadaljevati z branjem.
Malo me je zanimalo, kaj si ostali bralci mislijo o knjigi in če ta vsebuje še kakšen pogovor o religijji. Izkazalo se je, da ja in da se pogovor še bolj razvije, imela pa sem prav tudi glede ostalega – v nadaljevanju razen poljubov ni nič drugega.
Čeprav knjige nisem dokončala, jo bom ocenila. Dajem ji 2 zvezdici. Ne zato, ker bi želela znižati povprečje, ampak ta ocena je bolj zame. Da vem, kaj je mene zmotilo. Vem, da bo kdo rekel, zakaj oceniti knjigo, če je nisem prebrala do konca. Da ti povem. Po mojem je pomembno, da znaš argumentirati oceno. Mislim, da se moja ocena ne bo spremenila, če bi nadaljevala z branjem. Ker ne glede na to, kako se konča, moje mnenje se ne bo spremenilo. Zmotilo me je preveč stvari in teh zadnjih 40 % zagotovo ne bo knjige naredilo boljše. In tudi zato, ker sem že čez polovico knjige. Zdaj že vem, kakšen je stil avtorice, kako se glavna junaka obnašata in delujeta, in podobno. Nič ne bi moglo izboljšati moje ocene, niti srečen konec.
Mimogrede, to je bila moja prva knjiga te avtorice.
ARC (Knjiga, ki jo bralci v roke dobimo pred njeno izdajo) je bila zagotovljena preko spletne strani NetGalley v zameno za iskreno oceno. Knjigo sem prebrala in ocenila prostovoljno. Vse misli in mnenja so izključno moja.
Slovenian bookworm 