Customer Reviews

The Gable Faces East: A Novel

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

It's the story of Michael Hamilton's great-grandprents. Michael and Emily's love story is contained in the first three of Anita's books. I also recommend them. If you have read the first three stories I highly recommend this book as a page-turner. It is impossible to put it down, especially if you like historic romances. It's fun to have continuing characters because you already identify with them somewhat.

I started this book as a book club selection and tried to both read it and listen to it on tape - I couldn't get through ten minutes of either. The lack of Stansfield's imagination and research is evident from the first pages of this book. I found the plot predictable and the writing utterly repetitive (in fact, a friend of mine who also tried to read the book for book club said she kept thinking she was re-reading pages she had already read, as Stansfield's writing was so repetitive). I agree with a former reviewer in recommending Nancy Turner's "These Is My Words" as a WONDERFUL, delicious alternative to this mundane book. Incidentally, the author overuses the names "Alexa" and "Jesse" so much that I couldn't bear the thought of reading the word one more time (we counted an average of 6-8 times per page).

This is one of my favorite books. It is about Alexa Byrnehouse and Jess Davies and their long struggle to finally find happiness and be together. Jess is trying to figure out why Alexas brother hates him so much and why he is so bent on destroying Jess. Alexa is forced to leave her home and turned to her families worst enemy for work and a place to live. Their love is forced apart by deceptions of their parents many times. This is a wonderful love story for eveyone to enjoy. And don't forget to read "Gables against the Sky" which is the sequel to this book and actually a little bit better. These are Anitas best books.

I love Anita's writing. Even those that seem "weaker" in plot than others. We are all human and do the best we know how.

In any event I have both these books in paperback form and the first thing I did was take them to Kinko's to have them spiral bound. But this was before iPad's etc. The weight of those longer books hurt my hands to hold them. By spiral bounding I could just open them and didn't have to work at holding them open.

It saved my hands.

But the more I mess with my iPad the more I love it. I can have dozens of books but not the additional weight of them or making room in a suitcase going on vacation!

This is my favorite book so I finally decided to buy it. It is in good shape and it didn't take long to get here.

Good book. This book was intense. I couldn't put it down. However, I felt the book was kind of hokey and not very realistic in parts. I figured out the ending about half-way through. I think that she should have developed one cohesive story line. I felt like I read 3 stories rather than just 1 (all good, but not related very well); this was a little different for Anita Stansfield. All the characters were flat except Jesse and Alexa. She had some great characters that she created, but didn't really use. I think that she should have built-up the supporting characters a little better, or at least gave them a heroic death or part of the conflict. The supporting characters were "the family", but never changed or seemed indifferent to the events. They simply existed, as long as they were needed, then just disappeared and re-appeared as necessary. Good read though. I'll re-read this story several times. I enjoyed it. It was a good read. I cried and laughed, which is what I look for when I read Anita Stansfield.

This book would be the first of the Stansfield books that tells the wonderful story of how Davies and Byrnehouse came together, Michael Hamilton's great-grandparents. It's a book that is hard to put down and one of Stansfield's best!

This book is out on my living room shelf so I can remember how wonderful this story is! It takes place in Australia and has a love triangle. I love the period of time it takes place in. I love the love/hate relationship that grows. You won't be able to put it down.

An uplifting tale of the power of forgiveness for anyone who has experienced betrayal, attack, or deliberate personal sabotage. This moving story weaves the underlying themes of survival, faith, and spiritual renewal into a historical drama. Gentle references to prayer and scripture reading establish an LDS faith basis. A smattering of romance matures into an especially powerful & realistic portrayal of the love experienced in "everyday-married-life." Highly recommend!

I really hate to leave a book unfinished but I was sorely tempted to with this bomb. I agree that the book showed an extreme lack of regional research on the part of the author. One of the first rules of good writing is to stick with what you know. Anita Stansfield obviously doesn't know anything about Australia. Hopefully the characters emigrate to a more familiar setting in her succeeding books but I don't intend to find this out for myself. Yes it detailed some characters with high morals and the high morals won out. But the message loses much in the sloppy delivery. I'm glad I borrowed it from a friend and didn't waste money buying it.