Customer Reviews

Leigh (Women of Ivy Manor Series #3)

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

 

 

Linda Leigh Sinclair was born in 1947 to an overprotective mom. When the teen watches the civil rights and other monumental movements on TV news during the 1960s, she knows she wants to become a reporter. Over the objection of mom, she covers the 1963 rally led by the Reverend King in nearby Washington, D.C. for her high school paper

Five years later Leigh covers the Democratic National Convention in Chicago when riots break out. When her best friend Mary Beth vanishes, Leigh uses her still fledgling investigative skills to trace her to the anti-war counterculture in San Francisco. She falls in love, but that does not work out though he returns her feelings. Not long afterward she meets someone else and gives birth to Carly, but she and the father go separate ways. Leigh knows how her mom felt as she wants to protect Carly from life's precarious nature. When Carly turns up missing, Leigh turns to God for solace just as she has done before when tumultuous events made no sense.

The third generation Women of Ivy Manor (see CHLOE and BETTE) is a kaleidoscope look at major events mostly during the 1960s and 1970s. The story line moves quickly from the Freedom March to the Chicago Convention to Give Peace a Chance rallies as Leigh proves she is in deed an Ivy Manor descendent with her survival instincts. Interestingly her faith in God comes from a no atheist in the fox hole perspective as she worries about her daughter just like her mom used to agonize over her. Lyn Cote writes a warm entry starring an interesting protagonist, but it is the backdrop of events that ignite the tale.

Harriet Klausner

Although I liked, but was was not crazy about the first book in the "Women of Ivy Manor" series, "Chloe", the second book, "Bette" seemed to be such a great improvement over the first, that I was really looking forward to reading "Leigh". Unfortunately "Leigh" was a great disappointment for me. I realized very shortly into the novel that it was not going to be able to top the excitement and intrigue of "Bette". The main character, Leigh Sinclair, was very one-dimensional, and did not seem to grow up during the course of the book the way that her mother did in "Bette". Leigh was missing that spark that Bette and Chloe had - certainly, the author attempted to make her an interesting character, but the charm of her predecessors just wasn't there. "Leigh" seemed very hastily written, and was chocked-full of sappy, drippy lines that made me gag as I read them. "Leigh" tried too hard to be a romantic, exciting novel, and fell sadly short due to the lack of realistic dialogue and narratives.

*Watch out, story-spoiler coming up!*
What also grieves me about "Leigh" is that ONCE AGAIN a fatherless daughter is born to a broken and down-trodden Carlyle woman! While the women all have distinctly different personalities, why do they all have to have the same romantic catastrophes happen to them? Just for once, couldn't one of these "Ivy Manor" women end up marrying their first love, just once couldn't one of these women grow up with a father and not a stepfather?? I am not against stepfathers, but please, can we have a little variety here?? Perhaps that is a petty complaint, but I just couldn't let the obvious go unmentioned. I was also quite disappointed in Bette throughout "Leigh" - since she has been my favorite character in the series so far, I was sad to see that she did not turn out to be a very good or understanding mother - perhaps she can better redeem herself in "Carly"? Yes, I am still looking forward to the final book in the series. Even though I have complained about "Leigh" being poorly-written, something still keeps me drawn to these books: the great historical detail, and complicated plotlines.

I recommend this book only if you love American history, and are willing to put up with a lot of cheesy writing... or if you got suckered into this series just like I did, and want to see it through to the end.

The book was not a disappointment, good shape. Customer was pleased with condition and happy with the book.Would buy from this dealer again.

I wanted to like this book, being interested in the setting and time period. The plot had potential but the writing is stilted and the personality of the lead character makes no sense. I think the author was trying to make her appear conflicted and multidimensional but she seems naive to the point of social-retardation to me. Also, paraphrasing the book, another character calls Leigh a person who fits her times. Well, I thought just the opposite. She's judgemental, prudish, boringly-conventional, and completely out of place in the 1960s. For that reason and others, this book captures none of the magic and excitement of the time period in which it was set.

I loved this book. Leigh was the perfect character, unlike the characters in the previous two books she was three dimensional. The author wasn't afraid to show all sides of Leigh. The only complaint that I had was that it wasn't longer.