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Book Review of Very Valentine (Valentine Trilogy, Bk 1)

Very Valentine (Valentine Trilogy, Bk 1)
reviewed on + 168 more book reviews


A big disappointment. I am a huge fan of Trigiani's "Big Stone Gap" series, which contained characters of such warmth and depth and a story line that left me wanting more and was therefore worthy of a series. Here, regretfully, I found the characters flat and unlikeable.

Valentine, the star/heroine, is too glib, always with a convenient one liner at the ready, but with a constant drumbeat of self-depreciating road-weariness that I quickly found monotonous and predictable. She describes herself and her siblings thusly: "Alfred is the boss, Tess is interlligent, Jaclyn is the beauty, and I'm the funny one." Cue the dialogue because honestly that's all you need to know about any of them. Oh, and her best friend is gay and hilarious. Oh, and she lives with her feisty grandmother. No surprises there, either. Yawn.

I have zero interest in books 2 or 3 of this trilogy, sad to say.

* One lowly star.