Until the Spring

Rating:
Summary: Just Finished This Book Tonight...
Review: ...and I simply loved it. As the book opens, our English heroine, Kate, has been deflowered and impregnated in one fell swoop, and the selfish cad responsible has bundled her off to Scotland to stay with friends/relatives of his, to be out of his way. Kate has been thrown out of her own home by her adoptive parents and is homeless, sad and frightened. As the months pass in Scotland, this innocent, sweet, thoughtful girl slowly becomes a part of the Munro clan and their way of life on their estate. Soon she never wants to leave, and we see a beautiful love story developing, between Kate and her new surroundings, Kate and the family who has taken her in, and possibly Kate and the lord of the manor. :) You will fall in love with the author's vivid descriptions and mostly with Kate, who is a very loveable, unassuming sweetheart of a girl. I highly recommend this wonderful story!

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Book
Review: Forgive me for using a well-worn cliche, but this story is like a tapestry, deep, rich, intricate, and satisfying. The heroine, Kate, has such a strong and interesting character, weak and timid though she appears in the beginning. Each person she encounters is equally interesting, and as the threads of each personality intertwine and blend, all against a truly breathtaking description of the Scottish highlands, the story becomes more wonderful. This is the first Raiff book I have read, and I can't wait to start the next.

Rating:
Summary: This is a very absorbing novel
Review: Her adoptive parents toss Kate out of their home when she becomes pregnant. The father of the baby sends Kate to live at Allt Fear, a large estate in the Scottish Highlands. Kate has never experienced anything like the land, its run-down manor, and the people. Max, a modern day version of a Highlander laird, feels Kate's a pathetic nuisance. Max's mother Grannie sees Kate as an unnecessary obligation. Max's sisters (Joanne and Harriet) provide a tepid welcome to her, but make no efforts to ease Kate's adjustment to her new home.

Initially, Kate felt she could never adjust to the bleak terrain and the unruly Monroes. Kate's natural warmth, her ability to handle crisis and her tenacity to keep on ticking even when failure is imminent begins to win over the locals. When a tragedy occurs, Kate becomes depressed. However, her true love is just around the corner waiting to gather the courage to claim the woman he has come to love with all his heart.

Alexandra Raife is an uncanny storyteller whose tales reach out to the reader on a very deep and personal level. Her characters symbolize strength and perseverance needed to live in harmony with one's self as well as one's environment. The likable heroine comes into her own as she finds family and love. UNTIL THE SPRING is a beautiful tale about a place, a family, and especially a wonderful woman, leaving little doubt that Ms. Alexandra is on a par with the best writers of contemporary woman's fiction.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Unfair Comparison
Review: I bought this book solely on the recommendation that this author wrote like Rosamund Pilcher. To be fair, I thought it highly unlikely that an author whose name was unknown to me could be compared to R. Pilcher, who I think to be incomparable. But I took hope in hand and purchased "Until the Spring." It's not a horrid book, but it's not anywhere near the caliber of writing that was promised. Her characters remain undeveloped and uninteresting to the end where her plot ends predictably leaving this reader relieved that it's finally over. Please recommend a book based on the author's true merits, not by comparing her writing to someone whose talents are in an entirely different class altogether.

Rating:
Summary: Unfair Comparison
Review: I bought this book solely on the recommendation that this author wrote like Rosamund Pilcher. To be fair, I thought it highly unlikely that an author whose name was unknown to me could be compared to R. Pilcher, who I think to be incomparable. But I took hope in hand and purchased "Until the Spring." It's not a horrid book, but it's not anywhere near the caliber of writing that was promised. Her characters remain undeveloped and uninteresting to the end where her plot ends predictably leaving this reader relieved that it's finally over. Please recommend a book based on the author's true merits, not by comparing her writing to someone whose talents are in an entirely different class altogether.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful-if you liked Wild Highland Home, you'll like this
Review: I love Alexander Raife's books. She has such a light touch with contemporary romance that it doesn't seem like you're reading a typical "romance". Some of them are so heavy-handed. In this book, the humor is subtle and the descriptions of the landscape--the Scottish highlands--are wonderful. The "plucky" heroine is atypical and very likeable. The other characters are well-written, they're human and the chronical of their ordinary day-to-day lives is absorbing. There is nice character development in here, again, subtle, but it makes for a good story. Raife weaves the stories of their lives together to a not altogether predictable ending. I liken this book to another favorite-Wild Highland Home, also by Alexander Raife.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written, absorbing book...
Review: If anyone can take Rosamunde Pilcher's place in writing wonderful "British" stories it's Alexandra Raife. She has that light touch and understated emotion depicted in clear, clean language that grabs the reader from word one. Her descriptions of the Scotish landscape are perfect. When and if I ever get to the British Isles, I'll feel completely at home in Scotland, thanks to Ms Raife.

Rating:
Summary: Not sure what all the fuss is about.
Review: Kate simply wasn't very likable. I assume she's supposed to be "fragile" and delicate. To me, she just seemed a meek little mouse with not much sense. She brings her London working wardrobe with her to wilds of a Scottish winter. Hello? It's cold in Scotland and Kate really should have known that.

Throughout the first part of the book, Kate is overwhelmed by the sheer size of everything. Which made me wonder - how tall was this woman? I barely hit 5' and I've never been intimidated by the size of a stove. Kate feels lost in the bed that she sleeps in and the author makes sure we know that she barely makes a dent in the covers. Again - what is she? A midget? My two year old makes a dent in my King size bed - so what, exactly was Kate's problem?

Aside from the issue of Kate's size and her feelings of being overwhelmed, I really didn't like Max much at all. He was doing his duty, taking care of the pregnant ex-girlfriend of a man he really didn't like. But, that was it. Max didn't seem to have any kind of emotional range.

Further on in the book, you "warm" to the characters. But not nearly enough, in my opinion.

And the other thing that kept me from enjoying any of this book was the simple fact that - it was incredibly, horribly edited. There were at least a dozen typos that I counted. Now, a few typos written in a free review of a book is one thing. But when you pay (money) for a book - it had better be well edited.

Keep your money, or borrow it from a friend.