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Summary: A heart-warming story of true love!
Review: Angel Falls was a brillant and heart warming story. It demonstrates a husband's true love for his wife and how he will do anything to save her life. Liam was such an awesome example of what a husband should be, loving his wife despite her shortcomings. He was such a strong character and loved his wife so deeply. This book was so brilliant and definately a tear-jerker. I cried throughout the entire book because of its warmth and love. If you have not read this book and need a bounce to lift your spirits please read this love story because it will warm your heart.
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Summary: A Vivid Reader Experience
Review: I loved this book. The language and imagery is exquisite. Unlike many romances, "Angel Falls" is a book to be read slowly, savored and absorbed for the poetry of the language. With lines like, "The hours of their vigil dripped into one another and formed a day," the author turns this story into a vivid experience for the reader.
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Summary: Wonderful, powerful book
Review: I loved this book. Hannah is a power in women's fiction.
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Summary: Angel Falls
Review: I did not read the book. Rather I listened to it on tape. I have listened to many, many books on tape that I felt were superbly done such as Beach Music and How Stella Got Her Groove Back. I felt that the audio version of this book did the author a great disservice. It was awful! The reader tried to sound like each character and failed, especially when he tried to imitate a nine year old boy. I think the book should be re-recorded by someone else.
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Summary: A great poolside read without the depth of "On Mystic Lake"
Review: After my reaction to "On Mystic Lake," a wonderful piece of women's fiction, I picked up a few of Kristin Hannah's earlier romance paperbacks. While they were page turners, they also tended to be quite far-fetched - verging upon ridiculous. It was obvious that "On Mystic Lake" showcased Hannah's growth as a writer admirably, so when "Angel Falls" came out I immediately ordered it. I have to say I was somewhat disappointed. Sure, it's a great poolside read and a definite page turner. After the opening, it's hard not to like Mikaela, an obviously warm & giving woman, and her husband, Liam, a man of uncommon love. Where this all gets murky and a bit ludicrous is Julian True's arrival on the scene. Aside from the ridiculous name, there are self-serving allusions to characters who have appeared in previous Hannah novels and even a reference to the new "On Mystic Lake" movie being filmed with Annette Benning and Richard Gere! Hannah should perhaps stick with what she knows and leave Hollowood out of her novels. Too, after quite a build up, the book ends on a happy note, but rather sharply. But what the heck - it's summer & if you need a book for the beach, this is it!
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Summary: Not the best Kristin Hannah has to offer...
Review: Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite romance novelists. She writes stories that can absolutlely tear at your soul. It seems that with her last two novels, though (Angel Falls and On Mystic Lake) she is trying to appeal to a more high brow audience. There is nothing wrong with aspirations, but it isn't where her talent lies. Suddenly she isn't writing great romance novels, and she isn't writing great contemporary fiction. These books are an "alright" example of both, but excel as neither. I guess the thing that this book missed the most was any real view of the relationship between Mike and Liam. She simply came to a realization about him (that she had seemed to accept years ago) thaty he was the better husband for her. It wasn't an unbelievable story (even with amnesia and movie stars) but it wasn't really striking and believable either. My suggestion would be to either read her earlier novels if looking for romance, or choose another author if looking for contemporary women's fiction. If you are a fan of the author, like I am, get this book from your local library.
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Summary: I Wish It Had Been Longer!
Review: This was such a nice little family story....I enjoyed all of the characters. I just wish there had been more to them--it seemed like the author skimmed several different surfaces and only let us "in" on Liam and Bretster. I hope she is working on something longer! It seemed like this one was just getting good when it ended......
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Summary: A Book for Pool-Side
Review: Some books are such light fare to be perfect for pool-side readers. "Angel Falls" by Kristin Hannah qualifies are an ideal summer read; not to deep or dark, it is optimistic, romantic and unabashedly sentimental. Its view of life, marriage and family is as idealistic (and naive) as a teenager's first summer love.Liam and Mike (Michaela) Campbell, and their children Jacey and Brett, are blissfully enjoying their idyllic life in a Norman Rockwell town when Mike is injured in a riding accident and lapses into a coma. Left to fend for themselves, her husband and children learn to get through days without her, while at the same time discovering that they hardly knew her, when secrets of her past (a first marriage and Hollywood lifestyle) begin to surface. As the darkness of her sleep begins to lift, she remains shrouded in the shadows of her past, but her deceptions have wounded and confused her family, particularly when the subject of her betrayal suddenly appears to assist in her convalescence. Can Mike awaken her own heart and help her family move beyond the specter of her past? If this description sounds similar to a storyline in a soap opera, then it is being interpreted correctly. "Angel Falls" is that predictable and syrupy. But reading it is not an unpleasant way to wile away some summer hours, as it is a mellow story with warmth and fuzzy feelings. While not quite a "romance novel", its idealization of love (a.k.a. "true love") and marriage have all the requisite dramatic elements for the genre. I expect that fans of Nicholas Sparks ("The Notebook" and "A Walk to Remember") will migrate to this book, particularly those who liked Sparks' drab "Message in a Bottle". However, "Angel Falls" will probably disappoint them; it is not nearly as moving or well-written as "The Notebook" or "A Walk in the Woods", which both reduced me to tears. Simply, I never wanted to cry for the Campbell family, which is the emotion Hannah was trying to wrench from her readers. "Angel Falls" is mushy - sentimentalism for its own sake and none other. There are no profound lessons or disturbing commentaries on modern love, marriage or family to burden a reader or cloud the sun on the beach. Enjoy this book there!
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Summary: While She Was Sleeping!
Review: On the surface it would appear as though the Campbell family of Last Bend, Washington are your typical and average family. Liam, is a hometown doctor, and the son of the founding father while his wife, Mikaela, is a former nurse now devoted to her family and horses. Thay have a teen-age daughter Jacey and younger son Bret. But things are not always as they appear for Mikaela has hidden a secret past from her family which will come back to haunt all of them. In her latest book, Angel Falls, the well known romance writer Kristin Hannah has written a contemporary title which is filled with great emotion and poignancy. During a typical morning's ride, Mikaela, is thrown from her horse and sustains a head trauma which results in a coma. While Liam and the others talk to her and pray for her, Liam learns about Mikaela's secret past. Then sacrificing both his love for her and family life as they know it, he seeks help from the one man who may ulitmately change the Campbells lives as they know them. While this book is a fast read unlike most romance novels it is told from the man's point of view. But as I read it I couldn't help but feel as though something was missing. While most romance novels are somewhat predictable, I have always enjoyed Kristin Hannah's wasy of enveloping her readers with her characters lives and situations. Unfortunately, this time, I didn't find her characters as finely drawn nor the events during Mikaela's coma plausible. Then again, if you're looking for a good beach read this summer, Angel Falls may be just the right book.
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Summary: Great Summer Fluff Read
Review: This book was a perfect 'sitting by the pool with an ice cold beer and celebrating the advent of summer' read. I read it over the Memorial Day weekend and it was just what the doctor ordered to rest my brain and escape reality for a few blissful hours. The story of Dr. Liam Campbell and Mikaela Campbell and how a moment of tragedy forever changes their lives and brings out old secrets and new strengths that they didn't know they had. My favorite sentence in the whole book (uttered my Mikaela) which pretty much sums it all up was: "How do you tell a man that at last you'd grown up, that you'd learned true love wasn't a night of passionate sex under a sky lit up by fireworks, but an ordinary Sunday morning when your husband brought you a glass of water, two aspirins, and heating pad for your cramps?" The plot was a bit short on substance and I would like to have seen a few of the characters better developed, but overall it was an enjoyable book.
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