It was, uh, ok. I guess. There were parts I genuinely enjoyed and there were some parts that actually laughed out loud but it was the long long part in between those bright spots that was the problem.

It was a story for someone who has too much joy in their life and needs a bit of it sucked away to tone it down a bit so that everyone else doesn't feel so jealous around them.

The narrator though, she was right on point!

A good book, interesting story line, but could have been a few pages shorter, in my opinion. Also, the title doesn't make sense to me at all - would love for someone to explain that to me, as it didn't seem that important a part of the story. I also wish that Charlotte had been developed a bit further. That said, if you have access to the book I'd go ahead and read it. I'm not sure I'd rush out and buy it (like I did), however.

Unable to finish, I couldn't get past 17% of the book. I felt like I had to force myself to read. The beginning was dry and it took too long to get involved.

DNF...too bleak, too bleak, never got attached to main character at all

When two missionaries knock on Adeline's front door in Scotland, she has no idea that this visit will change the course of her life. When her sister is converted and moves to America, Adeline eventually decides to join her, while soon after choosing to go even farther west on her own just as the Dust Bowl is threatening to shroud and suffocate midwestern civilization.

Wow this was a depressing book. I'd loved the author's previous work I'd read, Dark Water, and when the blurb talked about Mormon missionaries I thought I'd give it a try. I should've given up half way through - I kept hoping that somehow SOMETHING would go right for someone, or SOMEONE would make a choice that would bring them actual happiness but nope, not really. I get that the Dust Bowl period was brutal - and what I DID like about this book was the solid historical setting, the gritty life of a Kansas farmer in the thirties, all of that is very real. But nothing and no one ever felt redeemed in this story and it's hard to work through such a long book never feeling any kind of relief, a time to enjoy what's happening instead of always being uncomfortable because someone's in a strange unrequited relationship and someone else is ready to commit adultery and someone else is always trying to uncut everyone happiness. The writing is good enough that I wasn't annoyed by it but after a while, I just finished it because I felt compelled to.

2.5

I got Practice House as a Kindle First book. It took me a few chapters to get into it. Then after about the first 200 pages I felt like I had read an entire book. I mentioned to a friend how it should have been split up into sections, and then, behold! There was Section 2. I kind of laughed about it.

In a way, the second half of the book was more depressing than the first, but it also held a kind of hope that the first half didn't have. Plus there wasn't the awful "girl drama" that was in the first half. That was the most real part of the first section - jealousy and meanness. I felt bad for everyone involved.

The book was well written, and though the ending wasn't what I was expecting, it was realistic. I liked it.

I got this book for free through Amazon's Prime membership. It was an okay read. I liked the characters and I found myself rooting for them. The author did not drown the book with details which I liked, but sometimes I lost important things that happened and I found myself having to go back to find out what I missed. I didn't care for the ending because some of the story lines just were completed to my satisfaction. Overall I don't regret the book, but I don't think I'll read it again or keep it on my kindle.

I wanted to like this, but it was so boring. even the scandalous part was dull. there were too many characters who were briefly mentioned but never seen again or expanded upon, so it was hard to know who to care about.

This booked seemed right up my alley: Scottish woman moves to Kansas during the Dust Bowl to teach in a small schoolhouse. The book was decent and the characters were well developed. It was however incredibly predictable and a little drawn out at times.