I read this one immediately following my read of Just One Day. I think that dulled the experience a little for me. This one is still a solid 4 1/2 stars, but just wasn't as powerful for me as Just One Day. The writing is amazing and the weaving of Shakespeare through the plot works wonderfully. Another fantastic read from Gayle Forman.

I'm going to start by saying that I've read too many Jodi Picoult novels. This is not a bad thing...I love her. However, when I first started reading this one I seriously had to question myself as to whether I had read it before...turns out, no. I love her writing, but a lot of the plot lines from her different books seem to interweave - either with characters or events. As with a lot of her books, I thought I had the whole thing figured out a quarter of a way through the book and started wondering how in the world she would keep the plot going for another 3/4 of a book. I should know better. Picoult has a knack for taking wild turns that can completely catch you off guard. She sets them up beautifully and very, very rarely do they seem far fetched. In this case, I was stopped in my tracks and have to admit that I did a little mental bowing to her mastery. The thing I like best about her novels is how easily I get sucked in. They are always a quick read for me...I don't think I've ever spent more than 2-3 days finishing one...I just can't stop once I've started. Though this one is not my absolute favorite, it is certainly worth the read.

I really liked the flow of this book and thought it was well written (as with my opinion of all the Jodi Picoult's I've read). My only disappointment with this book was that it used the setting of Salem Falls (a town with a statue of one of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials) to create a plot along the lines of a witch hunt. This made me roll my eyes on more than one occasion as I have read enough of Ms. Picoult's books to know that her imagination is much better than this. However, the writing prevailed and I did enjoy the book regardless of that opinion.

I really liked this one, but it totally made my heart hurt. I felt so heavily for June, for her mother, for Finn, for Toby. But it's just such a beautiful book. The writing is good and something about it just feels so languid, flowy, and comfortable. I enjoyed this much more than I expected to.