ARC REVIEW: Last Circle Of Love – by Lorna Landvik

Title: Last Circle Of Love
Author: Lorna Landvik
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
First published: December 6th 2022
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Finished reading: November 25th 2022
Pages: 288

“She was bored – and miffed – by people’s low expectations of what she could and should do and was beginning to welcome opportunities to blow a hole through those expectations.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

REVIEW

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time again… Oh yes, unfortunately it’s yet another book that failed to hit the mark for me. I’m a bit surprised to be honest, because I really liked the sound of Last Circle Of Love with the older main characters and ‘special’ project. And who doesn’t love that cover?! Sadly, the actually story ended up being a complete dud for me, and I came really close to DNFing. My fickle reading mood acting up again or simply not for me; either way, there is no denying that I struggled considerably with this story.

I’m probably partly to blame, because I should have read the blurb better and realized that religion was going to play an important role in this story. Nothing wrong with that, and it wasn’t preachy at least, but it’s not my cup of tea and it made it harder to find the motivation to keep reading. This wasn’t my main issue with Last Circle Of Love though. If I have to point my finger at the why, it probably has a lot to do with the overdose of POVs and characters in general. There were so many different characters to keep track of, and it truly felt like a chore keeping up with who was who and where they stand in the story. The fact that it was written in a third person POV and that the story kept switching between characters even within the same chapter didn’t really help either, and only added to the confusion and frustration.

I also struggled considerably with the writing style itself. I still can’t put my finger exactly on the why, but there was just something about the tone and writing that really irked me. I know that this is a personal reaction, but there is no denying that this story has shown me that Lorna Landvik‘s writing just isn’t for me. The tone itself didn’t feel all that consistent either, and it made it hard to get a proper feel for the story. I confess that I started skimreading rather early in the story though, so things might have improved later on… I also have to say that the story felt a bit overlong, which is a strange thing to say about a story that is less than 300 pages. This might have had to do with the fact that the author tried to stuff too many ‘heavier’ topics into the plot; this had the opposite result as they ended up getting lost in the chaos instead of adding dept.

All in all it’s easy to say that Last Circle Of Love and me definitely didn’t get along, and I kind of wish I had just DNFed it. It’s most likely that this story just wasn’t the right fit for me, although I don’t seem to be the only one who struggled… That said, if you think this story is your cup of tea, don’t give up on it on my account. There is definitely no denying that my fickle reading mood has been especially brutal lately.