The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan

2 Stars
R- 3

I started out bored, and ended up depressed.

First of all, the title is misleading.  It's not at all a book about "the day the falls stood still".  In fact, that day happened decades before the book opens.

Second, I felt like the book had a bit of an identity crisis.  It's kind of about WWI, but it's not.  It's kind of a book about losing faith and finding it again.... but it's not.  It's sort of a book about defying convention and marrying the man you love no matter what.... but it's not really about that either.

What is it about?  The river, I guess.  The river/waterfall/whirlpool is practically a character in its own right.  Problem is, it's a character I really don't care much about.  I've honestly never been very interested in Niagara Falls, and I couldn't overcome that lack of interest in reading this.  It had too many nit-picky details about the river for this kind of novel and yet not enough details for me to feel like it was informative.

At the same time, I can't completely pinpoint why I disliked it so much.  I'm not sure why I was so bored.  And normally depressing books don't bother me so much.

It's not that it wasn't well-written (aside from droning on about the river, but that's probably more of an annoyance to me because I don't care than because it's bad).  The writing is pretty good. 

It is in a sort of present-tense style, which felt really weird at first, but it's done well enough that you stop noticing fairly quickly.  Not distracting.

I don't know.  It just didn't work for me.  It wouldn't surprise me if I'm in the minority, though, so if you like the idea of a historical romance centered on Niagara Falls, give it a try.  Let me know what you think.  :)

Counts for the Reader's Choice Challenge and the Support Your Local Library challenge.