4 out of 4 stars
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"Friendship is a great gift. One that should never be taken for granted. The capacity of a woman's heart for her friends is vast, so vast it is hard to comprehend sometimes. Like the river transforms the land, the bond of friendship can transform your life. Trusting the currents, navigating the terrain, and figuring out how to read the water are all skills that take patience, time and love." This eloquent quote from Michelle Cummings' The Reel Sisters embodies the message of this novel. We are introduced to five women: Rose, Amanda, Veronica, Sophie, and Melody, all very different from one another but bonded by the fly-fishing that they love. This story tells how fly-fishing has enriched these woman's lives and deepened their friendship.
Michelle Cummings does an exceptional job of keeping this novel light-hearted, focusing on the bonds of friendship and the outlet that fly-fishing has given these women. I truly enjoyed this aspect of this book, not letting the book drown the reader in drama but enough true-life grit to highlight the serenity and life lessons that are learned while out on the river. The author introduces us to the women and their lives one-by-one. This provides you a superb sense of each character and helps differentiate between their personalities and their situations, defining each woman.
One fault I discovered with the book and this is likely due to personal preference, each time a person would speak the dialogue had a line-space between speakers. This was distracting to me and made the dialogue seem choppy, but only to the eye. However, I like that the chapters were split up by character and the separate characters each narrated their own chapters. The author managed to pull this off and keep the story moving forward without backtracking the story line and was nevertheless able to offer the woman's distinct perspectives on a situation.
This was a meticulously edited book and you can tell it was a labor of love. I found no errors. This book is suitable for all readers. The author wrote a tastefully written book with some very minor profanity. I don't believe this would be a detriment to teen readers because the issue is actually addressed in the book. This novel is a great way to get introduced to the sport of fly-fishing. I personally love fishing but have never been fly-fishing and am now excited about giving it a try. The technical ability and the patience that the author conveys about the sport has me chomping at the bit to get on a river and try my hand at this type of fishing.
I rate this book, that focuses on fly-fishing and how it parrallels these woman's lives four out of four stars. When I had finished reading this book, I was left with a satisfied feeling that the message had been conveyed and received. This is light reading filled with lessons, "Life changes like water in motion," and I would recommend it to all audiences.
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The Reel Sisters
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