Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer - A Quick Review

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I only upgrade books to five stars if I plan on reading it again soon, but this book will be an exemption. Not because I didn't love it, but I felt satisfied with it the first time around.

Hope Was Here was simple, straightforward, and believable. It felt real, it had twists, it had a real ending. Real endings are few and far between, folks. Enjoy this one and bring some tissues.



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Characters: 5/5 Unique. Not hugely delved into, but that wouldn't be appropriate with the style.
Plot: 5/5 I love it. I wish there were more diner novels out there.
Style: 6 out of 5 (yes I took pre-Algebra) Appropriate. See Characters rating.
Focus & Attention Span: 5/5 Some books fly off the plot radar just to skip around in some fairytale romance for a quarter of the book, and then suddenly the author goes "Crap I have to end the book!" so they try desperately to make a happy ending before the publisher starts throwing a deadline tantrum. There were little niches about individual characters throughout, but each was just right, and didn't steal the focus on the plot at all. In fact, the character nuances WERE the plot.
Ending: Oh, snap. I think I started crying. Almost. If you know me, you also know it's impossible to make me cry while reading, even if the book really means something to me. I teared up because there are very few books with real endings anymore, and it made me feel better about things. As they say on Author Agent blogs, even if your book is mediocre, a fantastic ending can score you some brownie points. If your book is great and has a fantastic ending, you are forever one of the best authors I've ever read.