Better than book 1 & 2

I honestly didn’t like book 1 & 2 but by this time I felt I had to finish the series. Book 3 is much better and I can say I did like it. I’m glad to say it had a good ending. Still, if I had it to do again I’d skip the whole series.

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13 people found this helpful

Series of 3 books is not worth buying,. free okay

This review is for the series of 3 books, Wideacre,. Favorite Child & Meridian which is very long listen and not worth spending money on, I only listened as free books. The series tries to have 3 strong female lead characters in each book during a time in history when women didn't have much power or influence on their lives. But the three lead women are not very likable. in Wideacre, Beatrice is just selfish and evil,. producing 2 children with her brother in her quest to own the family land, no one cares when she is killed and her brother dies soon after. But the children live on for the second book, Favorite Child. Julia the oldest and lead character is kinder and more likeable but she is so indecisive and bullied by her brother that she becomes dull. When she finally give birth to a girl that is fathered by her brother and dies, there is no grief for her passing. The girl Meridian whose parents and grandparents where brother and sisters was given away to gypsies as a baby due to the incestial background. She is lead for the third book and definitely the strongest and most likable of the 3 women but due to her poor upbringing and the culture of the 1800's where women are just for producing children, she is easily taken advantage of. She makes bad decisions because she trusts no one even the couple people who truly try to help her. Finally, she realizes her mistakes and finds her true love and life calling, the only woman of the 3 to have a long and happy life.
The biggest problem with series is that the author tries very hard to give details of the land, culture and history of the late 1700s & early 1800s in England, while doing that the story just goes on way too long. There is too much dialog from the 3 women characters about how they feel and why the feel and what should they do etc etc that at some point in each book, you just want the woman to shut up and make a decision, even the wrong one which they often do. Each book is over 20 hours and they shouldn't be that long, too much detail that adds nothing to the overall story. The author wants to give some history but it just makes the stories too long and thus you keep hoping it ends soon. Wouldn't waste time on this series if I had read some of the other reviews which are similar.

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7 people found this helpful

Best book of the three but that’s not really saying a lot. Incest free thankfully

I liked her story and I enjoyed the listen. The voice was a little too childish and often petulant sounding. But otherwise she was fine.

Spoiler alerts!

I still take issue with the incestuous grandchild, from TWO generations of brother sister incest not having any kind of physical or mental handicaps. I don’t know why Philippa Gregory thought we needed 2 books of incest so I was relieved there was no more in this one. I worried for a while that Meridon was “in love” with her “twin” and was very relieved it didn’t happen. Wouldn’t have surprised me with this series though. I was glad someone at least got a happy life out of the series.

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5 people found this helpful

Fairytale

This was great listening and my favorite Age. I always find the rules of Society intriguing. I also find it galling what women’s rights back then. Philippa Gregory is one of my favorite authors.

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3 people found this helpful

👍👍

The beginning was a little slow for me. I was worried that it was just going to be a repeat of the first two books, but I was wrong. This book turned out so good! I only wish there was more!

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2 people found this helpful

It’s a good thing it was free.

I kept hoping I would like the main characters but I didn’t. Thankfully this book was incest free.

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1 person found this helpful

Saved the best for last

Read the 1st two so you can enjoy the 3rd. This was by far the best book in the trilogy of Wideacre. It had a great story with just enough excitement and heartbreak. I enjoyed the characters very much. Great book!

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1 person found this helpful

Best book I’ve listened to in a long time!

Awesome narrator…awesome story from nothing to something…lots of twists and turns…a really are drawn into this character.

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1 person found this helpful

sschonaman57@gmailmaul.com

Great story… loved the narrator…be sure to read the first book in this two book series as it will make this book even more enjoyable.

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Meridon

Oh the characters made me so sad by their choices but Meridon’s mom suffered but should have ratted her cousin/brother out she probably would not have died so young even her parents but so so glad Sara/Meridon wisened up at the last minute and had her happy ending. Very well written book and narration was perfect loved it!

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