Review: Sweet Sweet Country

Sweet Sweet Country: A journey to Ukraine becomes something that Linda Strand could never have imagined by Anna Bronislavska
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sweet Sweet Country by Anna Bronislavska is an interesting read, although it wasn’t everything that I had been expecting.

The synopsis of the story really grabbed my attention, leaving me excited for a gripping crime read. Whilst the crime aspect of the story was interesting, it didn’t play out quite the way I had expected it to. Due to this, I think, I was a little bit disappointed. Yes, I was given an interesting read, but that read wasn’t what I had imagined it would be. There was plenty to the story – I cannot deny that – I simply went in with the wrong things in mind.

I’ll start with my favourite aspect of the book: the imagery. I cannot begin to explain how wonderful the imagery was. We visit a number of places throughout this story, and every location is vividly brought to life. It really is wonderful the way in which we get to see the places and customs, the people and the world. The tiny details are looked at, making it extremely easy to imagine where and how things are playing out. You do not need to know many details of the countries we visit during this novel, as by the end of it you’ll know much more than you anticipated. Honestly, there are such high marks for the imagery of this one – everything is so real.

The pacing of the story was also very real. Usually in thrillers, in those books with links to the criminal world, everything happens at a breakneck pace. With this one things slowly come together. Links are made across time. It takes a while for each piece of the story to fall into place, and when things do come together it is wholly expected. We have slowly watched everything link together, we have watched as things have escalated, and whilst certain things may seem to come out of the blue, we know that there are links to bring each and every piece of the story to this point.

The story was, however, lacking in the action I’d expected. This links to my aforementioned point, though. It’s one of those difficult lines to merge: making things seem real whilst providing all of the action required. For me, the action came and went. As the action and came went, so too did my interest. Part of this, though, was my own fault. There was so much starting and stopping as I read this, due to aspects out of my control (broken Kindle, illness, and other curveballs that life decided to throw my way), and I believe this is what lessened my ability to be truly pulled into the action. When I was able to sit down and read, I thoroughly enjoyed it; however, whenever I put the story down I found it difficult to get back into it. It’s one that, for me, needed to be read over a shorter time period, rather than being spread out in the way it was for me.

Overall, it was a great read, even if it wasn’t quite for me.

As a final note, I would like to thank the author for allowing me to read this in exchange for a review.

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