Review: Daisy

Daisy by Charlotte Penn Clark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My feelings towards Daisy, the second book in Charlotte Penn Clark’s The Carmichaels series, are much the same as my feeling towards the first book, Corinne. Although this was an okay read, I wasn’t crazy about this one. However, it seems to be a series where the full enjoyment comes from working through all the stories – as they’re such short reads, with me being able to complete each one in a single sitting, I am happy to work through them all.

Picking up five years after Corinne, Daisy throws us back into the lives of the Carmichael siblings, once again give us a book advertised as a romance that would do much better advertised as a family drama. Although the first half of the book is clearly aimed towards the romance readers, with the book being more of a romance read than Corinne, all of the good stuff happened in the second half of the book – everything came together well, things really started to move, when the story slipped into the realm of family drama.

In the first half, we focus upon Daisy and her love life – hence the romance element. In the second half of the book we begin to explore a lot more about the family as a whole. We continue to follow Daisy’s romance story, we go back to Corinne’s drama, and we get introduced to new elements that will be important in the later books. There is no doubt I am exceptionally intrigued by the prospect of Valerie’s story – and the small glimpses into the lives of Marie and Samantha have also left me somewhat curious there too.

I think the reason I seem to be enjoying these stories more as family dramas rather than romance reads is because the story telling is very much tell rather than show. When it comes to romance, I like to full emerge myself into the lives of the characters, and such does not seem to be happening with these stories. I’m enjoying watching all the events unfold – the drama certainly grabs me – but I’m not invested in the lives of the characters.

If you enjoyed the first book, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this second book. As I stated, I feel as though it’s a series where the full impact comes from reading them all as one larger story rather than as individual tales.

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