Andi Teran

A touching and original reworking of Anne of Green Gables. What kept this from being a 5-star book was the love story. Stuff and nonsense, as Marilla might say. Cole Brannon, you are no Gilbert Blythe.

This very modern rewriting of Anne of Green Gables has its own charm, even though many aspects of it will remind readers of the original. I wasn’t as taken with Ana as with Anne though, but maybe that’s because the original Anne was only eleven, and Ana is more of a mouthy teenager.

The retelling is set in the farming town of Hadley, California, and Ana Cortez, 15, is of Mexican heritage. She is sent to help Abbie and Emmett Garvey, a brother and sister who own a small farm catering to show more locavores. Ana doesn’t know anything about farming; she is, however, a talented artist. But she manages to do both, as well as to win the hearts of everyone around her.

The teenage aspect allows the author to speed up the timeline and add a romance with a local boy named Cole, as well as adding a lesbian BFF to the parade of very diverse characters in this small town. As for the romance, it became clear eventually what problem Rye, the BFF, had with Cole, but I couldn’t quite understand why the adults were so against him.

Evaluation: The plot is for the most part predictable, or maybe that’s because we know the story already, but that didn’t keep me from crying at the touching ending. show less

Ana Cortez is at the end of the line in the foster care system in LA. At 15, she is too young to be emancipated, but her caseworker struggles to find the right fit for her. A farming internship in Northern California seems to be a good choice for her. Siblings Abbie and Emmett Garber own and run their family farm and sell locally to the community in the town of Hadley. The story echoes Anne of Green Gables, a childhood favorite of mine. From Emmett's confusion to the sex of the child he's show more picking up to Ana's outspoken, but well meaning feelings, you can see the lightly placed parallels throughout. I liked that Ana worked hard for the respect of the Garbers, particularly Emmett and the other workers at Garber Farm. While I loved picking out the characters' roles as they may have been in the original, the story itself began to move a bit slowly for me in parts, as the story continued. Will Ana get to stay at the farm, or not? Will she attend school in Hadley? What about the background story of her new friends? Rewarding in the end, but it took a while to get there. show less

I tried very, very hard to read this as a stand alone book...

As its own book, it is fun and interesting and I will look forward to other works from this author. For books like this I always wish goodreads had a 3.5 star rating because it is closer to 4 stars that 3 stars but maybe still not there. A good story...there is just a lot...a lot of story...which is usually good but I think characters need a little more charm to carry off a story like this. That charm is almost there...

In show more comparison to the original Anne of Green Gables...well, there really isn't a comparison. The enchantment, the loveliness of the original is missing. I love the change in characters and the heavier tone in this book but it isn't enough. Despite the deeper nature of this book, the original characters are more compelling and touch you in a much more profound way. Even with their more simple natures, Anne, Matthew, Diana, Gilbert, Marilla, and Rachel Lynde resonate on a deeper level. I even missed Moody and Josie... show less