What do readers think of Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto? Write your own review.

Before Ever After is a good summer read. I found the structure a little distracting - too much quick shifting between time frames. The historical stories were the best part of the book. It almost seemed as though two different authors were writing the book, because the quality of the writing was so good in the stories of the historical adventures and somewhat stilted in the present times. Still it was an enjoyable and different historical romance novel.

WOW! I sure like the concept of the story and how the author was developing it. I did find that the characters and the dialogue were not developed enough to make it truly captivating for me. It seemed like a very quick, fast forward sketched out trip. The historical stops were intriguing but becoming tiresome. I hope the author keeps writing more books as I Iove that she has such a wonderful way of viewing a story.

Whew! Feel like I need to catch my breath after this one. So many things going on - all the time. I really wanted to like this book, and I did, from time to time, but it was too scattered. I feel like every time the author had a new idea she just had to include it. I think the book has a very interesting premise, but some good, hard editing would make it so much more readable.

I liked the story and the premise of the book but I wasn't drawn into the story as much as I wanted to be drawn in. I hated when the story left the present and went to the historical. I know that others liked the historical but all of the historical stories were sad and tragic. I wanted the fantasy, the romance, and the stories of the people on the tour. I loved the characters of Shelly and Max. I think I would have fallen in love with Max also. Shelly was strong but weak enough to fall in love with. It is a good summer read and I hope many people will read this because it is a fun little book.

I chose this book to review because I am a lover of time travel. This book, I discovered, was not about time travel, but about a man, an Immortal man, who has lived through time.

I enjoyed this book to a point. The story of Max and Shelley meeting was entertaining. I loved the bravery of the characters that signed up for Max's adventurous tour. What I didn't really enjoy about the book was the way it jumps into different time periods constantly. It was forever piling more & more characters and locations to the point that when I put the book down for a time, I would continuously have to regroup and figure out where I left off. This perhaps is not the fault of the book but of my own.

I applaud the author for what I think is a very original story. I believe that fantasy & romance readers will enjoy this book.

I was a little disappointed with this book. I found the story quite interesting, expecially the historic periods. Unfortunately I felt the writing was weak, particularly the dialogue of the characters. The story intrigued me enough that I kept reading to see how it would all be resolved. I think it is an ok book which could have been a great book with better writing.

Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto is full of interesting historical vignettes while telling the story of a romance. Although the idea of the book is quite interesting, I liked the story better than the writing. It is a quick read.

I really wanted to like this book; even going so far as to start over again from the beginning after eighty pages in an attempt to find what I had “missed” the first time. I never found what I needed to bring it all together in a coherent whole which would have supported the author’s premise. The author shows promise with some beautiful prose and interesting insights, but much of the dialogue seemed awkward. I tried, but ultimately was never able to suspend my disbelief and just sink into the spell of the story which is what I always hope for with a good novel.