Review: Madly, Deeply by Erica Crouch

Madly, Deeply

Author: Erica Crouch
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Patchwork Press
Genre: YA Paranormal/Retelling
Format: ebook
Release Date: June 17, 2014
Source: egalley received from publisher via NetGalley
Rating: 2 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.***  

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea...

Annaleigh Wells and William Calloway had a love even the angels envied. It was as if the universe spun them toward one another, like the stars crafted their souls to fit perfectly together.

With a wedding on the horizon, fate had a change of heart. Whispered warnings from phantoms and morbid nightmares darkened every night—but even visions of the future couldn’t save Annaleigh.

Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem Annabel Lee, Crouch’s period romance Madly, Deeply tells the tale of love so great, it cannot be contained in just one life.

My Review:

So I had this English teacher in high school who was OBSESSED with Edgar Allen Poe. I’ve read a LOT of his work. And I honestly really enjoyed it. There’s something so dark and creepy about his stuff and I love how each of his stories feel unique. So when I saw this book that was a retelling of what may be my favorite Edgar Allen Poe poem ever, I had to read it.

This book was…boring. I wanted it to be so much more. I wanted it to be creepy, romantic, sad, twisted like the poem. But honestly, it just dragged on and nothing really happened. The author could have taken so many more creative paths with this one, but she really just stuck straight to the poem. But the thing is, a poem doesn’t make a novel. Stretching out a poem into novel length just doesn’t work. For me at least. I finished it. Probably because I’m bad at quitting books. But I kind of wish I hadn’t.

Besides the fact that it was boring, I also didn’t really connect to the characters. This is a SAD story and I cry really easily, but I didn’t shed a single tear over this book. I also really wanted to know what time period we were in. It was back in the day because there were corsets, but other than that detail, we were given no indication of what period in history we were in.

Basically this book had potential, but ultimately stuck too close to the original work, making it repetitive and boring. I’ll just stick to the original poem from now on. Happy reading all! 

 (Source)

Much better. 

Let's talk! Have you read this one? Read this poem before? What do you think of the poem vs. the book?