DNF - I struggled to immerse myself in the story & I accredit that to this being a writing style in unused to. The breakup of the chapters felt very much like scene transitions in a play & maybe this story would do well in that format!

This was a quick read that i did enjoy but i had small issues with. I found the xtoryline intriguing but the narratuve took a while to get into, the writing felt very descriptive and like the author was telling me everything rather than letting me let my imagination go. I also felt that there wasnt much in terms of character development, however, despite that it was still an enjoyable read, it just would have scored better with me if i felt more of a connection with the characters, as i felt like I didnt really care what happened to them.

3.5 stars, rounded down for me. Love at Deep Dusk is a story of Leah and John, high school sweethearts from a small town in Central Pennsylvania. We meet them first just before they start dating, Leah from a home with a controlling but loving mother and a father who is more nurturing. John, the only child to two ice cold parents we only know through him. She's brilliant to his smartness. She goes to Harvard and then on to a law career. He goes to Penn State and becomes a favorite English teacher. They end up together almost by chance and back home in Woodson. The story, for reasons I can't completely figure out, is compelling. I say this because it is such a spare piece, the writing done in a few paragraphs at a time, chronological but separated loosely by topic. Several paragraphs in a row get you through most of college. One can jump suddenly to news someone's dying or that a teacher is having an affair with a student and never gets outed, or that Jennifer, a baby Leah's brother saved from a fire is gay and living in Philadelphia. There are no connectors, little emotion. It is all narrative, but almost like an outline of what happened to the players in the book. This usually is the sign of a writer who has not learned his/her craft. But it sort of works here and I wasn't angrily tossing the book down or talking out loud to myself about how I would edit this. I read this book initially because I'm a lawyer who grew up in Pennsylvania and when I researched the author I was fascinated that he is a Circuit Court of Appeals judge and this is his first foray into fiction. It was a bonus, as I started reading, that the mythical town, Woodson, is in Central Pennsylvania, where I grew up, went to college and practiced law. Here and there, some lawyer words appear, but they did not detract. Overall, this was a book I wanted to finish and a style that is original, if at times odd in the way the story moves forward and if at times the characters make no sense at all emotionally. I was told what Leah felt, but not in her words, or her mind. That's how the whole book is. We are on the outside hearing a description of each thing that happens, each character's feelings, the way small towns work, etc. It's not really a romance novel, for which I am grateful, nor would I call it historical fiction. I'd call it "contemporary literature" or literary fiction. But is is both a good story and an interesting approach to fiction. It's also a quick read. So, see what you think. I do recommend it.